I don't know if I will be able to bring myself to vote for them on Thursday, though. I'll be like Jim Carrey in Liar Liar trying to write that the colour of the pen is red.
Maybe I'll tick the LD box and also write, USUALLY TORY - END COVID LAWS on my ballot.
If it's spoilt and doesn't count, I don't care. If it is at least they know why and hopefully it'll get the Tory agent talking.
Should work, actually - the returning officer will show it to the agents for their opinion, but the intention is clear and not contradicted by the commentary.
Has law re: spoiled ballots changed somewhat recently? Was under impress that just about any comment or mark would get it tossed.
In WA State the intent of the voter is paramount IF it can be discerned. In the situation posited by Casino Royale, election workers and/or a county canvassing board would concur with Nick's analysis, and the vote would be counted for the Lib Dems.
You may be interested to know that there are many of us in the labour Party campaigning for PR. Currently there are 214 Constituency Labour Parties who have come out in favour of PR and only 5 have rejected it. We are working on the others, and they are coming out in favour all the time (when Labour are not in local election mode). There is a campaign that we are involved in, Labour for a New Democracy aimed at getting Labour Conference to pass a resolution in favour of PR in the autumn. We would urge any Labour members in favour of PR to join the Labour campaign for Electoral Reform at http://www.lcer.org.uk and the Labour for a New Democracy campaign can be found at https://www.labourforanewdemocracy.org.uk
Interesting, thanks. I’m slowly coming round to the view that FPTP has had its time and needs replacing. As for the bastardised version of D’Hondt, it never had a time and should be removed forthwith.
I’m just not sold on PR as its replacement. I can see too many problems with it. Equally, I’m open to persuasion if there could be a reasoned dialogue on it.
STV on 5/6 member constituencies would be my preferred option right now.
And welcome. Two new posters in one day. Ignore all the bile I and Another Person have been putting out, we’re a lovely bunch really as long as you don’t take your pizza with pineapple.
Raab preparing the ground for ongoing measures after June 21st. The government needs to be straight with us, will we ever get the old normal back or not. Starmer needs to start asking these fucking questions now, not idiotic shite about wallpaper and nannies. We need clarity now, not mealy mouthed bullshit from ministers who have clearly made the judgement call despite the evidence and data showing vaccines are enough to keep the virus under control.
Mr Raab said the UK was "in a good position" to "get life back as close to normal as possible".
The foreign secretary told BBC One's Andrew Marr Show: "But there will still need to be some safeguards in place."
There's no party that wants to let go of this all powerful toolset they've been given over our lives. As soon as the virus is defeated (and it already is, tbh) they won't be able to rule over every minutiae of our lives, how far apart we need to sit from each other, making us check in to all venues so they know where everyone is at all times, whether or not people can have sex with perfect strangers. The politicians don't want to give up control of anything.
Liberal Democrats.
I don't know if I will be able to bring myself to vote for them on Thursday, though. I'll be like Jim Carrey in Liar Liar trying to write that the colour of the pen is red.
Maybe I'll tick the LD box and also write, USUALLY TORY - END COVID LAWS on my ballot.
If it's spoilt and doesn't count, I don't care. If it is at least they know why and hopefully it'll get the Tory agent talking.
And people ask why on earth the government would want to continue restrictions.
Why? You think that shows I'm a madman?
I'm not a denier or an anti-vaxxer. I just see no reason to have the Covid laws extended by a further 6 months merely weeks before restrictions are due to end.
I want political pressure on the Government to kill the long tail.
So do I. But look at the government's popularity. Through restriction after restriction. They realise that if people are anxious they are less likely to query their rulers.
Yes, and I'm trying to exert political pressure the other way.
We'll see what happens on Thursday. It's very hard for a core Conservative like me to vote anything but. It's much easier for my wife, who's very soft centre-right but has already decided she'll vote that way.
Yes. There are very few opportunities to register a vote against all this.
Yo @ydoethur and @TOPPING, why don't you like each other? You both seem reasonable to me. Or don't I want to know?
It's because Topping is a total wanker.
Hope that helps.
He doesn’t seem to be universally beloved, and there are fairly obvious reasons for that.
But then, I know I’m not everyone’s cup of tea myself, for all sorts of reasons. I can be pretty acid when I choose to be. Not usually to children, but equally, I usually come on here when exhausted to blow off steam.
Often, we don’t show the best of ourselves on this place. Sometimes it’s easy to get carried away because we’re mostly anonymous (although several posters I think know my real name through private email conversations).
Edit - I should add that, living alone, and isolated by both distance and the professional risks I have run from the person I’ve more or less had to bubble with, PB has frequently been an absolute lifeline to me and I’m deeply grateful to everyone for their company and their kindness when things have sometimes been tough. I’m also grateful to the many posters who bear my puns (when they might sometimes be seen as inappropriate or offensive) with such good humour.
That does of course make it more complicated when one poster becomes so aggressive.
Your posts always interest me and as far as I am concerned you are an important contributor to the site
Yo @ydoethur and @TOPPING, why don't you like each other? You both seem reasonable to me. Or don't I want to know?
It's because Topping is a total wanker.
Hope that helps.
He doesn’t seem to be universally beloved, and there are fairly obvious reasons for that.
But then, I know I’m not everyone’s cup of tea myself, for all sorts of reasons. I can be pretty acid when I choose to be. Not usually to children, but equally, I usually come on here when exhausted to blow off steam.
Often, we don’t show the best of ourselves on this place. Sometimes it’s easy to get carried away because we’re mostly anonymous (although several posters I think know my real name through private email conversations).
Edit - I should add that, living alone, and isolated by both distance and the professional risks I have run from the person I’ve more or less had to bubble with, PB has frequently been an absolute lifeline to me and I’m deeply grateful to everyone for their company and their kindness when things have sometimes been tough. I’m also grateful to the many posters who bear my puns (when they might sometimes be seen as inappropriate or offensive) with such good humour.
That does of course make it more complicated when one poster becomes so aggressive.
Your posts always interest me and as far as I am concerned you are an important contributor to the site
I don't know if I will be able to bring myself to vote for them on Thursday, though. I'll be like Jim Carrey in Liar Liar trying to write that the colour of the pen is red.
Maybe I'll tick the LD box and also write, USUALLY TORY - END COVID LAWS on my ballot.
If it's spoilt and doesn't count, I don't care. If it is at least they know why and hopefully it'll get the Tory agent talking.
Should work, actually - the returning officer will show it to the agents for their opinion, but the intention is clear and not contradicted by the commentary.
Has law re: spoiled ballots changed somewhat recently? Was under impress that just about any comment or mark would get it tossed.
In WA State the intent of the voter is paramount IF it can be discerned. In the situation posited by Casino Royale, election workers and/or a county canvassing board would concur with Nick's analysis, and the vote would be counted for the Lib Dems.
The rule here is a Mark must be made within the box. It doesn’t have to be a cross, although that is recommended.
Yo @ydoethur and Topping, why don't you like each other? You both seem reasonable to me. Or don't I want to know?
Roughly, when I said I wouldn’t be forced to give up my summer holdiays to run catch up classes for no extra pay, he accused me of selfishness. When I criticised him for this and pointed out it rested on mistaken assumptions, he said any child who had me for a teacher was unlucky. When I criticised him for this, suggesting - perhaps acidly - that such a person would not be a suitable army officer - he made a malicious accusation of criminality against me, a post I had to ask the mods to delete.
He now seems to be obsessed with the idea I am a bad teacher and must be driven out of the profession, despite the fact his knowledge of teaching is non-existent and his ideas of what I am or am not capable of or good at are seemingly based largely on spite. Even his ridiculous non-apology didn’t apologise for his lies - merely for ‘upsetting’ me. Perhaps it hasn’t occurred to him that if he wasn’t a liar and bully he wouldn’t upset people.
But truthfully, that seems to be the way he treats most posters. Richard Tyndall, Pagan2 and several others have come in for his ire for no obvious reason. Look at the way he’s now talking to Foxy. I’m guessing he dislikes me particularly because on the rare occasions I don’t ignore him I eviscerate him.
But like I say, such conversations are boring for everyone else (look at the way Horse and BigG react to each other) so generally I’m just ignoring him. This evening, he was so vile I felt I had to respond.
Hello sweetie.
Needless to say I didn't read your post. But I was casually perusing PB of a Sunday evening and saw that apropos of nothing you had mentioned me and @Roger in a not wholly loving fashion.
Which sounds to me like you know I was right about you. And I am. The sooner you fuck off from the teaching profession the better.
I don't know if I will be able to bring myself to vote for them on Thursday, though. I'll be like Jim Carrey in Liar Liar trying to write that the colour of the pen is red.
Maybe I'll tick the LD box and also write, USUALLY TORY - END COVID LAWS on my ballot.
If it's spoilt and doesn't count, I don't care. If it is at least they know why and hopefully it'll get the Tory agent talking.
Yes.
Embrace it - let it possess you.
Welcome the darkness as your new friend and companion.
Celebrate your transition to the other side - shout to the world "I voted Liberal Democrat"
Ha! Actually, pleasing you would be one further factor in favour of me doing it.
You've always been my favourite Lib Dem on here.
Thank you for the kind word - we have local elections in Newham next year and part of me says I should vote tactically for the candidates most likely to defeat Labour.
In my ward, that means the Conservatives - unfortunately, my ward voted 78% Labour to 18% Conservative last time and I don't quite see from where that 30% swing is coming.
Yo @ydoethur and Topping, why don't you like each other? You both seem reasonable to me. Or don't I want to know?
Roughly, when I said I wouldn’t be forced to give up my summer holdiays to run catch up classes for no extra pay, he accused me of selfishness. When I criticised him for this and pointed out it rested on mistaken assumptions, he said any child who had me for a teacher was unlucky. When I criticised him for this, suggesting - perhaps acidly - that such a person would not be a suitable army officer - he made a malicious accusation of criminality against me, a post I had to ask the mods to delete.
He now seems to be obsessed with the idea I am a bad teacher and must be driven out of the profession, despite the fact his knowledge of teaching is non-existent and his ideas of what I am or am not capable of or good at are seemingly based largely on spite. Even his ridiculous non-apology didn’t apologise for his lies - merely for ‘upsetting’ me. Perhaps it hasn’t occurred to him that if he wasn’t a liar and bully he wouldn’t upset people.
But truthfully, that seems to be the way he treats most posters. Richard Tyndall, Pagan2 and several others have come in for his ire for no obvious reason. Look at the way he’s now talking to Foxy. I’m guessing he dislikes me particularly because on the rare occasions I don’t ignore him I eviscerate him.
But like I say, such conversations are boring for everyone else (look at the way Horse and BigG react to each other) so generally I’m just ignoring him. This evening, he was so vile I felt I had to respond.
Hello sweetie.
Needless to say I didn't read your post. But I was casually perusing PB of a Sunday evening and saw that apropos of nothing you had mentioned me and @Roger in a not wholly loving fashion.
Which sounds to me like you know I was right about you. And I am. The sooner you fuck off from the teaching profession the better.
Is that necessary
Proof if proof be needed that I am right
If you think that you are completely deluded
Mate if I wasn't right why would you take the time to respond to me?
Yo @ydoethur and Topping, why don't you like each other? You both seem reasonable to me. Or don't I want to know?
Roughly, when I said I wouldn’t be forced to give up my summer holdiays to run catch up classes for no extra pay, he accused me of selfishness. When I criticised him for this and pointed out it rested on mistaken assumptions, he said any child who had me for a teacher was unlucky. When I criticised him for this, suggesting - perhaps acidly - that such a person would not be a suitable army officer - he made a malicious accusation of criminality against me, a post I had to ask the mods to delete.
He now seems to be obsessed with the idea I am a bad teacher and must be driven out of the profession, despite the fact his knowledge of teaching is non-existent and his ideas of what I am or am not capable of or good at are seemingly based largely on spite. Even his ridiculous non-apology didn’t apologise for his lies - merely for ‘upsetting’ me. Perhaps it hasn’t occurred to him that if he wasn’t a liar and bully he wouldn’t upset people.
But truthfully, that seems to be the way he treats most posters. Richard Tyndall, Pagan2 and several others have come in for his ire for no obvious reason. Look at the way he’s now talking to Foxy. I’m guessing he dislikes me particularly because on the rare occasions I don’t ignore him I eviscerate him.
But like I say, such conversations are boring for everyone else (look at the way Horse and BigG react to each other) so generally I’m just ignoring him. This evening, he was so vile I felt I had to respond.
I think there is something deeply structurally wrong with education in the UK, as the attrition rate in your profession seems very high. I believe around half of teachers last 3 years, is that about correct? Sure, there will always be some who who have made the wrong career choice, but that seems very high.
Yo @ydoethur and @TOPPING, why don't you like each other? You both seem reasonable to me. Or don't I want to know?
It's because Topping is a total wanker.
Hope that helps.
He doesn’t seem to be universally beloved, and there are fairly obvious reasons for that.
But then, I know I’m not everyone’s cup of tea myself, for all sorts of reasons. I can be pretty acid when I choose to be. Not usually to children, but equally, I usually come on here when exhausted to blow off steam.
Often, we don’t show the best of ourselves on this place. Sometimes it’s easy to get carried away because we’re mostly anonymous (although several posters I think know my real name through private email conversations).
Edit - I should add that, living alone, and isolated by both distance and the professional risks I have run from the person I’ve more or less had to bubble with, PB has frequently been an absolute lifeline to me and I’m deeply grateful to everyone for their company and their kindness when things have sometimes been tough. I’m also grateful to the many posters who bear my puns (when they might sometimes be seen as inappropriate or offensive) with such good humour.
That does of course make it more complicated when one poster becomes so aggressive.
Your posts always interest me and as far as I am concerned you are an important contributor to the site
Why thank you. That popping noise you heard was my head expanding
Yo @ydoethur and Topping, why don't you like each other? You both seem reasonable to me. Or don't I want to know?
Roughly, when I said I wouldn’t be forced to give up my summer holdiays to run catch up classes for no extra pay, he accused me of selfishness. When I criticised him for this and pointed out it rested on mistaken assumptions, he said any child who had me for a teacher was unlucky. When I criticised him for this, suggesting - perhaps acidly - that such a person would not be a suitable army officer - he made a malicious accusation of criminality against me, a post I had to ask the mods to delete.
He now seems to be obsessed with the idea I am a bad teacher and must be driven out of the profession, despite the fact his knowledge of teaching is non-existent and his ideas of what I am or am not capable of or good at are seemingly based largely on spite. Even his ridiculous non-apology didn’t apologise for his lies - merely for ‘upsetting’ me. Perhaps it hasn’t occurred to him that if he wasn’t a liar and bully he wouldn’t upset people.
But truthfully, that seems to be the way he treats most posters. Richard Tyndall, Pagan2 and several others have come in for his ire for no obvious reason. Look at the way he’s now talking to Foxy. I’m guessing he dislikes me particularly because on the rare occasions I don’t ignore him I eviscerate him.
But like I say, such conversations are boring for everyone else (look at the way Horse and BigG react to each other) so generally I’m just ignoring him. This evening, he was so vile I felt I had to respond.
Both my late parents were teachers. Both ended up in very senior positions (my Mum a headmistress of a small infant/primary school). My Dad was first and foremost a maths teacher, even as a Deputy Headmaster (in the days where a deputy headmaster's duties included timetable planning, discipline and maintenance procurement) of a comprehensive school (you will know the one he worked at) he ran to double digit hours teaching a week, he rotated his timetable so not only did he teach A level, but back in the day mode 3 CSE (for the basically inumerate) the exams for which he had to write himself. He was also a mode 3 verifier for Hereford and Worcester County. He was in at before eight and never left before five, and every night he had a bag full of marking. How he would laugh when neighbours would harp on about his holidays and solid gold pension. Mind you there were colleagues of his, in at 9 and gone by 4 with no requirement to mark books. I had a particular teacher who would randomly invite pupils to his huge desk to mark their work before humiliating them infront of the class. A dreadful teacher but with the single, top drawer lesson plan in the event of a visit from a County Education Officer.
Ydoethur, done properly it is hard work, even without forty spawn of Satan in the room at any one time. A b*****d of a job, if completed fastidiously. Hats off to you!
Yo @ydoethur and Topping, why don't you like each other? You both seem reasonable to me. Or don't I want to know?
Roughly, when I said I wouldn’t be forced to give up my summer holdiays to run catch up classes for no extra pay, he accused me of selfishness. When I criticised him for this and pointed out it rested on mistaken assumptions, he said any child who had me for a teacher was unlucky. When I criticised him for this, suggesting - perhaps acidly - that such a person would not be a suitable army officer - he made a malicious accusation of criminality against me, a post I had to ask the mods to delete.
He now seems to be obsessed with the idea I am a bad teacher and must be driven out of the profession, despite the fact his knowledge of teaching is non-existent and his ideas of what I am or am not capable of or good at are seemingly based largely on spite. Even his ridiculous non-apology didn’t apologise for his lies - merely for ‘upsetting’ me. Perhaps it hasn’t occurred to him that if he wasn’t a liar and bully he wouldn’t upset people.
But truthfully, that seems to be the way he treats most posters. Richard Tyndall, Pagan2 and several others have come in for his ire for no obvious reason. Look at the way he’s now talking to Foxy. I’m guessing he dislikes me particularly because on the rare occasions I don’t ignore him I eviscerate him.
But like I say, such conversations are boring for everyone else (look at the way Horse and BigG react to each other) so generally I’m just ignoring him. This evening, he was so vile I felt I had to respond.
Hello sweetie.
Needless to say I didn't read your post. But I was casually perusing PB of a Sunday evening and saw that apropos of nothing you had mentioned me and @Roger in a not wholly loving fashion.
Which sounds to me like you know I was right about you. And I am. The sooner you fuck off from the teaching profession the better.
Is that necessary
Proof if proof be needed that I am right
If you think that you are completely deluded
Mate if I wasn't right why would you take the time to respond to me?
Because eventually it may get through your thick skull that your rudeness does you no favours either here (or elsewhere in life)
Yo @ydoethur and @TOPPING, why don't you like each other? You both seem reasonable to me. Or don't I want to know?
It's because Topping is a total wanker.
Hope that helps.
He doesn’t seem to be universally beloved, and there are fairly obvious reasons for that.
But then, I know I’m not everyone’s cup of tea myself, for all sorts of reasons. I can be pretty acid when I choose to be. Not usually to children, but equally, I usually come on here when exhausted to blow off steam.
Often, we don’t show the best of ourselves on this place. Sometimes it’s easy to get carried away because we’re mostly anonymous (although several posters I think know my real name through private email conversations).
Edit - I should add that, living alone, and isolated by both distance and the professional risks I have run from the person I’ve more or less had to bubble with, PB has frequently been an absolute lifeline to me and I’m deeply grateful to everyone for their company and their kindness when things have sometimes been tough. I’m also grateful to the many posters who bear my puns (when they might sometimes be seen as inappropriate or offensive) with such good humour.
That does of course make it more complicated when one poster becomes so aggressive.
Your posts always interest me and as far as I am concerned you are an important contributor to the site
Why thank you. That popping noise you heard was my head expanding
Yo @ydoethur and @TOPPING, why don't you like each other? You both seem reasonable to me. Or don't I want to know?
It's because Topping is a total wanker.
Hope that helps.
He doesn’t seem to be universally beloved, and there are fairly obvious reasons for that.
But then, I know I’m not everyone’s cup of tea myself, for all sorts of reasons. I can be pretty acid when I choose to be. Not usually to children, but equally, I usually come on here when exhausted to blow off steam.
Often, we don’t show the best of ourselves on this place. Sometimes it’s easy to get carried away because we’re mostly anonymous (although several posters I think know my real name through private email conversations).
Edit - I should add that, living alone, and isolated by both distance and the professional risks I have run from the person I’ve more or less had to bubble with, PB has frequently been an absolute lifeline to me and I’m deeply grateful to everyone for their company and their kindness when things have sometimes been tough. I’m also grateful to the many posters who bear my puns (when they might sometimes be seen as inappropriate or offensive) with such good humour.
That does of course make it more complicated when one poster becomes so aggressive.
Your posts always interest me and as far as I am concerned you are an important contributor to the site
Why thank you. That popping noise you heard was my head expanding
We both dislike Williamson with a passion
Tbf, is there anyone who doesn’t?
I’m betting if I said ‘like this post if you hate Williamson’ I’d get the most likes in the history of PB. Even more than the one on Gallowgate’s job.
Having considered the various policies and ideas of the array of the candidates for London Mayor, Mrs Stodge has just announced she will be casting her first vote for Count Binface.
You may be interested to know that there are many of us in the labour Party campaigning for PR. Currently there are 214 Constituency Labour Parties who have come out in favour of PR and only 5 have rejected it. We are working on the others, and they are coming out in favour all the time (when Labour are not in local election mode). There is a campaign that we are involved in, Labour for a New Democracy aimed at getting Labour Conference to pass a resolution in favour of PR in the autumn. We would urge any Labour members in favour of PR to join the Labour campaign for Electoral Reform at http://www.lcer.org.uk and the Labour for a New Democracy campaign can be found at https://www.labourforanewdemocracy.org.uk
Interesting, thanks. I’m slowly coming round to the view that FPTP has had its time and needs replacing. As for the bastardised version of D’Hondt, it never had a time and should be removed forthwith.
I’m just not sold on PR as its replacement. I can see too many problems with it. Equally, I’m open to persuasion if there could be a reasoned dialogue on it.
STV on 5/6 member constituencies would be my preferred option right now.
And welcome. Two new posters in one day. Ignore all the bile I and Another Person have been putting out, we’re a lovely bunch really as long as you don’t take your pizza with pineapple.
... or state that Die Hard is a Christmas Movie (or not).
I've been keeping my head down recently because the degree of sniping is building as we approach May 6th. Hopefully it will calm down after that.
Yo @ydoethur and Topping, why don't you like each other? You both seem reasonable to me. Or don't I want to know?
Roughly, when I said I wouldn’t be forced to give up my summer holdiays to run catch up classes for no extra pay, he accused me of selfishness. When I criticised him for this and pointed out it rested on mistaken assumptions, he said any child who had me for a teacher was unlucky. When I criticised him for this, suggesting - perhaps acidly - that such a person would not be a suitable army officer - he made a malicious accusation of criminality against me, a post I had to ask the mods to delete.
He now seems to be obsessed with the idea I am a bad teacher and must be driven out of the profession, despite the fact his knowledge of teaching is non-existent and his ideas of what I am or am not capable of or good at are seemingly based largely on spite. Even his ridiculous non-apology didn’t apologise for his lies - merely for ‘upsetting’ me. Perhaps it hasn’t occurred to him that if he wasn’t a liar and bully he wouldn’t upset people.
But truthfully, that seems to be the way he treats most posters. Richard Tyndall, Pagan2 and several others have come in for his ire for no obvious reason. Look at the way he’s now talking to Foxy. I’m guessing he dislikes me particularly because on the rare occasions I don’t ignore him I eviscerate him.
But like I say, such conversations are boring for everyone else (look at the way Horse and BigG react to each other) so generally I’m just ignoring him. This evening, he was so vile I felt I had to respond.
Hello sweetie.
Needless to say I didn't read your post. But I was casually perusing PB of a Sunday evening and saw that apropos of nothing you had mentioned me and @Roger in a not wholly loving fashion.
Which sounds to me like you know I was right about you. And I am. The sooner you fuck off from the teaching profession the better.
Is that necessary
Proof if proof be needed that I am right
If you think that you are completely deluded
Mate if I wasn't right why would you take the time to respond to me?
Because eventually it may get through your thick skull that your rudeness does you no favours either here (or elsewhere in life)
Yo @ydoethur and Topping, why don't you like each other? You both seem reasonable to me. Or don't I want to know?
Roughly, when I said I wouldn’t be forced to give up my summer holdiays to run catch up classes for no extra pay, he accused me of selfishness. When I criticised him for this and pointed out it rested on mistaken assumptions, he said any child who had me for a teacher was unlucky. When I criticised him for this, suggesting - perhaps acidly - that such a person would not be a suitable army officer - he made a malicious accusation of criminality against me, a post I had to ask the mods to delete.
He now seems to be obsessed with the idea I am a bad teacher and must be driven out of the profession, despite the fact his knowledge of teaching is non-existent and his ideas of what I am or am not capable of or good at are seemingly based largely on spite. Even his ridiculous non-apology didn’t apologise for his lies - merely for ‘upsetting’ me. Perhaps it hasn’t occurred to him that if he wasn’t a liar and bully he wouldn’t upset people.
But truthfully, that seems to be the way he treats most posters. Richard Tyndall, Pagan2 and several others have come in for his ire for no obvious reason. Look at the way he’s now talking to Foxy. I’m guessing he dislikes me particularly because on the rare occasions I don’t ignore him I eviscerate him.
But like I say, such conversations are boring for everyone else (look at the way Horse and BigG react to each other) so generally I’m just ignoring him. This evening, he was so vile I felt I had to respond.
Both my late parents were teachers. Both ended up in very senior positions (my Mum a headmistress of a small infant/primary school). My Dad was first and foremost a maths teacher, even as a Deputy Headmaster (in the days where a deputy headmaster's duties included timetable planning, discipline and maintenance procurement) of a comprehensive school (you will know the one he worked at) he ran to double digit hours teaching a week, he rotated his timetable so not only did he teach A level, but back in the day mode 3 CSE (for the basically inumerate) the exams for which he had to write himself. He was also a mode 3 verifier for Hereford and Worcester County. He was in at before eight and never left before five, and every night he had a bag full of marking. How he would laugh when neighbours would harp on about his holidays and solid gold pension. Mind you there were colleagues of his, in at 9 and gone by 4 with no requirement to mark books. I had a particular teacher who would randomly invite pupils to his huge desk to mark their work before humiliating them infront of the class. A dreadful teacher but with the single, top drawer lesson plan in the event of a visit from a County Education Officer.
Ydoethur, done properly it is hard work, even without forty spawn of Satan in the room at any one time. A b*****d of a job, if completed fastidiously. Hats off to you!
"Forty spawn of Satan" is where it all goes wrong.
Having considered the various policies and ideas of the array of the candidates for London Mayor, Mrs Stodge has just announced she will be casting her first vote for Count Binface.
The second vote is up for grabs....
Binface as top of the minnows and to beat Fox and Rose is a real value bet, even though not quite as good as it was with Ladbrokes.
Yo @ydoethur and Topping, why don't you like each other? You both seem reasonable to me. Or don't I want to know?
Roughly, when I said I wouldn’t be forced to give up my summer holdiays to run catch up classes for no extra pay, he accused me of selfishness. When I criticised him for this and pointed out it rested on mistaken assumptions, he said any child who had me for a teacher was unlucky. When I criticised him for this, suggesting - perhaps acidly - that such a person would not be a suitable army officer - he made a malicious accusation of criminality against me, a post I had to ask the mods to delete.
He now seems to be obsessed with the idea I am a bad teacher and must be driven out of the profession, despite the fact his knowledge of teaching is non-existent and his ideas of what I am or am not capable of or good at are seemingly based largely on spite. Even his ridiculous non-apology didn’t apologise for his lies - merely for ‘upsetting’ me. Perhaps it hasn’t occurred to him that if he wasn’t a liar and bully he wouldn’t upset people.
But truthfully, that seems to be the way he treats most posters. Richard Tyndall, Pagan2 and several others have come in for his ire for no obvious reason. Look at the way he’s now talking to Foxy. I’m guessing he dislikes me particularly because on the rare occasions I don’t ignore him I eviscerate him.
But like I say, such conversations are boring for everyone else (look at the way Horse and BigG react to each other) so generally I’m just ignoring him. This evening, he was so vile I felt I had to respond.
Hello sweetie.
Needless to say I didn't read your post. But I was casually perusing PB of a Sunday evening and saw that apropos of nothing you had mentioned me and @Roger in a not wholly loving fashion.
Which sounds to me like you know I was right about you. And I am. The sooner you fuck off from the teaching profession the better.
Is that necessary
Proof if proof be needed that I am right
If you think that you are completely deluded
Mate if I wasn't right why would you take the time to respond to me?
Because eventually it may get through your thick skull that your rudeness does you no favours either here (or elsewhere in life)
PB Life Lessons No. 43.
Much appreciated.
Life lesson No. 43? Top 5, if not top 3 in my book.
Having considered the various policies and ideas of the array of the candidates for London Mayor, Mrs Stodge has just announced she will be casting her first vote for Count Binface.
Play nicely or Robert with configure PB that whilst you visit the site it will continually play Radiohead songs, even if you have your sound/speakers off.
Play nicely or Robert with configure PB that whilst you visit the site it will continually play Radiohead songs, even if you have your sound/speakers off.
Play nicely or Robert with configure PB that whilst you visit the site it will continually play Radiohead songs, even if you have your sound/speakers off.
There are seven minutes until LoD.
Please tell people that I am flattered by their endorsements. But I shall be tuning in to the BBC shortly.
Yo @ydoethur and Topping, why don't you like each other? You both seem reasonable to me. Or don't I want to know?
Roughly, when I said I wouldn’t be forced to give up my summer holdiays to run catch up classes for no extra pay, he accused me of selfishness. When I criticised him for this and pointed out it rested on mistaken assumptions, he said any child who had me for a teacher was unlucky. When I criticised him for this, suggesting - perhaps acidly - that such a person would not be a suitable army officer - he made a malicious accusation of criminality against me, a post I had to ask the mods to delete.
He now seems to be obsessed with the idea I am a bad teacher and must be driven out of the profession, despite the fact his knowledge of teaching is non-existent and his ideas of what I am or am not capable of or good at are seemingly based largely on spite. Even his ridiculous non-apology didn’t apologise for his lies - merely for ‘upsetting’ me. Perhaps it hasn’t occurred to him that if he wasn’t a liar and bully he wouldn’t upset people.
But truthfully, that seems to be the way he treats most posters. Richard Tyndall, Pagan2 and several others have come in for his ire for no obvious reason. Look at the way he’s now talking to Foxy. I’m guessing he dislikes me particularly because on the rare occasions I don’t ignore him I eviscerate him.
But like I say, such conversations are boring for everyone else (look at the way Horse and BigG react to each other) so generally I’m just ignoring him. This evening, he was so vile I felt I had to respond.
Hello sweetie.
Needless to say I didn't read your post. But I was casually perusing PB of a Sunday evening and saw that apropos of nothing you had mentioned me and @Roger in a not wholly loving fashion.
Which sounds to me like you know I was right about you. And I am. The sooner you fuck off from the teaching profession the better.
Is that necessary
Proof if proof be needed that I am right
If you think that you are completely deluded
Mate if I wasn't right why would you take the time to respond to me?
Because eventually it may get through your thick skull that your rudeness does you no favours either here (or elsewhere in life)
PB Life Lessons No. 43.
Much appreciated.
Life lesson No. 43? Top 5, if not top 3 in my book.
Yo @ydoethur and Topping, why don't you like each other? You both seem reasonable to me. Or don't I want to know?
Roughly, when I said I wouldn’t be forced to give up my summer holdiays to run catch up classes for no extra pay, he accused me of selfishness. When I criticised him for this and pointed out it rested on mistaken assumptions, he said any child who had me for a teacher was unlucky. When I criticised him for this, suggesting - perhaps acidly - that such a person would not be a suitable army officer - he made a malicious accusation of criminality against me, a post I had to ask the mods to delete.
He now seems to be obsessed with the idea I am a bad teacher and must be driven out of the profession, despite the fact his knowledge of teaching is non-existent and his ideas of what I am or am not capable of or good at are seemingly based largely on spite. Even his ridiculous non-apology didn’t apologise for his lies - merely for ‘upsetting’ me. Perhaps it hasn’t occurred to him that if he wasn’t a liar and bully he wouldn’t upset people.
But truthfully, that seems to be the way he treats most posters. Richard Tyndall, Pagan2 and several others have come in for his ire for no obvious reason. Look at the way he’s now talking to Foxy. I’m guessing he dislikes me particularly because on the rare occasions I don’t ignore him I eviscerate him.
But like I say, such conversations are boring for everyone else (look at the way Horse and BigG react to each other) so generally I’m just ignoring him. This evening, he was so vile I felt I had to respond.
Both my late parents were teachers. Both ended up in very senior positions (my Mum a headmistress of a small infant/primary school). My Dad was first and foremost a maths teacher, even as a Deputy Headmaster (in the days where a deputy headmaster's duties included timetable planning, discipline and maintenance procurement) of a comprehensive school (you will know the one he worked at) he ran to double digit hours teaching a week, he rotated his timetable so not only did he teach A level, but back in the day mode 3 CSE (for the basically inumerate) the exams for which he had to write himself. He was also a mode 3 verifier for Hereford and Worcester County. He was in at before eight and never left before five, and every night he had a bag full of marking. How he would laugh when neighbours would harp on about his holidays and solid gold pension. Mind you there were colleagues of his, in at 9 and gone by 4 with no requirement to mark books. I had a particular teacher who would randomly invite pupils to his huge desk to mark their work before humiliating them infront of the class. A dreadful teacher but with the single, top drawer lesson plan in the event of a visit from a County Education Officer.
Ydoethur, done properly it is hard work, even without forty spawn of Satan in the room at any one time. A b*****d of a job, if completed fastidiously. Hats off to you!
"Forty spawn of Satan" is where it all goes wrong.
Unless you are an Ofsted Inspector covering Staffordshire and the West Midlands, I am not sure you are qualified to comment on Ydoethur's professional standards and ethics.
Is that finishing already? Feels like only yesterday that people starting banging on about it.
BBC still incapable of doing a full length series I'm guessing?
Philip we get your view of the BBC but that doesn't mean everything it produces is no good. Around an unprecedented 11m people will be tuning in tonight including yours truly. Just accept that people believe the BBC offers good quality programming and move on.
Oh I have no doubt that the BBC is capable of making about 4 hours of what people consider to be good TV a year.
I just don't think that's good value for money at all.
Ideally we would be able to go and watch it in a pub somewhere. But most will be ram packed. Ideally we would be able to find a quiet out of the way one with a screen.
Any ideas?
It won't be Hastings.
I still don't fully understand the £50,000.
At the end of last series 100k was recovered from the OCG gang but Hastings kept the 50K and gave it to the widow of the officer played by Stephen Graham
Ah! Thanks. So a good 'un. Did he keep the other half? I know he had money problems. But isn't he supposed to be whiter than white?
I only started watching the show about a month ago. If the real police were even 10% like the tv version then we're totally screwed, as even when they're the heroes the anti-corruption ones are compromised.
I think part of the attraction is that we read newspaper headlines of this or that police corruption and think ha there you go whereas I'm sure it's far less than 10%. Or at least I hope it is.
Play nicely or Robert with configure PB that whilst you visit the site it will continually play Radiohead songs, even if you have your sound/speakers off.
Some could interpret that as an incentive to start being rude...
Yo @ydoethur and Topping, why don't you like each other? You both seem reasonable to me. Or don't I want to know?
Roughly, when I said I wouldn’t be forced to give up my summer holdiays to run catch up classes for no extra pay, he accused me of selfishness. When I criticised him for this and pointed out it rested on mistaken assumptions, he said any child who had me for a teacher was unlucky. When I criticised him for this, suggesting - perhaps acidly - that such a person would not be a suitable army officer - he made a malicious accusation of criminality against me, a post I had to ask the mods to delete.
He now seems to be obsessed with the idea I am a bad teacher and must be driven out of the profession, despite the fact his knowledge of teaching is non-existent and his ideas of what I am or am not capable of or good at are seemingly based largely on spite. Even his ridiculous non-apology didn’t apologise for his lies - merely for ‘upsetting’ me. Perhaps it hasn’t occurred to him that if he wasn’t a liar and bully he wouldn’t upset people.
But truthfully, that seems to be the way he treats most posters. Richard Tyndall, Pagan2 and several others have come in for his ire for no obvious reason. Look at the way he’s now talking to Foxy. I’m guessing he dislikes me particularly because on the rare occasions I don’t ignore him I eviscerate him.
But like I say, such conversations are boring for everyone else (look at the way Horse and BigG react to each other) so generally I’m just ignoring him. This evening, he was so vile I felt I had to respond.
Both my late parents were teachers. Both ended up in very senior positions (my Mum a headmistress of a small infant/primary school). My Dad was first and foremost a maths teacher, even as a Deputy Headmaster (in the days where a deputy headmaster's duties included timetable planning, discipline and maintenance procurement) of a comprehensive school (you will know the one he worked at) he ran to double digit hours teaching a week, he rotated his timetable so not only did he teach A level, but back in the day mode 3 CSE (for the basically inumerate) the exams for which he had to write himself. He was also a mode 3 verifier for Hereford and Worcester County. He was in at before eight and never left before five, and every night he had a bag full of marking. How he would laugh when neighbours would harp on about his holidays and solid gold pension. Mind you there were colleagues of his, in at 9 and gone by 4 with no requirement to mark books. I had a particular teacher who would randomly invite pupils to his huge desk to mark their work before humiliating them infront of the class. A dreadful teacher but with the single, top drawer lesson plan in the event of a visit from a County Education Officer.
Ydoethur, done properly it is hard work, even without forty spawn of Satan in the room at any one time. A b*****d of a job, if completed fastidiously. Hats off to you!
"Forty spawn of Satan" is where it all goes wrong.
Unless you are an Ofsted Inspector covering Staffordshire and the West Midlands, I am not sure you are qualified to comment on Ydoethur's professional standards and ethics.
You don't have to be an Ofsted inspector to know that when people start calling pupils "forty spawn of Satan" there is a problem.
Yo @ydoethur and Topping, why don't you like each other? You both seem reasonable to me. Or don't I want to know?
Roughly, when I said I wouldn’t be forced to give up my summer holdiays to run catch up classes for no extra pay, he accused me of selfishness. When I criticised him for this and pointed out it rested on mistaken assumptions, he said any child who had me for a teacher was unlucky. When I criticised him for this, suggesting - perhaps acidly - that such a person would not be a suitable army officer - he made a malicious accusation of criminality against me, a post I had to ask the mods to delete.
He now seems to be obsessed with the idea I am a bad teacher and must be driven out of the profession, despite the fact his knowledge of teaching is non-existent and his ideas of what I am or am not capable of or good at are seemingly based largely on spite. Even his ridiculous non-apology didn’t apologise for his lies - merely for ‘upsetting’ me. Perhaps it hasn’t occurred to him that if he wasn’t a liar and bully he wouldn’t upset people.
But truthfully, that seems to be the way he treats most posters. Richard Tyndall, Pagan2 and several others have come in for his ire for no obvious reason. Look at the way he’s now talking to Foxy. I’m guessing he dislikes me particularly because on the rare occasions I don’t ignore him I eviscerate him.
But like I say, such conversations are boring for everyone else (look at the way Horse and BigG react to each other) so generally I’m just ignoring him. This evening, he was so vile I felt I had to respond.
I think there is something deeply structurally wrong with education in the UK, as the attrition rate in your profession seems very high. I believe around half of teachers last 3 years, is that about correct? Sure, there will always be some who who have made the wrong career choice, but that seems very high.
Having considered the various policies and ideas of the array of the candidates for London Mayor, Mrs Stodge has just announced she will be casting her first vote for Count Binface.
The second vote is up for grabs....
Binface as top of the minnows and to beat Fox and Rose is a real value bet, even though not quite as good as it was with Ladbrokes.
I’d vote for Binface. He’s mad but in an interesting way. And truthfully, I can think of many more damaging things politicians could do than moving the urinals in a pub.
I think the problem with teaching - obviously I can’t answer for medicine - is that it has too much rubbish around the edges. Too much unnecessary marking to prove you’ve marked rather than to help the children learn. Too many data points to ensure you have data, rather than because it’s of any value. Too many exams that don’t actually tell you very much, because they’re designed by people who don’t understand the subject or how to assess it, but are used to judge everything. Too many stupid reports to write and pointless meetings to attend. Too many emails to answer, and too many people expecting you to be on call all the time. I’ve been bombarded with questions all weekend about one assignment, because they haven’t checked the instructions I already sent out. In one way that’s good - it’s nice they want to get it right and do well - but it does make it more complicated. And who, ultimately, wants that level of pressure for a salary that will never touch 50,000 a year for an ordinary teacher?
Equally, sometimes we’re such perfectionists we can be our own worst enemies. In lockdown, I made a decision to mark every piece of work, in detail, complete with a verbal note to every child for every lesson. And that was clearly valued by the children and their parents - I had lots of lovely emails - but boy it was exhausting. I couldn’t even listen to music while marking as it upset the recording of the voice notes.
In my case, though, I must admit what’s fuelling my thoughts of leaving is the way the whole thing has become a political junket to promote the careers of otherwise unemployable civil servants, who are making utterly ludicrous decisions about education in the safety of zoom meetings that merely demonstrate their own ignorance and self-interest. Who would want to work for people who as late as January said public exams were going ahead, then declared all exams would be cancelled (which they haven’t been)?
I don't know if I will be able to bring myself to vote for them on Thursday, though. I'll be like Jim Carrey in Liar Liar trying to write that the colour of the pen is red.
Maybe I'll tick the LD box and also write, USUALLY TORY - END COVID LAWS on my ballot.
If it's spoilt and doesn't count, I don't care. If it is at least they know why and hopefully it'll get the Tory agent talking.
Should work, actually - the returning officer will show it to the agents for their opinion, but the intention is clear and not contradicted by the commentary.
Has law re: spoiled ballots changed somewhat recently? Was under impress that just about any comment or mark would get it tossed.
In WA State the intent of the voter is paramount IF it can be discerned. In the situation posited by Casino Royale, election workers and/or a county canvassing board would concur with Nick's analysis, and the vote would be counted for the Lib Dems.
The rule here is a Mark must be made within the box. It doesn’t have to be a cross, although that is recommended.
Fascinating! Have seen similar at county canvassing boards - but nothing as good as what you Welsh came up (pun intended) with!
Below is link to WA State official rules on voter intent (aka "What is a Vote"?). These rules (which are state law, part of RCW = Revised Code of Washington) were first enacted following the VERY close 2004 gubernatorial race (final magin 133 votes) and have been modified several times based on feedback from election workers and county canvassing boards.
BTW in WA these boards consist of officials or their representatives from all three branches of state govt: county auditor or election director, chair of county commission or council, and prosecuting attorney; unlike in many states they are NOT directly selected or representing political parties)
The state voter intent rules have been very helpful in both making standards more uniform within each county AND across the state. Their even more helpful to the election workers who must actually process ballots and make determinations. Most decisions are obvious and clear cut, and the rules show how to resolve seeming conflicts between on rule and another.
Any cases that are NOT that easy to resolve are referred to the canvassing board. Which then examines the ballot, discusses the facts & the law (have seen them spend ten minutes on a mark in a race that's already done & dusted not even close) and makes a final decision. Which is reviewable in a court of law, though it virtually never happens. Even during the knock-down drag-out legal action during & following the 2004 WA Governor's race, never once to my knowledge did a court overrule any county canvassing board decisions with respect to voter intent. In other words, about as close as you get to final short of the Pearly Gates.
This is how WA State does it. Other states can do it differently, and most do, with many variations. Personally think our system is NOT the worst.
Ideally we would be able to go and watch it in a pub somewhere. But most will be ram packed. Ideally we would be able to find a quiet out of the way one with a screen.
Any ideas?
It won't be Hastings.
I still don't fully understand the £50,000.
At the end of last series 100k was recovered from the OCG gang but Hastings kept the 50K and gave it to the widow of the officer played by Stephen Graham
Ah! Thanks. So a good 'un. Did he keep the other half? I know he had money problems. But isn't he supposed to be whiter than white?
I only started watching the show about a month ago. If the real police were even 10% like the tv version then we're totally screwed, as even when they're the heroes the anti-corruption ones are compromised.
I think part of the attraction is that we read newspaper headlines of this or that police corruption and think ha there you go whereas I'm sure it's far less than 10%. Or at least I hope it is.
Is that finishing already? Feels like only yesterday that people starting banging on about it.
BBC still incapable of doing a full length series I'm guessing?
Philip we get your view of the BBC but that doesn't mean everything it produces is no good. Around an unprecedented 11m people will be tuning in tonight including yours truly. Just accept that people believe the BBC offers good quality programming and move on.
Oh I have no doubt that the BBC is capable of making about 4 hours of what people consider to be good TV a year.
I just don't think that's good value for money at all.
I was speaking with my father tonight. He told me a story you might like. He was present when Michael Heseltine, newly appointed Secretary of State for the Environment, was introduced to his civil servant team for the first time. He told them that he'd started his first major business by the age of 30, and asked what each of them had done by then - obviously not expecting much. The exercise stopped when one of the civil servants explained that at 28 he had been project lead on the first British H-Bomb Test.
Yo @ydoethur and Topping, why don't you like each other? You both seem reasonable to me. Or don't I want to know?
Roughly, when I said I wouldn’t be forced to give up my summer holdiays to run catch up classes for no extra pay, he accused me of selfishness. When I criticised him for this and pointed out it rested on mistaken assumptions, he said any child who had me for a teacher was unlucky. When I criticised him for this, suggesting - perhaps acidly - that such a person would not be a suitable army officer - he made a malicious accusation of criminality against me, a post I had to ask the mods to delete.
He now seems to be obsessed with the idea I am a bad teacher and must be driven out of the profession, despite the fact his knowledge of teaching is non-existent and his ideas of what I am or am not capable of or good at are seemingly based largely on spite. Even his ridiculous non-apology didn’t apologise for his lies - merely for ‘upsetting’ me. Perhaps it hasn’t occurred to him that if he wasn’t a liar and bully he wouldn’t upset people.
But truthfully, that seems to be the way he treats most posters. Richard Tyndall, Pagan2 and several others have come in for his ire for no obvious reason. Look at the way he’s now talking to Foxy. I’m guessing he dislikes me particularly because on the rare occasions I don’t ignore him I eviscerate him.
But like I say, such conversations are boring for everyone else (look at the way Horse and BigG react to each other) so generally I’m just ignoring him. This evening, he was so vile I felt I had to respond.
Both my late parents were teachers. Both ended up in very senior positions (my Mum a headmistress of a small infant/primary school). My Dad was first and foremost a maths teacher, even as a Deputy Headmaster (in the days where a deputy headmaster's duties included timetable planning, discipline and maintenance procurement) of a comprehensive school (you will know the one he worked at) he ran to double digit hours teaching a week, he rotated his timetable so not only did he teach A level, but back in the day mode 3 CSE (for the basically inumerate) the exams for which he had to write himself. He was also a mode 3 verifier for Hereford and Worcester County. He was in at before eight and never left before five, and every night he had a bag full of marking. How he would laugh when neighbours would harp on about his holidays and solid gold pension. Mind you there were colleagues of his, in at 9 and gone by 4 with no requirement to mark books. I had a particular teacher who would randomly invite pupils to his huge desk to mark their work before humiliating them infront of the class. A dreadful teacher but with the single, top drawer lesson plan in the event of a visit from a County Education Officer.
Ydoethur, done properly it is hard work, even without forty spawn of Satan in the room at any one time. A b*****d of a job, if completed fastidiously. Hats off to you!
"Forty spawn of Satan" is where it all goes wrong.
Unless you are an Ofsted Inspector covering Staffordshire and the West Midlands, I am not sure you are qualified to comment on Ydoethur's professional standards and ethics.
You don't have to be an Ofsted inspector to know that when people start calling pupils "forty spawn of Satan" there is a problem.
ie get out of teaching.
I am not a teacher, and to all intents and purposes have never been a teacher, although I do hold a shiny, never been used, PGCE.
I was speaking with my father tonight. He told me a story you might like. He was present when Michael Heseltine, newly appointed Secretary of State for the Environment, was introduced to his civil servant team for the first time. He told them that he'd started his first major business by the age of 30, and asked what each of them had done by then - obviously not expecting much. The exercise stopped when one of the civil servants explained that at 28 he had been project lead on the first British H-Bomb Test.
Seems ironic that such a person was at the Department of the Environment.
Having considered the various policies and ideas of the array of the candidates for London Mayor, Mrs Stodge has just announced she will be casting her first vote for Count Binface.
The second vote is up for grabs....
Binface as top of the minnows and to beat Fox and Rose is a real value bet, even though not quite as good as it was with Ladbrokes.
Agreed.
At the moment, I think Luisa Porritt will be third and I just wonder if Mandu Reid might beat Sian Berry for fourth place. I think Niko Omilana is next and then we might have the Count.
Raab preparing the ground for ongoing measures after June 21st. The government needs to be straight with us, will we ever get the old normal back or not. Starmer needs to start asking these fucking questions now, not idiotic shite about wallpaper and nannies. We need clarity now, not mealy mouthed bullshit from ministers who have clearly made the judgement call despite the evidence and data showing vaccines are enough to keep the virus under control.
Mr Raab said the UK was "in a good position" to "get life back as close to normal as possible".
The foreign secretary told BBC One's Andrew Marr Show: "But there will still need to be some safeguards in place."
There's no party that wants to let go of this all powerful toolset they've been given over our lives. As soon as the virus is defeated (and it already is, tbh) they won't be able to rule over every minutiae of our lives, how far apart we need to sit from each other, making us check in to all venues so they know where everyone is at all times, whether or not people can have sex with perfect strangers. The politicians don't want to give up control of anything.
Liberal Democrats.
I don't know if I will be able to bring myself to vote for them on Thursday, though. I'll be like Jim Carrey in Liar Liar trying to write that the colour of the pen is red.
Maybe I'll tick the LD box and also write, USUALLY TORY - END COVID LAWS on my ballot.
If it's spoilt and doesn't count, I don't care. If it is at least they know why and hopefully it'll get the Tory agent talking.
And people ask why on earth the government would want to continue restrictions.
Why? You think that shows I'm a madman?
I'm not a denier or an anti-vaxxer. I just see no reason to have the Covid laws extended by a further 6 months merely weeks before restrictions are due to end.
I want political pressure on the Government to kill the long tail.
So do I. But look at the government's popularity. Through restriction after restriction. They realise that if people are anxious they are less likely to query their rulers.
Yes, and I'm trying to exert political pressure the other way.
We'll see what happens on Thursday. It's very hard for a core Conservative like me to vote anything but. It's much easier for my wife, who's very soft centre-right but has already decided she'll vote that way.
Yes. There are very few opportunities to register a vote against all this.
If you spoil your ballot paper by writing words on it, the Conservative hierarchy will not even notice.
If you vote Lib Dem, they will - and especially if the Conservative candidate loses his seat.
Is that finishing already? Feels like only yesterday that people starting banging on about it.
BBC still incapable of doing a full length series I'm guessing?
Philip we get your view of the BBC but that doesn't mean everything it produces is no good. Around an unprecedented 11m people will be tuning in tonight including yours truly. Just accept that people believe the BBC offers good quality programming and move on.
Oh I have no doubt that the BBC is capable of making about 4 hours of what people consider to be good TV a year.
I just don't think that's good value for money at all.
I was speaking with my father tonight. He told me a story you might like. He was present when Michael Heseltine, newly appointed Secretary of State for the Environment, was introduced to his civil servant team for the first time. He told them that he'd started his first major business by the age of 30, and asked what each of them had done by then - obviously not expecting much. The exercise stopped when one of the civil servants explained that at 28 he had been project lead on the first British H-Bomb Test.
Seems ironic that such a person was at the Department of the Environment.
Sorry to hear that @ydoethur is thinking of leaving teaching.
But am intrigued by hearing that he earns from music and writing. What type of music? And writing? I'd love to to know more.
At the moment I earn practically nothing from either, because I don’t have time. But I was a professional organist and pianist for several years while at uni, and there aren’t too many of those around here. And I also worked for OUP as an editor/proof reader and article contributor to several of their online learning platforms, as well as an academic resources company in Holland.
It’s not a gracious living, but it’s adequate. The catch is, you can’t get a mortgage on it because it’s all on commission, a bit like your work I imagine (albeit far less lucrative)!
I was speaking with my father tonight. He told me a story you might like. He was present when Michael Heseltine, newly appointed Secretary of State for the Environment, was introduced to his civil servant team for the first time. He told them that he'd started his first major business by the age of 30, and asked what each of them had done by then - obviously not expecting much. The exercise stopped when one of the civil servants explained that at 28 he had been project lead on the first British H-Bomb Test.
Obvious retort: "So why did you let the Yanks and Ruskis get the jump on us?"
Yo @ydoethur and Topping, why don't you like each other? You both seem reasonable to me. Or don't I want to know?
Roughly, when I said I wouldn’t be forced to give up my summer holdiays to run catch up classes for no extra pay, he accused me of selfishness. When I criticised him for this and pointed out it rested on mistaken assumptions, he said any child who had me for a teacher was unlucky. When I criticised him for this, suggesting - perhaps acidly - that such a person would not be a suitable army officer - he made a malicious accusation of criminality against me, a post I had to ask the mods to delete.
He now seems to be obsessed with the idea I am a bad teacher and must be driven out of the profession, despite the fact his knowledge of teaching is non-existent and his ideas of what I am or am not capable of or good at are seemingly based largely on spite. Even his ridiculous non-apology didn’t apologise for his lies - merely for ‘upsetting’ me. Perhaps it hasn’t occurred to him that if he wasn’t a liar and bully he wouldn’t upset people.
But truthfully, that seems to be the way he treats most posters. Richard Tyndall, Pagan2 and several others have come in for his ire for no obvious reason. Look at the way he’s now talking to Foxy. I’m guessing he dislikes me particularly because on the rare occasions I don’t ignore him I eviscerate him.
But like I say, such conversations are boring for everyone else (look at the way Horse and BigG react to each other) so generally I’m just ignoring him. This evening, he was so vile I felt I had to respond.
Both my late parents were teachers. Both ended up in very senior positions (my Mum a headmistress of a small infant/primary school). My Dad was first and foremost a maths teacher, even as a Deputy Headmaster (in the days where a deputy headmaster's duties included timetable planning, discipline and maintenance procurement) of a comprehensive school (you will know the one he worked at) he ran to double digit hours teaching a week, he rotated his timetable so not only did he teach A level, but back in the day mode 3 CSE (for the basically inumerate) the exams for which he had to write himself. He was also a mode 3 verifier for Hereford and Worcester County. He was in at before eight and never left before five, and every night he had a bag full of marking. How he would laugh when neighbours would harp on about his holidays and solid gold pension. Mind you there were colleagues of his, in at 9 and gone by 4 with no requirement to mark books. I had a particular teacher who would randomly invite pupils to his huge desk to mark their work before humiliating them infront of the class. A dreadful teacher but with the single, top drawer lesson plan in the event of a visit from a County Education Officer.
Ydoethur, done properly it is hard work, even without forty spawn of Satan in the room at any one time. A b*****d of a job, if completed fastidiously. Hats off to you!
"Forty spawn of Satan" is where it all goes wrong.
Unless you are an Ofsted Inspector covering Staffordshire and the West Midlands, I am not sure you are qualified to comment on Ydoethur's professional standards and ethics.
Given the current quality of OFSTED inspectors, some of whom don’t even know basic safeguarding protocols, nor are they.
If the Man U fans get bored, could they please go down to Bristol and disrupt play?
I have a horrible feeling that's the only thing that can save Glaws from total humiliation here.
I think when I give up teaching - which I am planning to do in a year or so’s time unless the entirety of the DfE, OFSTED, OFQUAL and their fellow posh, stupid, lazy, rude, cowardly, selfish bullies like Topping and Roger all suffer painful and amusing accidents - I think I will go in for cricket commentary.
I just seem to have the most extraordinary talent for changing the course of events. Just imagine how exciting my commentary would make Test cricket. Why, it might even make the Hundred interesting.
No way should Gloucestershire have won that. But they did. And they now top Group 2. The toughest group.
Poor old Leicestershire though. What a disappointment. How often do you set 348 and lose?
........and Roger will suffer painful and amusing accidents! Are you OK?
Play nicely or Robert with configure PB that whilst you visit the site it will continually play Radiohead songs, even if you have your sound/speakers off.
Ok, I’ve thought it through and there’s a workaround.
Turn on your AirPods, and then put them as far away as Bluetooth will allow, e.g. the next room.
The origins of his problems lie in the not too distant past and his approach to teaching during lockdown.
Never have I come across someone with so much hatred for his chosen profession.
You've never met a lawyer or a banker then?
LOL. They might hate the profession but they love the money.
Ultimately, most work is unpleasant. That is why we have to be paid to do it. It is a rare pleasure to enjoy a job.
I am fortunate that way now, but it there have been times where my work was awful.
I have enjoyed my jobs. I absolutely loved the last one I did. Was in my element.
Of course there have been incredibly stressful times - and it played havoc with my health by the end - but I enjoyed it and working with my team and making, in a small way, a difference
It is important to enjoy what you do at some level. I had one job which was utterly miserable - crying in the toilets every day levels of misery - and you have to get out if it gets like that because it undermines you in ways you cannot imagine. Like wearing damp clothes all the time.
Mind you, if someone were to pay me to garden, write opinion columns and give entertaining talks about the City, I'd be delighted.
If the Man U fans get bored, could they please go down to Bristol and disrupt play?
I have a horrible feeling that's the only thing that can save Glaws from total humiliation here.
I think when I give up teaching - which I am planning to do in a year or so’s time unless the entirety of the DfE, OFSTED, OFQUAL and their fellow posh, stupid, lazy, rude, cowardly, selfish bullies like Topping and Roger all suffer painful and amusing accidents - I think I will go in for cricket commentary.
I just seem to have the most extraordinary talent for changing the course of events. Just imagine how exciting my commentary would make Test cricket. Why, it might even make the Hundred interesting.
No way should Gloucestershire have won that. But they did. And they now top Group 2. The toughest group.
Poor old Leicestershire though. What a disappointment. How often do you set 348 and lose?
........and Roger will suffer painful and amusing accidents! Are you OK?
In some ways Life itself is a painful and amusing accident.
The origins of his problems lie in the not too distant past and his approach to teaching during lockdown.
Never have I come across someone with so much hatred for his chosen profession.
You've never met a lawyer or a banker then?
LOL. They might hate the profession but they love the money.
Ultimately, most work is unpleasant. That is why we have to be paid to do it. It is a rare pleasure to enjoy a job.
I am fortunate that way now, but it there have been times where my work was awful.
I have enjoyed my jobs. I absolutely loved the last one I did. Was in my element.
Of course there have been incredibly stressful times - and it played havoc with my health by the end - but I enjoyed it and working with my team and making, in a small way, a difference
It is important to enjoy what you do at some level. I had one job which was utterly miserable - crying in the toilets every day levels of misery - and you have to get out if it gets like that because it undermines you in ways you cannot imagine. Like wearing damp clothes all the time.
Mind you, if someone were to pay me to garden, write opinion columns and give entertaining talks about the City, I'd be delighted.
So, come on, chaps .......
If the government can do a crowdfunded for interior decorators, surely we can do one for gardeners in West Hampstead/Cumbria?
Having considered the various policies and ideas of the array of the candidates for London Mayor, Mrs Stodge has just announced she will be casting her first vote for Count Binface.
I was speaking with my father tonight. He told me a story you might like. He was present when Michael Heseltine, newly appointed Secretary of State for the Environment, was introduced to his civil servant team for the first time. He told them that he'd started his first major business by the age of 30, and asked what each of them had done by then - obviously not expecting much. The exercise stopped when one of the civil servants explained that at 28 he had been project lead on the first British H-Bomb Test.
If the Man U fans get bored, could they please go down to Bristol and disrupt play?
I have a horrible feeling that's the only thing that can save Glaws from total humiliation here.
I think when I give up teaching - which I am planning to do in a year or so’s time unless the entirety of the DfE, OFSTED, OFQUAL and their fellow posh, stupid, lazy, rude, cowardly, selfish bullies like Topping and Roger all suffer painful and amusing accidents - I think I will go in for cricket commentary.
I just seem to have the most extraordinary talent for changing the course of events. Just imagine how exciting my commentary would make Test cricket. Why, it might even make the Hundred interesting.
No way should Gloucestershire have won that. But they did. And they now top Group 2. The toughest group.
Poor old Leicestershire though. What a disappointment. How often do you set 348 and lose?
........and Roger will suffer painful and amusing accidents! Are you OK?
In some ways Life itself is painful and amusing.
Are you trying to give it a punchline? I hope someone can......
Yo @ydoethur and @TOPPING, why don't you like each other? You both seem reasonable to me. Or don't I want to know?
It's because Topping is a total wanker.
Hope that helps.
He doesn’t seem to be universally beloved, and there are fairly obvious reasons for that.
But then, I know I’m not everyone’s cup of tea myself, for all sorts of reasons. I can be pretty acid when I choose to be. Not usually to children, but equally, I usually come on here when exhausted to blow off steam.
Often, we don’t show the best of ourselves on this place. Sometimes it’s easy to get carried away because we’re mostly anonymous (although several posters I think know my real name through private email conversations).
Edit - I should add that, living alone, and isolated by both distance and the professional risks I have run from the person I’ve more or less had to bubble with, PB has frequently been an absolute lifeline to me and I’m deeply grateful to everyone for their company and their kindness when things have sometimes been tough. I’m also grateful to the many posters who bear my puns (when they might sometimes be seen as inappropriate or offensive) with such good humour.
That does of course make it more complicated when one poster becomes so aggressive.
Can we please get back to the Heligoland Question? If only to bore the board into some semblance of serenity? Or senility? Either works for me!
It was actually quite a surprise for me when I read aboiut it last year. Not boring!
Aside from the naval strategy & warfare aspects, it's interesting that Heligoland was 19th century equivalent of Diego Garcia. Except that the Heligolanders got to stay on the island, temporarily anyway, between the expulsions and bombings (and visa versa).
Stepchildren of the Empire. In contrast to Gibraltar and the Falklands. Which of course were once strategically significant to the UK, but much less so today.
I was speaking with my father tonight. He told me a story you might like. He was present when Michael Heseltine, newly appointed Secretary of State for the Environment, was introduced to his civil servant team for the first time. He told them that he'd started his first major business by the age of 30, and asked what each of them had done by then - obviously not expecting much. The exercise stopped when one of the civil servants explained that at 28 he had been project lead on the first British H-Bomb Test.
Obvious retort: "So why did you let the Yanks and Ruskis get the jump on us?"
Because you need a fission bomb to even begin the initiation process of a fusion weapon. I suppose that would have put Mr Heseltine back in his box even more, not least because it was largely a Labour administration which brought the basic fission weapon to fruition (or at least a long way: I'm slightly hazy about the dating at the edges)>
Yo @ydoethur and @TOPPING, why don't you like each other? You both seem reasonable to me. Or don't I want to know?
It's because Topping is a total wanker.
Hope that helps.
He doesn’t seem to be universally beloved, and there are fairly obvious reasons for that.
But then, I know I’m not everyone’s cup of tea myself, for all sorts of reasons. I can be pretty acid when I choose to be. Not usually to children, but equally, I usually come on here when exhausted to blow off steam.
Often, we don’t show the best of ourselves on this place. Sometimes it’s easy to get carried away because we’re mostly anonymous (although several posters I think know my real name through private email conversations).
Edit - I should add that, living alone, and isolated by both distance and the professional risks I have run from the person I’ve more or less had to bubble with, PB has frequently been an absolute lifeline to me and I’m deeply grateful to everyone for their company and their kindness when things have sometimes been tough. I’m also grateful to the many posters who bear my puns (when they might sometimes be seen as inappropriate or offensive) with such good humour.
That does of course make it more complicated when one poster becomes so aggressive.
Your posts always interest me and as far as I am concerned you are an important contributor to the site
Why thank you. That popping noise you heard was my head expanding
We both dislike Williamson with a passion
Tbf, is there anyone who doesn’t?
I’m betting if I said ‘like this post if you hate Williamson’ I’d get the most likes in the history of PB. Even more than the one on Gallowgate’s job.
I was speaking with my father tonight. He told me a story you might like. He was present when Michael Heseltine, newly appointed Secretary of State for the Environment, was introduced to his civil servant team for the first time. He told them that he'd started his first major business by the age of 30, and asked what each of them had done by then - obviously not expecting much. The exercise stopped when one of the civil servants explained that at 28 he had been project lead on the first British H-Bomb Test.
Obvious retort: "So why did you let the Yanks and Ruskis get the jump on us?"
Because you need a fission bomb to even begin the initiation process of a fusion weapon. I suppose that would have put Mr Heseltine back in his box even more, not least because it was largely a Labour administration which brought the basic fission weapon to fruition (or at least a long way: I'm slightly hazy about the dating at the edges)>
It’s a shame they didn’t put Norris in at Environment instead.
He knew all about making lots of big bangs at once.
Is that finishing already? Feels like only yesterday that people starting banging on about it.
BBC still incapable of doing a full length series I'm guessing?
Philip we get your view of the BBC but that doesn't mean everything it produces is no good. Around an unprecedented 11m people will be tuning in tonight including yours truly. Just accept that people believe the BBC offers good quality programming and move on.
Oh I have no doubt that the BBC is capable of making about 4 hours of what people consider to be good TV a year.
I just don't think that's good value for money at all.
Which TV station is better value for money?
Netflix and Disney+
We coined a new phrase in my household for Netflix grade content: “Netflix mediocre” - content that’s just good enough to reel you in & get you watching but you’d never tell anyone else was worth their time.
There’s very little on Netflix that I actually recommended to anyone, Disney+ & the BBC on the other hand have both scored here. Make of that what you will.
(We finally dropped Netflix earlier this year, after hemming & hawing about it for a month or two.)
I was speaking with my father tonight. He told me a story you might like. He was present when Michael Heseltine, newly appointed Secretary of State for the Environment, was introduced to his civil servant team for the first time. He told them that he'd started his first major business by the age of 30, and asked what each of them had done by then - obviously not expecting much. The exercise stopped when one of the civil servants explained that at 28 he had been project lead on the first British H-Bomb Test.
Obvious retort: "So why did you let the Yanks and Ruskis get the jump on us?"
Because you need a fission bomb to even begin the initiation process of a fusion weapon. I suppose that would have put Mr Heseltine back in his box even more, not least because it was largely a Labour administration which brought the basic fission weapon to fruition (or at least a long way: I'm slightly hazy about the dating at the edges)>
Somehow do NOT think your retort to the Minister's (suggested) retort would be all that crushing. Especially if you had to dash out to consult your references!
BUT of course Heseltine did NOT say it. Nor would yours truly have thought about it in same situation, until at least a half hour after the exchange!
Having considered the various policies and ideas of the array of the candidates for London Mayor, Mrs Stodge has just announced she will be casting her first vote for Count Binface.
Yo @ydoethur and Topping, why don't you like each other? You both seem reasonable to me. Or don't I want to know?
Roughly, when I said I wouldn’t be forced to give up my summer holdiays to run catch up classes for no extra pay, he accused me of selfishness. When I criticised him for this and pointed out it rested on mistaken assumptions, he said any child who had me for a teacher was unlucky. When I criticised him for this, suggesting - perhaps acidly - that such a person would not be a suitable army officer - he made a malicious accusation of criminality against me, a post I had to ask the mods to delete.
He now seems to be obsessed with the idea I am a bad teacher and must be driven out of the profession, despite the fact his knowledge of teaching is non-existent and his ideas of what I am or am not capable of or good at are seemingly based largely on spite. Even his ridiculous non-apology didn’t apologise for his lies - merely for ‘upsetting’ me. Perhaps it hasn’t occurred to him that if he wasn’t a liar and bully he wouldn’t upset people.
But truthfully, that seems to be the way he treats most posters. Richard Tyndall, Pagan2 and several others have come in for his ire for no obvious reason. Look at the way he’s now talking to Foxy. I’m guessing he dislikes me particularly because on the rare occasions I don’t ignore him I eviscerate him.
But like I say, such conversations are boring for everyone else (look at the way Horse and BigG react to each other) so generally I’m just ignoring him. This evening, he was so vile I felt I had to respond.
Both my late parents were teachers. Both ended up in very senior positions (my Mum a headmistress of a small infant/primary school). My Dad was first and foremost a maths teacher, even as a Deputy Headmaster (in the days where a deputy headmaster's duties included timetable planning, discipline and maintenance procurement) of a comprehensive school (you will know the one he worked at) he ran to double digit hours teaching a week, he rotated his timetable so not only did he teach A level, but back in the day mode 3 CSE (for the basically inumerate) the exams for which he had to write himself. He was also a mode 3 verifier for Hereford and Worcester County. He was in at before eight and never left before five, and every night he had a bag full of marking. How he would laugh when neighbours would harp on about his holidays and solid gold pension. Mind you there were colleagues of his, in at 9 and gone by 4 with no requirement to mark books. I had a particular teacher who would randomly invite pupils to his huge desk to mark their work before humiliating them infront of the class. A dreadful teacher but with the single, top drawer lesson plan in the event of a visit from a County Education Officer.
Ydoethur, done properly it is hard work, even without forty spawn of Satan in the room at any one time. A b*****d of a job, if completed fastidiously. Hats off to you!
"Forty spawn of Satan" is where it all goes wrong.
Unless you are an Ofsted Inspector covering Staffordshire and the West Midlands, I am not sure you are qualified to comment on Ydoethur's professional standards and ethics.
Given the current quality of OFSTED inspectors, some of whom don’t even know basic safeguarding protocols, nor are they.
But your career can nonetheless hang by their every whim.
Quality teachers are underestimated.
When I was a pupil at the Woodrush High School, near Birmingham in the mid 1970s, I had some truly awesome teachers. For a modest former Secondary Modern School in a modest area, the school produced in my year alone Nick Rhodes from Duran Duran ( he quotes an art teacher Mr Hart as his inspiration) and a recent British High Commissioner to Chile. I clearly under performed, but I blame my later Grammar School years for that. Perhaps my most inspirational teacher was a lady straight out of college, an English teacher, who later became the Chair of Guernsey Literary Festival. Carlotta probably knows her.
Can we please get back to the Heligoland Question? If only to bore the board into some semblance of serenity? Or senility? Either works for me!
It was actually quite a surprise for me when I read aboiut it last year. Not boring!
Aside from the naval strategy & warfare aspects, it's interesting that Heligoland was 19th century equivalent of Diego Garcia. Except that the Heligolanders got to stay on the island, temporarily anyway, between the expulsions and bombings (and visa versa).
Stepchildren of the Empire. In contrast to Gibraltar and the Falklands. Which of course were once strategically significant to the UK, but much less so today.
Like Heligoland but NOT Diego Garcia.
I'm not sure that hte Heligolanders were that much better treated. And the Falklanders almost got handed over to the Argentinian Government by a Conservative Government, de jure, if I recall rightly, although in the end HMG's actions encouraged the Argies to jump the gun somewhat.
You may be interested to know that there are many of us in the labour Party campaigning for PR. Currently there are 214 Constituency Labour Parties who have come out in favour of PR and only 5 have rejected it. We are working on the others, and they are coming out in favour all the time (when Labour are not in local election mode). There is a campaign that we are involved in, Labour for a New Democracy aimed at getting Labour Conference to pass a resolution in favour of PR in the autumn. We would urge any Labour members in favour of PR to join the Labour campaign for Electoral Reform at http://www.lcer.org.uk and the Labour for a New Democracy campaign can be found at https://www.labourforanewdemocracy.org.uk
Interesting, thanks. I’m slowly coming round to the view that FPTP has had its time and needs replacing. As for the bastardised version of D’Hondt, it never had a time and should be removed forthwith.
I’m just not sold on PR as its replacement. I can see too many problems with it. Equally, I’m open to persuasion if there could be a reasoned dialogue on it.
STV on 5/6 member constituencies would be my preferred option right now.
And welcome. Two new posters in one day. Ignore all the bile I and Another Person have been putting out, we’re a lovely bunch really as long as you don’t take your pizza with pineapple.
Sorry to hear that @ydoethur is thinking of leaving teaching.
But am intrigued by hearing that he earns from music and writing. What type of music? And writing? I'd love to to know more.
At the moment I earn practically nothing from either, because I don’t have time. But I was a professional organist and pianist for several years while at uni, and there aren’t too many of those around here. And I also worked for OUP as an editor/proof reader and article contributor to several of their online learning platforms, as well as an academic resources company in Holland.
It’s not a gracious living, but it’s adequate. The catch is, you can’t get a mortgage on it because it’s all on commission, a bit like your work I imagine (albeit far less lucrative)!
Well, the last year has not been great for my freelance work, for obvious reasons. And my last piece of work - a very interesting case on which I was asked to write an expert's opinion (on whistleblowing) - has yet to be paid some 4 months later. The longest I have had to wait for payment was one year - a French bank in the US as it happens.
I need to do some more hustling this year.
Perhaps I should just write a drama series about it all instead .......
The origins of his problems lie in the not too distant past and his approach to teaching during lockdown.
Never have I come across someone with so much hatred for his chosen profession.
You've never met a lawyer or a banker then?
LOL. They might hate the profession but they love the money.
Ultimately, most work is unpleasant. That is why we have to be paid to do it. It is a rare pleasure to enjoy a job.
I am fortunate that way now, but it there have been times where my work was awful.
I have enjoyed my jobs. I absolutely loved the last one I did. Was in my element.
Of course there have been incredibly stressful times - and it played havoc with my health by the end - but I enjoyed it and working with my team and making, in a small way, a difference
It is important to enjoy what you do at some level. I had one job which was utterly miserable - crying in the toilets every day levels of misery - and you have to get out if it gets like that because it undermines you in ways you cannot imagine. Like wearing damp clothes all the time.
Mind you, if someone were to pay me to garden, write opinion columns and give entertaining talks about the City, I'd be delighted.
So, come on, chaps .......
In my experience, it's the character of the boss or client that makes all the difference. I've had excellent ones for whom I'd walk over broken glass because they respected me and had my back. We are still friends. I've also had the opposite, and it ended with high-blood pressure, me resigning from my position and a loss of confidence that took me almost 18 months to bounce back from.
What's truly shocking is how few seem to understand this.
Yo @ydoethur and @TOPPING, why don't you like each other? You both seem reasonable to me. Or don't I want to know?
It's because Topping is a total wanker.
Hope that helps.
He doesn’t seem to be universally beloved, and there are fairly obvious reasons for that.
But then, I know I’m not everyone’s cup of tea myself, for all sorts of reasons. I can be pretty acid when I choose to be. Not usually to children, but equally, I usually come on here when exhausted to blow off steam.
Often, we don’t show the best of ourselves on this place. Sometimes it’s easy to get carried away because we’re mostly anonymous (although several posters I think know my real name through private email conversations).
Edit - I should add that, living alone, and isolated by both distance and the professional risks I have run from the person I’ve more or less had to bubble with, PB has frequently been an absolute lifeline to me and I’m deeply grateful to everyone for their company and their kindness when things have sometimes been tough. I’m also grateful to the many posters who bear my puns (when they might sometimes be seen as inappropriate or offensive) with such good humour.
That does of course make it more complicated when one poster becomes so aggressive.
Your posts always interest me and as far as I am concerned you are an important contributor to the site
Why thank you. That popping noise you heard was my head expanding
We both dislike Williamson with a passion
Tbf, is there anyone who doesn’t?
I’m betting if I said ‘like this post if you hate Williamson’ I’d get the most likes in the history of PB. Even more than the one on Gallowgate’s job.
Hatred is such a wasteful emotion
True. However, it is also sometimes extremely satisfying and necessary.
Where would civilisation be if nobody had hated Hitler?
Having considered the various policies and ideas of the array of the candidates for London Mayor, Mrs Stodge has just announced she will be casting her first vote for Count Binface.
The second vote is up for grabs....
If 19,999 other people follow her lead then Ladbrokes are in for a bad time.
You may be interested to know that there are many of us in the labour Party campaigning for PR. Currently there are 214 Constituency Labour Parties who have come out in favour of PR and only 5 have rejected it. We are working on the others, and they are coming out in favour all the time (when Labour are not in local election mode). There is a campaign that we are involved in, Labour for a New Democracy aimed at getting Labour Conference to pass a resolution in favour of PR in the autumn. We would urge any Labour members in favour of PR to join the Labour campaign for Electoral Reform at http://www.lcer.org.uk and the Labour for a New Democracy campaign can be found at https://www.labourforanewdemocracy.org.uk
Interesting, thanks. I’m slowly coming round to the view that FPTP has had its time and needs replacing. As for the bastardised version of D’Hondt, it never had a time and should be removed forthwith.
I’m just not sold on PR as its replacement. I can see too many problems with it. Equally, I’m open to persuasion if there could be a reasoned dialogue on it.
STV on 5/6 member constituencies would be my preferred option right now.
And welcome. Two new posters in one day. Ignore all the bile I and Another Person have been putting out, we’re a lovely bunch really as long as you don’t take your pizza with pineapple.
Sorry to hear that @ydoethur is thinking of leaving teaching.
But am intrigued by hearing that he earns from music and writing. What type of music? And writing? I'd love to to know more.
At the moment I earn practically nothing from either, because I don’t have time. But I was a professional organist and pianist for several years while at uni, and there aren’t too many of those around here. And I also worked for OUP as an editor/proof reader and article contributor to several of their online learning platforms, as well as an academic resources company in Holland.
It’s not a gracious living, but it’s adequate. The catch is, you can’t get a mortgage on it because it’s all on commission, a bit like your work I imagine (albeit far less lucrative)!
Well, the last year has not been great for my freelance work, for obvious reasons. And my last piece of work - a very interesting case on which I was asked to write an expert's opinion (on whistleblowing) - has yet to be paid some 4 months later. The longest I have had to wait for payment was one year - a French bank in the US as it happens.
I need to do some more hustling this year.
Perhaps I should just write a drama series about it all instead .......
Well, I’d watch it, but from what you’ve said no producer would take it as it would all be too far fetched.
The origins of his problems lie in the not too distant past and his approach to teaching during lockdown.
Never have I come across someone with so much hatred for his chosen profession.
You've never met a lawyer or a banker then?
LOL. They might hate the profession but they love the money.
Ultimately, most work is unpleasant. That is why we have to be paid to do it. It is a rare pleasure to enjoy a job.
I am fortunate that way now, but it there have been times where my work was awful.
I have enjoyed my jobs. I absolutely loved the last one I did. Was in my element.
Of course there have been incredibly stressful times - and it played havoc with my health by the end - but I enjoyed it and working with my team and making, in a small way, a difference
It is important to enjoy what you do at some level. I had one job which was utterly miserable - crying in the toilets every day levels of misery - and you have to get out if it gets like that because it undermines you in ways you cannot imagine. Like wearing damp clothes all the time.
Mind you, if someone were to pay me to garden, write opinion columns and give entertaining talks about the City, I'd be delighted.
So, come on, chaps .......
Sounds like Robin Lane Fox’s job - tutor at New College and gardening correspondent for the FT…
Can we please get back to the Heligoland Question? If only to bore the board into some semblance of serenity? Or senility? Either works for me!
It was actually quite a surprise for me when I read aboiut it last year. Not boring!
Aside from the naval strategy & warfare aspects, it's interesting that Heligoland was 19th century equivalent of Diego Garcia. Except that the Heligolanders got to stay on the island, temporarily anyway, between the expulsions and bombings (and visa versa).
Stepchildren of the Empire. In contrast to Gibraltar and the Falklands. Which of course were once strategically significant to the UK, but much less so today.
Yo @ydoethur and Topping, why don't you like each other? You both seem reasonable to me. Or don't I want to know?
Roughly, when I said I wouldn’t be forced to give up my summer holdiays to run catch up classes for no extra pay, he accused me of selfishness. When I criticised him for this and pointed out it rested on mistaken assumptions, he said any child who had me for a teacher was unlucky. When I criticised him for this, suggesting - perhaps acidly - that such a person would not be a suitable army officer - he made a malicious accusation of criminality against me, a post I had to ask the mods to delete.
He now seems to be obsessed with the idea I am a bad teacher and must be driven out of the profession, despite the fact his knowledge of teaching is non-existent and his ideas of what I am or am not capable of or good at are seemingly based largely on spite. Even his ridiculous non-apology didn’t apologise for his lies - merely for ‘upsetting’ me. Perhaps it hasn’t occurred to him that if he wasn’t a liar and bully he wouldn’t upset people.
But truthfully, that seems to be the way he treats most posters. Richard Tyndall, Pagan2 and several others have come in for his ire for no obvious reason. Look at the way he’s now talking to Foxy. I’m guessing he dislikes me particularly because on the rare occasions I don’t ignore him I eviscerate him.
But like I say, such conversations are boring for everyone else (look at the way Horse and BigG react to each other) so generally I’m just ignoring him. This evening, he was so vile I felt I had to respond.
Hello sweetie.
Needless to say I didn't read your post. But I was casually perusing PB of a Sunday evening and saw that apropos of nothing you had mentioned me and @Roger in a not wholly loving fashion.
Which sounds to me like you know I was right about you. And I am. The sooner you fuck off from the teaching profession the better.
Is that necessary
Proof if proof be needed that I am right
If you think that you are completely deluded
Mate if I wasn't right why would you take the time to respond to me?
Because eventually it may get through your thick skull that your rudeness does you no favours either here (or elsewhere in life)
PB Life Lessons No. 43.
Much appreciated.
Life lesson No. 43? Top 5, if not top 3 in my book.
ZZZZZZZZZ
The 'Z' key on your keyboard looks like it could be faulty.
The origins of his problems lie in the not too distant past and his approach to teaching during lockdown.
Never have I come across someone with so much hatred for his chosen profession.
You've never met a lawyer or a banker then?
LOL. They might hate the profession but they love the money.
Ultimately, most work is unpleasant. That is why we have to be paid to do it. It is a rare pleasure to enjoy a job.
I am fortunate that way now, but it there have been times where my work was awful.
I have enjoyed my jobs. I absolutely loved the last one I did. Was in my element.
Of course there have been incredibly stressful times - and it played havoc with my health by the end - but I enjoyed it and working with my team and making, in a small way, a difference
It is important to enjoy what you do at some level. I had one job which was utterly miserable - crying in the toilets every day levels of misery - and you have to get out if it gets like that because it undermines you in ways you cannot imagine. Like wearing damp clothes all the time.
Mind you, if someone were to pay me to garden, write opinion columns and give entertaining talks about the City, I'd be delighted.
So, come on, chaps .......
I used to have a kiosk around the corner from my studio and I've never felt more envious of anyone than I did for Mrs Cohen the Vendor. "20 cigs and a Guardian please" and no one ever questioned her judgement.......
I am voting Lib Dem in my ward on Newcastle City Council because Labour needs some actual opposition.
Once voted for a Trotskyist for Seattle City Council on similar basis, Kshama Sawant. And she won! Though nobody out here except your's truly calls her that, she's a "socialist".
Would NOT vote for her again, leastways under normal or even similar circumstances. But enough folks did like I did, for reasons having little to do with dialectical materialism or permanent revolution. And ever since she got in, she's managed to stay in.
Ironically, it was clear in 2019 from primary results that Sawant was in serious danger of being defeated at the general election. Until that is Jeff Bezos launched a mega-buck campaign against her and several other city council members. Which boomeranged spectacularly, one of the worst own goals I've ever witnessed in politics.
Can we please get back to the Heligoland Question? If only to bore the board into some semblance of serenity? Or senility? Either works for me!
It was actually quite a surprise for me when I read aboiut it last year. Not boring!
Aside from the naval strategy & warfare aspects, it's interesting that Heligoland was 19th century equivalent of Diego Garcia. Except that the Heligolanders got to stay on the island, temporarily anyway, between the expulsions and bombings (and visa versa).
Stepchildren of the Empire. In contrast to Gibraltar and the Falklands. Which of course were once strategically significant to the UK, but much less so today.
Yo @ydoethur and @TOPPING, why don't you like each other? You both seem reasonable to me. Or don't I want to know?
It's because Topping is a total wanker.
Hope that helps.
He doesn’t seem to be universally beloved, and there are fairly obvious reasons for that.
But then, I know I’m not everyone’s cup of tea myself, for all sorts of reasons. I can be pretty acid when I choose to be. Not usually to children, but equally, I usually come on here when exhausted to blow off steam.
Often, we don’t show the best of ourselves on this place. Sometimes it’s easy to get carried away because we’re mostly anonymous (although several posters I think know my real name through private email conversations).
Edit - I should add that, living alone, and isolated by both distance and the professional risks I have run from the person I’ve more or less had to bubble with, PB has frequently been an absolute lifeline to me and I’m deeply grateful to everyone for their company and their kindness when things have sometimes been tough. I’m also grateful to the many posters who bear my puns (when they might sometimes be seen as inappropriate or offensive) with such good humour.
That does of course make it more complicated when one poster becomes so aggressive.
Your posts always interest me and as far as I am concerned you are an important contributor to the site
Why thank you. That popping noise you heard was my head expanding
We both dislike Williamson with a passion
Tbf, is there anyone who doesn’t?
I’m betting if I said ‘like this post if you hate Williamson’ I’d get the most likes in the history of PB. Even more than the one on Gallowgate’s job.
Hatred is such a wasteful emotion
True. However, it is also sometimes extremely satisfying and necessary.
Where would civilisation be if nobody had hated Hitler?
In the same place as it is today
Whenever I am in the Leicester Square area I always make a point of stopping by the statue of Edith Cavell:
“Patriotism is not enough. I must have no hatred or bitterness towards anyone”
You may be interested to know that there are many of us in the labour Party campaigning for PR. Currently there are 214 Constituency Labour Parties who have come out in favour of PR and only 5 have rejected it. We are working on the others, and they are coming out in favour all the time (when Labour are not in local election mode). There is a campaign that we are involved in, Labour for a New Democracy aimed at getting Labour Conference to pass a resolution in favour of PR in the autumn. We would urge any Labour members in favour of PR to join the Labour campaign for Electoral Reform at http://www.lcer.org.uk and the Labour for a New Democracy campaign can be found at https://www.labourforanewdemocracy.org.uk
Interesting, thanks. I’m slowly coming round to the view that FPTP has had its time and needs replacing. As for the bastardised version of D’Hondt, it never had a time and should be removed forthwith.
I’m just not sold on PR as its replacement. I can see too many problems with it. Equally, I’m open to persuasion if there could be a reasoned dialogue on it.
STV on 5/6 member constituencies would be my preferred option right now.
And welcome. Two new posters in one day. Ignore all the bile I and Another Person have been putting out, we’re a lovely bunch really as long as you don’t take your pizza with pineapple.
On balance In prefer FPTP but the argument is endless as no system is going to be perfect, and how decent any system is will depend on what precisely is the sort of outcome you want in terms of how society is organised. You may want a decent likelihood of government by a single party with a programme, you may want the compromises of coalition. You may want the maximum number of views to be represented in parliament (Farage, Galloway, BNP, SWP, Lozza will all be in with a shout).
The AV system has this going for it, despite its critics: it does the simple thing of abolishing the 'wasted vote' argument and gives sane (supposing such a thing possible) newcomer parties a chance because you can vote (1) Lord Binhead or SDP or something (2) Labour or whatever and know that a horse you back will get a run at least - which is psychologically satisfying, and good for democracy (I think).
And the crucial pragmatic question: more or less for certain when Labour are in a position to enact PR, they will be in coalition/support and in sight of forming a Labour government after one more heave, or will have formed one already. What will their view be at that precise moment? I think I can guess.
Can we please get back to the Heligoland Question? If only to bore the board into some semblance of serenity? Or senility? Either works for me!
It was actually quite a surprise for me when I read aboiut it last year. Not boring!
Aside from the naval strategy & warfare aspects, it's interesting that Heligoland was 19th century equivalent of Diego Garcia. Except that the Heligolanders got to stay on the island, temporarily anyway, between the expulsions and bombings (and visa versa).
Stepchildren of the Empire. In contrast to Gibraltar and the Falklands. Which of course were once strategically significant to the UK, but much less so today.
You may be interested to know that there are many of us in the labour Party campaigning for PR. Currently there are 214 Constituency Labour Parties who have come out in favour of PR and only 5 have rejected it. We are working on the others, and they are coming out in favour all the time (when Labour are not in local election mode). There is a campaign that we are involved in, Labour for a New Democracy aimed at getting Labour Conference to pass a resolution in favour of PR in the autumn. We would urge any Labour members in favour of PR to join the Labour campaign for Electoral Reform at http://www.lcer.org.uk and the Labour for a New Democracy campaign can be found at https://www.labourforanewdemocracy.org.uk
Interesting, thanks. I’m slowly coming round to the view that FPTP has had its time and needs replacing. As for the bastardised version of D’Hondt, it never had a time and should be removed forthwith.
I’m just not sold on PR as its replacement. I can see too many problems with it. Equally, I’m open to persuasion if there could be a reasoned dialogue on it.
STV on 5/6 member constituencies would be my preferred option right now.
And welcome. Two new posters in one day. Ignore all the bile I and Another Person have been putting out, we’re a lovely bunch really as long as you don’t take your pizza with pineapple.
On balance In prefer FPTP but the argument is endless as no system is going to be perfect, and how decent any system is will depend on what precisely is the sort of outcome you want in terms of how society is organised. You may want a decent likelihood of government by a single party with a programme, you may want the compromises of coalition. You may want the maximum number of views to be represented in parliament (Farage, Galloway, BNP, SWP, Lozza will all be in with a shout).
And the crucial pragmatic question: more or less for certain when Labour are in a position to enact PR, they will be in coalition/support and in sight of forming a Labour government after one more heave, or will have formed one already. What will their view be at that precise moment? I think I can guess.
Yes. Paradoxically, PR will only be introduced when it’s in the interests of the government of the day, as every other political/constitutional reform has been.
And because they’re elected under FPTP that will be never.
The origins of his problems lie in the not too distant past and his approach to teaching during lockdown.
Never have I come across someone with so much hatred for his chosen profession.
You've never met a lawyer or a banker then?
LOL. They might hate the profession but they love the money.
Ultimately, most work is unpleasant. That is why we have to be paid to do it. It is a rare pleasure to enjoy a job.
I am fortunate that way now, but it there have been times where my work was awful.
I have enjoyed my jobs. I absolutely loved the last one I did. Was in my element.
Of course there have been incredibly stressful times - and it played havoc with my health by the end - but I enjoyed it and working with my team and making, in a small way, a difference
It is important to enjoy what you do at some level. I had one job which was utterly miserable - crying in the toilets every day levels of misery - and you have to get out if it gets like that because it undermines you in ways you cannot imagine. Like wearing damp clothes all the time.
Mind you, if someone were to pay me to garden, write opinion columns and give entertaining talks about the City, I'd be delighted.
So, come on, chaps .......
In my experience, it's the character of the boss or client that makes all the difference. I've had excellent ones for whom I'd walk over broken glass because they respected me and had my back. We are still friends. I've also had the opposite, and it ended with high-blood pressure, me resigning from my position and a loss of confidence that took me almost 18 months to bounce back from.
What's truly shocking is how few seem to understand this.
The one thing I am proudest of is building my team, who stayed with me for years, got promoted and have all gone on to be bloody good investigators. I created those jobs and that team and made a difference to them and their careers. They have all been kind enough to say that I was a good manager. I always felt about them that they were my work family and that I would do anything to make them thrive, to protect them, to push them, to teach them, to have their back and to leave them with happy memories.
If I've done even a fraction of that, I've achieved something.
But, yes, you're right: a bad manager is awful whereas a good manager - like a good teacher - makes all the difference.
I still remember my teachers: Mrs Phillips, my Latin teacher; Mrs Woodings - history; Mrs Audigier - maths; Miss Beynon - Biology; Miss Piachaud; etc etc. And my English teacher - who didn't like me - and who left me with a lifelong lack of confidence in my ability in English. So my writing now is me proving to myself that she was wrong and that I can write - and write well.
Anyone who takes this as cue to be unkind ..... just don't.
Is that finishing already? Feels like only yesterday that people starting banging on about it.
BBC still incapable of doing a full length series I'm guessing?
Philip we get your view of the BBC but that doesn't mean everything it produces is no good. Around an unprecedented 11m people will be tuning in tonight including yours truly. Just accept that people believe the BBC offers good quality programming and move on.
Oh I have no doubt that the BBC is capable of making about 4 hours of what people consider to be good TV a year.
I just don't think that's good value for money at all.
Which TV station is better value for money?
Netflix and Disney+
We coined a new phrase in my household for Netflix grade content: “Netflix mediocre” - content that’s just good enough to reel you in & get you watching but you’d never tell anyone else was worth their time.
There’s very little on Netflix that I actually recommended to anyone, Disney+ & the BBC on the other hand have both scored here. Make of that what you will.
(We finally dropped Netflix earlier this year, after hemming & hawing about it for a month or two.)
I find little on Netfix to excite me, though I did have a enjoyable period watching their Nollywood collection. Some are awful, but Wedding Party 2 is hilarious, the biggest Nollywood hit ever.
You do have to fossick quite a bit to find the gems amongst the low grade dross.
The origins of his problems lie in the not too distant past and his approach to teaching during lockdown.
Never have I come across someone with so much hatred for his chosen profession.
You've never met a lawyer or a banker then?
LOL. They might hate the profession but they love the money.
Ultimately, most work is unpleasant. That is why we have to be paid to do it. It is a rare pleasure to enjoy a job.
I am fortunate that way now, but it there have been times where my work was awful.
I have enjoyed my jobs. I absolutely loved the last one I did. Was in my element.
Of course there have been incredibly stressful times - and it played havoc with my health by the end - but I enjoyed it and working with my team and making, in a small way, a difference
It is important to enjoy what you do at some level. I had one job which was utterly miserable - crying in the toilets every day levels of misery - and you have to get out if it gets like that because it undermines you in ways you cannot imagine. Like wearing damp clothes all the time.
Mind you, if someone were to pay me to garden, write opinion columns and give entertaining talks about the City, I'd be delighted.
So, come on, chaps .......
In my experience, it's the character of the boss or client that makes all the difference. I've had excellent ones for whom I'd walk over broken glass because they respected me and had my back. We are still friends. I've also had the opposite, and it ended with high-blood pressure, me resigning from my position and a loss of confidence that took me almost 18 months to bounce back from.
What's truly shocking is how few seem to understand this.
That is because management is not valued because it cannot be measured. And it requires a level of emotional intelligence which is rarer than it should be amongst people in senior positions.
Can we please get back to the Heligoland Question? If only to bore the board into some semblance of serenity? Or senility? Either works for me!
It was actually quite a surprise for me when I read aboiut it last year. Not boring!
Aside from the naval strategy & warfare aspects, it's interesting that Heligoland was 19th century equivalent of Diego Garcia. Except that the Heligolanders got to stay on the island, temporarily anyway, between the expulsions and bombings (and visa versa).
Stepchildren of the Empire. In contrast to Gibraltar and the Falklands. Which of course were once strategically significant to the UK, but much less so today.
Like Heligoland but NOT Diego Garcia.
I'm not sure that hte Heligolanders were that much better treated. And the Falklanders almost got handed over to the Argentinian Government by a Conservative Government, de jure, if I recall rightly, although in the end HMG's actions encouraged the Argies to jump the gun somewhat.
Heligolanders only marginally better off that Diego Garcians. At least the former were made citizens of the country that occupied them to turn the place into a fortress.
And you are correct re: Falklanders. And since WWII several HMGs of various persuasions have attempted to "resolve" the Gibraltar situation by surrendering more than a wee bit of sovereignty (or suzerainty, whatever the feck THAT is) to Spain.
The origins of his problems lie in the not too distant past and his approach to teaching during lockdown.
Never have I come across someone with so much hatred for his chosen profession.
You've never met a lawyer or a banker then?
LOL. They might hate the profession but they love the money.
Ultimately, most work is unpleasant. That is why we have to be paid to do it. It is a rare pleasure to enjoy a job.
I am fortunate that way now, but it there have been times where my work was awful.
I have enjoyed my jobs. I absolutely loved the last one I did. Was in my element.
Of course there have been incredibly stressful times - and it played havoc with my health by the end - but I enjoyed it and working with my team and making, in a small way, a difference
It is important to enjoy what you do at some level. I had one job which was utterly miserable - crying in the toilets every day levels of misery - and you have to get out if it gets like that because it undermines you in ways you cannot imagine. Like wearing damp clothes all the time.
Mind you, if someone were to pay me to garden, write opinion columns and give entertaining talks about the City, I'd be delighted.
So, come on, chaps .......
In my experience, it's the character of the boss or client that makes all the difference. I've had excellent ones for whom I'd walk over broken glass because they respected me and had my back. We are still friends. I've also had the opposite, and it ended with high-blood pressure, me resigning from my position and a loss of confidence that took me almost 18 months to bounce back from.
What's truly shocking is how few seem to understand this.
That is because management is not valued because it cannot be measured. And it requires a level of emotional intelligence which is rarer than it should be amongst people in senior positions.
My first HoD said, ‘it isn’t the good ones who get promoted, it’s the ambitious ones.’
Albeit he had been passed over for promotion several times and was rather annoyed about it.
Wasn’t the best boss either. He kept nicking everyone else’s ideas and passing them off as his own.
The origins of his problems lie in the not too distant past and his approach to teaching during lockdown.
Never have I come across someone with so much hatred for his chosen profession.
You've never met a lawyer or a banker then?
LOL. They might hate the profession but they love the money.
Ultimately, most work is unpleasant. That is why we have to be paid to do it. It is a rare pleasure to enjoy a job.
I am fortunate that way now, but it there have been times where my work was awful.
I have enjoyed my jobs. I absolutely loved the last one I did. Was in my element.
Of course there have been incredibly stressful times - and it played havoc with my health by the end - but I enjoyed it and working with my team and making, in a small way, a difference
It is important to enjoy what you do at some level. I had one job which was utterly miserable - crying in the toilets every day levels of misery - and you have to get out if it gets like that because it undermines you in ways you cannot imagine. Like wearing damp clothes all the time.
Mind you, if someone were to pay me to garden, write opinion columns and give entertaining talks about the City, I'd be delighted.
So, come on, chaps .......
Best job I ever had didn't feel like work. It felt like meeting your best mates every day and working out how much mischief you could get up to...
Comments
In WA State the intent of the voter is paramount IF it can be discerned. In the situation posited by Casino Royale, election workers and/or a county canvassing board would concur with Nick's analysis, and the vote would be counted for the Lib Dems.
I’m just not sold on PR as its replacement. I can see too many problems with it. Equally, I’m open to persuasion if there could be a reasoned dialogue on it.
STV on 5/6 member constituencies would be my preferred option right now.
And welcome. Two new posters in one day. Ignore all the bile I and Another Person have been putting out, we’re a lovely bunch really as long as you don’t take your pizza with pineapple.
Hence this rather wonderful story:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/newsbeat-32658907
In my ward, that means the Conservatives - unfortunately, my ward voted 78% Labour to 18% Conservative last time and I don't quite see from where that 30% swing is coming.
Looks as though it will be higher in the next two years, maybe touching 50%.
Ydoethur, done properly it is hard work, even without forty spawn of Satan in the room at any one time. A b*****d of a job, if completed fastidiously. Hats off to you!
Now I’ve said that, it’s going to be 10-6 Murphy tonight isn’t it?
I’m betting if I said ‘like this post if you hate Williamson’ I’d get the most likes in the history of PB. Even more than the one on Gallowgate’s job.
Having considered the various policies and ideas of the array of the candidates for London Mayor, Mrs Stodge has just announced she will be casting her first vote for Count Binface.
The second vote is up for grabs....
I've been keeping my head down recently because the degree of sniping is building as we approach May 6th. Hopefully it will calm down after that.
Much appreciated.
Play nicely or Robert with configure PB that whilst you visit the site it will continually play Radiohead songs, even if you have your sound/speakers off.
Please tell people that I am flattered by their endorsements. But I shall be tuning in to the BBC shortly.
https://www7.politicalbetting.com/index.php/archives/2020/01/17/a-toxic-culture/
https://www7.politicalbetting.com/index.php/archives/2019/10/13/the-tyranny-of-low-expectations/
https://www2.politicalbetting.com/index.php/archives/2021/03/13/here-we-go-again-2/
I'll put on In Rainbows now you mention it.
ie get out of teaching.
I think the problem with teaching - obviously I can’t answer for medicine - is that it has too much rubbish around the edges. Too much unnecessary marking to prove you’ve marked rather than to help the children learn. Too many data points to ensure you have data, rather than because it’s of any value. Too many exams that don’t actually tell you very much, because they’re designed by people who don’t understand the subject or how to assess it, but are used to judge everything. Too many stupid reports to write and pointless meetings to attend. Too many emails to answer, and too many people expecting you to be on call all the time. I’ve been bombarded with questions all weekend about one assignment, because they haven’t checked the instructions I already sent out. In one way that’s good - it’s nice they want to get it right and do well - but it does make it more complicated. And who, ultimately, wants that level of pressure for a salary that will never touch 50,000 a year for an ordinary teacher?
Equally, sometimes we’re such perfectionists we can be our own worst enemies. In lockdown, I made a decision to mark every piece of work, in detail, complete with a verbal note to every child for every lesson. And that was clearly valued by the children and their parents - I had lots of lovely emails - but boy it was exhausting. I couldn’t even listen to music while marking as it upset the recording of the voice notes.
In my case, though, I must admit what’s fuelling my thoughts of leaving is the way the whole thing has become a political junket to promote the careers of otherwise unemployable civil servants, who are making utterly ludicrous decisions about education in the safety of zoom meetings that merely demonstrate their own ignorance and self-interest. Who would want to work for people who as late as January said public exams were going ahead, then declared all exams would be cancelled (which they haven’t been)?
It’s just not worth the stress.
Below is link to WA State official rules on voter intent (aka "What is a Vote"?). These rules (which are state law, part of RCW = Revised Code of Washington) were first enacted following the VERY close 2004 gubernatorial race (final magin 133 votes) and have been modified several times based on feedback from election workers and county canvassing boards.
https://www.sos.wa.gov/_assets/elections/administrators/2018_voter-intent_web.pdf
BTW in WA these boards consist of officials or their representatives from all three branches of state govt: county auditor or election director, chair of county commission or council, and prosecuting attorney; unlike in many states they are NOT directly selected or representing political parties)
The state voter intent rules have been very helpful in both making standards more uniform within each county AND across the state. Their even more helpful to the election workers who must actually process ballots and make determinations. Most decisions are obvious and clear cut, and the rules show how to resolve seeming conflicts between on rule and another.
Any cases that are NOT that easy to resolve are referred to the canvassing board. Which then examines the ballot, discusses the facts & the law (have seen them spend ten minutes on a mark in a race that's already done & dusted not even close) and makes a final decision. Which is reviewable in a court of law, though it virtually never happens. Even during the knock-down drag-out legal action during & following the 2004 WA Governor's race, never once to my knowledge did a court overrule any county canvassing board decisions with respect to voter intent. In other words, about as close as you get to final short of the Pearly Gates.
This is how WA State does it. Other states can do it differently, and most do, with many variations. Personally think our system is NOT the worst.
But am intrigued by hearing that he earns from music and writing. What type of music? And writing? I'd love to to know more.
At the moment, I think Luisa Porritt will be third and I just wonder if Mandu Reid might beat Sian Berry for fourth place. I think Niko Omilana is next and then we might have the Count.
If you vote Lib Dem, they will - and especially if the Conservative candidate loses his seat.
It’s not a gracious living, but it’s adequate. The catch is, you can’t get a mortgage on it because it’s all on commission, a bit like your work I imagine (albeit far less lucrative)!
Turn on your AirPods, and then put them as far away as Bluetooth will allow, e.g. the next room.
Then you’ll be OK.
Murphy’s off again.
Of course there have been incredibly stressful times - and it played havoc with my health by the end - but I enjoyed it and working with my team and making, in a small way, a difference
It is important to enjoy what you do at some level. I had one job which was utterly miserable - crying in the toilets every day levels of misery - and you have to get out if it gets like that because it undermines you in ways you cannot imagine. Like wearing damp clothes all the time.
Mind you, if someone were to pay me to garden, write opinion columns and give entertaining talks about the City, I'd be delighted.
So, come on, chaps .......
19,999 votes to go until my bet comes in.
And I don't mean that as a compliment.
Stay with us mate. Chin up.
Stepchildren of the Empire. In contrast to Gibraltar and the Falklands. Which of course were once strategically significant to the UK, but much less so today.
Like Heligoland but NOT Diego Garcia.
He knew all about making lots of big bangs at once.
There’s very little on Netflix that I actually recommended to anyone, Disney+ & the BBC on the other hand have both scored here. Make of that what you will.
(We finally dropped Netflix earlier this year, after hemming & hawing about it for a month or two.)
BUT of course Heseltine did NOT say it. Nor would yours truly have thought about it in same situation, until at least a half hour after the exchange!
Quality teachers are underestimated.
When I was a pupil at the Woodrush High School, near Birmingham in the mid 1970s, I had some truly awesome teachers. For a modest former Secondary Modern School in a modest area, the school produced in my year alone Nick Rhodes from Duran Duran ( he quotes an art teacher Mr Hart as his inspiration) and a recent British High Commissioner to Chile. I clearly under performed, but I blame my later Grammar School years for that. Perhaps my most inspirational teacher was a lady straight out of college, an English teacher, who later became the Chair of Guernsey Literary Festival. Carlotta probably knows her.
Great teachers change lives.
I need to do some more hustling this year.
Perhaps I should just write a drama series about it all instead .......
What's truly shocking is how few seem to understand this.
Where would civilisation be if nobody had hated Hitler?
1 or more @1/67
None @ 2.1
Interesting.
Would NOT vote for her again, leastways under normal or even similar circumstances. But enough folks did like I did, for reasons having little to do with dialectical materialism or permanent revolution. And ever since she got in, she's managed to stay in.
Ironically, it was clear in 2019 from primary results that Sawant was in serious danger of being defeated at the general election. Until that is Jeff Bezos launched a mega-buck campaign against her and several other city council members. Which boomeranged spectacularly, one of the worst own goals I've ever witnessed in politics.
Whenever I am in the Leicester Square area I always make a point of stopping by the statue of Edith Cavell:
“Patriotism is not enough. I must have no hatred or bitterness towards anyone”
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edith_Cavell
The AV system has this going for it, despite its critics: it does the simple thing of abolishing the 'wasted vote' argument and gives sane (supposing such a thing possible) newcomer parties a chance because you can vote (1) Lord Binhead or SDP or something (2) Labour or whatever and know that a horse you back will get a run at least - which is psychologically satisfying, and good for democracy (I think).
And the crucial pragmatic question: more or less for certain when Labour are in a position to enact PR, they will be in coalition/support and in sight of forming a Labour government after one more heave, or will have formed one already. What will their view be at that precise moment? I think I can guess.
And because they’re elected under FPTP that will be never.
https://twitter.com/feorlean/status/1388941569831673857?s=21
If I've done even a fraction of that, I've achieved something.
But, yes, you're right: a bad manager is awful whereas a good manager - like a good teacher - makes all the difference.
I still remember my teachers: Mrs Phillips, my Latin teacher; Mrs Woodings - history; Mrs Audigier - maths; Miss Beynon - Biology; Miss Piachaud; etc etc. And my English teacher - who didn't like me - and who left me with a lifelong lack of confidence in my ability in English. So my writing now is me proving to myself that she was wrong and that I can write - and write well.
Anyone who takes this as cue to be unkind ..... just don't.
Love it.
You do have to fossick quite a bit to find the gems amongst the low grade dross.
And you are correct re: Falklanders. And since WWII several HMGs of various persuasions have attempted to "resolve" the Gibraltar situation by surrendering more than a wee bit of sovereignty (or suzerainty, whatever the feck THAT is) to Spain.
Albeit he had been passed over for promotion several times and was rather annoyed about it.
Wasn’t the best boss either. He kept nicking everyone else’s ideas and passing them off as his own.