'Boris' is rubbish. Putting Sajid Javid up against a self-indulgent, middle class Labour Party would be pretty good.
Boris has won London twice against Ken's IRA machine, he'd piss any general election. He also polls the best of any politician by an absolute mile.
He won it at the height of Davemania, and isn't Zac 'Out of Touch' Goldsmith currently level-ish with local curry-muncher made good Sadiq Khan? He would have the piss ripped out of him at a general election. He's a twat.
Fucking hell, Lewis.
Interesting article on how we spent hundreds of millions on Aid for Yemen only to support the Saudi's in blowing it all to shit.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worl...-in-Yemen.html
The point of overseas aid is to be seen spending it. Having it blown up means they have something else to spend it on.
Ha.
That's brilliant.
I'm not buying this "political genius" stuff either. He's a fuckup.
Who would you rate as the most competent politician currently operating in one of the Westminster parties?
Alex Salmond is probably the best politician at the moment.
Wasn't Salmond ready to march Scotland into financial oblivion last year?
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/poli...ere-wrong.html
I'm not talking about being in agreement with him.
My answer is Gove, by the way. Ed Balls would have competed for the title, but, you know.
Gove is regarded by pretty much everyone working in a school as having no idea what he was doing or having a clue about schools. Listening to him talk, he never really seemed to. Not sure how his new job's going. A Yougov survey focusing specifically on teachers suggested that while 33% of teachers supported the Tories at the last election, it was down to about 15% last year. He even turned Tories away. He was hated in schools for being completely out of touch.
That's the problem with teachers, they think it's about them.
You don't have a clue what you're talking about.
Jim, respect the profession.
Teachers have acted the same throughout British history, ranging from mild fury when Labour are in charge to total apoplectic rage when the Tories are. Mostly politicians steer well clear, but Gove had the balls to take them on - not saying he got everything right, but he made a very good stab at improving the school system - moving the emphasis away from the ideological purity of process and towards better outcomes - and the response from the teaching masses was predictable.
And as long as teachers continue to have the attitude that they and only they know how education should happen on a micro and macro level, we'll keep on needing more Goves. Pity Dave bottled it before the election really.
Academies though. What a cluster-fuck.
Either that, or maybe different teachers behave in different ways because they're different people and not a homogeneous mass. You can talk about the unions as a reference point but it just doesn't make sense if you're talking about every specific teacher. It's a bit dangerous really, when you assume anything about specific teachers or relate to them when you're talking about the unions. The unions will always moan - that's their job, and it's the same with any other profession.Teachers have acted the same throughout British history, ranging from mild fury when Labour are in charge to total apoplectic rage when the Tories are.
Edit: This is probably largely a response to the daft "all teachers are like this, all teacher are like that" shite you came out with earlier.
Steer well clear of what, exactly? Reform? It's in constant reform. One of the things so annoying about working in schools is that everything's always changing. It's a political hot potato, everyone who turns up wants to look like they're changing it all and the reference points they often work with get canned and new ones come in regularly. You mean free schools/academies?Mostly politicians steer well clear, but Gove had the balls to take them on
What better outcomes are you on about? Grades?not saying he got everything right, but he made a very good stab at improving the school system - moving the emphasis away from the ideological purity of process and towards better outcomes - and the response from the teaching masses was predictable.
The problem was that the attitude he wanted in schools was out of touch with what it's like to actually teach. You can reduce everything down to 'ooh we got a 10% increase in GCSE A-C grades this year = win' but it's not as simple as that because, you know, you can't reduce people down to a bunch of numbers on a piece of paper, and you can't help the kids with grades without considering their circumstances. Focusing on 'traditional methods and discipline' as he seemed to call it, just ends up fucking up entirely when kids get disillusioned by the whole process as a result of how it's being done. It's easy to talk as clinically as he did when you're not in the classroom but it's inhumane when you're actually on individual terms with the kids involved, which is something he never seemed to appreciate. It'd probably work in the kind of schools he went to, mind you, with the kind of kids that go to those schools. Try it with a bunch of kids from the local estate though it's just unhelpful and counter-productive.
Bring back the cane.
They'll come back with a knife.
Teachers and health professionals must be the only workers whose unions exist for us rather than to defend their own conditions. God bless them all. Michael Gove actually provided teachers with a means of escaping his micro-managing, but then they moaned like shit about free schools as well (they should let business into those whilst Labour are on their arse), so fuck them.
Weren't you a teacher's assistant for about fifteen minutes, Hammer?
No, teacher. 3 years Ed Studies and PGCE. Worked in schools throughout. Partner was a teacher for 3 years after I left.
Lovely contribution though. Ad hominem bollocks is lovely to see.
Predictable. Better than this.
I know a load of teachers, mostly Primary but a couple of Secondary, and have been seeing one on and off for a few years now. The education system is obviously different in Scotland than it is in England so I can't speak to that but they all reckon that teachers who work together end up operating in a sort of hive mind. The older ones, who are more plentiful, are far more likely to kick up a fuss when a change affects them personally than the younger ones, who go the opposite way, but generally speaking they all moan about the same things in the same ways.
That's why I was querying your experience, because what you've said goes against everything I've heard about teachers from numerous teachers in numerous schools.
Don't let that get in the way of your pathetic, precious twattery, though. It's genuinely good fun.
To be fair to Hammer, you did basically just have a go at him and accused him of having next to no experience when you were wrong about that.
I wasn't having a go. I knew he'd studied it at length because I remember that excellent essay he wrote about the kid who's gran had died or whatever it was, I just remember him becoming disillusioned with the whole thing and deciding he had to do something else much quicker than he apparently did.
Sorry, what twattery? I responded to a borderline offensive comment but not taking it seriously, and I clarified a further response in my next post.
You've gone and explained your position on it and interactions with teachers - which is fair enough - but only bothered to do it after questioning my experience. Why not just explain your perspective in the first place instead of doing that? Who's the twat again?
You both have valid points so be nice and stop calling each other names.
That wasn't my opening contribution, if you read the thread. That was my laughing off Jimmy's flippant response to the point I made.
You're right. It was your second post. That makes a huge difference.
Enough childish nonsense.
Yup. John has the first pop, then goes off on one at Hammer for responding. Bit weird.
Erm, yeah. I think the context does make a difference. Look at what he suggested, which was directed at teachers, and look at the quote in response. Its a fair bit different to just turning up out of nowhere to have a pop at people and then getting to the point afterward, like some people do![]()
There's nothing wrong with it, as long as you don't then go on to be a precious twat about someone daring to question you about five posts later.
Again, I wasn't having a pop. I remembered you binning off the teaching far quicker than would seem reasonable for someone who was actually taking classes themselves. I didn't think you were an actual teacher, hence 'teacher's assistant', and I didn't think you were at it long, hence 'fifteen minutes'. If you're insecure enough to mistake glib phrasing for me having a go at you then that's fine, but it's your problem, not mine.
Had you responded to that without that bizarre 'ad hominem' shit I wouldn't have called you precious, and there we are.
He'd made a decent and informed post as his last one in the thread before you came in and then you tried to undermine him by saying he'd not even been a teacher and had only been in a classroom for a very short time. Just admit you've acted the cunt and move on or at least stop trying to defend it.
Teachers are wankers though. Let's not miss that important point.
Letter writers to The National in full caricature mode today:
I WONDER if your readers can help me ?
I often wonder about who or what decides the items and priorities for The News, but tonight my puzzlement plumbed new depths. The first 12 – yes twelve – minutes of the BBC 6 O’Clock News were devoted to what was portrayed as a tremendous British achievement (Major Tim Peake, the first British astronaut to visit the ISS). Union Jacks everywhere, live coverage of the astronaut’s family and friends at the launch, coverage of the excitement at the astronaut’s former primary school, etc etc.
My first thoughts were that this was the BBC just following a Government line, to promote Britishness: after all we were told that the Prime Minister had been glued to his TV for the launch. But Channel 4 News followed suit at 7pm.
I had understood that many astronauts from different countries have for years been ascending to the International Space Station, courtesy of Russian launch capability, to assist with research projects, and expand the Space Station. So why the tremendous importance of this evening’s news, the excessive prioritisation of what is a very small event, one of a continuum on the international stage, as if it was something truly, uniquely, important ?
Gordon Brown
North Kessock, Black IsleSO the GB taxpayer has sent the first Briton Tim Peake into space.
Born in Sussex, we wish him and his fellow cosmonauts well. Imagine if our intrepid spaceman were to come from Scotia? But take heart fellow Scots, his wife Rebecca hails from Perthshire.
Sad perhaps that under the Scottish Beeb’s stewardship, Rebecca’s Scottish connection was never mentioned, although STV had the decency to acknowledge the fact.
While munching my Pittenweem fish supper, I can’t help feeling for our poor cosmonauts, tucking into toothpaste tube-and vacuum-packed nourishment 250 miles above us.
Bob Harper
Anstruther
I'm not sure what the big deal with 'Major Tim' is. We've had an astronaut before.
The National is an absolutely awe-inspiring idea/concept/newspaper. All credit to it.
Simon Danczuk's been caught sexting a 17 year old.![]()
The fact that he's MP for Rochdale somehow manages to make it worse.
The MELTDOWN over Sir Lynton Crosby is funny. It's only a knighthood. It's not like he's bought his way into the Lords where he can have an actual say.
Is 'sexting' an actual thing? It sounds like something my mum would say to cover all hobbies performed by people under 30.