Haha, I get plenty of flak at work for being from the fens (working in East London, my office is full of cockneys and Essex types), doesn't stop me throwing out 'bor' every now and again though!
Just to add my opinion I'm with DH on the community work, it'll certainly improve society as a whole and install some pride in people and the area they live, we wouldn't have so many run down areas for a starters. The education system needs to play a massive part though and I'd like to see a Citzenship/General Studies subject to become part of the curriculum. A lot of people are set up to fail with their home environment perhaps the school needs to step in to prevent future generations falling into poverty.
Just read through this and its nice to see the issue was actually discussed towards the end. I am not sure what the answer is but there was certainly some valid points raised on how we could tackle it. Unfortunately, I dont see anything changing soon. I get frustrated when I see people with all these things, I work for the NHS and times are certainly harder, staff are expected to do the same if not more with less and less staff (speaking specifically about community nurses and mental health nurses as these are the areas I know but I can imagine its the same for all service types). I think everyone shares the same views regarding benefits and understands the need for them but theres such frustration at those abusing the system.
I should get her indoors to field this one. She teaches RS (RE to us old uns) and they sort of tack on a citizenship bit on to that. But thatâs not what she would want to rant about. It is the target driven way in which schools are run. The primary schools have a vested interest in being rated highly and so they will aim to jump through certain hoops in order for that to happen. However one of the things that seems to seriously be missed is that a lot of kids are coming in to secondary school barely literate and way behind a necessary standard to just pick up and go with the secondary school syllabus. Surely there needs to be more focus in getting this right even if kids are held back a year or two. Secondly there is only so much a school can do. If a pupil is uninterested in their education and the parents are equally as non-plussed then what can a school/teacher do? We live in a world now where former pillars of the community are just not respected in the same way, teachers, police officers, all adults! just aren't respected by youngsters any more, that's because in the current mollycoddled society there is no discipline, if a teacher actually made a child cry through a slightly raised voice they would likely be in fear of some meat headed Neanderthal who's harder than all the other dads, coming in and attaching them. Too many adults have children who can do no wrong and are astonished if you question why they are smacking one of your possessions against the wall and act to stop it (Little sh#t!). To sum up schools can play a part, but it needs to be early. They are however toothless in the face of parents who know better or simply don't care! Bah!
I agree with you on this I see this all the time the kids KS2 SATS are often terrible and secondary gets left to carry the can. Now we have to track levels of progress from KS2 with each student needing to hit 1000 points, Value Added reports etc. It's a bit of a nightmare. I've got a huge spreadsheet into which KS2 results go, predicted grades from Fischer Family Trust D and their Current Level Of Progress and it then works out if they will hit their 1000 point target, the VA for the school, what EBacc they'll hit, points scores, avg point scores, capped point scores, point conversion from sublevels - Still mustn't moan keeps me in a job
I have to agree Supers... We all (most of us anyway) get a little carried away supporting our own team but this topic is actually regarding something far far bigger than football and silly internet forums.. and I don't think JWM's previous has anything to do with it. Many a hard working and honest grafter has been out on the ear, especially recently
That's fine as long as there are genuine jobs available.What you find with Tory governments though is that they have a tendency to want to supply free labour to their pals paid for by the taxpayer e.g. shelfstacking in Poundland.A bigger problemis the burgeoning part time sector where people get say 18 hours a week,about £110 at min wage rates.Then they don't qualify for any nenefits and just become working poor.Same as dole-wallahs but have to get up every day.
Morning all, just picked up the thread here and above post is excellent. I have been very fortunate to have never been out of work since leaving school at 16 in 1978. I earn a decent salary now but it hasn't always been that way and as I have gone through life getting up every morning to go to work, I have witnessed some around me that although they never seemed to work, always seemed to have just as much or more than me. This is what always irked me, especially as when times were tough bringing up two kids I had to give up plenty including my SKY TV ! I have no issue with anyone who claims benefits that they are genuinely entitled to it's what the system is there for (see Rich's post). We need a government that is strong enough to make the big decision to 'force' all able bodied people to work for any benefits that they claim, unfortunately that will never happen as the great unwashed will always vote for the party that is going to give them something for doing nothing. That's the 'catch 22', no political party is ever going to have such a radical policy within their manifesto as they know it would be political suicide, even the Conservative party would never consider it. Also, let's not forget that the European Court of Human Rights would probably prevent any such policy being allowed My own opinion for what it's worth, is an immediate and complete withdrawal from the EU so we can once again pass our own laws. The economic argument for staying within the EU doesn't hold up as other countries would always want to trade with us, can you imagine what Mercedes or BMW would say if they were told not to sell their cars in the UK? I know that's pretty simplistic but you get the gist. Anyway, that takes us onto another debate
WOW! Been away for a few days and come back to this! Good old Dave always defending his chums to the last! If you think that mass genocide is acceptable and is just merely banter then I have obviously misjudged you. The reason why I was annoyed by the OP is that there shouldn't be a stigma attached to claiming benefits when they are for a genuine need. The OP was trying to score cheap points because this TV documentary happened to be filmed in Ipswich when this could have been filmed in any Town or City up and down the UK! In my opinion this simply trivialises what is a deep social problem. Unemployment and disability, no matter where it is found, should not be used in this way and I fully agree with Maestro and indeed wish him all the best.
Not quite sure how "Bombing Ipswich" translates to mass genocide, especially as it was a flippant off the cuff remark to a question by you, but hey, like all top whingers, don't let fact get in the way of a good "look at how I've been wronged" routine!
Warky you took the bait and lost your temper. As for benefits knowing your political affiliation I can imagine you've made some non too brilliant comments in the past about the system.
Christ, I thought this thread had run its course a couple of days ago. Can it be closed if it's going to be dredged up again just to start another slanging match?
We have got the follow up programme to look forward to on Thursday! I agree this thread is about 5 pages too long!
Fair play to JWM, at least he tried to make some defence of Ipswich whereas all his other binner buddies haven't showed up. Perhaps they know exactly what a cesspit their town is.
