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Punters and Fox News say Harris won the debate – politicalbetting.com

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Comments

  • eekeek Posts: 28,585
    Sandpit said:

    algarkirk said:

    Dopermean said:

    Taz said:
    There’s a little bit of Telegraph exaggeration there. The head of the union is mooting a ballot on strike action. There’s nothing imminent.

    The union remains militant, but I’m not certain the membership is that eager for more strike action. But the union is right that the sector is in trouble. Undergrad fees remain frozen despite the inflation of recent years. It’s not rocket science: costs have gone up, but a major source of income hasn’t, so universities are in deficit.
    If they increase tuition fees further then there'll be a further decline in student numbers, they're also being rinsed for accommodation.
    From ES "Figures from Ucas (Universities and Colleges Admissions Service) show by the end of June 41.9% of all 18-year-olds in the UK had applied through their system – compared to 42.1% last year and 44.1% in 2022."
    I am very pro universities, but the idea that 40%+ of our 18 year olds should be even thinking of going to one is ludicrous. The way in which the entire media prioritise them as the route for young people is absurd and damaging, and must be contributing to the jobs crisis in unfashionable fields, the marginalisation of FE, and apprentices.
    I can't think of a country other than Britain where the idea that its young people are receiving too much education has so much traction. If you suggested this in Ireland people would think you were madder than Donald Trump.

    What is wrong with Britain?
    The problem isn’t the education, it’s the financial structures behind education which offer poor value for money and returns on the investment for too many students.
    For both many students and the taxpayers who have to cover the shortfall...
  • bondegezoubondegezou Posts: 11,421
    MattW said:

    eek said:

    MattW said:

    Taz said:
    There’s a little bit of Telegraph exaggeration there. The head of the union is mooting a ballot on strike action. There’s nothing imminent.

    The union remains militant, but I’m not certain the membership is that eager for more strike action. But the union is right that the sector is in trouble. Undergrad fees remain frozen despite the inflation of recent years. It’s not rocket science: costs have gone up, but a major source of income hasn’t, so universities are in deficit.
    Good morning everyone.

    I think this is an interesting one.

    Despite its squeezes, the university sector has had a long period relatively in the sun - meaning perhaps 25 years, compared to for example local authorities, public transport, the legal system, or defence.

    How will this play in a competition for scarce (or "find your own" resources)?

    Universities across the country have been milking the Student Accommodation cash-cow since 2000 or before, and heavily since ~2005-2010, and have also targeted intertnational student fees. What other income sources are available?
    I would want to see evidence to back up that claim

    The biggest providers in the market nowadays are private firms such as Unite, IQ or Student Roost all backed by pension funds.
    Which claim?

    I made several observations. I was also timed out with the following bonus bit:

    Domestic student fees are down afaics by about 35% in real terms since 2010 (£9000 then to £9250 now).
    Here are UCL’s figures for income: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/students/file/18765 Residences generate 3% of income. It’s not much of a cash cow!
  • MattW said:

    Taz said:
    There’s a little bit of Telegraph exaggeration there. The head of the union is mooting a ballot on strike action. There’s nothing imminent.

    The union remains militant, but I’m not certain the membership is that eager for more strike action. But the union is right that the sector is in trouble. Undergrad fees remain frozen despite the inflation of recent years. It’s not rocket science: costs have gone up, but a major source of income hasn’t, so universities are in deficit.
    Good morning everyone.

    I think this is an interesting one.

    Despite its squeezes, the university sector has had a long period relatively in the sun - meaning perhaps 25 years, compared to for example local authorities, public transport, the legal system, or defence.

    How will this play in a competition for scarce (or "find your own" resources)?

    Universities across the country have been milking the Student Accommodation cash-cow since 2000 or before, and heavily since ~2005-2010, and have also targeted intertnational student fees. What other income sources are available?
    Open up university exam certification to anyone paying the (reasonable) costs of the exam. Let them get the tuition where and when they want, how they want and from whoever they want. Job done.
  • kamskikamski Posts: 5,208
    MattW said:

    eek said:

    MattW said:

    Taz said:
    There’s a little bit of Telegraph exaggeration there. The head of the union is mooting a ballot on strike action. There’s nothing imminent.

    The union remains militant, but I’m not certain the membership is that eager for more strike action. But the union is right that the sector is in trouble. Undergrad fees remain frozen despite the inflation of recent years. It’s not rocket science: costs have gone up, but a major source of income hasn’t, so universities are in deficit.
    Good morning everyone.

    I think this is an interesting one.

    Despite its squeezes, the university sector has had a long period relatively in the sun - meaning perhaps 25 years, compared to for example local authorities, public transport, the legal system, or defence.

    How will this play in a competition for scarce (or "find your own" resources)?

    Universities across the country have been milking the Student Accommodation cash-cow since 2000 or before, and heavily since ~2005-2010, and have also targeted intertnational student fees. What other income sources are available?
    I would want to see evidence to back up that claim

    The biggest providers in the market nowadays are private firms such as Unite, IQ or Student Roost all backed by pension funds.
    Which claim?

    I made several observations. I was also timed out with the following bonus bit:

    Domestic student fees are down afaics by about 35% in real terms since 2010 (£9000 then to £9250 now).
    student fees were 3290 GBP in 2010
  • bondegezoubondegezou Posts: 11,421
    Sandpit said:

    algarkirk said:

    Dopermean said:

    Taz said:
    There’s a little bit of Telegraph exaggeration there. The head of the union is mooting a ballot on strike action. There’s nothing imminent.

    The union remains militant, but I’m not certain the membership is that eager for more strike action. But the union is right that the sector is in trouble. Undergrad fees remain frozen despite the inflation of recent years. It’s not rocket science: costs have gone up, but a major source of income hasn’t, so universities are in deficit.
    If they increase tuition fees further then there'll be a further decline in student numbers, they're also being rinsed for accommodation.
    From ES "Figures from Ucas (Universities and Colleges Admissions Service) show by the end of June 41.9% of all 18-year-olds in the UK had applied through their system – compared to 42.1% last year and 44.1% in 2022."
    I am very pro universities, but the idea that 40%+ of our 18 year olds should be even thinking of going to one is ludicrous. The way in which the entire media prioritise them as the route for young people is absurd and damaging, and must be contributing to the jobs crisis in unfashionable fields, the marginalisation of FE, and apprentices.
    I can't think of a country other than Britain where the idea that its young people are receiving too much education has so much traction. If you suggested this in Ireland people would think you were madder than Donald Trump.

    What is wrong with Britain?
    The problem isn’t the education, it’s the financial structures behind education which offer poor value for money and returns on the investment for too many students.

    It’s a sector that should be ripe for disruption with technology.
    https://migrationobservatory.ox.ac.uk/resources/briefings/student-migration-to-the-uk/

    “The UK was the second most popular destination worldwide for international students in 2021, behind the United States. According to data from UNESCO, the UK had a 9% global market share, attracting around 600,000 tertiary students from around the world (this includes all those in higher education, as well as students on other post-secondary courses). By comparison, the US attracted around 833,000 international students in the same year, or 13% of the total. This marks a return to historical patterns after a brief period in 2018-19 when Australia approached and then surpassed the UK”

    So, international students seem to think the UK is a good choice, suggesting we’re not offering poor value for money.
  • DopermeanDopermean Posts: 620
    eek said:

    Sandpit said:

    algarkirk said:

    Dopermean said:

    Taz said:
    There’s a little bit of Telegraph exaggeration there. The head of the union is mooting a ballot on strike action. There’s nothing imminent.

    The union remains militant, but I’m not certain the membership is that eager for more strike action. But the union is right that the sector is in trouble. Undergrad fees remain frozen despite the inflation of recent years. It’s not rocket science: costs have gone up, but a major source of income hasn’t, so universities are in deficit.
    If they increase tuition fees further then there'll be a further decline in student numbers, they're also being rinsed for accommodation.
    From ES "Figures from Ucas (Universities and Colleges Admissions Service) show by the end of June 41.9% of all 18-year-olds in the UK had applied through their system – compared to 42.1% last year and 44.1% in 2022."
    I am very pro universities, but the idea that 40%+ of our 18 year olds should be even thinking of going to one is ludicrous. The way in which the entire media prioritise them as the route for young people is absurd and damaging, and must be contributing to the jobs crisis in unfashionable fields, the marginalisation of FE, and apprentices.
    I can't think of a country other than Britain where the idea that its young people are receiving too much education has so much traction. If you suggested this in Ireland people would think you were madder than Donald Trump.

    What is wrong with Britain?
    The problem isn’t the education, it’s the financial structures behind education which offer poor value for money and returns on the investment for too many students.
    For both many students and the taxpayers who have to cover the shortfall...
    That was the plan wasn't it? The creation of a guaranteed income stream returning more than RPI with almost zero risk and HMRC administering the debt collection.
  • StillWatersStillWaters Posts: 8,443
    Foxy said:

    Roger said:

    Taylor Swift photographed with a cat was perfectly timed. The animal story has to have finished him. He sounded insane. Great day for cats and ladies!

    She even signed her endorsement "childless cat lady" 🤣

    https://x.com/abbydphillip/status/1833703421360198026?t=zVdVrOMdbpc6yJHD5Iz5cg&s=19
    It was a very well written piece. It also comes across as authenticity her “voice”
  • bondegezoubondegezou Posts: 11,421

    Sandpit said:

    The debate moderator had to actually state that it is the case that "there is no state in USA where it is legal to kill a baby after it has been born".

    America has lost its mind.

    This is the video to which Trump referred, from the previous governor of Virginia.

    https://x.com/hodgetwins/status/1833678649632915621

    It’s quite a famous video in American pro-life circles.

    Here’s a BBC article about the 2019 Virginia abortion bill.
    Headline “Virginia late-term abortion bill labelled 'infanticide' ”
    https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-47066307
    What the governor of Virginia is saying, albeit not very well, is what happens if a baby is born who is not viable. Do you then resuscitate or not resuscitate? He then explains how that decision is taking by the parents and the physicians. It is a horrible situation and one that warrants our utmost sympathy. It is not infanticide and should not be used as a political football.

    Your BBC headline shows that the right have been throwing around the term “infanticide” for many years. It doesn’t show that infanticide is legal. There is no state in USA where it is legal to kill a baby after it has been born.

    By the way, do you still believe the pet-eating immigrant story too?
    Next presidential cycle they will have the brilliant idea of merging the two stories and accusing the dems of baby eating, after some Governer of a coastal state is heard to enjoy eating jelly babies.
    You joke, but the more extreme MAGA crowd do often toy with blood libel, baby eating stories.
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 72,173

    It was that bad that Nigel Farage is flying out again tomorrow!

    https://x.com/brexit_sham/status/1833737950368051267

    Trump needs an emotional support animal ?
  • MarqueeMarkMarqueeMark Posts: 52,934
    Nigelb said:

    Who had Harris coming out as a gun owner on their debate bingo cards ?

    Concealed carry is probably required for self-preservation as a US prosecutor though.
  • RogerRoger Posts: 19,970
    Nigelb said:

    Roger said:

    Taylor Swift photographed with a cat was perfectly timed. The animal story has to have finished him. He sounded insane. Great day for cats and ladies!

    I'm cynical enough* to wonder if the campaign asked her to hold back the endorsement until after the debate.
    As either damage control, or, as it turns out now, the cherry on the cake.

    *And sufficiently impressed by how well the campaign has been managed.
    I'm certain they did and what a cherry on the cake! In fact two cherries on the cake. The insane story about immigrants eating family pets and Taylor photographed with a cat.

    So a big arrow pointing at a pretty weird twosome
  • eekeek Posts: 28,585

    MattW said:

    Taz said:
    There’s a little bit of Telegraph exaggeration there. The head of the union is mooting a ballot on strike action. There’s nothing imminent.

    The union remains militant, but I’m not certain the membership is that eager for more strike action. But the union is right that the sector is in trouble. Undergrad fees remain frozen despite the inflation of recent years. It’s not rocket science: costs have gone up, but a major source of income hasn’t, so universities are in deficit.
    Good morning everyone.

    I think this is an interesting one.

    Despite its squeezes, the university sector has had a long period relatively in the sun - meaning perhaps 25 years, compared to for example local authorities, public transport, the legal system, or defence.

    How will this play in a competition for scarce (or "find your own" resources)?

    Universities across the country have been milking the Student Accommodation cash-cow since 2000 or before, and heavily since ~2005-2010, and have also targeted intertnational student fees. What other income sources are available?
    Open up university exam certification to anyone paying the (reasonable) costs of the exam. Let them get the tuition where and when they want, how they want and from whoever they want. Job done.
    That's what the real cost of the degree is - the certificate from X university saying you got that degree.

    The lessons without the exams can be found on the internet for peanuts..
  • algarkirkalgarkirk Posts: 12,857
    The great David Allan Green showing how Ms Swift reaches everywhere, is omni-competent and is better at advocacy than all the silks lined up together, giving a masterclass here, + nice pic of a cat.

    https://davidallengreen.com/2024/09/how-taylor-swifts-endorsement-of-harris-and-walz-is-a-masterpiece-of-persuasive-prose-a-songwriters-practical-lesson-in-written-advocacy/

    (Trump is still going to win.)
  • kjhkjh Posts: 11,932
    edited September 11

    It was that bad that Nigel Farage is flying out again tomorrow!

    https://x.com/brexit_sham/status/1833737950368051267

    Not that anyone would dare to skip past a @TheScreamingEagles post but really if you haven't seen the video and the expression on the dog's face in the parallel video you must look at it. It had both myself and my wife in stitches.
  • eek said:

    MattW said:

    Taz said:
    There’s a little bit of Telegraph exaggeration there. The head of the union is mooting a ballot on strike action. There’s nothing imminent.

    The union remains militant, but I’m not certain the membership is that eager for more strike action. But the union is right that the sector is in trouble. Undergrad fees remain frozen despite the inflation of recent years. It’s not rocket science: costs have gone up, but a major source of income hasn’t, so universities are in deficit.
    Good morning everyone.

    I think this is an interesting one.

    Despite its squeezes, the university sector has had a long period relatively in the sun - meaning perhaps 25 years, compared to for example local authorities, public transport, the legal system, or defence.

    How will this play in a competition for scarce (or "find your own" resources)?

    Universities across the country have been milking the Student Accommodation cash-cow since 2000 or before, and heavily since ~2005-2010, and have also targeted intertnational student fees. What other income sources are available?
    Open up university exam certification to anyone paying the (reasonable) costs of the exam. Let them get the tuition where and when they want, how they want and from whoever they want. Job done.
    That's what the real cost of the degree is - the certificate from X university saying you got that degree.

    The lessons without the exams can be found on the internet for peanuts..
    Well if the students can learn what they need to for peanuts, then efficiency dictates thats what should happen. It won't be the case for all subjects, and some will choose in person ahead of online regardless, but reform is needed.
  • HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 123,864
    kamski said:

    moonshine said:

    Taylor Swift’s endorsement of Harris is just pitch perfect. And signing off as Childless Cat Lady the chef’s kiss.

    Lady is all class.

    And Musk’s subsequent offer to impregnate her just put all that into relief.

    Nothing has changed my view that the 5th of November will be a blowout for Harris.

    How many voters are there that care about Taylor
    Swift’s voting preference that would not already be voting democrat? It’s more a fleeting morale boost to the campaigners than a game changer surely. The Liz Cheney endorsement feels far more impactful to me.
    Heard it stated research showed that Oprah Winfrey's endorsement of Obama was worth 3 million votes to him.

    Trump is all about celebrity. The fuel for his ego. It is why he is so thin-skinned about who has the bigger rallies. If an even bigger celebrity wades in to endorse his opponent, it will be the only thing he takes from the debate night. It will enrage him.

    Hopefully, America is about to change channels and stop watching him. (I think where he really lost it and never recovered his composure was when Harris goaded him about being fired by the voters. "I'm the only one who gets to say who gets fired!! That's me! Me!!!")

    Donald - you're fired from Celebrity World. Go directly to jail. Do not grab any pussy....
    Winfrey's endorsement helped Obama win the primaries. She first endorsed him when he was a very long shot to become Democratic nominee. I believe the 'worth millions of votes' research applies to the primaries.

    I sometimes think that the US and the world might be currently a lot better off if Oprah hadn't endorsed Obama, and instead Hillary Clinton had won the 2008 presidential election. For one thing, she might have imposed a no-fly-zone over Syria, saving a lot of civilian lives and not emboldening Russia. We might have avoided a Russian invasion of Ukraine and also president Trump.
    On the other hand she might also have supported toppling Assad and risked ISIS taking over Syria
  • MarqueeMarkMarqueeMark Posts: 52,934

    Hope PBers enjoyed eating their pets for brekkie :lol:

    Never eat a hot dog before lunch time is my credo.

    (Actually, it's never eat a hot dog. They are foul. Including the bun.)
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 72,173
    kamski said:

    Foxy said:

    Roger said:

    Taylor Swift photographed with a cat was perfectly timed. The animal story has to have finished him. He sounded insane. Great day for cats and ladies!

    She even signed her endorsement "childless cat lady" 🤣

    https://x.com/abbydphillip/status/1833703421360198026?t=zVdVrOMdbpc6yJHD5Iz5cg&s=19
    Actually smart that she implies that she has had to tell people who she's voting for because of misinformation from Trump about how she is supporting him.
    Smarter still, in that she spends a fair amount of effort explaining the importance of registering to vote.
    Now that might just garner a few thousand more votes.
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 72,173
    My post debate flutter is a few quid on Florida at 6/1.
    DYOR, but it looks good value to me as a trading bet.
  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 51,082

    Hope PBers enjoyed eating their pets for brekkie :lol:

    Never eat a hot dog before lunch time is my credo.

    (Actually, it's never eat a hot dog. They are foul. Including the bun.)
    A good quality hot dog is like having a good quality burger* - "Ah, *this* is what they meant".

    *I remember a pre-flood New Orleans diner I was recommended to go to. You sat at the bar - your server worked on the hotplate in front of you. The first thing was picking your steak from a board brought out of the fridge. Which was then minced in front of you..... The whole thing was hand built from good ingredients.
  • DavidLDavidL Posts: 54,012
    Jonathan said:

    HYUFD said:

    It looks like Harris did win this debate then based on the post debate snap polls.

    However I doubt it makes much difference to the polling. Hillary Clinton won every debate with Trump in 2016 and his voteshare was little changed and it was much the same in 2020 when a pre dementia Biden won his debates with Trump too.

    However if Harris can squeeze more Independents into her camp after her debate win it could help her a little in swing states

    But the thing that was different with the Clinton debates is she made the fatal error of essentially trying to engage with him rationally. No matter what the post debate analysis said, the key moment in those debates was the “because you’d be in jail” comeback which I think was probably the only real cut-through.

    Harris’s tactic of needling Trump about things like rally sizes and basically showing his thin skin is really showing the best way to fight him. Attack his ego, don’t try and play the policy ball too heavily. If you’ve annoyed him, it hands him a lot of rope to come out with something odd.
    She was well prepared. I appreciate how she battled on his turf from the get go getting under his skin.

    I smell the influence of Pete Buttigieg.
    Probably on the soundbites too. "DT was fired by 81m Americans and he seems, we can all see, to be having trouble processing that." I mean, ouch.

    It will be interesting to see what role he gets if Harris wins. He has done a good job on infrastructure but surely something more high profile awaits.
  • eekeek Posts: 28,585
    theProle said:

    algarkirk said:

    Dopermean said:

    Taz said:
    There’s a little bit of Telegraph exaggeration there. The head of the union is mooting a ballot on strike action. There’s nothing imminent.

    The union remains militant, but I’m not certain the membership is that eager for more strike action. But the union is right that the sector is in trouble. Undergrad fees remain frozen despite the inflation of recent years. It’s not rocket science: costs have gone up, but a major source of income hasn’t, so universities are in deficit.
    If they increase tuition fees further then there'll be a further decline in student numbers, they're also being rinsed for accommodation.
    From ES "Figures from Ucas (Universities and Colleges Admissions Service) show by the end of June 41.9% of all 18-year-olds in the UK had applied through their system – compared to 42.1% last year and 44.1% in 2022."
    I am very pro universities, but the idea that 40%+ of our 18 year olds should be even thinking of going to one is ludicrous. The way in which the entire media prioritise them as the route for young people is absurd and damaging, and must be contributing to the jobs crisis in unfashionable fields, the marginalisation of FE, and apprentices.
    I can't think of a country other than Britain where the idea that its young people are receiving too much education has so much traction. If you suggested this in Ireland people would think you were madder than Donald Trump.

    What is wrong with Britain?
    Take this argument to it's logical conclusion - if full time education is so good for us, we should all remain in full time education until we are 50, or even 70. Just think what an amazing workforce the country would have, all these brilliant educated minds...

    The reality is that time spent in education is not free - it's years of life not spent doing something else. If you enter the labour force at 22, and retire at 65, that's 43 years. The four years from 18-22 are almost ten percent of your working life. Imagine what the country could do with 10% more workers and no extra costs (it might solve the "need" for the mass immigration Ponzi scheme)

    I didn't go to university, and spent the equivalent part of my life doing relatively menial jobs in a factory (although as I grew up I took on supervisory roles). I'm now at the age of 37 running a successful small business, currently employing 5 people. Having just looked it up, I'm earning just under the 90th percentile of the income distribution (and not in the outrageously overpriced South East either, unlike most such high earners).

    A lot of my success comes from what I learnt (particularly about human nature) during the 5 years I worked in that factory. I had the grades to go to uni. I had a fees paid scholarship to do physics at Aberystwyth. Had I done that, I think it's very likely I would have either dropped out or got a poor grade, followed by a menial job - Although I was very bright, and academically able, I didn't like being academic and I didn't at that age have the drive and work ethic required.

    IMHO 90% of young people would actually learn more useful stuff going into the workforce at 18, rather than spending 3-4 years and £50-100k for a system that basically amounts to credentialism, so they can get a "graduate level" job. And as a bonus, they would be economically productive for those 3-4 years, rather than just a net drain.
    You forget that the reason Labour increased student numbers was to manage youth unemployment numbers.
  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 51,082
    edited September 11

    Sandpit said:

    The debate moderator had to actually state that it is the case that "there is no state in USA where it is legal to kill a baby after it has been born".

    America has lost its mind.

    This is the video to which Trump referred, from the previous governor of Virginia.

    https://x.com/hodgetwins/status/1833678649632915621

    It’s quite a famous video in American pro-life circles.

    Here’s a BBC article about the 2019 Virginia abortion bill.
    Headline “Virginia late-term abortion bill labelled 'infanticide' ”
    https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-47066307
    What the governor of Virginia is saying, albeit not very well, is what happens if a baby is born who is not viable. Do you then resuscitate or not resuscitate? He then explains how that decision is taking by the parents and the physicians. It is a horrible situation and one that warrants our utmost sympathy. It is not infanticide and should not be used as a political football.

    Your BBC headline shows that the right have been throwing around the term “infanticide” for many years. It doesn’t show that infanticide is legal. There is no state in USA where it is legal to kill a baby after it has been born.

    By the way, do you still believe the pet-eating immigrant story too?
    Next presidential cycle they will have the brilliant idea of merging the two stories and accusing the dems of baby eating, after some Governer of a coastal state is heard to enjoy eating jelly babies.
    You joke, but the more extreme MAGA crowd do often toy with blood libel, baby eating stories.
    "more extreme MAGA crowd do often toy with promulgate blood libel, baby eating stories."

    Fixed that for you.
  • MattWMattW Posts: 23,882
    eek said:

    MattW said:

    eek said:

    MattW said:

    Taz said:
    There’s a little bit of Telegraph exaggeration there. The head of the union is mooting a ballot on strike action. There’s nothing imminent.

    The union remains militant, but I’m not certain the membership is that eager for more strike action. But the union is right that the sector is in trouble. Undergrad fees remain frozen despite the inflation of recent years. It’s not rocket science: costs have gone up, but a major source of income hasn’t, so universities are in deficit.
    Good morning everyone.

    I think this is an interesting one.

    Despite its squeezes, the university sector has had a long period relatively in the sun - meaning perhaps 25 years, compared to for example local authorities, public transport, the legal system, or defence.

    How will this play in a competition for scarce (or "find your own" resources)?

    Universities across the country have been milking the Student Accommodation cash-cow since 2000 or before, and heavily since ~2005-2010, and have also targeted intertnational student fees. What other income sources are available?
    I would want to see evidence to back up that claim

    The biggest providers in the market nowadays are private firms such as Unite, IQ or Student Roost all backed by pension funds.
    Which claim?

    I made several observations. I was also timed out with the following bonus bit:

    Domestic student fees are down afaics by about 35% in real terms since 2010 (£9000 then to £9250 now).
    The claim that Universities are milking the accommodation cash-cow. It's not universities who are the real offenders there...
    OK. Looked up the actual numbers for tuition fee caps in England.

    2006-7 £3000 per year cap
    2012-13 £9000 per year cap
    2017-18 £9250 per year cap
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_tuition_fees_in_the_United_Kingdom

    CPI Inflation:

    2006-2012 20.2%
    2012-2017 7.6%
    2017-2024 (April) 29.1%

    BoE CPI calculator

    (External factors are other funding sources and how they change)





  • mercatormercator Posts: 815
    Roger said:

    Nigelb said:

    Roger said:

    Taylor Swift photographed with a cat was perfectly timed. The animal story has to have finished him. He sounded insane. Great day for cats and ladies!

    I'm cynical enough* to wonder if the campaign asked her to hold back the endorsement until after the debate.
    As either damage control, or, as it turns out now, the cherry on the cake.

    *And sufficiently impressed by how well the campaign has been managed.
    I'm certain they did and what a cherry on the cake! In fact two cherries on the cake. The insane story about immigrants eating family pets and Taylor photographed with a cat.

    So a big arrow pointing at a pretty weird twosome
    Roger said:

    Nigelb said:

    Roger said:

    Taylor Swift photographed with a cat was perfectly timed. The animal story has to have finished him. He sounded insane. Great day for cats and ladies!

    I'm cynical enough* to wonder if the campaign asked her to hold back the endorsement until after the debate.
    As either damage control, or, as it turns out now, the cherry on the cake.

    *And sufficiently impressed by how well the campaign has been managed.
    I'm certain they did and what a cherry on the cake! In fact two cherries on the cake. The insane story about immigrants eating family pets and Taylor photographed with a cat.

    So a big arrow pointing at a pretty weird twosome
    I think trump's comeback to the moderators about Springfield is pretty good. The city manager is responsible for policing and for the good reputation of the city, so he's hardly going to admit to an out of control cat eating problem.
  • DavidLDavidL Posts: 54,012
    If there was any doubt at all about who won the debate look at the value of DJT stock: https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/DJT/
    It has fallen another 11% overnight.

    He better watch, if the share price falls below $14 he is not allowed to sell it.
  • theProletheProle Posts: 1,226
    eek said:

    theProle said:

    algarkirk said:

    Dopermean said:

    Taz said:
    There’s a little bit of Telegraph exaggeration there. The head of the union is mooting a ballot on strike action. There’s nothing imminent.

    The union remains militant, but I’m not certain the membership is that eager for more strike action. But the union is right that the sector is in trouble. Undergrad fees remain frozen despite the inflation of recent years. It’s not rocket science: costs have gone up, but a major source of income hasn’t, so universities are in deficit.
    If they increase tuition fees further then there'll be a further decline in student numbers, they're also being rinsed for accommodation.
    From ES "Figures from Ucas (Universities and Colleges Admissions Service) show by the end of June 41.9% of all 18-year-olds in the UK had applied through their system – compared to 42.1% last year and 44.1% in 2022."
    I am very pro universities, but the idea that 40%+ of our 18 year olds should be even thinking of going to one is ludicrous. The way in which the entire media prioritise them as the route for young people is absurd and damaging, and must be contributing to the jobs crisis in unfashionable fields, the marginalisation of FE, and apprentices.
    I can't think of a country other than Britain where the idea that its young people are receiving too much education has so much traction. If you suggested this in Ireland people would think you were madder than Donald Trump.

    What is wrong with Britain?
    Take this argument to it's logical conclusion - if full time education is so good for us, we should all remain in full time education until we are 50, or even 70. Just think what an amazing workforce the country would have, all these brilliant educated minds...

    The reality is that time spent in education is not free - it's years of life not spent doing something else. If you enter the labour force at 22, and retire at 65, that's 43 years. The four years from 18-22 are almost ten percent of your working life. Imagine what the country could do with 10% more workers and no extra costs (it might solve the "need" for the mass immigration Ponzi scheme)

    I didn't go to university, and spent the equivalent part of my life doing relatively menial jobs in a factory (although as I grew up I took on supervisory roles). I'm now at the age of 37 running a successful small business, currently employing 5 people. Having just looked it up, I'm earning just under the 90th percentile of the income distribution (and not in the outrageously overpriced South East either, unlike most such high earners).

    A lot of my success comes from what I learnt (particularly about human nature) during the 5 years I worked in that factory. I had the grades to go to uni. I had a fees paid scholarship to do physics at Aberystwyth. Had I done that, I think it's very likely I would have either dropped out or got a poor grade, followed by a menial job - Although I was very bright, and academically able, I didn't like being academic and I didn't at that age have the drive and work ethic required.

    IMHO 90% of young people would actually learn more useful stuff going into the workforce at 18, rather than spending 3-4 years and £50-100k for a system that basically amounts to credentialism, so they can get a "graduate level" job. And as a bonus, they would be economically productive for those 3-4 years, rather than just a net drain.
    You forget that the reason Labour increased student numbers was to manage youth unemployment numbers.
    Hardly a problem at the moment, when we apparently need to import hundreds of thousands of fairly low skilled immigrants because we have full employment...
  • bondegezoubondegezou Posts: 11,421
    MattW said:

    eek said:

    MattW said:

    eek said:

    MattW said:

    Taz said:
    There’s a little bit of Telegraph exaggeration there. The head of the union is mooting a ballot on strike action. There’s nothing imminent.

    The union remains militant, but I’m not certain the membership is that eager for more strike action. But the union is right that the sector is in trouble. Undergrad fees remain frozen despite the inflation of recent years. It’s not rocket science: costs have gone up, but a major source of income hasn’t, so universities are in deficit.
    Good morning everyone.

    I think this is an interesting one.

    Despite its squeezes, the university sector has had a long period relatively in the sun - meaning perhaps 25 years, compared to for example local authorities, public transport, the legal system, or defence.

    How will this play in a competition for scarce (or "find your own" resources)?

    Universities across the country have been milking the Student Accommodation cash-cow since 2000 or before, and heavily since ~2005-2010, and have also targeted intertnational student fees. What other income sources are available?
    I would want to see evidence to back up that claim

    The biggest providers in the market nowadays are private firms such as Unite, IQ or Student Roost all backed by pension funds.
    Which claim?

    I made several observations. I was also timed out with the following bonus bit:

    Domestic student fees are down afaics by about 35% in real terms since 2010 (£9000 then to £9250 now).
    The claim that Universities are milking the accommodation cash-cow. It's not universities who are the real offenders there...
    OK. Looked up the actual numbers for tuition fee caps in England.

    2006-7 £3000 per year cap
    2012-13 £9000 per year cap
    2017-18 £9250 per year cap
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_tuition_fees_in_the_United_Kingdom

    CPI Inflation:

    2006-2012 20.2%
    2012-2017 7.6%
    2017-2024 (April) 29.1%

    BoE CPI calculator

    (External factors are other funding sources and how they change)

    Yes, the Tories greatly increased tuition fees. We know this. This wasn’t much extra income for universities however because the Tories cut the money government gave them.
  • malcolmgmalcolmg Posts: 43,495

    Taz said:
    There’s a little bit of Telegraph exaggeration there. The head of the union is mooting a ballot on strike action. There’s nothing imminent.

    The union remains militant, but I’m not certain the membership is that eager for more strike action. But the union is right that the sector is in trouble. Undergrad fees remain frozen despite the inflation of recent years. It’s not rocket science: costs have gone up, but a major source of income hasn’t, so universities are in deficit.
    Worse than that, actually.

    In recent years, Universities have been encouraged/expected to pay their way by taking on lots of foreign students on massive fees.

    Which was sort of fine until people looked at the consequences for immigration stats.

    Oh, and good-but-not-stellar universities have expanded like crazy to get more income to support their fixed costs, often more than they can really support. Which in turn has made life hell for the OK universities.

    And even if you think the university system is too big, few people want their local campus to close, or their (grand)child to miss out.
    The obvious answer to that is to reverse May's idiotic decision to include students in the immigration numbers.
    They could also ignore the borrowing in debt numbers , all would be tickety boo.
  • algarkirk said:

    Dopermean said:

    Taz said:
    There’s a little bit of Telegraph exaggeration there. The head of the union is mooting a ballot on strike action. There’s nothing imminent.

    The union remains militant, but I’m not certain the membership is that eager for more strike action. But the union is right that the sector is in trouble. Undergrad fees remain frozen despite the inflation of recent years. It’s not rocket science: costs have gone up, but a major source of income hasn’t, so universities are in deficit.
    If they increase tuition fees further then there'll be a further decline in student numbers, they're also being rinsed for accommodation.
    From ES "Figures from Ucas (Universities and Colleges Admissions Service) show by the end of June 41.9% of all 18-year-olds in the UK had applied through their system – compared to 42.1% last year and 44.1% in 2022."
    I am very pro universities, but the idea that 40%+ of our 18 year olds should be even thinking of going to one is ludicrous. The way in which the entire media prioritise them as the route for young people is absurd and damaging, and must be contributing to the jobs crisis in unfashionable fields, the marginalisation of FE, and apprentices.
    I can't think of a country other than Britain where the idea that its young people are receiving too much education has so much traction. If you suggested this in Ireland people would think you were madder than Donald Trump.

    What is wrong with Britain?
    That depends on how useful that education is and how much it costs (and time is also a cost).

    An education is not the same thing as a skillset. Or real world experience.
  • bondegezoubondegezou Posts: 11,421
    mercator said:

    Roger said:

    Nigelb said:

    Roger said:

    Taylor Swift photographed with a cat was perfectly timed. The animal story has to have finished him. He sounded insane. Great day for cats and ladies!

    I'm cynical enough* to wonder if the campaign asked her to hold back the endorsement until after the debate.
    As either damage control, or, as it turns out now, the cherry on the cake.

    *And sufficiently impressed by how well the campaign has been managed.
    I'm certain they did and what a cherry on the cake! In fact two cherries on the cake. The insane story about immigrants eating family pets and Taylor photographed with a cat.

    So a big arrow pointing at a pretty weird twosome
    Roger said:

    Nigelb said:

    Roger said:

    Taylor Swift photographed with a cat was perfectly timed. The animal story has to have finished him. He sounded insane. Great day for cats and ladies!

    I'm cynical enough* to wonder if the campaign asked her to hold back the endorsement until after the debate.
    As either damage control, or, as it turns out now, the cherry on the cake.

    *And sufficiently impressed by how well the campaign has been managed.
    I'm certain they did and what a cherry on the cake! In fact two cherries on the cake. The insane story about immigrants eating family pets and Taylor photographed with a cat.

    So a big arrow pointing at a pretty weird twosome
    I think trump's comeback to the moderators about Springfield is pretty good. The city manager is responsible for policing and for the good reputation of the city, so he's hardly going to admit to an out of control cat eating problem.
    But you do know that it’s not true? It’s grade A bollocks from the people who gave us Jewish space lasers and pizzagate.
  • malcolmgmalcolmg Posts: 43,495

    Dopermean said:

    Taz said:
    There’s a little bit of Telegraph exaggeration there. The head of the union is mooting a ballot on strike action. There’s nothing imminent.

    The union remains militant, but I’m not certain the membership is that eager for more strike action. But the union is right that the sector is in trouble. Undergrad fees remain frozen despite the inflation of recent years. It’s not rocket science: costs have gone up, but a major source of income hasn’t, so universities are in deficit.
    If they increase tuition fees further then there'll be a further decline in student numbers, they're also being rinsed for accommodation.
    From ES "Figures from Ucas (Universities and Colleges Admissions Service) show by the end of June 41.9% of all 18-year-olds in the UK had applied through their system – compared to 42.1% last year and 44.1% in 2022."
    Good morning

    When I left school in 1960 just 4% went to university
    They are a big ponzi scheme nowadays G
  • mercator said:

    Roger said:

    Nigelb said:

    Roger said:

    Taylor Swift photographed with a cat was perfectly timed. The animal story has to have finished him. He sounded insane. Great day for cats and ladies!

    I'm cynical enough* to wonder if the campaign asked her to hold back the endorsement until after the debate.
    As either damage control, or, as it turns out now, the cherry on the cake.

    *And sufficiently impressed by how well the campaign has been managed.
    I'm certain they did and what a cherry on the cake! In fact two cherries on the cake. The insane story about immigrants eating family pets and Taylor photographed with a cat.

    So a big arrow pointing at a pretty weird twosome
    Roger said:

    Nigelb said:

    Roger said:

    Taylor Swift photographed with a cat was perfectly timed. The animal story has to have finished him. He sounded insane. Great day for cats and ladies!

    I'm cynical enough* to wonder if the campaign asked her to hold back the endorsement until after the debate.
    As either damage control, or, as it turns out now, the cherry on the cake.

    *And sufficiently impressed by how well the campaign has been managed.
    I'm certain they did and what a cherry on the cake! In fact two cherries on the cake. The insane story about immigrants eating family pets and Taylor photographed with a cat.

    So a big arrow pointing at a pretty weird twosome
    I think trump's comeback to the moderators about Springfield is pretty good. The city manager is responsible for policing and for the good reputation of the city, so he's hardly going to admit to an out of control cat eating problem.
    But you do know that it’s not true? It’s grade A bollocks from the people who gave us Jewish space lasers and pizzagate.
    Is a Jewish space laser any good at dividing a pizza?
  • eekeek Posts: 28,585
    MattW said:

    eek said:

    MattW said:

    eek said:

    MattW said:

    Taz said:
    There’s a little bit of Telegraph exaggeration there. The head of the union is mooting a ballot on strike action. There’s nothing imminent.

    The union remains militant, but I’m not certain the membership is that eager for more strike action. But the union is right that the sector is in trouble. Undergrad fees remain frozen despite the inflation of recent years. It’s not rocket science: costs have gone up, but a major source of income hasn’t, so universities are in deficit.
    Good morning everyone.

    I think this is an interesting one.

    Despite its squeezes, the university sector has had a long period relatively in the sun - meaning perhaps 25 years, compared to for example local authorities, public transport, the legal system, or defence.

    How will this play in a competition for scarce (or "find your own" resources)?

    Universities across the country have been milking the Student Accommodation cash-cow since 2000 or before, and heavily since ~2005-2010, and have also targeted intertnational student fees. What other income sources are available?
    I would want to see evidence to back up that claim

    The biggest providers in the market nowadays are private firms such as Unite, IQ or Student Roost all backed by pension funds.
    Which claim?

    I made several observations. I was also timed out with the following bonus bit:

    Domestic student fees are down afaics by about 35% in real terms since 2010 (£9000 then to £9250 now).
    The claim that Universities are milking the accommodation cash-cow. It's not universities who are the real offenders there...
    OK. Looked up the actual numbers for tuition fee caps in England.

    2006-7 £3000 per year cap
    2012-13 £9000 per year cap
    2017-18 £9250 per year cap
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_tuition_fees_in_the_United_Kingdom

    CPI Inflation:

    2006-2012 20.2%
    2012-2017 7.6%
    2017-2024 (April) 29.1%

    BoE CPI calculator

    (External factors are other funding sources and how they change)





    What has tuition fees got to do with accommodation costs - you seem to be randomly throwing random facts around pretending it's an actual argument...
  • TOPPINGTOPPING Posts: 43,046

    Hope PBers enjoyed eating their pets for brekkie :lol:

    Never eat a hot dog before lunch time is my credo.

    (Actually, it's never eat a hot dog. They are foul. Including the bun.)
    Absurd. Cinema hotdogs are ambrosia and a must-have during the ads unless you are in one of those ridiculous artisanal cinemas. In which case it's triple fried chips and bao buns.
  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 51,082
    eek said:

    theProle said:

    algarkirk said:

    Dopermean said:

    Taz said:
    There’s a little bit of Telegraph exaggeration there. The head of the union is mooting a ballot on strike action. There’s nothing imminent.

    The union remains militant, but I’m not certain the membership is that eager for more strike action. But the union is right that the sector is in trouble. Undergrad fees remain frozen despite the inflation of recent years. It’s not rocket science: costs have gone up, but a major source of income hasn’t, so universities are in deficit.
    If they increase tuition fees further then there'll be a further decline in student numbers, they're also being rinsed for accommodation.
    From ES "Figures from Ucas (Universities and Colleges Admissions Service) show by the end of June 41.9% of all 18-year-olds in the UK had applied through their system – compared to 42.1% last year and 44.1% in 2022."
    I am very pro universities, but the idea that 40%+ of our 18 year olds should be even thinking of going to one is ludicrous. The way in which the entire media prioritise them as the route for young people is absurd and damaging, and must be contributing to the jobs crisis in unfashionable fields, the marginalisation of FE, and apprentices.
    I can't think of a country other than Britain where the idea that its young people are receiving too much education has so much traction. If you suggested this in Ireland people would think you were madder than Donald Trump.

    What is wrong with Britain?
    Take this argument to it's logical conclusion - if full time education is so good for us, we should all remain in full time education until we are 50, or even 70. Just think what an amazing workforce the country would have, all these brilliant educated minds...

    The reality is that time spent in education is not free - it's years of life not spent doing something else. If you enter the labour force at 22, and retire at 65, that's 43 years. The four years from 18-22 are almost ten percent of your working life. Imagine what the country could do with 10% more workers and no extra costs (it might solve the "need" for the mass immigration Ponzi scheme)

    I didn't go to university, and spent the equivalent part of my life doing relatively menial jobs in a factory (although as I grew up I took on supervisory roles). I'm now at the age of 37 running a successful small business, currently employing 5 people. Having just looked it up, I'm earning just under the 90th percentile of the income distribution (and not in the outrageously overpriced South East either, unlike most such high earners).

    A lot of my success comes from what I learnt (particularly about human nature) during the 5 years I worked in that factory. I had the grades to go to uni. I had a fees paid scholarship to do physics at Aberystwyth. Had I done that, I think it's very likely I would have either dropped out or got a poor grade, followed by a menial job - Although I was very bright, and academically able, I didn't like being academic and I didn't at that age have the drive and work ethic required.

    IMHO 90% of young people would actually learn more useful stuff going into the workforce at 18, rather than spending 3-4 years and £50-100k for a system that basically amounts to credentialism, so they can get a "graduate level" job. And as a bonus, they would be economically productive for those 3-4 years, rather than just a net drain.
    You forget that the reason Labour increased student numbers was to manage youth unemployment numbers.
    There's a few things here

    1) Trying to get 18 year olds to decide the course of their lives is pretty silly. The average 18 year old is concentrating on the things that are important at 18 - partying and other 18 year olds of the right variety. When I went to university in 1990 there were half a dozen mature students on my course. Who all did well. Going back and doing a degree later is good for some

    2) The last big, real "class divide" is between degree'd and non-degree'd

    3) Earning power of the non-degree'd has surpassed some sections of the degree'd

    4) Making all white collar jobs (pretty much) require a degree hasn't increased the pay or quality of many of the jobs in question.

    My solution to the above is to merge all types of training into degrees. And then make degrees mix academic and hands on skills. So you can have a degree in plumbing, but you need to read some Yeats. And you can have a degree in Poetry, but you'll need to learn how to run a lathe.

    It's very noticeable that at universities, like UCL and Imperial, which offer non-engineering students the chance to do "shop" stuff (welding, machining, 3D printing etc etc), the makeup is very enthusiastic. Even when it is not academically credited.

  • LostPasswordLostPassword Posts: 18,895
    Is it time to retire the idea that men don't share their feelings?

    I've just listened to the 9th September Ukraine: The Latest podcast from the Telegraph, and it was striking to hear the emotion from the two Telegraph journalists as they talked about the loss of their friend and colleague David Knowles.

    There does seem to have been a major change over recent years.
  • rottenboroughrottenborough Posts: 63,114
    Roger said:

    Roger said:

    Taylor Swift photographed with a cat was perfectly timed. The animal story has to have finished him. He sounded insane. Great day for cats and ladies!

    Nope. Nothing finishes him. It does not matter how mad he sounds they will still vote for him.
    There must be a tipping point and to see an aging looking leader say they are eating animals off the street in Ohio and being told by the modulator that it had been fact checked and its incorrect and then to see him blink and murmer 'But I've seen it on TV' must at least give his fans pause for thought.
    Nope. I wish I was wrong, but 45% or thereabouts of americans have lost their minds and joined a cult.

    We can only hope sufficient indie voters agree with you and live in the right counties in swing states.
  • theProle said:

    algarkirk said:

    Dopermean said:

    Taz said:
    There’s a little bit of Telegraph exaggeration there. The head of the union is mooting a ballot on strike action. There’s nothing imminent.

    The union remains militant, but I’m not certain the membership is that eager for more strike action. But the union is right that the sector is in trouble. Undergrad fees remain frozen despite the inflation of recent years. It’s not rocket science: costs have gone up, but a major source of income hasn’t, so universities are in deficit.
    If they increase tuition fees further then there'll be a further decline in student numbers, they're also being rinsed for accommodation.
    From ES "Figures from Ucas (Universities and Colleges Admissions Service) show by the end of June 41.9% of all 18-year-olds in the UK had applied through their system – compared to 42.1% last year and 44.1% in 2022."
    I am very pro universities, but the idea that 40%+ of our 18 year olds should be even thinking of going to one is ludicrous. The way in which the entire media prioritise them as the route for young people is absurd and damaging, and must be contributing to the jobs crisis in unfashionable fields, the marginalisation of FE, and apprentices.
    I can't think of a country other than Britain where the idea that its young people are receiving too much education has so much traction. If you suggested this in Ireland people would think you were madder than Donald Trump.

    What is wrong with Britain?
    Take this argument to it's logical conclusion - if full time education is so good for us, we should all remain in full time education until we are 50, or even 70. Just think what an amazing workforce the country would have, all these brilliant educated minds...

    The reality is that time spent in education is not free - it's years of life not spent doing something else. If you enter the labour force at 22, and retire at 65, that's 43 years. The four years from 18-22 are almost ten percent of your working life. Imagine what the country could do with 10% more workers and no extra costs (it might solve the "need" for the mass immigration Ponzi scheme)

    I didn't go to university, and spent the equivalent part of my life doing relatively menial jobs in a factory (although as I grew up I took on supervisory roles). I'm now at the age of 37 running a successful small business, currently employing 5 people. Having just looked it up, I'm earning just under the 90th percentile of the income distribution (and not in the outrageously overpriced South East either, unlike most such high earners).

    A lot of my success comes from what I learnt (particularly about human nature) during the 5 years I worked in that factory. I had the grades to go to uni. I had a fees paid scholarship to do physics at Aberystwyth. Had I done that, I think it's very likely I would have either dropped out or got a poor grade, followed by a menial job - Although I was very bright, and academically able, I didn't like being academic and I didn't at that age have the drive and work ethic required.

    IMHO 90% of young people would actually learn more useful stuff going into the workforce at 18, rather than spending 3-4 years and £50-100k for a system that basically amounts to credentialism, so they can get a "graduate level" job. And as a bonus, they would be economically productive for those 3-4 years, rather than just a net drain.
    We need to refocus of lifetime learning, training and improvement of skillsets.

    For many time and money might be better spent on education and training at 25, 35 or even 45 than at 18-22.
  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 51,082

    mercator said:

    Roger said:

    Nigelb said:

    Roger said:

    Taylor Swift photographed with a cat was perfectly timed. The animal story has to have finished him. He sounded insane. Great day for cats and ladies!

    I'm cynical enough* to wonder if the campaign asked her to hold back the endorsement until after the debate.
    As either damage control, or, as it turns out now, the cherry on the cake.

    *And sufficiently impressed by how well the campaign has been managed.
    I'm certain they did and what a cherry on the cake! In fact two cherries on the cake. The insane story about immigrants eating family pets and Taylor photographed with a cat.

    So a big arrow pointing at a pretty weird twosome
    Roger said:

    Nigelb said:

    Roger said:

    Taylor Swift photographed with a cat was perfectly timed. The animal story has to have finished him. He sounded insane. Great day for cats and ladies!

    I'm cynical enough* to wonder if the campaign asked her to hold back the endorsement until after the debate.
    As either damage control, or, as it turns out now, the cherry on the cake.

    *And sufficiently impressed by how well the campaign has been managed.
    I'm certain they did and what a cherry on the cake! In fact two cherries on the cake. The insane story about immigrants eating family pets and Taylor photographed with a cat.

    So a big arrow pointing at a pretty weird twosome
    I think trump's comeback to the moderators about Springfield is pretty good. The city manager is responsible for policing and for the good reputation of the city, so he's hardly going to admit to an out of control cat eating problem.
    But you do know that it’s not true? It’s grade A bollocks from the people who gave us Jewish space lasers and pizzagate.
    Is a Jewish space laser any good at dividing a pizza?
    Hmmm

    {Speed dials the Lizard Men to get them to try a test}

    image
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 72,173
    mercator said:

    Roger said:

    Nigelb said:

    Roger said:

    Taylor Swift photographed with a cat was perfectly timed. The animal story has to have finished him. He sounded insane. Great day for cats and ladies!

    I'm cynical enough* to wonder if the campaign asked her to hold back the endorsement until after the debate.
    As either damage control, or, as it turns out now, the cherry on the cake.

    *And sufficiently impressed by how well the campaign has been managed.
    I'm certain they did and what a cherry on the cake! In fact two cherries on the cake. The insane story about immigrants eating family pets and Taylor photographed with a cat.

    So a big arrow pointing at a pretty weird twosome
    Roger said:

    Nigelb said:

    Roger said:

    Taylor Swift photographed with a cat was perfectly timed. The animal story has to have finished him. He sounded insane. Great day for cats and ladies!

    I'm cynical enough* to wonder if the campaign asked her to hold back the endorsement until after the debate.
    As either damage control, or, as it turns out now, the cherry on the cake.

    *And sufficiently impressed by how well the campaign has been managed.
    I'm certain they did and what a cherry on the cake! In fact two cherries on the cake. The insane story about immigrants eating family pets and Taylor photographed with a cat.

    So a big arrow pointing at a pretty weird twosome
    I think trump's comeback to the moderators about Springfield is pretty good. The city manager is responsible for policing and for the good reputation of the city, so he's hardly going to admit to an out of control cat eating problem.
    Factory owner in Springfield, Ohio says he has 30 Haitian workers and wishes he had 30 more.

    He says that unlike Americans in the area, they show up to work on time, stay by their machines, and don’t have a drug problem.

    https://x.com/RichardHanania/status/1833614930530226221
  • bondegezoubondegezou Posts: 11,421

    theProle said:

    algarkirk said:

    Dopermean said:

    Taz said:
    There’s a little bit of Telegraph exaggeration there. The head of the union is mooting a ballot on strike action. There’s nothing imminent.

    The union remains militant, but I’m not certain the membership is that eager for more strike action. But the union is right that the sector is in trouble. Undergrad fees remain frozen despite the inflation of recent years. It’s not rocket science: costs have gone up, but a major source of income hasn’t, so universities are in deficit.
    If they increase tuition fees further then there'll be a further decline in student numbers, they're also being rinsed for accommodation.
    From ES "Figures from Ucas (Universities and Colleges Admissions Service) show by the end of June 41.9% of all 18-year-olds in the UK had applied through their system – compared to 42.1% last year and 44.1% in 2022."
    I am very pro universities, but the idea that 40%+ of our 18 year olds should be even thinking of going to one is ludicrous. The way in which the entire media prioritise them as the route for young people is absurd and damaging, and must be contributing to the jobs crisis in unfashionable fields, the marginalisation of FE, and apprentices.
    I can't think of a country other than Britain where the idea that its young people are receiving too much education has so much traction. If you suggested this in Ireland people would think you were madder than Donald Trump.

    What is wrong with Britain?
    Take this argument to it's logical conclusion - if full time education is so good for us, we should all remain in full time education until we are 50, or even 70. Just think what an amazing workforce the country would have, all these brilliant educated minds...

    The reality is that time spent in education is not free - it's years of life not spent doing something else. If you enter the labour force at 22, and retire at 65, that's 43 years. The four years from 18-22 are almost ten percent of your working life. Imagine what the country could do with 10% more workers and no extra costs (it might solve the "need" for the mass immigration Ponzi scheme)

    I didn't go to university, and spent the equivalent part of my life doing relatively menial jobs in a factory (although as I grew up I took on supervisory roles). I'm now at the age of 37 running a successful small business, currently employing 5 people. Having just looked it up, I'm earning just under the 90th percentile of the income distribution (and not in the outrageously overpriced South East either, unlike most such high earners).

    A lot of my success comes from what I learnt (particularly about human nature) during the 5 years I worked in that factory. I had the grades to go to uni. I had a fees paid scholarship to do physics at Aberystwyth. Had I done that, I think it's very likely I would have either dropped out or got a poor grade, followed by a menial job - Although I was very bright, and academically able, I didn't like being academic and I didn't at that age have the drive and work ethic required.

    IMHO 90% of young people would actually learn more useful stuff going into the workforce at 18, rather than spending 3-4 years and £50-100k for a system that basically amounts to credentialism, so they can get a "graduate level" job. And as a bonus, they would be economically productive for those 3-4 years, rather than just a net drain.
    We need to refocus of lifetime learning, training and improvement of skillsets.

    For many time and money might be better spent on education and training at 25, 35 or even 45 than at 18-22.
    I have more fun teaching my 35, 45 or even 55 year old students than my 25 year old (postgrad) ones.
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 72,173
    JD Hillbilly Elegy Vance: rural white people are shiftless and drug-addled

    The GOP: so true, bestie 🤩

    Factory owner, Springfield Ohio: rural white people are shiftless and drug-addled, unlike those sober & industrious Haitians that just moved in

    The GOP: first of all how dare you 😡

    https://x.com/rhcm123/status/1833604423509062061
  • EabhalEabhal Posts: 8,942
    Imagine having the kind of brain that can identify and match the rhythm of Trump's speech:

    https://x.com/NoahGarfinkel/status/1833708370974695574?t=86e3BXZ2oDTAlDmaFyXnyg&s=19

    Unless there is some very clever software that can do this for you
  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 51,082
    Nigelb said:

    mercator said:

    Roger said:

    Nigelb said:

    Roger said:

    Taylor Swift photographed with a cat was perfectly timed. The animal story has to have finished him. He sounded insane. Great day for cats and ladies!

    I'm cynical enough* to wonder if the campaign asked her to hold back the endorsement until after the debate.
    As either damage control, or, as it turns out now, the cherry on the cake.

    *And sufficiently impressed by how well the campaign has been managed.
    I'm certain they did and what a cherry on the cake! In fact two cherries on the cake. The insane story about immigrants eating family pets and Taylor photographed with a cat.

    So a big arrow pointing at a pretty weird twosome
    Roger said:

    Nigelb said:

    Roger said:

    Taylor Swift photographed with a cat was perfectly timed. The animal story has to have finished him. He sounded insane. Great day for cats and ladies!

    I'm cynical enough* to wonder if the campaign asked her to hold back the endorsement until after the debate.
    As either damage control, or, as it turns out now, the cherry on the cake.

    *And sufficiently impressed by how well the campaign has been managed.
    I'm certain they did and what a cherry on the cake! In fact two cherries on the cake. The insane story about immigrants eating family pets and Taylor photographed with a cat.

    So a big arrow pointing at a pretty weird twosome
    I think trump's comeback to the moderators about Springfield is pretty good. The city manager is responsible for policing and for the good reputation of the city, so he's hardly going to admit to an out of control cat eating problem.
    Factory owner in Springfield, Ohio says he has 30 Haitian workers and wishes he had 30 more.

    He says that unlike Americans in the area, they show up to work on time, stay by their machines, and don’t have a drug problem.

    https://x.com/RichardHanania/status/1833614930530226221
    It's worth noting that recent immigrates have low participation in unions. In the er.... dog-eat-dog American labour market, that means they are much cheaper, generally. Especially in terms of getting them to take jobs with no health benefits.
  • kenObikenObi Posts: 211
    theProle said:

    algarkirk said:

    Dopermean said:

    Taz said:
    There’s a little bit of Telegraph exaggeration there. The head of the union is mooting a ballot on strike action. There’s nothing imminent.

    The union remains militant, but I’m not certain the membership is that eager for more strike action. But the union is right that the sector is in trouble. Undergrad fees remain frozen despite the inflation of recent years. It’s not rocket science: costs have gone up, but a major source of income hasn’t, so universities are in deficit.
    If they increase tuition fees further then there'll be a further decline in student numbers, they're also being rinsed for accommodation.
    From ES "Figures from Ucas (Universities and Colleges Admissions Service) show by the end of June 41.9% of all 18-year-olds in the UK had applied through their system – compared to 42.1% last year and 44.1% in 2022."
    I am very pro universities, but the idea that 40%+ of our 18 year olds should be even thinking of going to one is ludicrous. The way in which the entire media prioritise them as the route for young people is absurd and damaging, and must be contributing to the jobs crisis in unfashionable fields, the marginalisation of FE, and apprentices.
    I can't think of a country other than Britain where the idea that its young people are receiving too much education has so much traction. If you suggested this in Ireland people would think you were madder than Donald Trump.

    What is wrong with Britain?
    Take this argument to it's logical conclusion - if full time education is so good for us, we should all remain in full time education until we are 50, or even 70. Just think what an amazing workforce the country would have, all these brilliant educated minds...

    The reality is that time spent in education is not free - it's years of life not spent doing something else. If you enter the labour force at 22, and retire at 65, that's 43 years. The four years from 18-22 are almost ten percent of your working life. Imagine what the country could do with 10% more workers and no extra costs (it might solve the "need" for the mass immigration Ponzi scheme)

    I didn't go to university, and spent the equivalent part of my life doing relatively menial jobs in a factory (although as I grew up I took on supervisory roles). I'm now at the age of 37 running a successful small business, currently employing 5 people. Having just looked it up, I'm earning just under the 90th percentile of the income distribution (and not in the outrageously overpriced South East either, unlike most such high earners).

    A lot of my success comes from what I learnt (particularly about human nature) during the 5 years I worked in that factory. I had the grades to go to uni. I had a fees paid scholarship to do physics at Aberystwyth. Had I done that, I think it's very likely I would have either dropped out or got a poor grade, followed by a menial job - Although I was very bright, and academically able, I didn't like being academic and I didn't at that age have the drive and work ethic required.

    IMHO 90% of young people would actually learn more useful stuff going into the workforce at 18, rather than spending 3-4 years and £50-100k for a system that basically amounts to credentialism, so they can get a "graduate level" job. And as a bonus, they would be economically productive for those 3-4 years, rather than just a net drain.
    I'll file this under 'never did me any harm' alongside empty boasts about scholarships, I don't hold much hope of trying a physics degree without basic maths & logic.

    Education should be about lifelong learning, which is why it may take 10-15 years for a qualified doctor to become a consultant.

    Far from being a load of slackers watching "homes under the hammer", you will find that most students work while at University.
    If its a 4 year course and in England its likely to be an integrated masters in something like engineering, or a sandwich course with a years employment.
  • mwadamsmwadams Posts: 3,668
    moonshine said:

    Taylor Swift’s endorsement of Harris is just pitch perfect. And signing off as Childless Cat Lady the chef’s kiss.

    Lady is all class.

    And Musk’s subsequent offer to impregnate her just put all that into relief.

    Nothing has changed my view that the 5th of November will be a blowout for Harris.

    How many voters are there that care about Taylor
    Swift’s voting preference that would not already be voting democrat? It’s more a fleeting morale boost to the campaigners than a game changer surely. The Liz Cheney endorsement feels far more impactful to me.
    I think you underestimate Swift's country music base and their voting patterns.
  • DavidLDavidL Posts: 54,012
    algarkirk said:

    The great David Allan Green showing how Ms Swift reaches everywhere, is omni-competent and is better at advocacy than all the silks lined up together, giving a masterclass here, + nice pic of a cat.

    https://davidallengreen.com/2024/09/how-taylor-swifts-endorsement-of-harris-and-walz-is-a-masterpiece-of-persuasive-prose-a-songwriters-practical-lesson-in-written-advocacy/

    (Trump is still going to win.)

    That is indeed a masterclass by Green. Thanks for the link.
  • TheuniondivvieTheuniondivvie Posts: 42,141
    edited September 11

    eek said:

    theProle said:

    algarkirk said:

    Dopermean said:

    Taz said:
    There’s a little bit of Telegraph exaggeration there. The head of the union is mooting a ballot on strike action. There’s nothing imminent.

    The union remains militant, but I’m not certain the membership is that eager for more strike action. But the union is right that the sector is in trouble. Undergrad fees remain frozen despite the inflation of recent years. It’s not rocket science: costs have gone up, but a major source of income hasn’t, so universities are in deficit.
    If they increase tuition fees further then there'll be a further decline in student numbers, they're also being rinsed for accommodation.
    From ES "Figures from Ucas (Universities and Colleges Admissions Service) show by the end of June 41.9% of all 18-year-olds in the UK had applied through their system – compared to 42.1% last year and 44.1% in 2022."
    I am very pro universities, but the idea that 40%+ of our 18 year olds should be even thinking of going to one is ludicrous. The way in which the entire media prioritise them as the route for young people is absurd and damaging, and must be contributing to the jobs crisis in unfashionable fields, the marginalisation of FE, and apprentices.
    I can't think of a country other than Britain where the idea that its young people are receiving too much education has so much traction. If you suggested this in Ireland people would think you were madder than Donald Trump.

    What is wrong with Britain?
    Take this argument to it's logical conclusion - if full time education is so good for us, we should all remain in full time education until we are 50, or even 70. Just think what an amazing workforce the country would have, all these brilliant educated minds...

    The reality is that time spent in education is not free - it's years of life not spent doing something else. If you enter the labour force at 22, and retire at 65, that's 43 years. The four years from 18-22 are almost ten percent of your working life. Imagine what the country could do with 10% more workers and no extra costs (it might solve the "need" for the mass immigration Ponzi scheme)

    I didn't go to university, and spent the equivalent part of my life doing relatively menial jobs in a factory (although as I grew up I took on supervisory roles). I'm now at the age of 37 running a successful small business, currently employing 5 people. Having just looked it up, I'm earning just under the 90th percentile of the income distribution (and not in the outrageously overpriced South East either, unlike most such high earners).

    A lot of my success comes from what I learnt (particularly about human nature) during the 5 years I worked in that factory. I had the grades to go to uni. I had a fees paid scholarship to do physics at Aberystwyth. Had I done that, I think it's very likely I would have either dropped out or got a poor grade, followed by a menial job - Although I was very bright, and academically able, I didn't like being academic and I didn't at that age have the drive and work ethic required.

    IMHO 90% of young people would actually learn more useful stuff going into the workforce at 18, rather than spending 3-4 years and £50-100k for a system that basically amounts to credentialism, so they can get a "graduate level" job. And as a bonus, they would be economically productive for those 3-4 years, rather than just a net drain.
    You forget that the reason Labour increased student numbers was to manage youth unemployment numbers.
    There's a few things here

    1) Trying to get 18 year olds to decide the course of their lives is pretty silly. The average 18 year old is concentrating on the things that are important at 18 - partying and other 18 year olds of the right variety. When I went to university in 1990 there were half a dozen mature students on my course. Who all did well. Going back and doing a degree later is good for some

    2) The last big, real "class divide" is between degree'd and non-degree'd

    3) Earning power of the non-degree'd has surpassed some sections of the degree'd

    4) Making all white collar jobs (pretty much) require a degree hasn't increased the pay or quality of many of the jobs in question.

    My solution to the above is to merge all types of training into degrees. And then make degrees mix academic and hands on skills. So you can have a degree in plumbing, but you need to read some Yeats. And you can have a degree in Poetry, but you'll need to learn how to run a lathe.

    It's very noticeable that at universities, like UCL and Imperial, which offer non-engineering students the chance to do "shop" stuff (welding, machining, 3D printing etc etc), the makeup is very enthusiastic. Even when it is not academically credited.

    Re point 2) isn't the class divide between between privately educated and state educated also pretty big? Not sure what the respective numbers are for those who go on to get degrees is but I guess schooling bleeds into it in any case ('good' universities and, er, not so good).
  • TazTaz Posts: 14,978
    Nigelb said:

    mercator said:

    Roger said:

    Nigelb said:

    Roger said:

    Taylor Swift photographed with a cat was perfectly timed. The animal story has to have finished him. He sounded insane. Great day for cats and ladies!

    I'm cynical enough* to wonder if the campaign asked her to hold back the endorsement until after the debate.
    As either damage control, or, as it turns out now, the cherry on the cake.

    *And sufficiently impressed by how well the campaign has been managed.
    I'm certain they did and what a cherry on the cake! In fact two cherries on the cake. The insane story about immigrants eating family pets and Taylor photographed with a cat.

    So a big arrow pointing at a pretty weird twosome
    Roger said:

    Nigelb said:

    Roger said:

    Taylor Swift photographed with a cat was perfectly timed. The animal story has to have finished him. He sounded insane. Great day for cats and ladies!

    I'm cynical enough* to wonder if the campaign asked her to hold back the endorsement until after the debate.
    As either damage control, or, as it turns out now, the cherry on the cake.

    *And sufficiently impressed by how well the campaign has been managed.
    I'm certain they did and what a cherry on the cake! In fact two cherries on the cake. The insane story about immigrants eating family pets and Taylor photographed with a cat.

    So a big arrow pointing at a pretty weird twosome
    I think trump's comeback to the moderators about Springfield is pretty good. The city manager is responsible for policing and for the good reputation of the city, so he's hardly going to admit to an out of control cat eating problem.
    Factory owner in Springfield, Ohio says he has 30 Haitian workers and wishes he had 30 more.

    He says that unlike Americans in the area, they show up to work on time, stay by their machines, and don’t have a drug problem.

    https://x.com/RichardHanania/status/1833614930530226221
    He should be able to get 30 more quite easily, given there are quite a few Haitians in Springfield and not all are in employment.
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 72,173

    Nigelb said:

    mercator said:

    Roger said:

    Nigelb said:

    Roger said:

    Taylor Swift photographed with a cat was perfectly timed. The animal story has to have finished him. He sounded insane. Great day for cats and ladies!

    I'm cynical enough* to wonder if the campaign asked her to hold back the endorsement until after the debate.
    As either damage control, or, as it turns out now, the cherry on the cake.

    *And sufficiently impressed by how well the campaign has been managed.
    I'm certain they did and what a cherry on the cake! In fact two cherries on the cake. The insane story about immigrants eating family pets and Taylor photographed with a cat.

    So a big arrow pointing at a pretty weird twosome
    Roger said:

    Nigelb said:

    Roger said:

    Taylor Swift photographed with a cat was perfectly timed. The animal story has to have finished him. He sounded insane. Great day for cats and ladies!

    I'm cynical enough* to wonder if the campaign asked her to hold back the endorsement until after the debate.
    As either damage control, or, as it turns out now, the cherry on the cake.

    *And sufficiently impressed by how well the campaign has been managed.
    I'm certain they did and what a cherry on the cake! In fact two cherries on the cake. The insane story about immigrants eating family pets and Taylor photographed with a cat.

    So a big arrow pointing at a pretty weird twosome
    I think trump's comeback to the moderators about Springfield is pretty good. The city manager is responsible for policing and for the good reputation of the city, so he's hardly going to admit to an out of control cat eating problem.
    Factory owner in Springfield, Ohio says he has 30 Haitian workers and wishes he had 30 more.

    He says that unlike Americans in the area, they show up to work on time, stay by their machines, and don’t have a drug problem.

    https://x.com/RichardHanania/status/1833614930530226221
    It's worth noting that recent immigrates have low participation in unions. In the er.... dog-eat-dog American labour market, that means they are much cheaper, generally. Especially in terms of getting them to take jobs with no health benefits.
    Trump is hardly a union supporter.

    And note those 30 are only 10% of his workforce.
  • DecrepiterJohnLDecrepiterJohnL Posts: 28,399
    edited September 11
    MattW said:

    Taz said:
    There’s a little bit of Telegraph exaggeration there. The head of the union is mooting a ballot on strike action. There’s nothing imminent.

    The union remains militant, but I’m not certain the membership is that eager for more strike action. But the union is right that the sector is in trouble. Undergrad fees remain frozen despite the inflation of recent years. It’s not rocket science: costs have gone up, but a major source of income hasn’t, so universities are in deficit.
    Good morning everyone.

    I think this is an interesting one.

    Despite its squeezes, the university sector has had a long period relatively in the sun - meaning perhaps 25 years, compared to for example local authorities, public transport, the legal system, or defence.

    How will this play in a competition for scarce (or "find your own" resources)?

    Universities across the country have been milking the Student Accommodation cash-cow since 2000 or before, and heavily since ~2005-2010, and have also targeted intertnational student fees. What other income sources are available?
    Much student accommodation is owned by third parties (and some looks designed to be flipped to the residential market should prices change). Unite Students is the largest (according to a quick Bing search).
    https://www.unitestudents.com/
  • AnabobazinaAnabobazina Posts: 23,792
    Watching the debate last night was awful, and I couldn’t sleep afterwards. Yes, Kamala won, but Trump was a ranting, weird, venal spectre. He is very obviously clinically insane. The fact he is so close to power is barely believable, and deeply harrowing.
  • ClippPClippP Posts: 1,920
    class="Quote" rel="algarkirk"

    It’s a sector that should be ripe for disruption with technology.
    Not really. A university is really all about thinking - doing it, showing how to do it, writing about it and criticising it.

    Transmission of supposed certainties and appropriate professional tecniques is more proper to a technical education.

    There is room for both and a need for both. But it is time to make a distinction.
  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 51,082

    eek said:

    theProle said:

    algarkirk said:

    Dopermean said:

    Taz said:
    There’s a little bit of Telegraph exaggeration there. The head of the union is mooting a ballot on strike action. There’s nothing imminent.

    The union remains militant, but I’m not certain the membership is that eager for more strike action. But the union is right that the sector is in trouble. Undergrad fees remain frozen despite the inflation of recent years. It’s not rocket science: costs have gone up, but a major source of income hasn’t, so universities are in deficit.
    If they increase tuition fees further then there'll be a further decline in student numbers, they're also being rinsed for accommodation.
    From ES "Figures from Ucas (Universities and Colleges Admissions Service) show by the end of June 41.9% of all 18-year-olds in the UK had applied through their system – compared to 42.1% last year and 44.1% in 2022."
    I am very pro universities, but the idea that 40%+ of our 18 year olds should be even thinking of going to one is ludicrous. The way in which the entire media prioritise them as the route for young people is absurd and damaging, and must be contributing to the jobs crisis in unfashionable fields, the marginalisation of FE, and apprentices.
    I can't think of a country other than Britain where the idea that its young people are receiving too much education has so much traction. If you suggested this in Ireland people would think you were madder than Donald Trump.

    What is wrong with Britain?
    Take this argument to it's logical conclusion - if full time education is so good for us, we should all remain in full time education until we are 50, or even 70. Just think what an amazing workforce the country would have, all these brilliant educated minds...

    The reality is that time spent in education is not free - it's years of life not spent doing something else. If you enter the labour force at 22, and retire at 65, that's 43 years. The four years from 18-22 are almost ten percent of your working life. Imagine what the country could do with 10% more workers and no extra costs (it might solve the "need" for the mass immigration Ponzi scheme)

    I didn't go to university, and spent the equivalent part of my life doing relatively menial jobs in a factory (although as I grew up I took on supervisory roles). I'm now at the age of 37 running a successful small business, currently employing 5 people. Having just looked it up, I'm earning just under the 90th percentile of the income distribution (and not in the outrageously overpriced South East either, unlike most such high earners).

    A lot of my success comes from what I learnt (particularly about human nature) during the 5 years I worked in that factory. I had the grades to go to uni. I had a fees paid scholarship to do physics at Aberystwyth. Had I done that, I think it's very likely I would have either dropped out or got a poor grade, followed by a menial job - Although I was very bright, and academically able, I didn't like being academic and I didn't at that age have the drive and work ethic required.

    IMHO 90% of young people would actually learn more useful stuff going into the workforce at 18, rather than spending 3-4 years and £50-100k for a system that basically amounts to credentialism, so they can get a "graduate level" job. And as a bonus, they would be economically productive for those 3-4 years, rather than just a net drain.
    You forget that the reason Labour increased student numbers was to manage youth unemployment numbers.
    There's a few things here

    1) Trying to get 18 year olds to decide the course of their lives is pretty silly. The average 18 year old is concentrating on the things that are important at 18 - partying and other 18 year olds of the right variety. When I went to university in 1990 there were half a dozen mature students on my course. Who all did well. Going back and doing a degree later is good for some

    2) The last big, real "class divide" is between degree'd and non-degree'd

    3) Earning power of the non-degree'd has surpassed some sections of the degree'd

    4) Making all white collar jobs (pretty much) require a degree hasn't increased the pay or quality of many of the jobs in question.

    My solution to the above is to merge all types of training into degrees. And then make degrees mix academic and hands on skills. So you can have a degree in plumbing, but you need to read some Yeats. And you can have a degree in Poetry, but you'll need to learn how to run a lathe.

    It's very noticeable that at universities, like UCL and Imperial, which offer non-engineering students the chance to do "shop" stuff (welding, machining, 3D printing etc etc), the makeup is very enthusiastic. Even when it is not academically credited.

    Re point 2) isn't the class divide between between privately educated and state educatded also pretty big? Not sure what the respective numbers are for those who go on to get degrees is but I guess schooling bleeds into it in any case ('good' universities and, er, not so good).
    I would say that the private/state thing is much smaller. Remember, universities are majority state school educated. Even Oxford and Cambridge.

    image
  • LostPasswordLostPassword Posts: 18,895
    theProle said:

    algarkirk said:

    Dopermean said:

    Taz said:
    There’s a little bit of Telegraph exaggeration there. The head of the union is mooting a ballot on strike action. There’s nothing imminent.

    The union remains militant, but I’m not certain the membership is that eager for more strike action. But the union is right that the sector is in trouble. Undergrad fees remain frozen despite the inflation of recent years. It’s not rocket science: costs have gone up, but a major source of income hasn’t, so universities are in deficit.
    If they increase tuition fees further then there'll be a further decline in student numbers, they're also being rinsed for accommodation.
    From ES "Figures from Ucas (Universities and Colleges Admissions Service) show by the end of June 41.9% of all 18-year-olds in the UK had applied through their system – compared to 42.1% last year and 44.1% in 2022."
    I am very pro universities, but the idea that 40%+ of our 18 year olds should be even thinking of going to one is ludicrous. The way in which the entire media prioritise them as the route for young people is absurd and damaging, and must be contributing to the jobs crisis in unfashionable fields, the marginalisation of FE, and apprentices.
    I can't think of a country other than Britain where the idea that its young people are receiving too much education has so much traction. If you suggested this in Ireland people would think you were madder than Donald Trump.

    What is wrong with Britain?
    Take this argument to it's logical conclusion - if full time education is so good for us, we should all remain in full time education until we are 50, or even 70. Just think what an amazing workforce the country would have, all these brilliant educated minds...

    The reality is that time spent in education is not free - it's years of life not spent doing something else. If you enter the labour force at 22, and retire at 65, that's 43 years. The four years from 18-22 are almost ten percent of your working life. Imagine what the country could do with 10% more workers and no extra costs (it might solve the "need" for the mass immigration Ponzi scheme)

    I didn't go to university, and spent the equivalent part of my life doing relatively menial jobs in a factory (although as I grew up I took on supervisory roles). I'm now at the age of 37 running a successful small business, currently employing 5 people. Having just looked it up, I'm earning just under the 90th percentile of the income distribution (and not in the outrageously overpriced South East either, unlike most such high earners).

    A lot of my success comes from what I learnt (particularly about human nature) during the 5 years I worked in that factory. I had the grades to go to uni. I had a fees paid scholarship to do physics at Aberystwyth. Had I done that, I think it's very likely I would have either dropped out or got a poor grade, followed by a menial job - Although I was very bright, and academically able, I didn't like being academic and I didn't at that age have the drive and work ethic required.

    IMHO 90% of young people would actually learn more useful stuff going into the workforce at 18, rather than spending 3-4 years and £50-100k for a system that basically amounts to credentialism, so they can get a "graduate level" job. And as a bonus, they would be economically productive for those 3-4 years, rather than just a net drain.
    Every other country in the world believes that the way to get ahead is to improve the skills of its people to compete as a modern global economy.

    In Britain people are still grumbling about not being able to send kids down the mine because they're in school until age 14 (to slightly unfairly paraphrase your argument).

    It's baffling.
  • TazTaz Posts: 14,978
    Nigelb said:

    Nigelb said:

    mercator said:

    Roger said:

    Nigelb said:

    Roger said:

    Taylor Swift photographed with a cat was perfectly timed. The animal story has to have finished him. He sounded insane. Great day for cats and ladies!

    I'm cynical enough* to wonder if the campaign asked her to hold back the endorsement until after the debate.
    As either damage control, or, as it turns out now, the cherry on the cake.

    *And sufficiently impressed by how well the campaign has been managed.
    I'm certain they did and what a cherry on the cake! In fact two cherries on the cake. The insane story about immigrants eating family pets and Taylor photographed with a cat.

    So a big arrow pointing at a pretty weird twosome
    Roger said:

    Nigelb said:

    Roger said:

    Taylor Swift photographed with a cat was perfectly timed. The animal story has to have finished him. He sounded insane. Great day for cats and ladies!

    I'm cynical enough* to wonder if the campaign asked her to hold back the endorsement until after the debate.
    As either damage control, or, as it turns out now, the cherry on the cake.

    *And sufficiently impressed by how well the campaign has been managed.
    I'm certain they did and what a cherry on the cake! In fact two cherries on the cake. The insane story about immigrants eating family pets and Taylor photographed with a cat.

    So a big arrow pointing at a pretty weird twosome
    I think trump's comeback to the moderators about Springfield is pretty good. The city manager is responsible for policing and for the good reputation of the city, so he's hardly going to admit to an out of control cat eating problem.
    Factory owner in Springfield, Ohio says he has 30 Haitian workers and wishes he had 30 more.

    He says that unlike Americans in the area, they show up to work on time, stay by their machines, and don’t have a drug problem.

    https://x.com/RichardHanania/status/1833614930530226221
    It's worth noting that recent immigrates have low participation in unions. In the er.... dog-eat-dog American labour market, that means they are much cheaper, generally. Especially in terms of getting them to take jobs with no health benefits.
    Trump is hardly a union supporter.

    And note those 30 are only 10% of his workforce.
    Presumably they get the same salary as the remaining workforce in the same job so are not undercutting the locals ?
  • EabhalEabhal Posts: 8,942
    Martin Lewis talking about using council tax bands as an alternative to pension credit as piggy-back criteria for winter fuel payment. Interesting idea.
  • bondegezoubondegezou Posts: 11,421
    edited September 11
    kenObi said:

    theProle said:

    algarkirk said:

    Dopermean said:

    Taz said:
    There’s a little bit of Telegraph exaggeration there. The head of the union is mooting a ballot on strike action. There’s nothing imminent.

    The union remains militant, but I’m not certain the membership is that eager for more strike action. But the union is right that the sector is in trouble. Undergrad fees remain frozen despite the inflation of recent years. It’s not rocket science: costs have gone up, but a major source of income hasn’t, so universities are in deficit.
    If they increase tuition fees further then there'll be a further decline in student numbers, they're also being rinsed for accommodation.
    From ES "Figures from Ucas (Universities and Colleges Admissions Service) show by the end of June 41.9% of all 18-year-olds in the UK had applied through their system – compared to 42.1% last year and 44.1% in 2022."
    I am very pro universities, but the idea that 40%+ of our 18 year olds should be even thinking of going to one is ludicrous. The way in which the entire media prioritise them as the route for young people is absurd and damaging, and must be contributing to the jobs crisis in unfashionable fields, the marginalisation of FE, and apprentices.
    I can't think of a country other than Britain where the idea that its young people are receiving too much education has so much traction. If you suggested this in Ireland people would think you were madder than Donald Trump.

    What is wrong with Britain?
    Take this argument to it's logical conclusion - if full time education is so good for us, we should all remain in full time education until we are 50, or even 70. Just think what an amazing workforce the country would have, all these brilliant educated minds...

    The reality is that time spent in education is not free - it's years of life not spent doing something else. If you enter the labour force at 22, and retire at 65, that's 43 years. The four years from 18-22 are almost ten percent of your working life. Imagine what the country could do with 10% more workers and no extra costs (it might solve the "need" for the mass immigration Ponzi scheme)

    I didn't go to university, and spent the equivalent part of my life doing relatively menial jobs in a factory (although as I grew up I took on supervisory roles). I'm now at the age of 37 running a successful small business, currently employing 5 people. Having just looked it up, I'm earning just under the 90th percentile of the income distribution (and not in the outrageously overpriced South East either, unlike most such high earners).

    A lot of my success comes from what I learnt (particularly about human nature) during the 5 years I worked in that factory. I had the grades to go to uni. I had a fees paid scholarship to do physics at Aberystwyth. Had I done that, I think it's very likely I would have either dropped out or got a poor grade, followed by a menial job - Although I was very bright, and academically able, I didn't like being academic and I didn't at that age have the drive and work ethic required.

    IMHO 90% of young people would actually learn more useful stuff going into the workforce at 18, rather than spending 3-4 years and £50-100k for a system that basically amounts to credentialism, so they can get a "graduate level" job. And as a bonus, they would be economically productive for those 3-4 years, rather than just a net drain.
    I'll file this under 'never did me any harm' alongside empty boasts about scholarships, I don't hold much hope of trying a physics degree without basic maths & logic.

    Education should be about lifelong learning, which is why it may take 10-15 years for a qualified doctor to become a consultant.

    Far from being a load of slackers watching "homes under the hammer", you will find that most students work while at University.
    If its a 4 year course and in England its likely to be an integrated masters in something like engineering, or a sandwich course with a years employment.
    Indeed.

    There's a lot of higher education! 2.9 million students. You can find good examples of courses, you can find bad examples of courses. Maybe radical reform would be a good thing, but right now, today, we have the problem that undergrad tuition fees have been frozen at £9250 since 2017, yet we've had significant inflation. £9250 in 2017 would be £11,977 today. So, that's effectively a £2727 shortfall per home undergraduate. That's an immediate problem, right now, as the academic year starts.
  • bondegezoubondegezou Posts: 11,421

    eek said:

    theProle said:

    algarkirk said:

    Dopermean said:

    Taz said:
    There’s a little bit of Telegraph exaggeration there. The head of the union is mooting a ballot on strike action. There’s nothing imminent.

    The union remains militant, but I’m not certain the membership is that eager for more strike action. But the union is right that the sector is in trouble. Undergrad fees remain frozen despite the inflation of recent years. It’s not rocket science: costs have gone up, but a major source of income hasn’t, so universities are in deficit.
    If they increase tuition fees further then there'll be a further decline in student numbers, they're also being rinsed for accommodation.
    From ES "Figures from Ucas (Universities and Colleges Admissions Service) show by the end of June 41.9% of all 18-year-olds in the UK had applied through their system – compared to 42.1% last year and 44.1% in 2022."
    I am very pro universities, but the idea that 40%+ of our 18 year olds should be even thinking of going to one is ludicrous. The way in which the entire media prioritise them as the route for young people is absurd and damaging, and must be contributing to the jobs crisis in unfashionable fields, the marginalisation of FE, and apprentices.
    I can't think of a country other than Britain where the idea that its young people are receiving too much education has so much traction. If you suggested this in Ireland people would think you were madder than Donald Trump.

    What is wrong with Britain?
    Take this argument to it's logical conclusion - if full time education is so good for us, we should all remain in full time education until we are 50, or even 70. Just think what an amazing workforce the country would have, all these brilliant educated minds...

    The reality is that time spent in education is not free - it's years of life not spent doing something else. If you enter the labour force at 22, and retire at 65, that's 43 years. The four years from 18-22 are almost ten percent of your working life. Imagine what the country could do with 10% more workers and no extra costs (it might solve the "need" for the mass immigration Ponzi scheme)

    I didn't go to university, and spent the equivalent part of my life doing relatively menial jobs in a factory (although as I grew up I took on supervisory roles). I'm now at the age of 37 running a successful small business, currently employing 5 people. Having just looked it up, I'm earning just under the 90th percentile of the income distribution (and not in the outrageously overpriced South East either, unlike most such high earners).

    A lot of my success comes from what I learnt (particularly about human nature) during the 5 years I worked in that factory. I had the grades to go to uni. I had a fees paid scholarship to do physics at Aberystwyth. Had I done that, I think it's very likely I would have either dropped out or got a poor grade, followed by a menial job - Although I was very bright, and academically able, I didn't like being academic and I didn't at that age have the drive and work ethic required.

    IMHO 90% of young people would actually learn more useful stuff going into the workforce at 18, rather than spending 3-4 years and £50-100k for a system that basically amounts to credentialism, so they can get a "graduate level" job. And as a bonus, they would be economically productive for those 3-4 years, rather than just a net drain.
    You forget that the reason Labour increased student numbers was to manage youth unemployment numbers.
    There's a few things here

    1) Trying to get 18 year olds to decide the course of their lives is pretty silly. The average 18 year old is concentrating on the things that are important at 18 - partying and other 18 year olds of the right variety. When I went to university in 1990 there were half a dozen mature students on my course. Who all did well. Going back and doing a degree later is good for some

    2) The last big, real "class divide" is between degree'd and non-degree'd

    3) Earning power of the non-degree'd has surpassed some sections of the degree'd

    4) Making all white collar jobs (pretty much) require a degree hasn't increased the pay or quality of many of the jobs in question.

    My solution to the above is to merge all types of training into degrees. And then make degrees mix academic and hands on skills. So you can have a degree in plumbing, but you need to read some Yeats. And you can have a degree in Poetry, but you'll need to learn how to run a lathe.

    It's very noticeable that at universities, like UCL and Imperial, which offer non-engineering students the chance to do "shop" stuff (welding, machining, 3D printing etc etc), the makeup is very enthusiastic. Even when it is not academically credited.

    Re point 2) isn't the class divide between between privately educated and state educatded also pretty big? Not sure what the respective numbers are for those who go on to get degrees is but I guess schooling bleeds into it in any case ('good' universities and, er, not so good).
    I would say that the private/state thing is much smaller. Remember, universities are majority state school educated. Even Oxford and Cambridge.

    image
    😳 that UCL has fallen behind Oxford!
  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 51,082
    Taz said:

    Nigelb said:

    Nigelb said:

    mercator said:

    Roger said:

    Nigelb said:

    Roger said:

    Taylor Swift photographed with a cat was perfectly timed. The animal story has to have finished him. He sounded insane. Great day for cats and ladies!

    I'm cynical enough* to wonder if the campaign asked her to hold back the endorsement until after the debate.
    As either damage control, or, as it turns out now, the cherry on the cake.

    *And sufficiently impressed by how well the campaign has been managed.
    I'm certain they did and what a cherry on the cake! In fact two cherries on the cake. The insane story about immigrants eating family pets and Taylor photographed with a cat.

    So a big arrow pointing at a pretty weird twosome
    Roger said:

    Nigelb said:

    Roger said:

    Taylor Swift photographed with a cat was perfectly timed. The animal story has to have finished him. He sounded insane. Great day for cats and ladies!

    I'm cynical enough* to wonder if the campaign asked her to hold back the endorsement until after the debate.
    As either damage control, or, as it turns out now, the cherry on the cake.

    *And sufficiently impressed by how well the campaign has been managed.
    I'm certain they did and what a cherry on the cake! In fact two cherries on the cake. The insane story about immigrants eating family pets and Taylor photographed with a cat.

    So a big arrow pointing at a pretty weird twosome
    I think trump's comeback to the moderators about Springfield is pretty good. The city manager is responsible for policing and for the good reputation of the city, so he's hardly going to admit to an out of control cat eating problem.
    Factory owner in Springfield, Ohio says he has 30 Haitian workers and wishes he had 30 more.

    He says that unlike Americans in the area, they show up to work on time, stay by their machines, and don’t have a drug problem.

    https://x.com/RichardHanania/status/1833614930530226221
    It's worth noting that recent immigrates have low participation in unions. In the er.... dog-eat-dog American labour market, that means they are much cheaper, generally. Especially in terms of getting them to take jobs with no health benefits.
    Trump is hardly a union supporter.

    And note those 30 are only 10% of his workforce.
    Presumably they get the same salary as the remaining workforce in the same job so are not undercutting the locals ?
    In the American context, quite possibly not.

    I'm just pointing out the reason why some American companies love immigrant workers.

    It's why NAFTA led to vast move to Mexican factories over the border. It wasn't because the boardrooms were woke, and really loved enchiladas. Cheaper and less unions.

    It's also why the more forward thinking unions have really reached out to try and unionise the immigrant workers.
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 72,173
    Taz said:

    Nigelb said:

    Nigelb said:

    mercator said:

    Roger said:

    Nigelb said:

    Roger said:

    Taylor Swift photographed with a cat was perfectly timed. The animal story has to have finished him. He sounded insane. Great day for cats and ladies!

    I'm cynical enough* to wonder if the campaign asked her to hold back the endorsement until after the debate.
    As either damage control, or, as it turns out now, the cherry on the cake.

    *And sufficiently impressed by how well the campaign has been managed.
    I'm certain they did and what a cherry on the cake! In fact two cherries on the cake. The insane story about immigrants eating family pets and Taylor photographed with a cat.

    So a big arrow pointing at a pretty weird twosome
    Roger said:

    Nigelb said:

    Roger said:

    Taylor Swift photographed with a cat was perfectly timed. The animal story has to have finished him. He sounded insane. Great day for cats and ladies!

    I'm cynical enough* to wonder if the campaign asked her to hold back the endorsement until after the debate.
    As either damage control, or, as it turns out now, the cherry on the cake.

    *And sufficiently impressed by how well the campaign has been managed.
    I'm certain they did and what a cherry on the cake! In fact two cherries on the cake. The insane story about immigrants eating family pets and Taylor photographed with a cat.

    So a big arrow pointing at a pretty weird twosome
    I think trump's comeback to the moderators about Springfield is pretty good. The city manager is responsible for policing and for the good reputation of the city, so he's hardly going to admit to an out of control cat eating problem.
    Factory owner in Springfield, Ohio says he has 30 Haitian workers and wishes he had 30 more.

    He says that unlike Americans in the area, they show up to work on time, stay by their machines, and don’t have a drug problem.

    https://x.com/RichardHanania/status/1833614930530226221
    It's worth noting that recent immigrates have low participation in unions. In the er.... dog-eat-dog American labour market, that means they are much cheaper, generally. Especially in terms of getting them to take jobs with no health benefits.
    Trump is hardly a union supporter.

    And note those 30 are only 10% of his workforce.
    Presumably they get the same salary as the remaining workforce in the same job so are not undercutting the locals ?
    That would be a reasonable conclusion.

    Republicans blaming immigrants for the 'dog eat dog' labour market is pretty rich, given they are the party which has consistently opposed every extension of employment rights, pretty well ever.
  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 51,082

    eek said:

    theProle said:

    algarkirk said:

    Dopermean said:

    Taz said:
    There’s a little bit of Telegraph exaggeration there. The head of the union is mooting a ballot on strike action. There’s nothing imminent.

    The union remains militant, but I’m not certain the membership is that eager for more strike action. But the union is right that the sector is in trouble. Undergrad fees remain frozen despite the inflation of recent years. It’s not rocket science: costs have gone up, but a major source of income hasn’t, so universities are in deficit.
    If they increase tuition fees further then there'll be a further decline in student numbers, they're also being rinsed for accommodation.
    From ES "Figures from Ucas (Universities and Colleges Admissions Service) show by the end of June 41.9% of all 18-year-olds in the UK had applied through their system – compared to 42.1% last year and 44.1% in 2022."
    I am very pro universities, but the idea that 40%+ of our 18 year olds should be even thinking of going to one is ludicrous. The way in which the entire media prioritise them as the route for young people is absurd and damaging, and must be contributing to the jobs crisis in unfashionable fields, the marginalisation of FE, and apprentices.
    I can't think of a country other than Britain where the idea that its young people are receiving too much education has so much traction. If you suggested this in Ireland people would think you were madder than Donald Trump.

    What is wrong with Britain?
    Take this argument to it's logical conclusion - if full time education is so good for us, we should all remain in full time education until we are 50, or even 70. Just think what an amazing workforce the country would have, all these brilliant educated minds...

    The reality is that time spent in education is not free - it's years of life not spent doing something else. If you enter the labour force at 22, and retire at 65, that's 43 years. The four years from 18-22 are almost ten percent of your working life. Imagine what the country could do with 10% more workers and no extra costs (it might solve the "need" for the mass immigration Ponzi scheme)

    I didn't go to university, and spent the equivalent part of my life doing relatively menial jobs in a factory (although as I grew up I took on supervisory roles). I'm now at the age of 37 running a successful small business, currently employing 5 people. Having just looked it up, I'm earning just under the 90th percentile of the income distribution (and not in the outrageously overpriced South East either, unlike most such high earners).

    A lot of my success comes from what I learnt (particularly about human nature) during the 5 years I worked in that factory. I had the grades to go to uni. I had a fees paid scholarship to do physics at Aberystwyth. Had I done that, I think it's very likely I would have either dropped out or got a poor grade, followed by a menial job - Although I was very bright, and academically able, I didn't like being academic and I didn't at that age have the drive and work ethic required.

    IMHO 90% of young people would actually learn more useful stuff going into the workforce at 18, rather than spending 3-4 years and £50-100k for a system that basically amounts to credentialism, so they can get a "graduate level" job. And as a bonus, they would be economically productive for those 3-4 years, rather than just a net drain.
    You forget that the reason Labour increased student numbers was to manage youth unemployment numbers.
    There's a few things here

    1) Trying to get 18 year olds to decide the course of their lives is pretty silly. The average 18 year old is concentrating on the things that are important at 18 - partying and other 18 year olds of the right variety. When I went to university in 1990 there were half a dozen mature students on my course. Who all did well. Going back and doing a degree later is good for some

    2) The last big, real "class divide" is between degree'd and non-degree'd

    3) Earning power of the non-degree'd has surpassed some sections of the degree'd

    4) Making all white collar jobs (pretty much) require a degree hasn't increased the pay or quality of many of the jobs in question.

    My solution to the above is to merge all types of training into degrees. And then make degrees mix academic and hands on skills. So you can have a degree in plumbing, but you need to read some Yeats. And you can have a degree in Poetry, but you'll need to learn how to run a lathe.

    It's very noticeable that at universities, like UCL and Imperial, which offer non-engineering students the chance to do "shop" stuff (welding, machining, 3D printing etc etc), the makeup is very enthusiastic. Even when it is not academically credited.

    Re point 2) isn't the class divide between between privately educated and state educatded also pretty big? Not sure what the respective numbers are for those who go on to get degrees is but I guess schooling bleeds into it in any case ('good' universities and, er, not so good).
    I would say that the private/state thing is much smaller. Remember, universities are majority state school educated. Even Oxford and Cambridge.

    image
    😳 that UCL has fallen behind Oxford!
    Advanced, you mean. Less Head Count.
  • eekeek Posts: 28,585
    Eabhal said:

    Martin Lewis talking about using council tax bands as an alternative to pension credit as piggy-back criteria for winter fuel payment. Interesting idea.

    It's probably the only other proxy data source available that will identify mainly the poor but you then have the secondary issue that you would need to merge the house information with the profile of the residents and that's a different dataset (either from DWP or electoral role).

    Now that may be achievable but it's not a straightforward task...
  • MattWMattW Posts: 23,882
    edited September 11
    eek said:

    MattW said:

    eek said:

    MattW said:

    eek said:

    MattW said:

    Taz said:
    There’s a little bit of Telegraph exaggeration there. The head of the union is mooting a ballot on strike action. There’s nothing imminent.

    The union remains militant, but I’m not certain the membership is that eager for more strike action. But the union is right that the sector is in trouble. Undergrad fees remain frozen despite the inflation of recent years. It’s not rocket science: costs have gone up, but a major source of income hasn’t, so universities are in deficit.
    Good morning everyone.

    I think this is an interesting one.

    Despite its squeezes, the university sector has had a long period relatively in the sun - meaning perhaps 25 years, compared to for example local authorities, public transport, the legal system, or defence.

    How will this play in a competition for scarce (or "find your own" resources)?

    Universities across the country have been milking the Student Accommodation cash-cow since 2000 or before, and heavily since ~2005-2010, and have also targeted intertnational student fees. What other income sources are available?
    I would want to see evidence to back up that claim

    The biggest providers in the market nowadays are private firms such as Unite, IQ or Student Roost all backed by pension funds.
    Which claim?

    I made several observations. I was also timed out with the following bonus bit:

    Domestic student fees are down afaics by about 35% in real terms since 2010 (£9000 then to £9250 now).
    The claim that Universities are milking the accommodation cash-cow. It's not universities who are the real offenders there...
    OK. Looked up the actual numbers for tuition fee caps in England.

    2006-7 £3000 per year cap
    2012-13 £9000 per year cap
    2017-18 £9250 per year cap
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_tuition_fees_in_the_United_Kingdom

    CPI Inflation:

    2006-2012 20.2%
    2012-2017 7.6%
    2017-2024 (April) 29.1%

    BoE CPI calculator

    (External factors are other funding sources and how they change)





    What has tuition fees got to do with accommodation costs - you seem to be randomly throwing random facts around pretending it's an actual argument...
    Tuition fees are "other income sources" in my comment. Universities have a portfolio of funding sources, which each contribute to the finances. And we need to think about the whole picture, which the Govt will need to consider.

    On the numbers around student accommodation, Private Sector providers do not seem to be dominant, or even increasing the most recently (the link has numbers). The dominant sectors in the increase 2017-2022 are living at home (+75k), and "own accommodation" (+102k), far more than both Private Sector Halls (+50k), and "other rented accommodation" (+68k) (which is PRS I think).

    University owned accommodation is not growing, but is still almost double Private Sector Halls, which provide ~200k of accommodation units vs ~350k units for "Provider Maintained Property."

    If we can agree that those are representative stats, then we can move on to how hard Universities are driving accommodation as a revenue stream.

    These are numbers for 2017-2022. Statista via the Confused.com annual student accommodation report). The numbers in the market don't seem to reflect Private Accommodation Provider ascendancy. My photo quota.



    https://www.confused.com/student/student-accommodation-statistics

  • RogerRoger Posts: 19,970
    edited September 11
    mercator said:

    Roger said:

    Nigelb said:

    Roger said:

    Taylor Swift photographed with a cat was perfectly timed. The animal story has to have finished him. He sounded insane. Great day for cats and ladies!

    I'm cynical enough* to wonder if the campaign asked her to hold back the endorsement until after the debate.
    As either damage control, or, as it turns out now, the cherry on the cake.

    *And sufficiently impressed by how well the campaign has been managed.
    I'm certain they did and what a cherry on the cake! In fact two cherries on the cake. The insane story about immigrants eating family pets and Taylor photographed with a cat.

    So a big arrow pointing at a pretty weird twosome
    Roger said:

    Nigelb said:

    Roger said:

    Taylor Swift photographed with a cat was perfectly timed. The animal story has to have finished him. He sounded insane. Great day for cats and ladies!

    I'm cynical enough* to wonder if the campaign asked her to hold back the endorsement until after the debate.
    As either damage control, or, as it turns out now, the cherry on the cake.

    *And sufficiently impressed by how well the campaign has been managed.
    I'm certain they did and what a cherry on the cake! In fact two cherries on the cake. The insane story about immigrants eating family pets and Taylor photographed with a cat.

    So a big arrow pointing at a pretty weird twosome
    I think trump's comeback to the moderators about Springfield is pretty good. The city manager is responsible for policing and for the good reputation of the city, so he's hardly going to admit to an out of control cat eating problem.
    I think if you say something as whacky as immigrants are eating family pets when you are trying to show immigrants are not desirable it's the person making the claim-particularly when he's a known fantacist- that needs to make the case. Karmala's laugh and eyes to the ceiling was perfect..
  • eek said:

    MattW said:

    Taz said:
    There’s a little bit of Telegraph exaggeration there. The head of the union is mooting a ballot on strike action. There’s nothing imminent.

    The union remains militant, but I’m not certain the membership is that eager for more strike action. But the union is right that the sector is in trouble. Undergrad fees remain frozen despite the inflation of recent years. It’s not rocket science: costs have gone up, but a major source of income hasn’t, so universities are in deficit.
    Good morning everyone.

    I think this is an interesting one.

    Despite its squeezes, the university sector has had a long period relatively in the sun - meaning perhaps 25 years, compared to for example local authorities, public transport, the legal system, or defence.

    How will this play in a competition for scarce (or "find your own" resources)?

    Universities across the country have been milking the Student Accommodation cash-cow since 2000 or before, and heavily since ~2005-2010, and have also targeted intertnational student fees. What other income sources are available?
    Open up university exam certification to anyone paying the (reasonable) costs of the exam. Let them get the tuition where and when they want, how they want and from whoever they want. Job done.
    That's what the real cost of the degree is - the certificate from X university saying you got that degree.

    The lessons without the exams can be found on the internet for peanuts..
    Well if the students can learn what they need to for peanuts, then efficiency dictates thats what should happen. It won't be the case for all subjects, and some will choose in person ahead of online regardless, but reform is needed.
    University of London external degrees used to be offered for peanuts, and maybe still are but I could see only offers of tuition for them.

    But the benefits of a university education have nothing to do with the degree but are a posh finishing school allied to a good brand name. Look at PBers condemning Mickey Mouse universities as if Oxford taught a more accurate value of pi, or a different year for the Battle of Hastings.
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 72,173
    edited September 11
    ClippP said:

    algarkirk said:



    It’s a sector that should be ripe for disruption with technology.

    Not really. A university is really all about thinking - doing it, showing how to do it, writing about it and criticising it.

    Transmission of supposed certainties and appropriate professional tecniques is more proper to a technical education.

    There is room for both and a need for both. But it is time to make a distinction.
    Pre-internet, universities also provided a pretty unique function of providing a place for smart people interested in particular academic disciplines to get together to communicate and collaborate.
    That just isn't so true any more.

    And the distinction between academic and technical skills isn't entirely clear cut.

    They still provide something that nowhere else really does, but it's not ridiculous that we rethink the way in which they fulfil that role.
  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 51,082
    eek said:

    Eabhal said:

    Martin Lewis talking about using council tax bands as an alternative to pension credit as piggy-back criteria for winter fuel payment. Interesting idea.

    It's probably the only other proxy data source available that will identify mainly the poor but you then have the secondary issue that you would need to merge the house information with the profile of the residents and that's a different dataset (either from DWP or electoral role).

    Now that may be achievable but it's not a straightforward task...
    And then you get the pensioner living in the house with poor insulation.... Vs the exact same house over the road that has been insulated to the "never need to turn the radiators on" standard.
  • Taz said:

    Nigelb said:

    mercator said:

    Roger said:

    Nigelb said:

    Roger said:

    Taylor Swift photographed with a cat was perfectly timed. The animal story has to have finished him. He sounded insane. Great day for cats and ladies!

    I'm cynical enough* to wonder if the campaign asked her to hold back the endorsement until after the debate.
    As either damage control, or, as it turns out now, the cherry on the cake.

    *And sufficiently impressed by how well the campaign has been managed.
    I'm certain they did and what a cherry on the cake! In fact two cherries on the cake. The insane story about immigrants eating family pets and Taylor photographed with a cat.

    So a big arrow pointing at a pretty weird twosome
    Roger said:

    Nigelb said:

    Roger said:

    Taylor Swift photographed with a cat was perfectly timed. The animal story has to have finished him. He sounded insane. Great day for cats and ladies!

    I'm cynical enough* to wonder if the campaign asked her to hold back the endorsement until after the debate.
    As either damage control, or, as it turns out now, the cherry on the cake.

    *And sufficiently impressed by how well the campaign has been managed.
    I'm certain they did and what a cherry on the cake! In fact two cherries on the cake. The insane story about immigrants eating family pets and Taylor photographed with a cat.

    So a big arrow pointing at a pretty weird twosome
    I think trump's comeback to the moderators about Springfield is pretty good. The city manager is responsible for policing and for the good reputation of the city, so he's hardly going to admit to an out of control cat eating problem.
    Factory owner in Springfield, Ohio says he has 30 Haitian workers and wishes he had 30 more.

    He says that unlike Americans in the area, they show up to work on time, stay by their machines, and don’t have a drug problem.

    https://x.com/RichardHanania/status/1833614930530226221
    He should be able to get 30 more quite easily, given there are quite a few Haitians in Springfield and not all are in employment.
    Is that true? Surely some are pest control officers in the voluntary sector? It was on television.
  • rottenboroughrottenborough Posts: 63,114
    Frank Luntz
    @FrankLuntz
    ·
    2h
    The more Trump spoke tonight, the worse he did.

    The last time a national candidate achieved this feat was Sarah Palin in 2008. #Debate2024
  • StillWatersStillWaters Posts: 8,443
    kamski said:

    Nigelb said:

    Roger said:

    Taylor Swift photographed with a cat was perfectly timed. The animal story has to have finished him. He sounded insane. Great day for cats and ladies!

    I'm cynical enough* to wonder if the campaign asked her to hold back the endorsement until after the debate.
    As either damage control, or, as it turns out now, the cherry on the cake.

    *And sufficiently impressed by how well the campaign has been managed.
    Oh I don’t think that’s cynical at all, I’d have pretty much expected that with any high profile endorsements there’ll be conversations between the “teams” about the best time to release it.
    I'm a bit sceptical that Swift is coordinating with the Harris campaign. She may want to Trump to lose, but I think she also cares a lot about her brand. Maybe she was waiting to see if Harris would screw up the debate badly.

    She’s big enough that she doesn’t have to

    Announced on her own terms, I suspect, although likely have the campaign a heads up

  • FlatlanderFlatlander Posts: 4,720

    eek said:

    theProle said:

    algarkirk said:

    Dopermean said:

    Taz said:
    There’s a little bit of Telegraph exaggeration there. The head of the union is mooting a ballot on strike action. There’s nothing imminent.

    The union remains militant, but I’m not certain the membership is that eager for more strike action. But the union is right that the sector is in trouble. Undergrad fees remain frozen despite the inflation of recent years. It’s not rocket science: costs have gone up, but a major source of income hasn’t, so universities are in deficit.
    If they increase tuition fees further then there'll be a further decline in student numbers, they're also being rinsed for accommodation.
    From ES "Figures from Ucas (Universities and Colleges Admissions Service) show by the end of June 41.9% of all 18-year-olds in the UK had applied through their system – compared to 42.1% last year and 44.1% in 2022."
    I am very pro universities, but the idea that 40%+ of our 18 year olds should be even thinking of going to one is ludicrous. The way in which the entire media prioritise them as the route for young people is absurd and damaging, and must be contributing to the jobs crisis in unfashionable fields, the marginalisation of FE, and apprentices.
    I can't think of a country other than Britain where the idea that its young people are receiving too much education has so much traction. If you suggested this in Ireland people would think you were madder than Donald Trump.

    What is wrong with Britain?
    Take this argument to it's logical conclusion - if full time education is so good for us, we should all remain in full time education until we are 50, or even 70. Just think what an amazing workforce the country would have, all these brilliant educated minds...

    The reality is that time spent in education is not free - it's years of life not spent doing something else. If you enter the labour force at 22, and retire at 65, that's 43 years. The four years from 18-22 are almost ten percent of your working life. Imagine what the country could do with 10% more workers and no extra costs (it might solve the "need" for the mass immigration Ponzi scheme)

    I didn't go to university, and spent the equivalent part of my life doing relatively menial jobs in a factory (although as I grew up I took on supervisory roles). I'm now at the age of 37 running a successful small business, currently employing 5 people. Having just looked it up, I'm earning just under the 90th percentile of the income distribution (and not in the outrageously overpriced South East either, unlike most such high earners).

    A lot of my success comes from what I learnt (particularly about human nature) during the 5 years I worked in that factory. I had the grades to go to uni. I had a fees paid scholarship to do physics at Aberystwyth. Had I done that, I think it's very likely I would have either dropped out or got a poor grade, followed by a menial job - Although I was very bright, and academically able, I didn't like being academic and I didn't at that age have the drive and work ethic required.

    IMHO 90% of young people would actually learn more useful stuff going into the workforce at 18, rather than spending 3-4 years and £50-100k for a system that basically amounts to credentialism, so they can get a "graduate level" job. And as a bonus, they would be economically productive for those 3-4 years, rather than just a net drain.
    You forget that the reason Labour increased student numbers was to manage youth unemployment numbers.
    There's a few things here

    1) Trying to get 18 year olds to decide the course of their lives is pretty silly. The average 18 year old is concentrating on the things that are important at 18 - partying and other 18 year olds of the right variety. When I went to university in 1990 there were half a dozen mature students on my course. Who all did well. Going back and doing a degree later is good for some

    2) The last big, real "class divide" is between degree'd and non-degree'd

    3) Earning power of the non-degree'd has surpassed some sections of the degree'd

    4) Making all white collar jobs (pretty much) require a degree hasn't increased the pay or quality of many of the jobs in question.

    My solution to the above is to merge all types of training into degrees. And then make degrees mix academic and hands on skills. So you can have a degree in plumbing, but you need to read some Yeats. And you can have a degree in Poetry, but you'll need to learn how to run a lathe.

    It's very noticeable that at universities, like UCL and Imperial, which offer non-engineering students the chance to do "shop" stuff (welding, machining, 3D printing etc etc), the makeup is very enthusiastic. Even when it is not academically credited.

    Some of us actual engineering students didn't get a chance to do any welding. Might have been fun.
  • williamglennwilliamglenn Posts: 52,268
    Nigelb said:

    Factory owner in Springfield, Ohio says he has 30 Haitian workers and wishes he had 30 more.

    He says that unlike Americans in the area, they show up to work on time, stay by their machines, and don’t have a drug problem.

    https://x.com/RichardHanania/status/1833614930530226221

    Is this replacement theory propaganda?
  • StillWatersStillWaters Posts: 8,443

    algarkirk said:

    Dopermean said:

    Taz said:
    There’s a little bit of Telegraph exaggeration there. The head of the union is mooting a ballot on strike action. There’s nothing imminent.

    The union remains militant, but I’m not certain the membership is that eager for more strike action. But the union is right that the sector is in trouble. Undergrad fees remain frozen despite the inflation of recent years. It’s not rocket science: costs have gone up, but a major source of income hasn’t, so universities are in deficit.
    If they increase tuition fees further then there'll be a further decline in student numbers, they're also being rinsed for accommodation.
    From ES "Figures from Ucas (Universities and Colleges Admissions Service) show by the end of June 41.9% of all 18-year-olds in the UK had applied through their system – compared to 42.1% last year and 44.1% in 2022."
    I am very pro universities, but the idea that 40%+ of our 18 year olds should be even thinking of going to one is ludicrous. The way in which the entire media prioritise them as the route for young people is absurd and damaging, and must be contributing to the jobs crisis in unfashionable fields, the marginalisation of FE, and apprentices.
    I can't think of a country other than Britain where the idea that its young people are receiving too much education has so much traction. If
    you suggested this in Ireland people would think you were madder than Donald Trump.

    What is wrong with Britain?
    It’s the wrong sort of education not too much education
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 72,173

    Nigelb said:

    Factory owner in Springfield, Ohio says he has 30 Haitian workers and wishes he had 30 more.

    He says that unlike Americans in the area, they show up to work on time, stay by their machines, and don’t have a drug problem.

    https://x.com/RichardHanania/status/1833614930530226221

    Is this replacement theory propaganda?
    No.
    Any other daft questions ?
  • FlatlanderFlatlander Posts: 4,720
    Eabhal said:

    Martin Lewis talking about using council tax bands as an alternative to pension credit as piggy-back criteria for winter fuel payment. Interesting idea.

    Big draughty house and no income. What could go wrong?

    [Yes, I know these people should move, but that's all very well in theory]
  • tlg86tlg86 Posts: 26,220
    Not that it matters a great deal, but what do people think about the psychology of handshake last night:

    https://x.com/keithedwards/status/1833681661961122115

    When I saw it this morning, I thought Harris looked weak because she appeared to feel the need to be the one to go to his territory. But maybe she was being assertive and showing that she's in charge?
  • eekeek Posts: 28,585
    edited September 11
    MattW said:

    eek said:

    MattW said:

    eek said:

    MattW said:

    eek said:

    MattW said:

    Taz said:
    There’s a little bit of Telegraph exaggeration there. The head of the union is mooting a ballot on strike action. There’s nothing imminent.

    The union remains militant, but I’m not certain the membership is that eager for more strike action. But the union is right that the sector is in trouble. Undergrad fees remain frozen despite the inflation of recent years. It’s not rocket science: costs have gone up, but a major source of income hasn’t, so universities are in deficit.
    Good morning everyone.

    I think this is an interesting one.

    Despite its squeezes, the university sector has had a long period relatively in the sun - meaning perhaps 25 years, compared to for example local authorities, public transport, the legal system, or defence.

    How will this play in a competition for scarce (or "find your own" resources)?

    Universities across the country have been milking the Student Accommodation cash-cow since 2000 or before, and heavily since ~2005-2010, and have also targeted intertnational student fees. What other income sources are available?
    I would want to see evidence to back up that claim

    The biggest providers in the market nowadays are private firms such as Unite, IQ or Student Roost all backed by pension funds.
    Which claim?

    I made several observations. I was also timed out with the following bonus bit:

    Domestic student fees are down afaics by about 35% in real terms since 2010 (£9000 then to £9250 now).
    The claim that Universities are milking the accommodation cash-cow. It's not universities who are the real offenders there...
    OK. Looked up the actual numbers for tuition fee caps in England.

    2006-7 £3000 per year cap
    2012-13 £9000 per year cap
    2017-18 £9250 per year cap
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_tuition_fees_in_the_United_Kingdom

    CPI Inflation:

    2006-2012 20.2%
    2012-2017 7.6%
    2017-2024 (April) 29.1%

    BoE CPI calculator

    (External factors are other funding sources and how they change)





    What has tuition fees got to do with accommodation costs - you seem to be randomly throwing random facts around pretending it's an actual argument...
    Tuition fees are "other income sources" in my comment. Universities have a portfolio of funding sources, which each contribute to the finances. And we need to think about the whole picture, which the Govt will need to consider.

    On the numbers around student accommodation, Private Sector providers do not seem to be dominant, or even increasing the most recently (the link has numbers). The dominant sectors in the increase 2017-2022 are living at home (+75k), and "own accommodation" (+102k), far more than both Private Sector Halls (+50k), and "other rented accommodation" (+68k) (which is PRS I think).

    University owned accommodation is not growing, but is still almost double Private Sector Halls, which provide ~200k of accommodation units vs ~350k units for "Provider Maintained Property."

    If we can agree that those are representative stats, then we can move on to how hard Universities are driving accommodation as a revenue stream.

    These are numbers for 2017-2022. Statista via the Confused.com annual student accommodation report). The numbers in the market don't seem to reflect Private Accommodation Provider ascendancy. My photo quota.



    https://www.confused.com/student/student-accommodation-statistics

    You know that that chart shows no difference in the number of university owned places - it fluctuates around 350,000 by the looks of it. While demand has increased by 20% from 1.8 million to 2.2 million.

    Got to say that chart as displayed is neither use nor ornament though - the 3 factors that make up student accommodation are:

    1) University owned (yellow)
    2) private purpose built (blue)
    3) other (green)

    And I cannot work out the values for the other field from that chart.
  • SandpitSandpit Posts: 54,972
    edited September 11
    For those of you still wondering about the eating pets story. Here is a summary:

    https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/cats-ducks-haitians-springfield/ (ignore their editorialising, and look at the facts presented).

    What is a fact is that a woman was arrested for eating a cat on the street, in Ohio. She is an American citizen.
    What is also a fact, is that a man was photographed carrying what looks like a wild bird on the street, in Ohio.

    There was a man who mentioned street people eating cats at a public meeting in Springfield, OH.

    There are some ambiguities regarding exact times and locations (not necessarily Springfield), but the story is not the wild conspiracy theory it’s been made out to be.

    There are also a number of community Facebook posts relating to eating cats, but no photos and no arrest records, so difficult to stand up individual cases.
  • RogerRoger Posts: 19,970

    GDP flat as growth killer Reeves swings in to action.

    Once Mad Ed kills the North sea and Wrecker Reeves butchers the economy there wont be much left.

    https://www.theguardian.com/business/article/2024/sep/11/uk-economy-unexpectedly-flatlines-for-second-month-in-row

    so much for growth is my priority

    Must be those pensioners living in Marbella who have decided to forgo their daily pina colada so they can save up for next years fuel hike
  • kjhkjh Posts: 11,932
    edited September 11
    moonshine said:

    Taylor Swift’s endorsement of Harris is just pitch perfect. And signing off as Childless Cat Lady the chef’s kiss.

    Lady is all class.

    And Musk’s subsequent offer to impregnate her just put all that into relief.

    Nothing has changed my view that the 5th of November will be a blowout for Harris.

    How many voters are there that care about Taylor
    Swift’s voting preference that would not already be voting democrat? It’s more a fleeting morale boost to the campaigners than a game changer surely. The Liz Cheney endorsement feels far more impactful to me.
    ??? You only think Democrats follow pop music? You think young people can't be influenced by who they follow? You know that group that is the easiest to influence, unlike us oldies. You think Country music (her origins) is followed by mainly Democrats? You think that most young people have heard of Liz Cheney? Who do you think most voters have heard of Liz Cheney or Taylor Swift?
  • SandpitSandpit Posts: 54,972

    Sandpit said:

    algarkirk said:

    Dopermean said:

    Taz said:
    There’s a little bit of Telegraph exaggeration there. The head of the union is mooting a ballot on strike action. There’s nothing imminent.

    The union remains militant, but I’m not certain the membership is that eager for more strike action. But the union is right that the sector is in trouble. Undergrad fees remain frozen despite the inflation of recent years. It’s not rocket science: costs have gone up, but a major source of income hasn’t, so universities are in deficit.
    If they increase tuition fees further then there'll be a further decline in student numbers, they're also being rinsed for accommodation.
    From ES "Figures from Ucas (Universities and Colleges Admissions Service) show by the end of June 41.9% of all 18-year-olds in the UK had applied through their system – compared to 42.1% last year and 44.1% in 2022."
    I am very pro universities, but the idea that 40%+ of our 18 year olds should be even thinking of going to one is ludicrous. The way in which the entire media prioritise them as the route for young people is absurd and damaging, and must be contributing to the jobs crisis in unfashionable fields, the marginalisation of FE, and apprentices.
    I can't think of a country other than Britain where the idea that its young people are receiving too much education has so much traction. If you suggested this in Ireland people would think you were madder than Donald Trump.

    What is wrong with Britain?
    The problem isn’t the education, it’s the financial structures behind education which offer poor value for money and returns on the investment for too many students.

    It’s a sector that should be ripe for disruption with technology.
    https://migrationobservatory.ox.ac.uk/resources/briefings/student-migration-to-the-uk/

    “The UK was the second most popular destination worldwide for international students in 2021, behind the United States. According to data from UNESCO, the UK had a 9% global market share, attracting around 600,000 tertiary students from around the world (this includes all those in higher education, as well as students on other post-secondary courses). By comparison, the US attracted around 833,000 international students in the same year, or 13% of the total. This marks a return to historical patterns after a brief period in 2018-19 when Australia approached and then surpassed the UK”

    So, international students seem to think the UK is a good choice, suggesting we’re not offering poor value for money.
    We are great value for money for the world’s rich elites, and as you say education is a great source of foreign income. Long pay it continue.

    For domestic students finishing the courses tens of thousands in debt, for courses that often don’t lead directly to employment in the field, not so much.
  • edmundintokyoedmundintokyo Posts: 17,708
    Sandpit said:

    For those of you still wondering about the eating pets story. Here is a summary:

    https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/cats-ducks-haitians-springfield/ (ignore their editorialising, and look at the facts presented).

    What is a fact is that a woman was arrested for eating a cat on the street, in Ohio. She is an American citizen.
    What is also a fact, is that a man was photographed carrying what looks like a wild bird on the street, in Ohio.

    There was a man who mentioned street people eating cats at a public meeting in Springfield, OH.

    There are some ambiguities regarding exact times and locations (not necessarily Springfield), but the story is not the wild conspiracy theory it’s been made out to be.

    There are also a number of community Facebook posts relating to eating cats, but no photos and no arrest records, so difficult to stand up individual cases.

    This is the racist trope I hear the most in Japan. Normal, friendly, otherwise well-balanced people think the Vietnamese are coming for my goats.
  • SandpitSandpit Posts: 54,972
    eek said:

    MattW said:

    Taz said:
    There’s a little bit of Telegraph exaggeration there. The head of the union is mooting a ballot on strike action. There’s nothing imminent.

    The union remains militant, but I’m not certain the membership is that eager for more strike action. But the union is right that the sector is in trouble. Undergrad fees remain frozen despite the inflation of recent years. It’s not rocket science: costs have gone up, but a major source of income hasn’t, so universities are in deficit.
    Good morning everyone.

    I think this is an interesting one.

    Despite its squeezes, the university sector has had a long period relatively in the sun - meaning perhaps 25 years, compared to for example local authorities, public transport, the legal system, or defence.

    How will this play in a competition for scarce (or "find your own" resources)?

    Universities across the country have been milking the Student Accommodation cash-cow since 2000 or before, and heavily since ~2005-2010, and have also targeted intertnational student fees. What other income sources are available?
    Open up university exam certification to anyone paying the (reasonable) costs of the exam. Let them get the tuition where and when they want, how they want and from whoever they want. Job done.
    That's what the real cost of the degree is - the certificate from X university saying you got that degree.

    The lessons without the exams can be found on the internet for peanuts..
    Exactly. The universities are trying to sell scarcity, in a world where information is no longer scarce.
  • MattWMattW Posts: 23,882
    edited September 11

    eek said:

    theProle said:

    algarkirk said:

    Dopermean said:

    Taz said:
    There’s a little bit of Telegraph exaggeration there. The head of the union is mooting a ballot on strike action. There’s nothing imminent.

    The union remains militant, but I’m not certain the membership is that eager for more strike action. But the union is right that the sector is in trouble. Undergrad fees remain frozen despite the inflation of recent years. It’s not rocket science: costs have gone up, but a major source of income hasn’t, so universities are in deficit.
    If they increase tuition fees further then there'll be a further decline in student numbers, they're also being rinsed for accommodation.
    From ES "Figures from Ucas (Universities and Colleges Admissions Service) show by the end of June 41.9% of all 18-year-olds in the UK had applied through their system – compared to 42.1% last year and 44.1% in 2022."
    I am very pro universities, but the idea that 40%+ of our 18 year olds should be even thinking of going to one is ludicrous. The way in which the entire media prioritise them as the route for young people is absurd and damaging, and must be contributing to the jobs crisis in unfashionable fields, the marginalisation of FE, and apprentices.
    I can't think of a country other than Britain where the idea that its young people are receiving too much education has so much traction. If you suggested this in Ireland people would think you were madder than Donald Trump.

    What is wrong with Britain?
    Take this argument to it's logical conclusion - if full time education is so good for us, we should all remain in full time education until we are 50, or even 70. Just think what an amazing workforce the country would have, all these brilliant educated minds...

    The reality is that time spent in education is not free - it's years of life not spent doing something else. If you enter the labour force at 22, and retire at 65, that's 43 years. The four years from 18-22 are almost ten percent of your working life. Imagine what the country could do with 10% more workers and no extra costs (it might solve the "need" for the mass immigration Ponzi scheme)

    I didn't go to university, and spent the equivalent part of my life doing relatively menial jobs in a factory (although as I grew up I took on supervisory roles). I'm now at the age of 37 running a successful small business, currently employing 5 people. Having just looked it up, I'm earning just under the 90th percentile of the income distribution (and not in the outrageously overpriced South East either, unlike most such high earners).

    A lot of my success comes from what I learnt (particularly about human nature) during the 5 years I worked in that factory. I had the grades to go to uni. I had a fees paid scholarship to do physics at Aberystwyth. Had I done that, I think it's very likely I would have either dropped out or got a poor grade, followed by a menial job - Although I was very bright, and academically able, I didn't like being academic and I didn't at that age have the drive and work ethic required.

    IMHO 90% of young people would actually learn more useful stuff going into the workforce at 18, rather than spending 3-4 years and £50-100k for a system that basically amounts to credentialism, so they can get a "graduate level" job. And as a bonus, they would be economically productive for those 3-4 years, rather than just a net drain.
    You forget that the reason Labour increased student numbers was to manage youth unemployment numbers.
    There's a few things here

    1) Trying to get 18 year olds to decide the course of their lives is pretty silly. The average 18 year old is concentrating on the things that are important at 18 - partying and other 18 year olds of the right variety. When I went to university in 1990 there were half a dozen mature students on my course. Who all did well. Going back and doing a degree later is good for some

    2) The last big, real "class divide" is between degree'd and non-degree'd

    3) Earning power of the non-degree'd has surpassed some sections of the degree'd

    4) Making all white collar jobs (pretty much) require a degree hasn't increased the pay or quality of many of the jobs in question.

    My solution to the above is to merge all types of training into degrees. And then make degrees mix academic and hands on skills. So you can have a degree in plumbing, but you need to read some Yeats. And you can have a degree in Poetry, but you'll need to learn how to run a lathe.

    It's very noticeable that at universities, like UCL and Imperial, which offer non-engineering students the chance to do "shop" stuff (welding, machining, 3D printing etc etc), the makeup is very enthusiastic. Even when it is not academically credited.

    Why are 3 and 4 an issue?

    3) surely reflects the market, and is only (maybe) an issue if University degrees need to swallow funding from other sources, so child benefit, NHS, justice or defence spending is under pressure to pay for degrees.

    In one example of markets operating, people will retrain as Tradespeople ( :smile: ). I have known several women in the 30-50 age bracket who have shifted into the plumbing or gas engineer trade, for example.

    My own gas engineer went from police->gas engineer when she unable to deal with the shifts and childcare after relationship breakdown.

    4) There are white collar jobs and white collar jobs. I'd support degree nursing, I think (John Major's Nurse 2000 programme), but not for some others. Office Managers in a small company do not necessarily need a degree, for example.

    In that context, degrees covering a substantial chunk of their own costs makes a lot of sense, as an appropriate criteria in a process of choice.

    One often ignored large elephant in the "bridge the divide" room is the Open University which currently has 200k+ students.

    (I did a 4-year thin-sandwich engineering, so had the benefits of both working life and academe.)
  • Nigelb said:

    ClippP said:

    algarkirk said:



    It’s a sector that should be ripe for disruption with technology.

    Not really. A university is really all about thinking - doing it, showing how to do it, writing about it and criticising it.

    Transmission of supposed certainties and appropriate professional tecniques is more proper to a technical education.

    There is room for both and a need for both. But it is time to make a distinction.
    Pre-internet, universities also provided a pretty unique function of providing a place for smart people interested in particular academic disciplines to get together to communicate and collaborate.
    That just isn't so true any more.

    And the distinction between academic and technical skills isn't entirely clear cut.

    They still provide something that nowhere else really does, but it's not ridiculous that we rethink the way in which they fulfil that role.
    There is probably more to be gained from rethinking the school curriculum to reflect the modern world, from using spreadsheets to using paintbrushes; from cycling to driving. Do our children really need to know about Oxbow lakes and the unification of Italy?
  • LostPasswordLostPassword Posts: 18,895
    tlg86 said:

    Not that it matters a great deal, but what do people think about the psychology of handshake last night:

    https://x.com/keithedwards/status/1833681661961122115

    When I saw it this morning, I thought Harris looked weak because she appeared to feel the need to be the one to go to his territory. But maybe she was being assertive and showing that she's in charge?

    I think it's assertive and proactive, yes. Better to be the person who makes things happen than the person who reacts to things happening.
  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 51,082

    Sandpit said:

    For those of you still wondering about the eating pets story. Here is a summary:

    https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/cats-ducks-haitians-springfield/ (ignore their editorialising, and look at the facts presented).

    What is a fact is that a woman was arrested for eating a cat on the street, in Ohio. She is an American citizen.
    What is also a fact, is that a man was photographed carrying what looks like a wild bird on the street, in Ohio.

    There was a man who mentioned street people eating cats at a public meeting in Springfield, OH.

    There are some ambiguities regarding exact times and locations (not necessarily Springfield), but the story is not the wild conspiracy theory it’s been made out to be.

    There are also a number of community Facebook posts relating to eating cats, but no photos and no arrest records, so difficult to stand up individual cases.

    This is the racist trope I hear the most in Japan. Normal, friendly, otherwise well-balanced people think the Vietnamese are coming for my goats.
    What's wrong/bizarre about eating goat?

    {mmmmmm Jamaican Curry Goat.... must steal a goat}
  • williamglennwilliamglenn Posts: 52,268
    Sandpit said:

    eek said:

    MattW said:

    Taz said:
    There’s a little bit of Telegraph exaggeration there. The head of the union is mooting a ballot on strike action. There’s nothing imminent.

    The union remains militant, but I’m not certain the membership is that eager for more strike action. But the union is right that the sector is in trouble. Undergrad fees remain frozen despite the inflation of recent years. It’s not rocket science: costs have gone up, but a major source of income hasn’t, so universities are in deficit.
    Good morning everyone.

    I think this is an interesting one.

    Despite its squeezes, the university sector has had a long period relatively in the sun - meaning perhaps 25 years, compared to for example local authorities, public transport, the legal system, or defence.

    How will this play in a competition for scarce (or "find your own" resources)?

    Universities across the country have been milking the Student Accommodation cash-cow since 2000 or before, and heavily since ~2005-2010, and have also targeted intertnational student fees. What other income sources are available?
    Open up university exam certification to anyone paying the (reasonable) costs of the exam. Let them get the tuition where and when they want, how they want and from whoever they want. Job done.
    That's what the real cost of the degree is - the certificate from X university saying you got that degree.

    The lessons without the exams can be found on the internet for peanuts..
    Exactly. The universities are trying to sell scarcity, in a world where information is no longer scarce.
    It's a form of asset stripping. They are cashing in on the prestige of a British education while it lasts.
  • edmundintokyoedmundintokyo Posts: 17,708

    Sandpit said:

    For those of you still wondering about the eating pets story. Here is a summary:

    https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/cats-ducks-haitians-springfield/ (ignore their editorialising, and look at the facts presented).

    What is a fact is that a woman was arrested for eating a cat on the street, in Ohio. She is an American citizen.
    What is also a fact, is that a man was photographed carrying what looks like a wild bird on the street, in Ohio.

    There was a man who mentioned street people eating cats at a public meeting in Springfield, OH.

    There are some ambiguities regarding exact times and locations (not necessarily Springfield), but the story is not the wild conspiracy theory it’s been made out to be.

    There are also a number of community Facebook posts relating to eating cats, but no photos and no arrest records, so difficult to stand up individual cases.

    This is the racist trope I hear the most in Japan. Normal, friendly, otherwise well-balanced people think the Vietnamese are coming for my goats.
    What's wrong/bizarre about eating goat?

    {mmmmmm Jamaican Curry Goat.... must steal a goat}
    Nothing wrong with eating goat at all... unless you stole it from somebody else...
  • eekeek Posts: 28,585
    Sandpit said:

    eek said:

    MattW said:

    Taz said:
    There’s a little bit of Telegraph exaggeration there. The head of the union is mooting a ballot on strike action. There’s nothing imminent.

    The union remains militant, but I’m not certain the membership is that eager for more strike action. But the union is right that the sector is in trouble. Undergrad fees remain frozen despite the inflation of recent years. It’s not rocket science: costs have gone up, but a major source of income hasn’t, so universities are in deficit.
    Good morning everyone.

    I think this is an interesting one.

    Despite its squeezes, the university sector has had a long period relatively in the sun - meaning perhaps 25 years, compared to for example local authorities, public transport, the legal system, or defence.

    How will this play in a competition for scarce (or "find your own" resources)?

    Universities across the country have been milking the Student Accommodation cash-cow since 2000 or before, and heavily since ~2005-2010, and have also targeted intertnational student fees. What other income sources are available?
    Open up university exam certification to anyone paying the (reasonable) costs of the exam. Let them get the tuition where and when they want, how they want and from whoever they want. Job done.
    That's what the real cost of the degree is - the certificate from X university saying you got that degree.

    The lessons without the exams can be found on the internet for peanuts..
    Exactly. The universities are trying to sell scarcity, in a world where information is no longer scarce.
    Not quite - they are selling a stamp of approval based on their reputation within HR / the employment market.
  • FoxyFoxy Posts: 49,114
    Nigelb said:

    Nigelb said:

    mercator said:

    Roger said:

    Nigelb said:

    Roger said:

    Taylor Swift photographed with a cat was perfectly timed. The animal story has to have finished him. He sounded insane. Great day for cats and ladies!

    I'm cynical enough* to wonder if the campaign asked her to hold back the endorsement until after the debate.
    As either damage control, or, as it turns out now, the cherry on the cake.

    *And sufficiently impressed by how well the campaign has been managed.
    I'm certain they did and what a cherry on the cake! In fact two cherries on the cake. The insane story about immigrants eating family pets and Taylor photographed with a cat.

    So a big arrow pointing at a pretty weird twosome
    Roger said:

    Nigelb said:

    Roger said:

    Taylor Swift photographed with a cat was perfectly timed. The animal story has to have finished him. He sounded insane. Great day for cats and ladies!

    I'm cynical enough* to wonder if the campaign asked her to hold back the endorsement until after the debate.
    As either damage control, or, as it turns out now, the cherry on the cake.

    *And sufficiently impressed by how well the campaign has been managed.
    I'm certain they did and what a cherry on the cake! In fact two cherries on the cake. The insane story about immigrants eating family pets and Taylor photographed with a cat.

    So a big arrow pointing at a pretty weird twosome
    I think trump's comeback to the moderators about Springfield is pretty good. The city manager is responsible for policing and for the good reputation of the city, so he's hardly going to admit to an out of control cat eating problem.
    Factory owner in Springfield, Ohio says he has 30 Haitian workers and wishes he had 30 more.

    He says that unlike Americans in the area, they show up to work on time, stay by their machines, and don’t have a drug problem.

    https://x.com/RichardHanania/status/1833614930530226221
    It's worth noting that recent immigrates have low participation in unions. In the er.... dog-eat-dog American labour market, that means they are much cheaper, generally. Especially in terms of getting them to take jobs with no health benefits.
    Trump is hardly a union supporter.

    And note those 30 are only 10% of his workforce.
    Walz and Kamala are pro-Union. More so than I have heard from any Labour politician on the front bench (except Angela perhaps). The days where Labour were to the left of the US Democrats seem behind us.

    Here's Kamala on the subject:

    https://vm.tiktok.com/ZGeKuU1tR/
  • TheScreamingEaglesTheScreamingEagles Posts: 119,956
    edited September 11

    Sandpit said:

    For those of you still wondering about the eating pets story. Here is a summary:

    https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/cats-ducks-haitians-springfield/ (ignore their editorialising, and look at the facts presented).

    What is a fact is that a woman was arrested for eating a cat on the street, in Ohio. She is an American citizen.
    What is also a fact, is that a man was photographed carrying what looks like a wild bird on the street, in Ohio.

    There was a man who mentioned street people eating cats at a public meeting in Springfield, OH.

    There are some ambiguities regarding exact times and locations (not necessarily Springfield), but the story is not the wild conspiracy theory it’s been made out to be.

    There are also a number of community Facebook posts relating to eating cats, but no photos and no arrest records, so difficult to stand up individual cases.

    This is the racist trope I hear the most in Japan. Normal, friendly, otherwise well-balanced people think the Vietnamese are coming for my goats.
    What's wrong/bizarre about eating goat?

    {mmmmmm Jamaican Curry Goat.... must steal a goat}
    Every time I have eaten goat meat my stomach has rumbled for days, that’s what’s wrong.
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 72,173
    edited September 11
    tlg86 said:

    Not that it matters a great deal, but what do people think about the psychology of handshake last night:

    https://x.com/keithedwards/status/1833681661961122115

    When I saw it this morning, I thought Harris looked weak because she appeared to feel the need to be the one to go to his territory. But maybe she was being assertive and showing that she's in charge?

    Reagan went all the way over to Carter's podium to shake hands, after their (sole) debate.
    Did he look weak ?
    https://x.com/BeschlossDC/status/1833716478580851111

    What looked weak, to me, was Trump's inability to look at Harris even once, during the debate.
  • SandpitSandpit Posts: 54,972

    eek said:

    theProle said:

    algarkirk said:

    Dopermean said:

    Taz said:
    There’s a little bit of Telegraph exaggeration there. The head of the union is mooting a ballot on strike action. There’s nothing imminent.

    The union remains militant, but I’m not certain the membership is that eager for more strike action. But the union is right that the sector is in trouble. Undergrad fees remain frozen despite the inflation of recent years. It’s not rocket science: costs have gone up, but a major source of income hasn’t, so universities are in deficit.
    If they increase tuition fees further then there'll be a further decline in student numbers, they're also being rinsed for accommodation.
    From ES "Figures from Ucas (Universities and Colleges Admissions Service) show by the end of June 41.9% of all 18-year-olds in the UK had applied through their system – compared to 42.1% last year and 44.1% in 2022."
    I am very pro universities, but the idea that 40%+ of our 18 year olds should be even thinking of going to one is ludicrous. The way in which the entire media prioritise them as the route for young people is absurd and damaging, and must be contributing to the jobs crisis in unfashionable fields, the marginalisation of FE, and apprentices.
    I can't think of a country other than Britain where the idea that its young people are receiving too much education has so much traction. If you suggested this in Ireland people would think you were madder than Donald Trump.

    What is wrong with Britain?
    Take this argument to it's logical conclusion - if full time education is so good for us, we should all remain in full time education until we are 50, or even 70. Just think what an amazing workforce the country would have, all these brilliant educated minds...

    The reality is that time spent in education is not free - it's years of life not spent doing something else. If you enter the labour force at 22, and retire at 65, that's 43 years. The four years from 18-22 are almost ten percent of your working life. Imagine what the country could do with 10% more workers and no extra costs (it might solve the "need" for the mass immigration Ponzi scheme)

    I didn't go to university, and spent the equivalent part of my life doing relatively menial jobs in a factory (although as I grew up I took on supervisory roles). I'm now at the age of 37 running a successful small business, currently employing 5 people. Having just looked it up, I'm earning just under the 90th percentile of the income distribution (and not in the outrageously overpriced South East either, unlike most such high earners).

    A lot of my success comes from what I learnt (particularly about human nature) during the 5 years I worked in that factory. I had the grades to go to uni. I had a fees paid scholarship to do physics at Aberystwyth. Had I done that, I think it's very likely I would have either dropped out or got a poor grade, followed by a menial job - Although I was very bright, and academically able, I didn't like being academic and I didn't at that age have the drive and work ethic required.

    IMHO 90% of young people would actually learn more useful stuff going into the workforce at 18, rather than spending 3-4 years and £50-100k for a system that basically amounts to credentialism, so they can get a "graduate level" job. And as a bonus, they would be economically productive for those 3-4 years, rather than just a net drain.
    You forget that the reason Labour increased student numbers was to manage youth unemployment numbers.
    There's a few things here

    1) Trying to get 18 year olds to decide the course of their lives is pretty silly. The average 18 year old is concentrating on the things that are important at 18 - partying and other 18 year olds of the right variety. When I went to university in 1990 there were half a dozen mature students on my course. Who all did well. Going back and doing a degree later is good for some

    2) The last big, real "class divide" is between degree'd and non-degree'd

    3) Earning power of the non-degree'd has surpassed some sections of the degree'd

    4) Making all white collar jobs (pretty much) require a degree hasn't increased the pay or quality of many of the jobs in question.

    My solution to the above is to merge all types of training into degrees. And then make degrees mix academic and hands on skills. So you can have a degree in plumbing, but you need to read some Yeats. And you can have a degree in Poetry, but you'll need to learn how to run a lathe.

    It's very noticeable that at universities, like UCL and Imperial, which offer non-engineering students the chance to do "shop" stuff (welding, machining, 3D printing etc etc), the makeup is very enthusiastic. Even when it is not academically credited.

    So you’re saying that woodwork and plumbing should now require getting into £50k of debt as well?
  • nico679nico679 Posts: 6,277
    The Dems will be delighted this morning. Harris had more to lose and did very well.

    Republicans are whining that the moderators were biased. If Trump didn’t lie continuously then they wouldn’t have had to intervene as much .

    The debate doesn’t have to move the needle much to still have an impact especially in the swing states.
  • tlg86 said:

    Not that it matters a great deal, but what do people think about the psychology of handshake last night:

    https://x.com/keithedwards/status/1833681661961122115

    When I saw it this morning, I thought Harris looked weak because she appeared to feel the need to be the one to go to his territory. But maybe she was being assertive and showing that she's in charge?

    I'm not really sure what Team Kamala hoped to achieve. She travelled to him, and it emphasised their size difference. On the other hand, if the idea was to rattle The Donald, maybe it worked.
This discussion has been closed.