I agree. A few moons ago (30 yrs +) I was in financial services and arranged mortgages. The rule of thumb then was 3-3.5 times single income or 2.5 times joint. Translated to today, the average UK income for full time is £38k and part time is £13.5k (ONS 2021/2). That wold mean a single income could get a £95k mortgage and an 'average' couple with one full time and one part time could get £128.75k. You are correct as I don't see many properties around for that amount without a sizeable deposit - I think you would need at least £150-200k deposit as the average house price in the UK is around £300k. Not too bad if you are on the ladder, but how the hell do you get on it?
Have you left as a result of the work conditions, or was it something you had always planned to do? I expect you could tell a tale or two. Hope everything works out for you.
A lot of things. It is not a valued profession anymore. You can feel it. The British are palpably being manipulated to hate those who serve them. We have been devalued over a decade and then attacked for wanting to strike. what upsets me about strikes is that none of us are striking for pay. Pay is a marker of the way a profession is respected. We don’t get bonuses. We don’t even get doorstep claps. Teachers love their students and want the best for them, so when we strike it is because we see our profession losing something. Most new teachers are not that great. When I started it felt a valued profession. The people I trained with were outstanding and I know many of them are still doing an amazing job. But you won’t get that again. There is no prestige to the job and no incentive to get on board. So, we will strike soon to give our profession a sniff of respect - and most of the public will quietly snipe at us for making their working days harder for that one day. I have been doing it too long. I need to do something else. I have a lot of skills that I have spent a lifetime giving to children. I want to start over and use them for myself. Additionally, divorce. Mid life crisis. Depression. Loss of faith in this nation - and worry that the rest of the world isn’t much better.
So sorry mate. For you guys it’s not just a job but a vocation and you are passionate about making a difference for your students. You are right about being undervalued. When I was in school, left in 1971, so many teachers were approaching retirement age. It was a different era in that respect. I spent some time working for a training company that dealt with young adults who needed help with life skills and support into work and it was the most satisfying job I had, because I could see the difference we were making with some of them. Could be something for you to investigate with your background. Good luck with whatever you do.
All these things will get better mate. All in their own time, they will turn around, as all things do in this cyclical universe.
BY lunchtime today, top company bosses will have raked in more in pay and perks than a typical worker takes home all year. Analysis by the High Pay Centre shows the average wage of a FTSE 100 company chief executive is now £3.41million a year. This is a hundred times more than the average annual salary of £33,000. When workers go on strike to secure a pay rise they are accused by Tory ministers of stoking inflation. Yet there have been no calls for restraint by already well-remunerated bosses. The double standard is typical of a party which puts the interests of rich employers above those of low-paid employees.
I am sorry to hear this mate. I hope you know that loads of us out here respect teachers and the difficult and valuable work you all do. Excited for you for the future and your new opportunities though! As bad as things seem, try not to lose faith. Things will improve. Eventually
Jesus, what a farce Trump has turned the Republican party into. They can't even elect a bloody Speaker!
This started long before Trump. It’s what happens when populist rhetoric replaces informed debate. It’s what happens when a political party appeals to the fears and prejudices of the electorate, rather than to aspiration, reason and hope.
The donkey told the tiger: The grass is blue. The tiger replied: No, the grass is green. The discussion became heated, and the two decided to submit the issue to arbitration, and to do so they approached the lion. Before reaching the clearing in the forest where the lion was sitting on his throne, the donkey started screaming: ′′Your Highness, isn't it true that the grass is blue?" The lion replied: "True, the grass is blue". The donkey rushed forward and continued: ′′The tiger disagrees with me and contradicts me and annoys me. Please punish him". The king then declared: ′′The tiger will be punished with 5 years of silence". The donkey jumped with joy and went on his way, content and repeating: ′′The grass is blue".. The tiger accepted his punishment, but he asked the lion: ′′Your Majesty, why have you punished me, after all, the grass is green?" The lion replied: ′′In fact, the grass is green". The tiger asked: ′′So why do you punish me?" The lion replied: That has nothing to do with the question of whether the grass is blue or green. The punishment is because it is not possible for a brave, intelligent creature like you to waste time arguing with a donkey, and on top of that to come and bother me with that question The worst waste of time is arguing with the fool and fanatic who doesn't care about truth or reality, but only the victory of his beliefs and illusions. Never waste time on discussions that make no sense... There are people who for all the evidence presented to them, do not have the ability to understand, and others who are blinded by ego, hatred and resentment, and the only thing that they want is to be right even if they aren’t. When ignorance screams, intelligence shuts up. Your peace and tranquility are worth more.
Mark Steel commenting on Sunak’s plans to make students do more maths. What an excellent idea of Rishi Sunak’s to force everyone to learn maths until they’re 18. He should insist it’s taught to adults as well, trying a few himself to launch the project. He can answer questions such as: “In the town of Middlebury, there’s a hospital. Ten years ago there were 273 nurses. Each year they became three per cent worse off. So now 30% have left. And the other 70% would like to leave. Express as a fraction the sense of despair amongst the people who live in Middlebury.” Or: “If you multiply vast numbers such as five to the power of x by 3,452,729, you arrive at the number of pounds the Prime Minister’s wife registered abroad so she didn’t have to pay so much tax. Using your compass, calculate the amount she would need before the greedy arse was finally satisfied.” Or: “In a barrel there are 50 billion apples. One day Liz is put in charge of the barrel. ‘Weeeeeee!’ she yells in delight, and tips them all into the sea. ‘Whoops!’ she says. How much harder does everyone else have to work for the next 20 years because some bunch of idiots allowed Liz to go anywhere near anything?”
A 6 year old boy, in the good ol’ US of A, has shot his school teacher. How the **** does a 6 year old kid get his hands on a loaded gun, without someone in his household being extremely careless? Don’t know if there is a law making parents culpable, for this type of crime (assuming that the gun belongs to his parents) but if not there should be. A YOUNG boy is being held by police after shooting a teacher in the US. The six-year-old is said to have pulled out a handgun during a classroom row with the woman. The teacher, named yesterday as 25-year-old Abby Zwerner, was taken to hospital in Virginia with life-threatening injuries. It is unclear how the boy got the gun. Police Chief Steve Drew said it was not an accidental shooting. Officers were called to 550-pupil Richneck Elementary School in the city of Newport News around 2pm on Friday. There are metal detection facilities there. School District Head Dr George Parker said: “This is terrible, something like this should never occur.”
Lucky that the country has loads of money to spare as it seems that the MoD has spent £3 billion on a fleet of mini tanks that are so unreliable that they may never be fit for action. Sweet. A FLEET of mini tanks that have cost taxpayers £3billion have proved so useless it is feared they may never be fit for action. Ministry of Defence chiefs have admitted the 26 “state-of-the-art” Ajax vehicles delivered to the Army so far are only safe enough for training. They shook so violently during trials that more than 300 troops testing them were advised to seek medical help. The tanks were ordered in a £5.5bn fixed-price contract signed with defence company General Dynamics 12 years ago. The deal was for a total of 589 machines and the Ajax was intended to enter service in 2017, but the programme has been repeatedly delayed by problems. The armoured vehicles, nicknamed mini tanks, were to help modernise the Army. Now the MoD says there is no “realistic timescale” to mobilise the tanks, which are meant to offer crews better protection and deliver a lethal punch with its 40mm cannon. Many senior officials and Army chiefs believe the Ajax programme should be scrapped. Tobias Ellwood, chair of the Commons Defence Committee, has branded it a “complete mess”. Former First Sea Lord Alan West said: “The Ajax programme has been a complete disaster.” The project has so far cost the taxpayer £3.2bn. A Defence Equipment Plan report tells of “ongoing noise and vibration issues” with Ajax. It added: “It is not possible to determine a realistic timescale for the introduction of Ajax vehicles into operational service.” Colonel Phil Ingram, a former military intelligence officer, said Ajax should be replaced with a proven design such as the Combat Vehicle 90. He said: “The programme has been a fiasco. The fault lies with mismanagement, Army meddling and MoD avoidance of independent scrutiny.” An MOD spokesman said: “The Army deserve the best, which is why we are investing £41billion in equipment and support over the next 10 years. “We continue to work closely with General Dynamics for the successful delivery of Ajax, having found a way forward to address the noise and vibration issues. “We are preparing to move to the next phase of testing the vehicle under simulated battlefield conditions, while also working to agree a timetable for Ajax’s introduction into service.” General Dynamics declined to comment.
So the government will only talk about pay, with Unite union, if their members become more productive. What absolute ****s.
