Dr Strangelove (how I learned to stop worrying and love Boris)

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Sunderpitt said:
So public money shovelled towards nurseries and tech companies that little Rushi's family own or part own... nothing suspicious about that surely? :emoticon-0103-cool:
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What?!?! It specifically states that Infosys AREN'T involved and fact checking websites like Fullfact have stated that the rumours that they're involved are untruthful.
 
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The Exile II said:
Not sure I'm entirely on board with the furore over the Sudan response mind.

There seem to be an awful lot of people who've gone over there for decades and are now complaining that the SAS weren't at their door offering them a limousine to the airport as soon as the bullets started flying (something always likely in African countries, frankly).
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Exactly this. If you choose to work, live or holiday in dangerous countries, that is your choice. It doesn't give you an automatic right to put people in danger to come and collect you.
 
My wife has just shown me an article in the Guardian about Britain becoming a cultural wasteland. It is based centrally around classical music and she is a classical musician and teacher so this is close to her heart and it is rare in our house not to hear the piano at some point in an evening (I am more of a 70s german electronic man, but they do say opposites attract). The essence of the article is that we are cutting the arts budget far too dramatically, other countries are actually increasing theirs. The sense is it is a political play because the arts appear to be an elitist thing and it is therefore ok to salami slice budgets, not enough voters care.

It certainly got me thinking. Whilst I am no classical musician I do love literature and art. It has the ability to stir the soul, for me anyway. I love the theatre. I recently went to see Julius Caesar at the RSC but it cost me £150 for two tickets, maddeningly. I imagine with less central funding the costs to access these things will become unaffordable to many, and that would be a crying shame I think. Surely we, as a country, need to preserve access to our cultural history, and of course allow the creation of new performing art to flourish.

I have a son who is a talented musician, apparently. He is at college now studying music. I wonder what his future holds. Will there be a place for kids who are more artistic in the future? The guardian article points to the way our school curriculum under values arts subjects now, in fact it almost discourages them. They arent in the modern ebac and arent in the ratings scores that schools are measured by. All about maths, science, language. I have tbought for a while those setting the national curriculum do so through their rear view mirror, not by looking forward. The sheer determination to push languages is at odds with how technology is going, if nothing else.

I will watch with interest to see if any political parties redress the cuts to arts funding, or challenge to conventional thinking on curriculum. Would be nice to see some debate at least.
 
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FellTop said:
My wife has just shown me an article in the Guardian about Britain becoming a cultural wasteland. It is based centrally around classical music and she is a classical musician and teacher so this is close to her heart and it is rare in our house not to hear the piano at some point in an evening (I am more of a 70s german electronic man, but they do say opposites attract). The essence of the article is that we are cutting the arts budget far too dramatically, other countries are actually increasing theirs. The sense is it is a political play because the arts appear to be an elitist thing and it is therefore ok to salami slice budgets, not enough voters care.

It certainly got me thinking. Whilst I am no classical musician I do love literature and art. It has the ability to stir the soul, for me anyway. I love the theatre. I recently went to see Julius Caesar at the RSC but it cost me £150 for two tickets, maddeningly. I imagine with less central funding the costs to access these things will become unaffordable to many, and that would be a crying shame I think. Surely we, as a country, need to preserve access to our cultural history, and of course allow the creation of new performing art to flourish.

I have a son who is a talented musician, apparently. He is at college now studying music. I wonder what his future holds. Will there be a place for kids who are more artistic in the future? The guardian article points to the way our school curriculum under values arts subjects now, in fact it almost discourages them. They arent in the modern ebac and arent in the ratings scores that schools are measured by. All about maths, science, language. I have tbought for a while those setting the national curriculum do so through their rear view mirror, not by looking forward. The sheer determination to push languages is at odds with how technology is going, if nothing else.

I will watch with interest to see if any political parties redress the cuts to arts funding, or challenge to conventional thinking on curriculum. Would be nice to see some debate at least.
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Part of the problem is that children are never bored these days, always a screen to watch or important messages to send.

I remember an interviewer asking David Bowie who or what inspired him to become a musician ...

... 'Nothing in particular, I was brought up on a dreary council estate and was bored stupid'.

I was dismayed to hear Sunak lecture us all on the critical importance of Maths, obviously a pet subject for him.

Personally I'd rather see young Brits be creative and lead the world in music,the arts, fashion, etc.
 
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Smug in Boots said:
Part of the problem is that children are never bored these days, always a screen to watch or important messages to send.

I remember an interviewer asking David Bowie who or what inspired him to become a musician ...

... 'Nothing in particular, I was brought up on a dreary council estate and was bored stupid'.

I was dismayed to hear Sunak lecture us all on the critical importance of Maths.

Personally I'd rather see young Brits be creative and lead the world in music,the arts, fashion, etc.
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I am not so sure how adults 20 years from now will value their maths based education to be honest. There is value, but not as much as the givt assume in my opinion.

I went to see a graphic art show at local uni a couple of weeks ago. Was absolutely blown away. Wasnt sure I would be up for it, but the level of creativity was immense. It was like a Dali display, mind boggling.

We have always been creative. Our music and literature history is outstanding. I hope we can encourage kids who have these talents to shine, because I dont think our current politicians are allowing our teachers to bring it out. All about targets and stats and bloody audits.
 
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FellTop said:
I am not so sure how adults 20 years from now will value their maths based education to be honest. There is value, but not as much as the givt assume in my opinion.

I went to see a graphic art show at local uni a couple of weeks ago. Was absolutely blown away. Wasnt sure I would be up for it, but the level of creativity was immense. It was like a Dali display, mind boggling.

We have always been creative. Our music and literature history is outstanding. I hope we can encourage kids who have these talents to shine, because I dont think our current politicians are allowing our teachers to bring it out. All about targets and stats and bloody audits.
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I very much doubt we'll keep pace with India, China, etc, where Maths, etc, are really pushed.
 
FellTop said:
My wife has just shown me an article in the Guardian about Britain becoming a cultural wasteland. It is based centrally around classical music and she is a classical musician and teacher so this is close to her heart and it is rare in our house not to hear the piano at some point in an evening (I am more of a 70s german electronic man, but they do say opposites attract). The essence of the article is that we are cutting the arts budget far too dramatically, other countries are actually increasing theirs. The sense is it is a political play because the arts appear to be an elitist thing and it is therefore ok to salami slice budgets, not enough voters care.

It certainly got me thinking. Whilst I am no classical musician I do love literature and art. It has the ability to stir the soul, for me anyway. I love the theatre. I recently went to see Julius Caesar at the RSC but it cost me £150 for two tickets, maddeningly. I imagine with less central funding the costs to access these things will become unaffordable to many, and that would be a crying shame I think. Surely we, as a country, need to preserve access to our cultural history, and of course allow the creation of new performing art to flourish.

I have a son who is a talented musician, apparently. He is at college now studying music. I wonder what his future holds. Will there be a place for kids who are more artistic in the future? The guardian article points to the way our school curriculum under values arts subjects now, in fact it almost discourages them. They arent in the modern ebac and arent in the ratings scores that schools are measured by. All about maths, science, language. I have tbought for a while those setting the national curriculum do so through their rear view mirror, not by looking forward. The sheer determination to push languages is at odds with how technology is going, if nothing else.

I will watch with interest to see if any political parties redress the cuts to arts funding, or challenge to conventional thinking on curriculum. Would be nice to see some debate at least.
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We're not allowed any culture, it's racist.
FellTop said:
Need to accept it apparently.
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I'm not. Maybe I got lucky - about bloody time. Got a new job on similar money, plus pension from the old job, plus reasonable rise this year.
 
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Not directly government related but I see the CMA has blocked the Microsoft takeover of Activision, they need the UK, EU and US to all approve the deal for it to pass. Could rock the boat with regards to Microsoft or Activision (or other large technology firms) looking at the UK for future projects especially after Sunak said he wants the UK to be a technology world leader.

I can see why there are some question marks around the deal, mainly PlayStation opposing it for example, but this is a multi billion industry and something we need to be getting involved in as a nation, will be interesting to see what comes of this.
 
<applause>

A 48-hour strike by nurses in England over the Bank Holiday weekend will be cut short by a day after a High Court judge ruled it was partly unlawful.

The walkout in a row over pay by the Royal College of Nursing, due to start on Sunday, will now end on Monday.

RCN chief Pat Cullen said this was "the darkest day" of the dispute so far and the government needed to negotiate.

Downing Street said it was "regrettable" the government had to go to court and it had tried to avoid it.
 
I’ve seen something on the news tonight about an independent MP. Previous allegations about him weren’t taken any further by the police and now more people have complained, apparently.


Interesting stuff.
 
Tory MP Laurence Robertson received a total of £60k from the betting and gaming council as an advisor and also £30k in donations.

This is all in relation to the new gambling white paper, it’s just modern day bribery in my opinion.
 
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Daz said:
Tory MP Laurence Robertson received a total of £60k from the betting and gaming council as an advisor and also £30k in donations.

This is all in relation to the new gambling white paper, it’s just modern day bribery in my opinion.
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If you are bored look through the register of interests of mps on gov.uk. Some mind boggling things really. Makes you wonder whether some of them have time to do their full time paid job as an MP to be honest.
 
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