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Thanks for that, Mr.D.Morris_Dancer said:F1: post-testing thoughts on 2018:
http://enormo-haddock.blogspot.co.uk/2018/03/after-testing-thoughts-for-2018-season.html
One thought - the closer Red Bull are to Ferrari, perhaps the better for Mercedes, as the two tend to be stronger on the same tracks (which are weaker for the German outfit). If they take wins off each other, it might stymie a title challenge.
I'm assuming track suitability won't change massively from last season, which seems a reasonable starting assumption.
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The Mercedes wheelbase is exactly the some as last year, isn't it ?Sandpit said:
Yes, McLaren seem to have had a few teething problems with the integration of the new Renault PU, but hopefully they’ve worked through them now. Australia is somewhere they’ve traditionally done quite well. Note that the Mercedes wheelbase is slightly shorter this year, and Ferrari slightly longer, so Monaco and Singapore might not be the massive outliers they were in the past - although of course Lewis came in at 22/1 to win in Singapore last yearMorris_Dancer said:Mr. Sandpit, agree with that and would add that Mercedes have some doubts over how well they'll do on the softer compounds, which, of course, are more in use at street circuits. Australia won't be a full-blown outlier like Monaco/Singapore, but it may well suit Mercedes' rivals. It's also the sort of track where McLaren have to do well if they're going to achieve anything this year.
If the Mercs win comfortably in Australia, then it’s going to be 2014 all over again this year.
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Publicly they’ve described the car as sticking with the long-wheelbase philosophy, but some people reckon from photos that it’s slightly shorter than last year. We’ll probably never know unless someone gets close enough to a car with a tape measure! Ferrari have said theirs is longer than last year, but it’s probably still shorter than the Merc.Nigelb said:
The Mercedes wheelbase is exactly the some as last year, isn't it ?Sandpit said:
Yes, McLaren seem to have had a few teething problems with the integration of the new Renault PU, but hopefully they’ve worked through them now. Australia is somewhere they’ve traditionally done quite well. Note that the Mercedes wheelbase is slightly shorter this year, and Ferrari slightly longer, so Monaco and Singapore might not be the massive outliers they were in the past - although of course Lewis came in at 22/1 to win in Singapore last yearMorris_Dancer said:Mr. Sandpit, agree with that and would add that Mercedes have some doubts over how well they'll do on the softer compounds, which, of course, are more in use at street circuits. Australia won't be a full-blown outlier like Monaco/Singapore, but it may well suit Mercedes' rivals. It's also the sort of track where McLaren have to do well if they're going to achieve anything this year.
If the Mercs win comfortably in Australia, then it’s going to be 2014 all over again this year.0 -
Mr. B, possibly. If both those teams are better than Mercedes on street circuits, though, that'll push Mercedes down to 5th/6th.
It's better to be 1st and 3rd than 2nd throughout, but if Mercedes are the third fastest team on street circuits then they could have a tricky time even if they're the best on fast circuits.0 -
Isn’t that how the Vice-President used to be decided in the States?No_Offence_Alan said:On topic. I am against proxy voting for MPs.
If it is to go ahead I suggest that, in order to maintain the MP/constituency link, the proxy should be the runner-up to the MP in the previous GE.0 -
I thought Wolff had said in so many words it's unchanged ? Not that it matters massively.Sandpit said:
Publicly they’ve described the car as sticking with the long-wheelbase philosophy, but some people reckon from photos that it’s slightly shorter than last year. We’ll probably never know unless someone gets close enough to a car with a tape measure! Ferrari have said theirs is longer than last year, but it’s probably still shorter than the Merc.Nigelb said:
The Mercedes wheelbase is exactly the some as last year, isn't it ?Sandpit said:
Yes, McLaren seem to have had a few teething problems with the integration of the new Renault PU, but hopefully they’ve worked through them now. Australia is somewhere they’ve traditionally done quite well. Note that the Mercedes wheelbase is slightly shorter this year, and Ferrari slightly longer, so Monaco and Singapore might not be the massive outliers they were in the past - although of course Lewis came in at 22/1 to win in Singapore last yearMorris_Dancer said:Mr. Sandpit, agree with that and would add that Mercedes have some doubts over how well they'll do on the softer compounds, which, of course, are more in use at street circuits. Australia won't be a full-blown outlier like Monaco/Singapore, but it may well suit Mercedes' rivals. It's also the sort of track where McLaren have to do well if they're going to achieve anything this year.
If the Mercs win comfortably in Australia, then it’s going to be 2014 all over again this year.
I'm more interested to see if they've managed to regain the benefits of their suspension trickery which got banned last year (something that made the title chase relatively close).
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No, the government needs to balance the budget. We're 10 years into the economic cycle, the UK is due a recession and all signs point to a housing crash and consumer spending downturn, both of those can trigger a recession and before that happens the chancellor should be running a balanced budget or a small surplus.Mortimer said:Wonder if there might be some indication of tax cuts in the spring statement. Given the continued growth of the economy, it would be a good time to make the case for how lowering personal taxation stimulates economic activity.
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That does give a clue as to where all the Romanians in South Yorkshire are working - Amazon sweatshops have been multiplying like amoebas along the M18.Ishmael_Z said:
Do you get The Week magazine? the long bit on the last 2 pages is an excerpt from a book by James Bloodworth, about working in an Amazon warehouse, and makes you think automation can't come quick enough. I am seriously thinking it isn't morally right to buy stuff from Amazon.welshowl said:
You don’t know how silly I think it is. Very very very is the answer. He’d have banned electric trains because it put the firemen out of a job, or the bloke with a red flag walking in front of cars, the list is endless.Jonathan said:
Indeed, it's not as silly as you think, especially when you consider that humans are taxed for the same job and that warps the market.DecrepitJohnL said:
Microsoft founder Bill Gates floated the idea of taxing robots, which is probably where Corbyn heard it.TGOHF said:Look at these utter crackpots - Mr Palmer must surely be embarrassed by this Ludditery ? Wait until Corbyn sees an amazon warehouse...
https://twitter.com/sunpolitics/status/972366511229886464?s=21
It’s crackpottery pure and simple.
Incidentally, pretty much all 1200 workers at the warehouse are East European, to the extent a Romanian asks him what an English bloke is doing working there.
The irony is that Amazon aren't particularly cheap - you can buy the book for less on ebay:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Hired-Six-Months-Undercover-in-Low-Wage-Britain-James-Bloodworth/282866582134?epid=4015471524&hash=item41dc298276:g:xysAAOSw1p1al~EV
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Hired-Months-Undercover-Low-Wage-Britain/dp/1786490145/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1520679939&sr=8-1&keywords=hired&dpID=61kERzD0FuL&preST=_SY291_BO1,204,203,200_QL40_&dpSrc=srch
People use Amazon because it is convenient.0 -
Yes, I had considered that, but even in that case, its better for Mercedes if they are taking the wins off each other.Morris_Dancer said:Mr. B, possibly. If both those teams are better than Mercedes on street circuits, though, that'll push Mercedes down to 5th/6th.
It's better to be 1st and 3rd than 2nd throughout, but if Mercedes are the third fastest team on street circuits then they could have a tricky time even if they're the best on fast circuits.
FWIW, my guess is Mercedes out in front again.
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I have a strong suspicion that this idea is already being piloted, and possibly at a very high level. Little else would explain the quality of many of the speeches.David_Evershed said:Let's replace MPs with robots controlled by their constituents.
As each vote takes place the robot electronically seeks constituents views and votes accordingly. True democracy enabled by technology. Vorsprung Durch Technik. Government by the people, for the people.
Who is going to pay the tax on them, that’s what I want to know.0 -
Amazon is much cheaper than non-online alternatives, which for most people is good enough.another_richard said:
That does give a clue as to where all the Romanians in South Yorkshire are working - Amazon sweatshops have been multiplying like amoebas along the M18.Ishmael_Z said:
Do you get The Week magazine? the long bit on the last 2 pages is an excerpt from a book by James Bloodworth, about working in an Amazon warehouse, and makes you think automation can't come quick enough. I am seriously thinking it isn't morally right to buy stuff from Amazon.welshowl said:
You don’t know how silly I think it is. Very very very is the answer. He’d have banned electric trains because it put the firemen out of a job, or the bloke with a red flag walking in front of cars, the list is endless.Jonathan said:
Indeed, it's not as silly as you think, especially when you consider that humans are taxed for the same job and that warps the market.DecrepitJohnL said:
Microsoft founder Bill Gates floated the idea of taxing robots, which is probably where Corbyn heard it.TGOHF said:Look at these utter crackpots - Mr Palmer must surely be embarrassed by this Ludditery ? Wait until Corbyn sees an amazon warehouse...
https://twitter.com/sunpolitics/status/972366511229886464?s=21
It’s crackpottery pure and simple.
Incidentally, pretty much all 1200 workers at the warehouse are East European, to the extent a Romanian asks him what an English bloke is doing working there.
The irony is that Amazon aren't particularly cheap - you can buy the book for less on ebay:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Hired-Six-Months-Undercover-in-Low-Wage-Britain-James-Bloodworth/282866582134?epid=4015471524&hash=item41dc298276:g:xysAAOSw1p1al~EV
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Hired-Months-Undercover-Low-Wage-Britain/dp/1786490145/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1520679939&sr=8-1&keywords=hired&dpID=61kERzD0FuL&preST=_SY291_BO1,204,203,200_QL40_&dpSrc=srch
People use Amazon because it is convenient.
Oddly books is where it is less good.0 -
Much more importantly, as the head of the IFS was pointing out yesterday, we have now got to the point that many public services are chronically underfunded after the best part of a decade of being squeezed. I expect some of the undershoot in borrowing to be ploughed into the NHS and Social Care as well as housing and some modest money on university fees.MaxPB said:
No, the government needs to balance the budget. We're 10 years into the economic cycle, the UK is due a recession and all signs point to a housing crash and consumer spending downturn, both of those can trigger a recession and before that happens the chancellor should be running a balanced budget or a small surplus.Mortimer said:Wonder if there might be some indication of tax cuts in the spring statement. Given the continued growth of the economy, it would be a good time to make the case for how lowering personal taxation stimulates economic activity.
No money for tax cuts I’m afraid.0 -
Yes.Fysics_Teacher said:
Isn’t that how the Vice-President used to be decided in the States?No_Offence_Alan said:On topic. I am against proxy voting for MPs.
If it is to go ahead I suggest that, in order to maintain the MP/constituency link, the proxy should be the runner-up to the MP in the previous GE.
Jefferson wasn't particularly keen on Burr having openly campaigned against him, though...
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Rather, Amazon is as cheap as it need to be to eliminate serious competition. And then prices drift upwards.another_richard said:
That does give a clue as to where all the Romanians in South Yorkshire are working - Amazon sweatshops have been multiplying like amoebas along the M18.Ishmael_Z said:
Do you get The Week magazine? the long bit on the last 2 pages is an excerpt from a book by James Bloodworth, about working in an Amazon warehouse, and makes you think automation can't come quick enough. I am seriously thinking it isn't morally right to buy stuff from Amazon.welshowl said:
You don’t know how silly I think it is. Very very very is the answer. He’d have banned electric trains because it put the firemen out of a job, or the bloke with a red flag walking in front of cars, the list is endless.Jonathan said:
Indeed, it's not as silly as you think, especially when you consider that humans are taxed for the same job and that warps the market.DecrepitJohnL said:
Microsoft founder Bill Gates floated the idea of taxing robots, which is probably where Corbyn heard it.TGOHF said:Look at these utter crackpots - Mr Palmer must surely be embarrassed by this Ludditery ? Wait until Corbyn sees an amazon warehouse...
https://twitter.com/sunpolitics/status/972366511229886464?s=21
It’s crackpottery pure and simple.
Incidentally, pretty much all 1200 workers at the warehouse are East European, to the extent a Romanian asks him what an English bloke is doing working there.
The irony is that Amazon aren't particularly cheap - you can buy the book for less on ebay:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Hired-Six-Months-Undercover-in-Low-Wage-Britain-James-Bloodworth/282866582134?epid=4015471524&hash=item41dc298276:g:xysAAOSw1p1al~EV
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Hired-Months-Undercover-Low-Wage-Britain/dp/1786490145/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1520679939&sr=8-1&keywords=hired&dpID=61kERzD0FuL&preST=_SY291_BO1,204,203,200_QL40_&dpSrc=srch
People use Amazon because it is convenient.
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That’s another topic but I’m fully in sympathy. I’m absolutely not a fan of tax dodging - I’ve been pitched every one of the schemes that seem to trip footballers and comedians up and rejected them all as unethical. ISAs and SIPPs is as racy as i get on the front!DecrepitJohnL said:
Will there be profits to tax, or will the money taken in Britain all have been "spent" leasing robots from subsidiaries in tax havens?Charles said:
Profits and spendingDecrepitJohnL said:
It is not just the impact on employment that is the problem, but also on the government's finances. People are taxed: their income is taxed; their spending is taxed; their jobs are taxed. Who will pay for schools and lampposts?Charles said:
What’s most interesting is Labour’s knee jerk reaction is to tax.Jonathan said:
Firstly, Corbyn has nothing to do with this, as Charles said it's a motion from a single CLP.welshowl said:
You don’t know how silly I think it is. Very very very is the answer. He’d have banned electric trains because it put the firemen out of a job, or the bloke with a red flag walking in front of cars, the list is endless.Jonathan said:
Indeed, it's not as silly as you think, especially when you consider that humans are taxed for the same job and that warps the market.DecrepitJohnL said:
Microsoft founder Bill Gates floated the idea of taxing robots, which is probably where Corbyn heard it.TGOHF said:Look at these utter crackpots - Mr Palmer must surely be embarrassed by this Ludditery ? Wait until Corbyn sees an amazon warehouse...
https://twitter.com/sunpolitics/status/972366511229886464?s=21
It’s crackpottery pure and simple.
Secondly, some very clever people are talking about this idea wrt AI.
It's more interesting that you think.
Technological shifts and the impact on employment are clearly an issue that needs consideration. Increasing the running cost of (presumably) more productive capital is rarely the right answer0 -
I’m the grandfather of a primary school teacher, who is about to marry a VI Form College teacher, and I’m also the grandfather of a secondary school teacher who has recently quit teaching for another education related profession.John_M said:
I'm married to a teacher (HoF: English). They appear to be measured not only on outcomes (which is what I've been used to, both in the public and private sector) but on process compliance. It ain't just what you do, it's the way that you do it.Nigelb said:Regarding the Damian Hinds story which was supposed to have disappeared, but hasn't, just what does he mean by 'red tape' in this context ?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-43345857
The result is system gaming of epic proportions, and I say that having 22 years of sales experience.
I’d concur wholeheartedly that they appear to be overloaded with process, as opposed to outcomes, but also there appears to be an assumption that if the outcomes are not satisfactory it’s the teachers who have ‘failed’. Anyone with business experience knows that there are times when the multi-faceted experience that is life just doesn’t behave in the way it’s supposed to, and teachers are not immune from that.
As well as the teaching descendants there were several teachers in my fathers family, and I’m married to an ex-teacher. Groups of children do not all behave in the same way, even though they are drawn from the same social and geographical areas, and expecting there to be the same result from the same process each year is even trickier than forecasting farming yields.0 -
On the subject of teacher workload: all schools’ leadership teams are terrified of OFSTEAD and will do anything to appease them. I teach at a school that has been rated outstanding in every category in all of the inspections it has had, and still a significant proportion of the policies that went past me when I was a governor were there ‘in case of an inspection’. (For those thinks that was why school was Outstanding, it is a grammar school so the results were good, and that is most of what they look at). Horror stories abound of schools rated badly for simple infractions. We have recently had a change of head and a mock inspection was arraigned because we are worried that this will trigger a real one. Ironically for many staff these are things of legend as our last inspection was about ten years ago and most staff haven’t been here that long.
Ultimately these are very like the Key Stage 2 tests at the end of Primary school: a test of the school, but not something of any positive benefit to the education of our pupils.0 -
I rarely find Amazon to be cheaper than ebay or Tesco online.TheWhiteRabbit said:
Amazon is much cheaper than non-online alternatives, which for most people is good enough.another_richard said:
That does give a clue as to where all the Romanians in South Yorkshire are working - Amazon sweatshops have been multiplying like amoebas along the M18.Ishmael_Z said:
Do you get The Week magazine? the long bit on the last 2 pages is an excerpt from a book by James Bloodworth, about working in an Amazon warehouse, and makes you think automation can't come quick enough. I am seriously thinking it isn't morally right to buy stuff from Amazon.welshowl said:
You don’t know how silly I think it is. Very very very is the answer. He’d have banned electric trains because it put the firemen out of a job, or the bloke with a red flag walking in front of cars, the list is endless.Jonathan said:
Indeed, it's not as silly as you think, especially when you consider that humans are taxed for the same job and that warps the market.DecrepitJohnL said:
Microsoft founder Bill Gates floated the idea of taxing robots, which is probably where Corbyn heard it.TGOHF said:Look at these utter crackpots - Mr Palmer must surely be embarrassed by this Ludditery ? Wait until Corbyn sees an amazon warehouse...
https://twitter.com/sunpolitics/status/972366511229886464?s=21
It’s crackpottery pure and simple.
Incidentally, pretty much all 1200 workers at the warehouse are East European, to the extent a Romanian asks him what an English bloke is doing working there.
The irony is that Amazon aren't particularly cheap - you can buy the book for less on ebay:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Hired-Six-Months-Undercover-in-Low-Wage-Britain-James-Bloodworth/282866582134?epid=4015471524&hash=item41dc298276:g:xysAAOSw1p1al~EV
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Hired-Months-Undercover-Low-Wage-Britain/dp/1786490145/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1520679939&sr=8-1&keywords=hired&dpID=61kERzD0FuL&preST=_SY291_BO1,204,203,200_QL40_&dpSrc=srch
People use Amazon because it is convenient.
Oddly books is where it is less good.
Or indeed the likes of Home Bargains, BM and all those shops with the name PoundXXXXX.
Where Amazon does well is against all the 'mediocre middle' chains.0 -
The Maybot 1000 has had some considerable teething issues.....DavidL said:
I have a strong suspicion that this idea is already being piloted, and possibly at a very high level. Little else would explain the quality of many of the speeches.David_Evershed said:Let's replace MPs with robots controlled by their constituents.
As each vote takes place the robot electronically seeks constituents views and votes accordingly. True democracy enabled by technology. Vorsprung Durch Technik. Government by the people, for the people.
Who is going to pay the tax on them, that’s what I want to know.0 -
Given the way Burr's career developed while Vice President, that shows good judgement by Jefferson!Nigelb said:
Yes.Fysics_Teacher said:
Isn’t that how the Vice-President used to be decided in the States?No_Offence_Alan said:On topic. I am against proxy voting for MPs.
If it is to go ahead I suggest that, in order to maintain the MP/constituency link, the proxy should be the runner-up to the MP in the previous GE.
Jefferson wasn't particularly keen on Burr having openly campaigned against him, though...0 -
Yes, I think increases in health and social care spending are inevitable.DavidL said:
Much more importantly, as the head of the IFS was pointing out yesterday, we have now got to the point that many public services are chronically underfunded after the best part of a decade of being squeezed. I expect some of the undershoot in borrowing to be ploughed into the NHS and Social Care as well as housing and some modest money on university fees.MaxPB said:
No, the government needs to balance the budget. We're 10 years into the economic cycle, the UK is due a recession and all signs point to a housing crash and consumer spending downturn, both of those can trigger a recession and before that happens the chancellor should be running a balanced budget or a small surplus.Mortimer said:Wonder if there might be some indication of tax cuts in the spring statement. Given the continued growth of the economy, it would be a good time to make the case for how lowering personal taxation stimulates economic activity.
No money for tax cuts I’m afraid.0 -
Am I alone in being slightly puzzled that the first policeman on the scene when Yulia and Sergei Skripal collapsed was a detective? Or was it a genuine coincidence?0
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I’m trying to decide whether to bet on Mercedes before or after Australia. Lewis is pretty much evens for the title on Betfair (1.97 last time I looked) but if they don’t run win the first race that price might go out a little.Nigelb said:
Yes, I had considered that, but even in that case, its better for Mercedes if they are taking the wins off each other.Morris_Dancer said:Mr. B, possibly. If both those teams are better than Mercedes on street circuits, though, that'll push Mercedes down to 5th/6th.
It's better to be 1st and 3rd than 2nd throughout, but if Mercedes are the third fastest team on street circuits then they could have a tricky time even if they're the best on fast circuits.
FWIW, my guess is Mercedes out in front again.0 -
On a lot of tech, and strangely on the other hand complete crap, it is miles better.another_richard said:
I rarely find Amazon to be cheaper than ebay or Tesco online.TheWhiteRabbit said:
Amazon is much cheaper than non-online alternatives, which for most people is good enough.another_richard said:
That does give a clue as to where all the Romanians in South Yorkshire are working - Amazon sweatshops have been multiplying like amoebas along the M18.Ishmael_Z said:
Do you get The Week magazine? the long bit on the last 2 pages is an excerpt from a book by James Bloodworth, about working in an Amazon warehouse, and makes you think automation can't come quick enough. I am seriously thinking it isn't morally right to buy stuff from Amazon.welshowl said:
You don’t know how silly I think it is. Very very very is the answer. He’d have banned electric trains because it put the firemen out of a job, or the bloke with a red flag walking in front of cars, the list is endless.Jonathan said:
Indeed, it's not as silly as you think, especially when you consider that humans are taxed for the same job and that warps the market.DecrepitJohnL said:
Microsoft founder Bill Gates floated the idea of taxing robots, which is probably where Corbyn heard it.TGOHF said:Look at these utter crackpots - Mr Palmer must surely be embarrassed by this Ludditery ? Wait until Corbyn sees an amazon warehouse...
https://twitter.com/sunpolitics/status/972366511229886464?s=21
It’s crackpottery pure and simple.
Incidentally, pretty much all 1200 workers at the warehouse are East European, to the extent a Romanian asks him what an English bloke is doing working there.
The irony is that Amazon aren't particularly cheap - you can buy the book for less on ebay:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Hired-Six-Months-Undercover-in-Low-Wage-Britain-James-Bloodworth/282866582134?epid=4015471524&hash=item41dc298276:g:xysAAOSw1p1al~EV
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Hired-Months-Undercover-Low-Wage-Britain/dp/1786490145/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1520679939&sr=8-1&keywords=hired&dpID=61kERzD0FuL&preST=_SY291_BO1,204,203,200_QL40_&dpSrc=srch
People use Amazon because it is convenient.
Oddly books is where it is less good.
Or indeed the likes of Home Bargains, BM and all those shops with the name PoundXXXXX.
Where Amazon does well is against all the 'mediocre middle' chains.0 -
When a government is not doing overly well, there is always money for tax cuts. It is rather similar to how, during austerity, a quick billion could be rustled up to "engage" the DUP's support for C&SDavidL said:
Much more importantly, as the head of the IFS was pointing out yesterday, we have now got to the point that many public services are chronically underfunded after the best part of a decade of being squeezed. I expect some of the undershoot in borrowing to be ploughed into the NHS and Social Care as well as housing and some modest money on university fees.MaxPB said:
No, the government needs to balance the budget. We're 10 years into the economic cycle, the UK is due a recession and all signs point to a housing crash and consumer spending downturn, both of those can trigger a recession and before that happens the chancellor should be running a balanced budget or a small surplus.Mortimer said:Wonder if there might be some indication of tax cuts in the spring statement. Given the continued growth of the economy, it would be a good time to make the case for how lowering personal taxation stimulates economic activity.
No money for tax cuts I’m afraid.
Desperate times -> desperate measures0 -
The homeless issue has become much more visible in the last few years.DavidL said:
Much more importantly, as the head of the IFS was pointing out yesterday, we have now got to the point that many public services are chronically underfunded after the best part of a decade of being squeezed. I expect some of the undershoot in borrowing to be ploughed into the NHS and Social Care as well as housing and some modest money on university fees.MaxPB said:
No, the government needs to balance the budget. We're 10 years into the economic cycle, the UK is due a recession and all signs point to a housing crash and consumer spending downturn, both of those can trigger a recession and before that happens the chancellor should be running a balanced budget or a small surplus.Mortimer said:Wonder if there might be some indication of tax cuts in the spring statement. Given the continued growth of the economy, it would be a good time to make the case for how lowering personal taxation stimulates economic activity.
No money for tax cuts I’m afraid.0 -
The last time I saw homeless people in London, they were mostly professional pan handlers from Romania. I don't know what the situation is outside of London though.another_richard said:
The homeless issue has become much more visible in the last few years.DavidL said:
Much more importantly, as the head of the IFS was pointing out yesterday, we have now got to the point that many public services are chronically underfunded after the best part of a decade of being squeezed. I expect some of the undershoot in borrowing to be ploughed into the NHS and Social Care as well as housing and some modest money on university fees.MaxPB said:
No, the government needs to balance the budget. We're 10 years into the economic cycle, the UK is due a recession and all signs point to a housing crash and consumer spending downturn, both of those can trigger a recession and before that happens the chancellor should be running a balanced budget or a small surplus.Mortimer said:Wonder if there might be some indication of tax cuts in the spring statement. Given the continued growth of the economy, it would be a good time to make the case for how lowering personal taxation stimulates economic activity.
No money for tax cuts I’m afraid.0 -
It's the best £1bn the government never spent!Beverley_C said:
When a government is not doing overly well, there is always money for tax cuts. It is rather similar to how, during austerity, a quick billion could be rustled up to "engage" the DUP's support for C&SDavidL said:
Much more importantly, as the head of the IFS was pointing out yesterday, we have now got to the point that many public services are chronically underfunded after the best part of a decade of being squeezed. I expect some of the undershoot in borrowing to be ploughed into the NHS and Social Care as well as housing and some modest money on university fees.MaxPB said:
No, the government needs to balance the budget. We're 10 years into the economic cycle, the UK is due a recession and all signs point to a housing crash and consumer spending downturn, both of those can trigger a recession and before that happens the chancellor should be running a balanced budget or a small surplus.Mortimer said:Wonder if there might be some indication of tax cuts in the spring statement. Given the continued growth of the economy, it would be a good time to make the case for how lowering personal taxation stimulates economic activity.
No money for tax cuts I’m afraid.
Desperate times -> desperate measures0 -
Late to the party again, but just to say that checkout staff aren't being replaced by robots, they are being replaced by the customers doing the job for free.
This is the case in many examples of so-called automation, from filling your car with petrol to paying a cheque in at the bank.
(Grammar moment - I'm never sure if it should be 'replaced by' or 'replaced with'.)0 -
I think either is fine. The one that I always look out for is when people say "compared to" when they should say "compared with".SandyRentool said:(Grammar moment - I'm never sure if it should be 'replaced by' or 'replaced with'.)
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The reality of it came out during the cold snap - people running shelters saying that they can't persuade some rough sleepers to stay at the shelter - they are choosing to sleep on the streets. Rather shattered the narrative.another_richard said:
The homeless issue has become much more visible in the last few years.DavidL said:
Much more importantly, as the head of the IFS was pointing out yesterday, we have now got to the point that many public services are chronically underfunded after the best part of a decade of being squeezed. I expect some of the undershoot in borrowing to be ploughed into the NHS and Social Care as well as housing and some modest money on university fees.MaxPB said:
No, the government needs to balance the budget. We're 10 years into the economic cycle, the UK is due a recession and all signs point to a housing crash and consumer spending downturn, both of those can trigger a recession and before that happens the chancellor should be running a balanced budget or a small surplus.Mortimer said:Wonder if there might be some indication of tax cuts in the spring statement. Given the continued growth of the economy, it would be a good time to make the case for how lowering personal taxation stimulates economic activity.
No money for tax cuts I’m afraid.0 -
Detective sergeant as well. I’d assumed that he was walking past and assisted, it took until the following day that they realised this wasn’t a regular drug overdose. His car was at the hospital rather than the scene, which suggests he wasn’t immediately sick.OldKingCole said:Am I alone in being slightly puzzled that the first policeman on the scene when Yulia and Sergei Skripal collapsed was a detective? Or was it a genuine coincidence?
0 -
Thanks. People also say compare when they actually mean contrast. Sorry, that is my inner PPE wonk showing.tlg86 said:
I think either is fine. The one that I always look out for is when people say "compared to" when they should say "compared with".SandyRentool said:(Grammar moment - I'm never sure if it should be 'replaced by' or 'replaced with'.)
0 -
"Different than" when they mean "different from"SandyRentool said:
Thanks. People also say compare when they actually mean contrast. Sorry, that is my inner PPE wonk showing.tlg86 said:
I think either is fine. The one that I always look out for is when people say "compared to" when they should say "compared with".SandyRentool said:(Grammar moment - I'm never sure if it should be 'replaced by' or 'replaced with'.)
The Grammar Nazis are out in force
0 -
Cash withdrawal from banks has been available via ATM machines rather than bank tellers since the 1970s. "Automation" at the customer contact point is nothing new. The internet also started operating back in the 1970s.SandyRentool said:Late to the party again, but just to say that checkout staff aren't being replaced by robots, they are being replaced by the customers doing the job for free.
This is the case in many examples of so-called automation, from filling your car with petrol to paying a cheque in at the bank.
(Grammar moment - I'm never sure if it should be 'replaced by' or 'replaced with'.)0 -
I'm going to fall back on cliche 'you can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear'. I agree that teachers have little control over their inputs; while many of the children at my beloved's school are well behaved, there are a sizeable minority who are almost feral.OldKingCole said:
I’m the grandfather of a primary school teacher, who is about to marry a VI Form College teacher, and I’m also the grandfather of a secondary school teacher who has recently quit teaching for another education related profession.John_M said:
I'm married to a teacher (HoF: English). They appear to be measured not only on outcomes (which is what I've been used to, both in the public and private sector) but on process compliance. It ain't just what you do, it's the way that you do it.Nigelb said:Regarding the Damian Hinds story which was supposed to have disappeared, but hasn't, just what does he mean by 'red tape' in this context ?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-43345857
The result is system gaming of epic proportions, and I say that having 22 years of sales experience.
I’d concur wholeheartedly that they appear to be overloaded with process, as opposed to outcomes, but also there appears to be an assumption that if the outcomes are not satisfactory it’s the teachers who have ‘failed’. Anyone with business experience knows that there are times when the multi-faceted experience that is life just doesn’t behave in the way it’s supposed to, and teachers are not immune from that.
As well as the teaching descendants there were several teachers in my fathers family, and I’m married to an ex-teacher. Groups of children do not all behave in the same way, even though they are drawn from the same social and geographical areas, and expecting there to be the same result from the same process each year is even trickier than forecasting farming yields.0 -
I believe that in some US states you still have to have an attendant fill your car for you. I assume the reason give would be ‘safety’, though I’m not aware of a significant number of accidents when filling up a tank of fuel.SandyRentool said:Late to the party again, but just to say that checkout staff aren't being replaced by robots, they are being replaced by the customers doing the job for free.
This is the case in many examples of so-called automation, from filling your car with petrol to paying a cheque in at the bank.
(Grammar moment - I'm never sure if it should be 'replaced by' or 'replaced with'.)
0 -
My grandson teaches in a school in a ‘difficult’ area. His school is part of a ‘Group” of ‘academies’ and apparently comparisons are made with the results his school achieves with those in more middle class areas.John_M said:
I'm going to fall back on cliche 'you can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear'. I agree that teachers have little control over their inputs; while many of the children at my beloved's school are well behaved, there are a sizeable minority who are almost feral.OldKingCole said:
I’m the grandfather of a primary school teacher, who is about to marry a VI Form College teacher, and I’m also the grandfather of a secondary school teacher who has recently quit teaching for another education related profession.John_M said:
I'm married to a teacher (HoF: English). They appear to be measured not only on outcomes (which is what I've been used to, both in the public and private sector) but on process compliance. It ain't just what you do, it's the way that you do it.Nigelb said:Regarding the Damian Hinds story which was supposed to have disappeared, but hasn't, just what does he mean by 'red tape' in this context ?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-43345857
The result is system gaming of epic proportions, and I say that having 22 years of sales experience.
I’d concur wholeheartedly that they appear to be overloaded with process, as opposed to outcomes, but also there appears to be an assumption that if the outcomes are not satisfactory it’s the teachers who have ‘failed’. Anyone with business experience knows that there are times when the multi-faceted experience that is life just doesn’t behave in the way it’s supposed to, and teachers are not immune from that.
As well as the teaching descendants there were several teachers in my fathers family, and I’m married to an ex-teacher. Groups of children do not all behave in the same way, even though they are drawn from the same social and geographical areas, and expecting there to be the same result from the same process each year is even trickier than forecasting farming yields.0 -
I often say that students have got the grades they deserve. Mind you, I’m a Physics teacher and so virtually unsackable...OldKingCole said:
My grandson teaches in a school in a ‘difficult’ area. His school is part of a ‘Group” of ‘academies’ and apparently comparisons are made with the results his school achieves with those in more middle class areas.John_M said:
I'm going to fall back on cliche 'you can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear'. I agree that teachers have little control over their inputs; while many of the children at my beloved's school are well behaved, there are a sizeable minority who are almost feral.OldKingCole said:
I’m the grandfather of a primary school teacher, who is about to marry a VI Form College teacher, and I’m also the grandfather of a secondary school teacher who has recently quit teaching for another education related profession.John_M said:
I'm married to a teacher (HoF: English). They appear to be measured not only on outcomes (which is what I've been used to, both in the public and private sector) but on process compliance. It ain't just what you do, it's the way that you do it.Nigelb said:Regarding the Damian Hinds story which was supposed to have disappeared, but hasn't, just what does he mean by 'red tape' in this context ?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-43345857
The result is system gaming of epic proportions, and I say that having 22 years of sales experience.
I’d concur wholeheartedly that they appear to be overloaded with process, as opposed to outcomes, but also there appears to be an assumption that if the outcomes are not satisfactory it’s the teachers who have ‘failed’. Anyone with business experience knows that there are times when the multi-faceted experience that is life just doesn’t behave in the way it’s supposed to, and teachers are not immune from that.
As well as the teaching descendants there were several teachers in my fathers family, and I’m married to an ex-teacher. Groups of children do not all behave in the same way, even though they are drawn from the same social and geographical areas, and expecting there to be the same result from the same process each year is even trickier than forecasting farming yields.0 -
Surely the leasing company will want the lease costs to be charged in the country with the highest tax rate to get the maximum benefit from tax relief to share with the operator?DecrepitJohnL said:
Will there be profits to tax, or will the money taken in Britain all have been "spent" leasing robots from subsidiaries in tax havens?Charles said:
Profits and spendingDecrepitJohnL said:
It is not just the impact on employment that is the problem, but also on the government's finances. People are taxed: their income is taxed; their spending is taxed; their jobs are taxed. Who will pay for schools and lampposts?Charles said:
What’s most interesting is Labour’s knee jerk reaction is to tax.Jonathan said:
Firstly, Corbyn has nothing to do with this, as Charles said it's a motion from a single CLP.welshowl said:
You don’t know how silly I think it is. Very very very is the answer. He’d have banned electric trains because it put the firemen out of a job, or the bloke with a red flag walking in front of cars, the list is endless.Jonathan said:
Indeed, it's not as silly as you think, especially when you consider that humans are taxed for the same job and that warps the market.DecrepitJohnL said:
Microsoft founder Bill Gates floated the idea of taxing robots, which is probably where Corbyn heard it.TGOHF said:Look at these utter crackpots - Mr Palmer must surely be embarrassed by this Ludditery ? Wait until Corbyn sees an amazon warehouse...
https://twitter.com/sunpolitics/status/972366511229886464?s=21
It’s crackpottery pure and simple.
Secondly, some very clever people are talking about this idea wrt AI.
It's more interesting that you think.
Technological shifts and the impact on employment are clearly an issue that needs consideration. Increasing the running cost of (presumably) more productive capital is rarely the right answer0 -
Mrs C, don't forget, without us Grammar Nazis, the L33t War would've been lost.0
-
Out of curiosity, why do shops heavily discount best-selling novels? You'd think they'd want to maximise income.another_richard said:
I rarely find Amazon to be cheaper than ebay or Tesco online.TheWhiteRabbit said:
Amazon is much cheaper than non-online alternatives, which for most people is good enough.another_richard said:
That does give a clue as to where all the Romanians in South Yorkshire are working - Amazon sweatshops have been multiplying like amoebas along the M18.Ishmael_Z said:
Do you get The Week magazine? the long bit on the last 2 pages is an excerpt from a book by James Bloodworth, about working in an Amazon warehouse, and makes you think automation can't come quick enough. I am seriously thinking it isn't morally right to buy stuff from Amazon.welshowl said:
You don’t know how silly I think it is. Very very very is the answer. He’d have banned electric trains because it put the firemen out of a job, or the bloke with a red flag walking in front of cars, the list is endless.Jonathan said:
Indeed, it's not as silly as you think, especially when you consider that humans are taxed for the same job and that warps the market.DecrepitJohnL said:
Microsoft founder Bill Gates floated the idea of taxing robots, which is probably where Corbyn heard it.TGOHF said:Look at these utter crackpots - Mr Palmer must surely be embarrassed by this Ludditery ? Wait until Corbyn sees an amazon warehouse...
https://twitter.com/sunpolitics/status/972366511229886464?s=21
It’s crackpottery pure and simple.
Incidentally, pretty much all 1200 workers at the warehouse are East European, to the extent a Romanian asks him what an English bloke is doing working there.
The irony is that Amazon aren't particularly cheap - you can buy the book for less on ebay:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Hired-Six-Months-Undercover-in-Low-Wage-Britain-James-Bloodworth/282866582134?epid=4015471524&hash=item41dc298276:g:xysAAOSw1p1al~EV
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Hired-Months-Undercover-Low-Wage-Britain/dp/1786490145/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1520679939&sr=8-1&keywords=hired&dpID=61kERzD0FuL&preST=_SY291_BO1,204,203,200_QL40_&dpSrc=srch
People use Amazon because it is convenient.
Oddly books is where it is less good.
Or indeed the likes of Home Bargains, BM and all those shops with the name PoundXXXXX.
Where Amazon does well is against all the 'mediocre middle' chains.0 -
You should go see the Hamilton musical (although ticket prices are extremely steep).ydoethur said:
Given the way Burr's career developed while Vice President, that shows good judgement by Jefferson!Nigelb said:
Yes.Fysics_Teacher said:
Isn’t that how the Vice-President used to be decided in the States?No_Offence_Alan said:On topic. I am against proxy voting for MPs.
If it is to go ahead I suggest that, in order to maintain the MP/constituency link, the proxy should be the runner-up to the MP in the previous GE.
Jefferson wasn't particularly keen on Burr having openly campaigned against him, though...
It is a brilliant piece of writing.
0 -
The head of a school my son went to said parents should not expect good results of the school because the parents of many of the pupils were prison officers. We got him sacked.OldKingCole said:
My grandson teaches in a school in a ‘difficult’ area. His school is part of a ‘Group” of ‘academies’ and apparently comparisons are made with the results his school achieves with those in more middle class areas.John_M said:
I'm going to fall back on cliche 'you can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear'. I agree that teachers have little control over their inputs; while many of the children at my beloved's school are well behaved, there are a sizeable minority who are almost feral.OldKingCole said:
I’m the grandfather of a primary school teacher, who is about to marry a VI Form College teacher, and I’m also the grandfather of a secondary school teacher who has recently quit teaching for another education related profession.John_M said:
I'm married to a teacher (HoF: English). They appear to be measured not only on outcomes (which is what I've been used to, both in the public and private sector) but on process compliance. It ain't just what you do, it's the way that you do it.Nigelb said:Regarding the Damian Hinds story which was supposed to have disappeared, but hasn't, just what does he mean by 'red tape' in this context ?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-43345857
The result is system gaming of epic proportions, and I say that having 22 years of sales experience.
I’d concur wholeheartedly that they appear to be overloaded with process, as opposed to outcomes, but also there appears to be an assumption that if the outcomes are not satisfactory it’s the teachers who have ‘failed’. Anyone with business experience knows that there are times when the multi-faceted experience that is life just doesn’t behave in the way it’s supposed to, and teachers are not immune from that.
As well as the teaching descendants there were several teachers in my fathers family, and I’m married to an ex-teacher. Groups of children do not all behave in the same way, even though they are drawn from the same social and geographical areas, and expecting there to be the same result from the same process each year is even trickier than forecasting farming yields.
Aspiration is a many splendid thing.0 -
Free market competition. It's called capitalism.Sean_F said:
Out of curiosity, why do shops heavily discount best-selling novels? You'd think they'd want to maximise income.another_richard said:
I rarely find Amazon to be cheaper than ebay or Tesco online.TheWhiteRabbit said:
Amazon is much cheaper than non-online alternatives, which for most people is good enough.another_richard said:
That does give a clue as to where all the Romanians in South Yorkshire are working - Amazon sweatshops have been multiplying like amoebas along the M18.Ishmael_Z said:
Do you get The Week magazine? the long bit on the last 2 pages is an excerpt from a book by James Bloodworth, about working in an Amazon warehouse, and makes you think automation can't come quick enough. I am seriously thinking it isn't morally right to buy stuff from Amazon.welshowl said:
You don’t know how silly I think it is. Very very very is the answer. He’d have banned electric trains because it put the firemen out of a job, or the bloke with a red flag walking in front of cars, the list is endless.Jonathan said:
Indeed, it's not as silly as you think, especially when you consider that humans are taxed for the same job and that warps the market.DecrepitJohnL said:
Microsoft founder Bill Gates floated the idea of taxing robots, which is probably where Corbyn heard it.TGOHF said:Look at these utter crackpots - Mr Palmer must surely be embarrassed by this Ludditery ? Wait until Corbyn sees an amazon warehouse...
https://twitter.com/sunpolitics/status/972366511229886464?s=21
It’s crackpottery pure and simple.
Incidentally, pretty much all 1200 workers at the warehouse are East European, to the extent a Romanian asks him what an English bloke is doing working there.
The irony is that Amazon aren't particularly cheap - you can buy the book for less on ebay:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Hired-Six-Months-Undercover-in-Low-Wage-Britain-James-Bloodworth/282866582134?epid=4015471524&hash=item41dc298276:g:xysAAOSw1p1al~EV
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Hired-Months-Undercover-Low-Wage-Britain/dp/1786490145/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1520679939&sr=8-1&keywords=hired&dpID=61kERzD0FuL&preST=_SY291_BO1,204,203,200_QL40_&dpSrc=srch
People use Amazon because it is convenient.
Oddly books is where it is less good.
Or indeed the likes of Home Bargains, BM and all those shops with the name PoundXXXXX.
Where Amazon does well is against all the 'mediocre middle' chains.0 -
LOL. My 6ft (and large with it) Primary school teacher grandSON is, apparently, in a similar situation.Fysics_Teacher said:
I often say that students have got the grades they deserve. Mind you, I’m a Physics teacher and so virtually unsackable...OldKingCole said:
My grandson teaches in a school in a ‘difficult’ area. His school is part of a ‘Group” of ‘academies’ and apparently comparisons are made with the results his school achieves with those in more middle class areas.John_M said:
I'm going to fall back on cliche 'you can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear'. I agree that teachers have little control over their inputs; while many of the children at my beloved's school are well behaved, there are a sizeable minority who are almost feral.OldKingCole said:
I’m the grandfather of a primary school teacher, who is about to marry a VI Form College teacher, and I’m also the grandfather of a secondary school teacher who has recently quit teaching for another education related profession.John_M said:
I'm married to a teacher (HoF: English). They appear to be measured not only on outcomes (which is what I've been used to, both in the public and private sector) but on process compliance. It ain't just what you do, it's the way that you do it.Nigelb said:Regarding the Damian Hinds story which was supposed to have disappeared, but hasn't, just what does he mean by 'red tape' in this context ?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-43345857
The result is system gaming of epic proportions, and I say that having 22 years of sales experience.
I’d concur wholeheartedly that they appear to be overloaded with process, as opposed to outcomes, but also there appears to be an assumption that if the outcomes are not satisfactory it’s the teachers who have ‘failed’. Anyone with business experience knows that there are times when the multi-faceted experience that is life just doesn’t behave in the way it’s supposed to, and teachers are not immune from that.
As well as the teaching descendants there were several teachers in my fathers family, and I’m married to an ex-teacher. Groups of children do not all behave in the same way, even though they are drawn from the same social and geographical areas, and expecting there to be the same result from the same process each year is even trickier than forecasting farming yields.0 -
And likely to be promoted to management, if he wants it...OldKingCole said:
LOL. My 6ft (and large with it) Primary school teacher grandSON is, apparently, in a similar situation.Fysics_Teacher said:
I often say that students have got the grades they deserve. Mind you, I’m a Physics teacher and so virtually unsackable...OldKingCole said:
My grandson teaches in a school in a ‘difficult’ area. His school is part of a ‘Group” of ‘academies’ and apparently comparisons are made with the results his school achieves with those in more middle class areas.John_M said:
I'm going to fall back on cliche 'you can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear'. I agree that teachers have little control over their inputs; while many of the children at my beloved's school are well behaved, there are a sizeable minority who are almost feral.OldKingCole said:
I’m the grandfather of a primary school teacher, who is about to marry a VI Form College teacher, and I’m also the grandfather of a secondary school teacher who has recently quit teaching for another education related profession.John_M said:
I'm married to a teacher (HoF: English). They appear to be measured not only on outcomes (which is what I've been used to, both in the public and private sector) but on process compliance. It ain't just what you do, it's the way that you do it.Nigelb said:Regarding the Damian Hinds story which was supposed to have disappeared, but hasn't, just what does he mean by 'red tape' in this context ?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-43345857
The result is system gaming of epic proportions, and I say that having 22 years of sales experience.
I’d concur wholeheartedly that they appear to be overloaded with process, as opposed to outcomes, but also there appears to be an assumption that if the outcomes are not satisfactory it’s the teachers who have ‘failed’. Anyone with business experience knows that there are times when the multi-faceted experience that is life just doesn’t behave in the way it’s supposed to, and teachers are not immune from that.
As well as the teaching descendants there were several teachers in my fathers family, and I’m married to an ex-teacher. Groups of children do not all behave in the same way, even though they are drawn from the same social and geographical areas, and expecting there to be the same result from the same process each year is even trickier than forecasting farming yields.
0 -
You don't want to spill fuel on your open carry assault weapon.Fysics_Teacher said:
I believe that in some US states you still have to have an attendant fill your car for you. I assume the reason give would be ‘safety’, though I’m not aware of a significant number of accidents when filling up a tank of fuel.SandyRentool said:Late to the party again, but just to say that checkout staff aren't being replaced by robots, they are being replaced by the customers doing the job for free.
This is the case in many examples of so-called automation, from filling your car with petrol to paying a cheque in at the bank.
(Grammar moment - I'm never sure if it should be 'replaced by' or 'replaced with'.)0 -
It's how you tell em, Bill.williamglenn said:
The Leavers were being restrained and keeping their criticisms private. Only the Remainers who decided to go blue on blue, because, I suspect, they know they don't have the numbers to archive anything now.
I see no problem uniting the party after Brexit. One or two back benchers always have a grievance about something; this issue will be no different.0 -
Prison officers ?David_Evershed said:
The head of a school my son went to said parents should not expect good results of the school because the parents of many of the pupils were prison officers. We got him sacked.OldKingCole said:
My grandson teaches in a school in a ‘difficult’ area. His school is part of a ‘Group” of ‘academies’ and apparently comparisons are made with the results his school achieves with those in more middle class areas.John_M said:
I'm going to fall back on cliche 'you can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear'. I agree that teachers have little control over their inputs; while many of the children at my beloved's school are well behaved, there are a sizeable minority who are almost feral.OldKingCole said:
I’m the grandfather of a primary school teacher, who is about to marry a VI Form College teacher, and I’m also the grandfather of a secondary school teacher who has recently quit teaching for another education related profession.John_M said:
I'm married to a teacher (HoF: English). They appear to be measured not only on outcomes (which is what I've been used to, both in the public and private sector) but on process compliance. It ain't just what you do, it's the way that you do it.Nigelb said:Regarding the Damian Hinds story which was supposed to have disappeared, but hasn't, just what does he mean by 'red tape' in this context ?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-43345857
The result is system gaming of epic proportions, and I say that having 22 years of sales experience.
I’d concur wholeheartedly that they appear to be overloaded with process, as opposed to outcomes, but also there appears to be an assumption that if the outcomes are not satisfactory it’s the teachers who have ‘failed’. Anyone with business experience knows that there are times when the multi-faceted experience that is life just doesn’t behave in the way it’s supposed to, and teachers are not immune from that.
As well as the teaching descendants there were several teachers in my fathers family, and I’m married to an ex-teacher. Groups of children do not all behave in the same way, even though they are drawn from the same social and geographical areas, and expecting there to be the same result from the same process each year is even trickier than forecasting farming yields.
Aspiration is a many splendid thing.
Unacceptable, of course, but it seems a strange thing to say.
0 -
Doesn’t at the moment, apparently. Likes the challenge of his class.Nigelb said:
And likely to be promoted to management, if he wants it...OldKingCole said:
LOL. My 6ft (and large with it) Primary school teacher grandSON is, apparently, in a similar situation.Fysics_Teacher said:
I often say that students have got the grades they deserve. Mind you, I’m a Physics teacher and so virtually unsackable...OldKingCole said:
My grandson teaches in a school in a ‘difficult’ area. His school is part of a ‘Group” of ‘academies’ and apparently comparisons are made with the results his school achieves with those in more middle class areas.John_M said:
I'm going to fall back on cliche 'you can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear'. I agree that teachers have little control over their inputs; while many of the children at my beloved's school are well behaved, there are a sizeable minority who are almost feral.OldKingCole said:
I’m the grandfather of a primary school teacher, who is about to marry a VI Form College teacher, and I’m also the grandfather of a secondary school teacher who has recently quit teaching for another education related profession.John_M said:
I'm married to a teacher (HoF: English). They appear to be measured not only on outcomes (which is what I've been used to, both in the public and private sector) but on process compliance. It ain't just what you do, it's the way that you do it.Nigelb said:Regarding the Damian Hinds story which was supposed to have disappeared, but hasn't, just what does he mean by 'red tape' in this context ?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-43345857
The result is system gaming of epic proportions, and I say that having 22 years of sales experience.
I’d concur wholeheartedly that they appear to be overloaded with process, as opposed to outcomes, but also there appears to be an assumption that if the outcomes are not satisfactory it’s the teachers who have ‘failed’. Anyone with business experience knows that there are times when the multi-faceted experience that is life just doesn’t behave in the way it’s supposed to, and teachers are not immune from that.
As well as the teaching descendants there were several teachers in my fathers family, and I’m married to an ex-teacher. Groups of children do not all behave in the same way, even though they are drawn from the same social and geographical areas, and expecting there to be the same result from the same process each year is even trickier than forecasting farming yields.0 -
It does help that I’m the only teacher who knows how the timetable works.OldKingCole said:
LOL. My 6ft (and large with it) Primary school teacher grandSON is, apparently, in a similar situation.Fysics_Teacher said:
I often say that students have got the grades they deserve. Mind you, I’m a Physics teacher and so virtually unsackable...OldKingCole said:
My grandson teaches in a school in a ‘difficult’ area. His school is part of a ‘Group” of ‘academies’ and apparently comparisons are made with the results his school achieves with those in more middle class areas.John_M said:
I'm going to fall back on cliche 'you can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear'. I agree that teachers have little control over their inputs; while many of the children at my beloved's school are well behaved, there are a sizeable minority who are almost feral.OldKingCole said:
I’m the grandfather of a primary school teacher, who is about to marry a VI Form College teacher, and I’m also the grandfather of a secondary school teacher who has recently quit teaching for another education related profession.John_M said:
I'm married to a teacher (HoF: English). They appear to be measured not only on outcomes (which is what I've been used to, both in the public and private sector) but on process compliance. It ain't just what you do, it's the way that you do it.Nigelb said:Regarding the Damian Hinds story which was supposed to have disappeared, but hasn't, just what does he mean by 'red tape' in this context ?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-43345857
The result is system gaming of epic proportions, and I say that having 22 years of sales experience.
I’d concur wholeheartedly that they appear to be overloaded with process, as opposed to outcomes, but also there appears to be an assumption that if the outcomes are not satisfactory it’s the teachers who have ‘failed’. Anyone with business experience knows that there are times when the multi-faceted experience that is life just doesn’t behave in the way it’s supposed to, and teachers are not immune from that.
As well as the teaching descendants there were several teachers in my fathers family, and I’m married to an ex-teacher. Groups of children do not all behave in the same way, even though they are drawn from the same social and geographical areas, and expecting there to be the same result from the same process each year is even trickier than forecasting farming yields.0 -
For those like me not in the know.Morris_Dancer said:Mrs C, don't forget, without us Grammar Nazis, the L33t War would've been lost.
Leet (sometimes written as "1337" or "l33t"), also known as eleet or leetspeak, is another alphabet for the English language that is used mostly on the internet. It uses various combinations of ASCII characters to replace Latinate letters. Hence
A, /-\ or /\ or 4 or @. B, |3 or 8 or |o. C, ( or < or K or S. D, |) or o| or |> or <|. E, 3. F,
|= or ph. G, ( or 9 or 6. H, |-| or ]-[ or }-{ or (-) or )-( or #. I, l or 1 or | or ! or ][. J, _|. K, |
< or /< or \< or |{. L, |_ or | or 1. M, |\/| or /\/\ or |'|'| or (\/) or /\\ or /|\ or /v\. N, |\| or /\/ or | \\| or /|/. O, 0 or () or [] or {}. P, |2 or |D. Q, (,) or kw. R, |2 or |Z or |?. S, 5 or $.0 -
That still doesn't make sense to me. It seems like Carillion chasing sales at the expense of profits.David_Evershed said:
Free market competition. It's called capitalism.Sean_F said:
Out of curiosity, why do shops heavily discount best-selling novels? You'd think they'd want to maximise income.another_richard said:
I rarely find Amazon to be cheaper than ebay or Tesco online.TheWhiteRabbit said:
Amazon is much cheaper than non-online alternatives, which for most people is good enough.another_richard said:
:Ishmael_Z said:
Do you get The Week magazine? the long bit on the last 2 pages is an excerpt from a book by James Bloodworth, about working in an Amazon warehouse, and makes you think automation can't come quick enough. I am seriously thinking it isn't morally right to buy stuff from Amazon.welshowl said:
You don’t know how silly I think it is. Very very very is the answer. He’d have banned electric trains because it put the firemen out of a job, or the bloke with a red flag walking in front of cars, the list is endless.Jonathan said:
Indeed, it's not as silly as you think, especially when you consider that humans are taxed for the same job and that warps the market.DecrepitJohnL said:
Microsoft founder Bill Gates floated the idea of taxing robots, which is probably where Corbyn heard it.TGOHF said:Look at these utter crackpots - Mr Palmer must surely be embarrassed by this Ludditery ? Wait until Corbyn sees an amazon warehouse...
https://twitter.com/sunpolitics/status/972366511229886464?s=21
It’s crackpottery pure and simple.
Incidentally, pretty much all 1200 workers at the warehouse are East European, to the extent a Romanian asks him what an English bloke is doing working there.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Hired-Six-Months-Undercover-in-Low-Wage-Britain-James-Bloodworth/282866582134?epid=4015471524&hash=item41dc298276:g:xysAAOSw1p1al~EV
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Hired-Months-Undercover-Low-Wage-Britain/dp/1786490145/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1520679939&sr=8-1&keywords=hired&dpID=61kERzD0FuL&preST=_SY291_BO1,204,203,200_QL40_&dpSrc=srch
People use Amazon because it is convenient.
Oddly books is where it is less good.
Or indeed the likes of Home Bargains, BM and all those shops with the name PoundXXXXX.
Where Amazon does well is against all the 'mediocre middle' chains.
0 -
The IFS shouldn't be making such proclamations, just another example of their continued politicisation of the numbers.DavidL said:
Much more importantly, as the head of the IFS was pointing out yesterday, we have now got to the point that many public services are chronically underfunded after the best part of a decade of being squeezed. I expect some of the undershoot in borrowing to be ploughed into the NHS and Social Care as well as housing and some modest money on university fees.MaxPB said:
No, the government needs to balance the budget. We're 10 years into the economic cycle, the UK is due a recession and all signs point to a housing crash and consumer spending downturn, both of those can trigger a recession and before that happens the chancellor should be running a balanced budget or a small surplus.Mortimer said:Wonder if there might be some indication of tax cuts in the spring statement. Given the continued growth of the economy, it would be a good time to make the case for how lowering personal taxation stimulates economic activity.
No money for tax cuts I’m afraid.
If it were me I'd push £350m per week into the NHS by 2022 and increase defence expenditure to 2.5% of GDP. Both of those put together will cost ~£20bn per year extra compared to our current spending trajectory.
My forecast shows a balanced budget by 2021/22, the extra £17bn in spending would put the deficit at 0.7%, I think those two pledges together will win the 2022 election regardless of who the leader is.
However, at that low level our debt levels will start to fall quite rapidly, given 4% nominal growth.0 -
Theuniondivvie said:
You don't want to spill fuel on your open carry assault weapon.Fysics_Teacher said:
I believe that in some US states you still have to have an attendant fill your car for you. I assume the reason give would be ‘safety’, though I’m not aware of a significant number of accidents when filling up a tank of fuel.SandyRentool said:Late to the party again, but just to say that checkout staff aren't being replaced by robots, they are being replaced by the customers doing the job for free.
This is the case in many examples of so-called automation, from filling your car with petrol to paying a cheque in at the bank.
(Grammar moment - I'm never sure if it should be 'replaced by' or 'replaced with'.)
0 -
It’s the basic mathematics involved with physics that does it! A friend, a retired maths teacher, apparently designs timetables for schools on a contract basis.Fysics_Teacher said:
It does help that I’m the only teacher who knows how the timetable works.OldKingCole said:
LOL. My 6ft (and large with it) Primary school teacher grandSON is, apparently, in a similar situation.Fysics_Teacher said:
I often say that students have got the grades they deserve. Mind you, I’m a Physics teacher and so virtually unsackable...OldKingCole said:
My grandson teaches in a school in a ‘difficult’ area. His school is part of a ‘Group” of ‘academies’ and apparently comparisons are made with the results his school achieves with those in more middle class areas.John_M said:
I'm going to fall back on cliche 'you can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear'. I agree that teachers have little control over their inputs; while many of the children at my beloved's school are well behaved, there are a sizeable minority who are almost feral.OldKingCole said:
I’m the grandfather of a primary school teacher, who is about to marry a VI Form College teacher, and I’m also the grandfather of a secondary school teacher who has recently quit teaching for another education related profession.John_M said:
I'm married to a teacher (HoF: English). They appear to be measured not only on outcomes (which is what I've been used to, both in the public and private sector) but on process compliance. It ain't just what you do, it's the way that you do it.Nigelb said:Regarding the Damian Hinds story which was supposed to have disappeared, but hasn't, just what does he mean by 'red tape' in this context ?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-43345857
The result is system gaming of epic proportions, and I say that having 22 years of sales experience.
I’d concur wholeheartedly that they appear to be overloaded with process, as opposed to outcomes, but also there appears to be an assumption that if the outcomes are not satisfactory it’s the teachers who have ‘failed’. Anyone with business experience knows that there are times when the multi-faceted experience that is life just doesn’t behave in the way it’s supposed to, and teachers are not immune from that.
As well as the teaching descendants there were several teachers in my fathers family, and I’m married to an ex-teacher. Groups of children do not all behave in the same way, even though they are drawn from the same social and geographical areas, and expecting there to be the same result from the same process each year is even trickier than forecasting farming yields.0 -
That is disgustingDavid_Evershed said:
The head of a school my son went to said parents should not expect good results of the school because the parents of many of the pupils were prison officers. We got him sacked.OldKingCole said:
My grandson teaches in a school in a ‘difficult’ area. His school is part of a ‘Group” of ‘academies’ and apparently comparisons are made with the results his school achieves with those in more middle class areas.John_M said:
I'm going to fall back on cliche 'you can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear'. I agree that teachers have little control over their inputs; while many of the children at my beloved's school are well behaved, there are a sizeable minority who are almost feral.OldKingCole said:
I’m the grandfather of a primary school teacher, who is about to marry a VI Form College teacher, and I’m also the grandfather of a secondary school teacher who has recently quit teaching for another education related profession.John_M said:
I'm married to a teacher (HoF: English). They appear to be measured not only on outcomes (which is what I've been used to, both in the public and private sector) but on process compliance. It ain't just what you do, it's the way that you do it.Nigelb said:Regarding the Damian Hinds story which was supposed to have disappeared, but hasn't, just what does he mean by 'red tape' in this context ?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-43345857
The result is system gaming of epic proportions, and I say that having 22 years of sales experience.
I’d concur wholeheartedly that they appear to be overloaded with process, as opposed to outcomes, but also there appears to be an assumption that if the outcomes are not satisfactory it’s the teachers who have ‘failed’. Anyone with business experience knows that there are times when the multi-faceted experience that is life just doesn’t behave in the way it’s supposed to, and teachers are not immune from that.
As well as the teaching descendants there were several teachers in my fathers family, and I’m married to an ex-teacher. Groups of children do not all behave in the same way, even though they are drawn from the same social and geographical areas, and expecting there to be the same result from the same process each year is even trickier than forecasting farming yields.
Aspiration is a many splendid thing.0 -
From whence do you get the figure of £350m a week for the NHS? Have you been looking at buses?MaxPB said:
The IFS shouldn't be making such proclamations, just another example of their continued politicisation of the numbers.DavidL said:
Much more importantly, as the head of the IFS was pointing out yesterday, we have now got to the point that many public services are chronically underfunded after the best part of a decade of being squeezed. I expect some of the undershoot in borrowing to be ploughed into the NHS and Social Care as well as housing and some modest money on university fees.MaxPB said:
No, the government needs to balance the budget. We're 10 years into the economic cycle, the UK is due a recession and all signs point to a housing crash and consumer spending downturn, both of those can trigger a recession and before that happens the chancellor should be running a balanced budget or a small surplus.Mortimer said:Wonder if there might be some indication of tax cuts in the spring statement. Given the continued growth of the economy, it would be a good time to make the case for how lowering personal taxation stimulates economic activity.
No money for tax cuts I’m afraid.
If it were me I'd push £350m per week into the NHS by 2022 and increase defence expenditure to 2.5% of GDP. Both of those put together will cost ~£20bn per year extra compared to our current spending trajectory.
My forecast shows a balanced budget by 2021/22, the extra £17bn in spending would put the deficit at 0.7%, I think those two pledges together will win the 2022 election regardless of who the leader is.
However, at that low level our debt levels will start to fall quite rapidly, given 4% nominal growth.0 -
Any idea what he charges? Could be useful to know...OldKingCole said:
It’s the basic mathematics involved with physics that does it! A friend, a retired maths teacher, apparently designs timetables for schools on a contract basis.Fysics_Teacher said:
It does help that I’m the only teacher who knows how the timetable works.OldKingCole said:
LOL. My 6ft (and large with it) Primary school teacher grandSON is, apparently, in a similar situation.Fysics_Teacher said:
I often say that students have got the grades they deserve. Mind you, I’m a Physics teacher and so virtually unsackable...OldKingCole said:
My grandson teaches in a school in a ‘difficult’ area. His school is part of a ‘Group” of ‘academies’ and apparently comparisons are made with the results his school achieves with those in more middle class areas.John_M said:
I'm going to fall back on cliche 'you can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear'. I agree that teachers have little control over their inputs; while many of the children at my beloved's school are well behaved, there are a sizeable minority who are almost feral.OldKingCole said:
I’m the grandfather of a primary school teaJohn_M said:
I'm married to a teacher (HoF: English). They appear to be measured not only on outcomes (which is what I've been used to, both in the public and private sector) but on process compliance. It ain't just what you do, it's the way that you do it.Nigelb said:Regarding the Damian Hinds story which was supposed to have disappeared, but hasn't, just what does he mean by 'red tape' in this context ?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-43345857
The result is system gaming of epic proportions, and I say that having 22 years of sales experience.
As well as the teaching descendants there were several teachers in my fathers family, and I’m married to an ex-teacher. Groups of children do not all behave in the same way, even though they are drawn from the same social and geographical areas, and expecting there to be the same result from the same process each year is even trickier than forecasting farming yields.0 -
Yes.OldKingCole said:
From whence do you get the figure of £350m a week for the NHS? Have you been looking at buses?MaxPB said:
The IFS shouldn't be making such proclamations, just another example of their continued politicisation of the numbers.DavidL said:
Much more importantly, as the head of the IFS was pointing out yesterday, we have now got to the point that many public services are chronically underfunded after the best part of a decade of being squeezed. I expect some of the undershoot in borrowing to be ploughed into the NHS and Social Care as well as housing and some modest money on university fees.MaxPB said:
No, the government needs to balance the budget. We're 10 years into the economic cycle, the UK is due a recession and all signs point to a housing crash and consumer spending downturn, both of those can trigger a recession and before that happens the chancellor should be running a balanced budget or a small surplus.Mortimer said:Wonder if there might be some indication of tax cuts in the spring statement. Given the continued growth of the economy, it would be a good time to make the case for how lowering personal taxation stimulates economic activity.
No money for tax cuts I’m afraid.
If it were me I'd push £350m per week into the NHS by 2022 and increase defence expenditure to 2.5% of GDP. Both of those put together will cost ~£20bn per year extra compared to our current spending trajectory.
My forecast shows a balanced budget by 2021/22, the extra £17bn in spending would put the deficit at 0.7%, I think those two pledges together will win the 2022 election regardless of who the leader is.
However, at that low level our debt levels will start to fall quite rapidly, given 4% nominal growth.0 -
I still don’t understand why a group of people who all work in the same building feel the need to communicate in writing like this. In any group of people, someone will eventually get p1ssed off with something and leak the whole conversation to a friendly journalist. Stick with the smoke-filled rooms for plotting.Mortimer said:
It's how you tell em, Bill.williamglenn said:
The Leavers were being restrained and keeping their criticisms private. Only the Remainers who decided to go blue on blue, because, I suspect, they know they don't have the numbers to archive anything now.
I see no problem uniting the party after Brexit. One or two back benchers always have a grievance about something; this issue will be no different.0 -
FPT, I completely agree with this position, out Trump's supposed exception into the context of a free trade deal with the US.rcs1000 said:@Charles:
If I were Trump I would exempt the UK. Our steel exports to the US (even before tariffs) were de minimus, so why not, as it garners a little bit of good publicity.
The question is whether we should take the bait.
And my belief is 'no'. A rules based - i.e. WTO - system for world trade works in our favour in the long term. A 'might is right' system works for the US and China and (possibly) the EU. It doesn't work for any of the next 10 world powers, which is where we sit.
We want a rules based system. We don't want bigger, stronger, countries to be able to rip up their treaty commitments for short term gain.
Our long term interests are in telling the US, "yes, we'd like tariff free access to the US, but it needs to be in the context of a proper FTA," not at the whim of the current US President.0 -
Are Grammar Nazis related to the Apostrophascists?Morris_Dancer said:Mrs C, don't forget, without us Grammar Nazis, the L33t War would've been lost.
0 -
If you brought social care within the remit of the NHS you could say that you had increased NHS spending without actually increasing NHS spending.MaxPB said:
Yes.OldKingCole said:
From whence do you get the figure of £350m a week for the NHS? Have you been looking at buses?MaxPB said:
The IFS shouldn't be making such proclamations, just another example of their continued politicisation of the numbers.DavidL said:
Much more importantly, as the head of the IFS was pointing out yesterday, we have now got to the point that many public services are chronically underfunded after the best part of a decade of being squeezed. I expect some of the undershoot in borrowing to be ploughed into the NHS and Social Care as well as housing and some modest money on university fees.MaxPB said:
No, the government needs to balance the budget. We're 10 years into the economic cycle, the UK is due a recession and all signs point to a housing crash and consumer spending downturn, both of those can trigger a recession and before that happens the chancellor should be running a balanced budget or a small surplus.Mortimer said:Wonder if there might be some indication of tax cuts in the spring statement. Given the continued growth of the economy, it would be a good time to make the case for how lowering personal taxation stimulates economic activity.
No money for tax cuts I’m afraid.
If it were me I'd push £350m per week into the NHS by 2022 and increase defence expenditure to 2.5% of GDP. Both of those put together will cost ~£20bn per year extra compared to our current spending trajectory.
My forecast shows a balanced budget by 2021/22, the extra £17bn in spending would put the deficit at 0.7%, I think those two pledges together will win the 2022 election regardless of who the leader is.
However, at that low level our debt levels will start to fall quite rapidly, given 4% nominal growth.0 -
Many splendoured thing, and "We got him sacked" is not an attractive boast.David_Evershed said:
The head of a school my son went to said parents should not expect good results of the school because the parents of many of the pupils were prison officers. We got him sacked.OldKingCole said:
My grandson teaches in a school in a ‘difficult’ area. His school is part of a ‘Group” of ‘academies’ and apparently comparisons are made with the results his school achieves with those in more middle class areas.John_M said:
I'm going to fall back on cliche 'you can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear'. I agree that teachers have little control over their inputs; while many of the children at my beloved's school are well behaved, there are a sizeable minority who are almost feral.OldKingCole said:
I’m the grandfather of a primary school teacher, who is about to marry a VI Form College teacher, and I’m also the grandfather of a secondary school teacher who has recently quit teaching for another education related profession.John_M said:
I'm married to a teacher (HoF: English). They appear to be measured not only on outcomes (which is what I've been used to, both in the public and private sector) but on process compliance. It ain't just what you do, it's the way that you do it.Nigelb said:Regarding the Damian Hinds story which was supposed to have disappeared, but hasn't, just what does he mean by 'red tape' in this context ?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-43345857
The result is system gaming of epic proportions, and I say that having 22 years of sales experience.
I’d concur wholeheartedly that they appear to be overloaded with process, as opposed to outcomes, but also there appears to be an assumption that if the outcomes are not satisfactory it’s the teachers who have ‘failed’. Anyone with business experience knows that there are times when the multi-faceted experience that is life just doesn’t behave in the way it’s supposed to, and teachers are not immune from that.
As well as the teaching descendants there were several teachers in my fathers family, and I’m married to an ex-teacher. Groups of children do not all behave in the same way, even though they are drawn from the same social and geographical areas, and expecting there to be the same result from the same process each year is even trickier than forecasting farming yields.
Aspiration is a many splendid thing.0 -
Mr. Evershed, a plague upon reason and elegance, they were smote mightily by the Panzers of the Grammar Nazis.
Mr. Sandpit, I agree, but, then, I'm a cautious chap.
Mr. Alan, that's rather good
0 -
I agree, but having said that, there is nothing really explosive in these chats, suggesting the MPs were sensibly guarded in their comments. All that is really revealed is that they were deeply frustrated by arch-Remainers but acted responsibly and didn't retaliate.Sandpit said:
I still don’t understand why a group of people who all work in the same building feel the need to communicate in writing like this. In any group of people, someone will eventually get p1ssed off with something and leak the whole conversation to a friendly journalist. Stick with the smoke-filled rooms for plotting.Mortimer said:
It's how you tell em, Bill.williamglenn said:
The Leavers were being restrained and keeping their criticisms private. Only the Remainers who decided to go blue on blue, because, I suspect, they know they don't have the numbers to archive anything now.
I see no problem uniting the party after Brexit. One or two back benchers always have a grievance about something; this issue will be no different.0 -
"We want a rules based system. We don't want bigger, stronger, countries to be able to rip up their treaty commitments for short term gain."
Like Germany and France and the 3% deficit rule of the Growth and Stability Pact.0 -
Are they heavily discounted or are they the 'normal' price discounted from an artificially raised 'recommended' price.Sean_F said:
Out of curiosity, why do shops heavily discount best-selling novels? You'd think they'd want to maximise income.another_richard said:
I rarely find Amazon to be cheaper than ebay or Tesco online.TheWhiteRabbit said:
Amazon is much cheaper than non-online alternatives, which for most people is good enough.another_richard said:
That does give a clue as to where all the Romanians in South Yorkshire are working - Amazon sweatshops have been multiplying like amoebas along the M18.Ishmael_Z said:
Do you get The Week magazine? the long bit on the last 2 pages is an excerpt from a book by James Bloodworth, about working in an Amazon warehouse, and makes you think automation can't come quick enough. I am seriously thinking it isn't morally right to buy stuff from Amazon.welshowl said:
You don’t know how silly I think it is. Very very very is the answer. He’d have banned electric trains because it put the firemen out of a job, or the bloke with a red flag walking in front of cars, the list is endless.Jonathan said:
Indeed, it's not as silly as you think, especially when you consider that humans are taxed for the same job and that warps the market.DecrepitJohnL said:
Microsoft founder Bill Gates floated the idea of taxing robots, which is probably where Corbyn heard it.TGOHF said:Look at these utter crackpots - Mr Palmer must surely be embarrassed by this Ludditery ? Wait until Corbyn sees an amazon warehouse...
https://twitter.com/sunpolitics/status/972366511229886464?s=21
It’s crackpottery pure and simple.
Incidentally, pretty much all 1200 workers at the warehouse are East European, to the extent a Romanian asks him what an English bloke is doing working there.
The irony is that Amazon aren't particularly cheap - you can buy the book for less on ebay:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Hired-Six-Months-Undercover-in-Low-Wage-Britain-James-Bloodworth/282866582134?epid=4015471524&hash=item41dc298276:g:xysAAOSw1p1al~EV
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Hired-Months-Undercover-Low-Wage-Britain/dp/1786490145/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1520679939&sr=8-1&keywords=hired&dpID=61kERzD0FuL&preST=_SY291_BO1,204,203,200_QL40_&dpSrc=srch
People use Amazon because it is convenient.
Oddly books is where it is less good.
Or indeed the likes of Home Bargains, BM and all those shops with the name PoundXXXXX.
Where Amazon does well is against all the 'mediocre middle' chains.0 -
Evidence from Massachusetts and Louisiana shows that charter schools with strong accountability measures makes a huge difference to students performance for many years. And the biggest impact is on the poorest kids. A big problem in teaching is low expectations for poor kids.Fysics_Teacher said:
I often say that students have got the grades they deserve. Mind you, I’m a Physics teacher and so virtually unsackable...OldKingCole said:
My grandson teaches in a school in a ‘difficult’ area. His school is part of a ‘Group” of ‘academies’ and apparently comparisons are made with the results his school achieves with those in more middle class areas.John_M said:
I'm going to fall back on cliche 'you can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear'. I agree that teachers have little control over their inputs; while many of the children at my beloved's school are well behaved, there are a sizeable minority who are almost feral.OldKingCole said:
I’m the grandfather of a primary school teacher, who is about to marry a VI Form College teacher, and I’m also the grandfather of a secondary school teacher who has recently quit teaching for another education related profession.John_M said:
I'm married to a teacher (HoF: English). They appear to be measured not only on outcomes (which is what I've been used to, both in the public and private sector) but on process compliance. It ain't just what you do, it's the way that you do it.Nigelb said:Regarding the Damian Hinds story which was supposed to have disappeared, but hasn't, just what does he mean by 'red tape' in this context ?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-43345857
The result is system gaming of epic proportions, and I say that having 22 years of sales experience.
I’d concur wholeheartedly that they appear to be overloaded with process, as opposed to outcomes, but also there appears to be an assumption that if the outcomes are not satisfactory it’s the teachers who have ‘failed’. Anyone with business experience knows that there are times when the multi-faceted experience that is life just doesn’t behave in the way it’s supposed to, and teachers are not immune from that.
As well as the teaching descendants there were several teachers in my fathers family, and I’m married to an ex-teacher. Groups of children do not all behave in the same way, even though they are drawn from the same social and geographical areas, and expecting there to be the same result from the same process each year is even trickier than forecasting farming yields.0 -
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/mind-the-gap-benefits-from-free-trade-havent-quite-gone-the-distance-20100302-pg6p.htmlMaxPB said:
FPT, I completely agree with this position, out Trump's supposed exception into the context of a free trade deal with the US.rcs1000 said:@Charles:
If I were Trump I would exempt the UK. Our steel exports to the US (even before tariffs) were de minimus, so why not, as it garners a little bit of good publicity.
The question is whether we should take the bait.
And my belief is 'no'. A rules based - i.e. WTO - system for world trade works in our favour in the long term. A 'might is right' system works for the US and China and (possibly) the EU. It doesn't work for any of the next 10 world powers, which is where we sit.
We want a rules based system. We don't want bigger, stronger, countries to be able to rip up their treaty commitments for short term gain.
Our long term interests are in telling the US, "yes, we'd like tariff free access to the US, but it needs to be in the context of a proper FTA," not at the whim of the current US President.
The ardent pursuit of such an agreement with the US suggested the Howard government did not have a clear perception of Australia's national interest. Australia's opportunities for future trading growth were much more likely to be in Asia.
But it also represents a deeper misperception. Australia is a middle-level power whose prosperity is enhanced in a world where trade is free and governed by universal rules, rules that facilitate a level playing field and make trade between all nations easier.
A world in which bilateral trading agreements play a more central role favours the biggest countries, such as the US and China. Their power affords them superior bargaining leverage to win concessions favouring their domestic constituencies. Australia and most other countries have an interest in more global agreements.0 -
This is a good article about Success Academy in New York, which mainly has poor Hispanic and African American children. They have closed the gap between their students and middle class children in New York. So much for "feral kids will never achieve anything".
www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2018/01/success-academy-charter-schools-eva-moskowitz/546554/0 -
Just pouring money into NHS is stupid. The waste already is huge, sort it out first and manage it properly. They would be in crisis again by the following month. Defence is a black hole for willy waving Tories, again sort out the half witted leaders and their piss poor procurement. Far better things for money to be spent on.OldKingCole said:
From whence do you get the figure of £350m a week for the NHS? Have you been looking at buses?MaxPB said:
The IFS shouldn't be making such proclamations, just another example of their continued politicisation of the numbers.DavidL said:
Much more importantly, as the head of the IFS was pointing out yesterday, we have now got to the point that many public services are chronically underfunded after the best part of a decade of being squeezed. I expect some of the undershoot in borrowing to be ploughed into the NHS and Social Care as well as housing and some modest money on university fees.MaxPB said:
No, the government needs to balance the budget. We're 10 years into the economic cycle, the UK is due a recession and all signs point to a housing crash and consumer spending downturn, both of those can trigger a recession and before that happens the chancellor should be running a balanced budget or a small surplus.Mortimer said:Wonder if there might be some indication of tax cuts in the spring statement. Given the continued growth of the economy, it would be a good time to make the case for how lowering personal taxation stimulates economic activity.
No money for tax cuts I’m afraid.
If it were me I'd push £350m per week into the NHS by 2022 and increase defence expenditure to 2.5% of GDP. Both of those put together will cost ~£20bn per year extra compared to our current spending trajectory.
My forecast shows a balanced budget by 2021/22, the extra £17bn in spending would put the deficit at 0.7%, I think those two pledges together will win the 2022 election regardless of who the leader is.
However, at that low level our debt levels will start to fall quite rapidly, given 4% nominal growth.0 -
This is why we should join the Trans-Pacific Partnership first.williamglenn said:
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/mind-the-gap-benefits-from-free-trade-havent-quite-gone-the-distance-20100302-pg6p.htmlMaxPB said:
FPT, I completely agree with this position, out Trump's supposed exception into the context of a free trade deal with the US.rcs1000 said:@Charles:
If I were Trump I would exempt the UK. Our steel exports to the US (even before tariffs) were de minimus, so why not, as it garners a little bit of good publicity.
The question is whether we should take the bait.
And my belief is 'no'. A rules based - i.e. WTO - system for world trade works in our favour in the long term. A 'might is right' system works for the US and China and (possibly) the EU. It doesn't work for any of the next 10 world powers, which is where we sit.
We want a rules based system. We don't want bigger, stronger, countries to be able to rip up their treaty commitments for short term gain.
Our long term interests are in telling the US, "yes, we'd like tariff free access to the US, but it needs to be in the context of a proper FTA," not at the whim of the current US President.
The ardent pursuit of such an agreement with the US suggested the Howard government did not have a clear perception of Australia's national interest. Australia's opportunities for future trading growth were much more likely to be in Asia.
But it also represents a deeper misperception. Australia is a middle-level power whose prosperity is enhanced in a world where trade is free and governed by universal rules, rules that facilitate a level playing field and make trade between all nations easier.
A world in which bilateral trading agreements play a more central role favours the biggest countries, such as the US and China. Their power affords them superior bargaining leverage to win concessions favouring their domestic constituencies. Australia and most other countries have an interest in more global agreements.0 -
-
Poor economically (which is, after all the point of grammar schools) or poor in attitude to learning?Elliot said:
Evidence from Massachusetts and Louisiana shows that charter schools with strong accountability measures makes a huge difference to students performance for many years. And the biggest impact is on the poorest kids. A big problem in teaching is low expectations for poor kids.Fysics_Teacher said:
I often say that students have got the grades they deserve. Mind you, I’m a Physics teacher and so virtually unsackable...OldKingCole said:
My grandson teaches in a school in a ‘difficult’ area. His school is part of a ‘Group” of ‘academies’ and apparently comparisons are made with the results his school achieves with those in more middle class areas.John_M said:
I'm going to fall back on cliche 'you can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear'. I agree that teachers have little control over their inputs; while many of the children at my beloved's school are well behaved, there are a sizeable minority who are almost feral.OldKingCole said:
I’m the grandfather of a primary school teacher, who is about to marry a VI Form College teacher, and I’m also the grandfather of a secondary school teacher who has recently quit teaching for another education related profession.John_M said:
I'm married to a teacher (HoF: English). They appear to be measured not only on outcomes (which is what I've been used to, both in the public and private sector) but on process compliance. It ain't just what you do, it's the way that you do it.Nigelb said:Regarding the Damian Hinds story which was supposed to have disappeared, but hasn't, just what does he mean by 'red tape' in this context ?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-43345857
The result is system gaming of epic proportions, and I say that having 22 years of sales experience.
I’d concur wholeheartedly that they appear to be overloaded with process, as opposed to outcomes, but also there appears to be an assumption that if the outcomes are not satisfactory it’s the teachers who have ‘failed’. Anyone with business experience knows that there are times when the multi-faceted experience that is life just doesn’t behave in the way it’s supposed to, and teachers are not immune from that.
As well as the teaching descendants there were several teachers in my fathers family, and I’m married to an ex-teacher. Groups of children do not all behave in the same way, even though they are drawn from the same social and geographical areas, and expecting there to be the same result from the same process each year is even trickier than forecasting farming yields.0 -
We should have joined EFTA/EEA. It didn't have to be forever. Our entanglement with the EU lasted decades; we should have budgeted a decade to unwind that process.Elliot said:
This is why we should join the Trans-Pacific Partnership first.williamglenn said:
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/mind-the-gap-benefits-from-free-trade-havent-quite-gone-the-distance-20100302-pg6p.htmlMaxPB said:
FPT, I completely agree with this position, out Trump's supposed exception into the context of a free trade deal with the US.rcs1000 said:@Charles:
If I were Trump I would exempt the UK. Our steel exports to the US (even before tariffs) were de minimus, so why not, as it garners a little bit of good publicity.
The question is whether we should take the bait.
And my belief is 'no'. A rules based - i.e. WTO - system for world trade works in our favour in the long term. A 'might is right' system works for the US and China and (possibly) the EU. It doesn't work for any of the next 10 world powers, which is where we sit.
We want a rules based system. We don't want bigger, stronger, countries to be able to rip up their treaty commitments for short term gain.
Our long term interests are in telling the US, "yes, we'd like tariff free access to the US, but it needs to be in the context of a proper FTA," not at the whim of the current US President.
The ardent pursuit of such an agreement with the US suggested the Howard government did not have a clear perception of Australia's national interest. Australia's opportunities for future trading growth were much more likely to be in Asia.
But it also represents a deeper misperception. Australia is a middle-level power whose prosperity is enhanced in a world where trade is free and governed by universal rules, rules that facilitate a level playing field and make trade between all nations easier.
A world in which bilateral trading agreements play a more central role favours the biggest countries, such as the US and China. Their power affords them superior bargaining leverage to win concessions favouring their domestic constituencies. Australia and most other countries have an interest in more global agreements.
My view is there's a certain amount of paranoia about Brexit being reversed (and that's not entirely unjustified when we look at the Constitution referendum shenanigans back in the day), which is causing indecent haste in rushing for the exits.
Apologies for flogging the dead horse once more. I shall try and resist the urge to refight 2016. 0 -
The whole of banking has been an orchestrated move from paid cashiers doing the work in banks to customers doing their own paper shuffling on the net. With no wages costs or property costs to the banks. And if those customers get it wrong and lose a mass of their money - tough. Your problem. And the lack of branches now means you have virtually damn all alternatives unless you are in a city or a big town. In Dartmouth, for example, we will soon lose the last of our four banks. The nearest branches are a 15 mile drive to Totnes, or require a ferry journey to get to Torquay.SandyRentool said:Late to the party again, but just to say that checkout staff aren't being replaced by robots, they are being replaced by the customers doing the job for free.
This is the case in many examples of so-called automation, from filling your car with petrol to paying a cheque in at the bank.
(Grammar moment - I'm never sure if it should be 'replaced by' or 'replaced with'.)
And cash is being massively squeezed out, so that soon won't be a problem for banks to worry about either.
That is all huge progress. If you are a bank.0 -
Tory defence policies are always defined by their anticipated reception by the deranged reactionaries of the Daily Mail comments section. Hence when Cameron decided to get rid of 5,000 RN ratings and officers (only 7% of the entire force, no big deal) the MoD didn't fancy the shitstorm that compulsory redundancies would provoke and so made it almost all voluntary redundancies. The people who took the voluntary redundancies weren't the ones the RN actually needed to get rid off but those who had the best civvie employment prospects. So we paid the most experienced personnel with niche technical skills to leave the service. The leads to the happy situation in which we now find ourselves where 10% of the escort fleet are tied up for lack of ratings and officers.malcolmg said:Defence is a black hole for willy waving Tories, again sort out the half witted leaders and their piss poor procurement. Far better things for money to be spent on.
0 -
I’d like a reference, but I suspect that 'accountablity measures’ (a definition would be useful) make a difference to poor but bright children.Elliot said:
Evidence from Massachusetts and Louisiana shows that charter schools with strong accountability measures makes a huge difference to students performance for many years. And the biggest impact is on the poorest kids. A big problem in teaching is low expectations for poor kids.Fysics_Teacher said:
I often say that students have got the grades they deserve. Mind you, I’m a Physics teacher and so virtually unsackable...OldKingCole said:
My grandson teaches in a school in a ‘difficult’ area. His school is part of a ‘Group” of ‘academies’ and apparently comparisons are made with the results his school achieves with those in more middle class areas.John_M said:
I'm going to fall back on cliche 'you can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear'. I agree that teachers have little control over their inputs; while many of the children at my beloved's school are well behaved, there are a sizeable minority who are almost feral.OldKingCole said:
I’m the grandfather of a primary school teacher, who is about to marry a VI Form College teacher, and I’m also the grandfather of a secondary school teacher who has recently quit teaching for another education related profession.John_M said:
I'm married to a teacher (HoF: English). They appear to be measured not only on outcomes (which is what I've been used to, both in the public and private sector) but on process compliance. It ain't just what you do, it's the way that you do it.Nigelb said:Regarding the Damian Hinds story which was supposed to have disappeared, but hasn't, just what does he mean by 'red tape' in this context ?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-43345857
The result is system gaming of epic proportions, and I say that having 22 years of sales experience.
I’d concur wholeheartedly that they appear to be overloaded with process, as opposed to outcomes, but also there appears to be an assumption that if the outcomes are not satisfactory it’s the teachers who have ‘failed’. Anyone with business experience knows that there are times when the multi-faceted experience that is life just doesn’t behave in the way it’s supposed to, and teachers are not immune from that.
As well as the teaching descendants there were several teachers in my fathers family, and I’m married to an ex-teacher. Groups of children do not all behave in the same way, even though they are drawn from the same social and geographical areas, and expecting there to be the same result from the same process each year is even trickier than forecasting farming yields.0 -
Liverpool defence is crap isn’t it ....0
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It would be really unfortunate if any of those Sheffield councillors could be shown to have had any links, direct or otherwise, to the firm undertaking that felling....dr_spyn said:0 -
It’s been perfectly fine up until today! Goodbye to 2nd placeFrancisUrquhart said:Liverpool defence is crap isn’t it ....
0 -
The KIPPs programme was one of the original movements in the US and has been incredibly successful at getting kids from terrible backgrounds into college.Elliot said:This is a good article about Success Academy in New York, which mainly has poor Hispanic and African American children. They have closed the gap between their students and middle class children in New York. So much for "feral kids will never achieve anything".
www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2018/01/success-academy-charter-schools-eva-moskowitz/546554/0 -
To expand on my slightly flippant remark about ‘deserved’ results, one problem those of us who teach Year 13 face is that sometimes a student will be holding an offer from a university that doesn’t include the subject you are teaching. They will, entirely rationally, not spend much time preparing for it and so underperform. We, both as individual teachers and as departments will then be held to account over this.
There are even an increasing number of students holding unconditional offers, issued by universities determined to get a firm acceptance. They can be a challenge to motivate...0 -
Someone better take TSE's belt and shoe-laces......Sandpit said:
It’s been perfectly fine up until today! Goodbye to 2nd placeFrancisUrquhart said:Liverpool defence is crap isn’t it ....
0 -
Questions. How far away is the UK from the nearest bit of the Pacific Ocean? Are we the furthest away of any country on earth?Elliot said:
This is why we should join the Trans-Pacific Partnership first.williamglenn said:
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/mind-the-gap-benefits-from-free-trade-havent-quite-gone-the-distance-20100302-pg6p.htmlMaxPB said:
FPT, I completely agree with this position, out Trump's supposed exception into the context of a free trade deal with the US.rcs1000 said:@Charles:
If I were Trump I would exempt the UK. Our steel exports to the US (even before tariffs) were de minimus, so why not, as it garners a little bit of good publicity.
The question is whether we should take the bait.
And my belief is 'no'. A rules based - i.e. WTO - system for world trade works in our favour in the long term. A 'might is right' system works for the US and China and (possibly) the EU. It doesn't work for any of the next 10 world powers, which is where we sit.
We want a rules based system. We don't want bigger, stronger, countries to be able to rip up their treaty commitments for short term gain.
Our long term interests are in telling the US, "yes, we'd like tariff free access to the US, but it needs to be in the context of a proper FTA," not at the whim of the current US President.
The ardent pursuit of such an agreement with the US suggested the Howard government did not have a clear perception of Australia's national interest. Australia's opportunities for future trading growth were much more likely to be in Asia.
But it also represents a deeper misperception. Australia is a middle-level power whose prosperity is enhanced in a world where trade is free and governed by universal rules, rules that facilitate a level playing field and make trade between all nations easier.
A world in which bilateral trading agreements play a more central role favours the biggest countries, such as the US and China. Their power affords them superior bargaining leverage to win concessions favouring their domestic constituencies. Australia and most other countries have an interest in more global agreements.0 -
EFTA/EEA would still mean deciding where to place the customs border with Ireland... It wouldn’t have been a short cut to resolving the majority of the issues that have come up so far.John_M said:
We should have joined EFTA/EEA. It didn't have to be forever. Our entanglement with the EU lasted decades; we should have budgeted a decade to unwind that process.Elliot said:
This is why we should join the Trans-Pacific Partnership first.williamglenn said:
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/mind-the-gap-benefits-from-free-trade-havent-quite-gone-the-distance-20100302-pg6p.htmlMaxPB said:
FPT, I completely agree with this position, out Trump's supposed exception into the context of a free trade deal with the US.rcs1000 said:@Charles:
We want a rules based system. We don't want bigger, stronger, countries to be able to rip up their treaty commitments for short term gain.
Our long term interests are in telling the US, "yes, we'd like tariff free access to the US, but it needs to be in the context of a proper FTA," not at the whim of the current US President.
The ardent pursuit of such an agreement with the US suggested the Howard government did not have a clear perception of Australia's national interest. Australia's opportunities for future trading growth were much more likely to be in Asia.
But it also represents a deeper misperception. Australia is a middle-level power whose prosperity is enhanced in a world where trade is free and governed by universal rules, rules that facilitate a level playing field and make trade between all nations easier.
A world in which bilateral trading agreements play a more central role favours the biggest countries, such as the US and China. Their power affords them superior bargaining leverage to win concessions favouring their domestic constituencies. Australia and most other countries have an interest in more global agreements.
My view is there's a certain amount of paranoia about Brexit being reversed (and that's not entirely unjustified when we look at the Constitution referendum shenanigans back in the day), which is causing indecent haste in rushing for the exits.
Apologies for flogging the dead horse once more. I shall try and resist the urge to refight 2016.
There’s a fun taxonomy of Brexit tribes here:
https://twitter.com/k_niemietz/status/968424171981197314?s=210 -
EFTA/EEA became impossible when so-called moderate Leavers fell in behind xenophobic lies in the referendum campaign. Still they seem unable to realise what they did.John_M said:
We should have joined EFTA/EEA. It didn't have to be forever. Our entanglement with the EU lasted decades; we should have budgeted a decade to unwind that process.Elliot said:
This is why we should join the Trans-Pacific Partnership first.williamglenn said:
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/mind-the-gap-benefits-from-free-trade-havent-quite-gone-the-distance-20100302-pg6p.htmlMaxPB said:
FPT, I completely agree with this position, out Trump's supposed exception into the context of a free trade deal with the US.rcs1000 said:@Charles:
If I were Trump I would exempt the UK. Our steel exports to the US (even before tariffs) were de minimus, so why not, as it garners a little bit of good publicity.
The question is whether we should take the bait.
And my belief is 'no'. A rules based - i.e. WTO - system for world trade works in our favour in the long term. A 'might is right' system works for the US and China and (possibly) the EU. It doesn't work for any of the next 10 world powers, which is where we sit.
We want a rules based system. We don't want bigger, stronger, countries to be able to rip up their treaty commitments for short term gain.
Our long term interests are in telling the US, "yes, we'd like tariff free access to the US, but it needs to be in the context of a proper FTA," not at the whim of the current US President.
The ardent pursuit of such an agreement with the US suggested the Howard government did not have a clear perception of Australia's national interest. Australia's opportunities for future trading growth were much more likely to be in Asia.
But it also represents a deeper misperception. Australia is a middle-level power whose prosperity is enhanced in a world where trade is free and governed by universal rules, rules that facilitate a level playing field and make trade between all nations easier.
A world in which bilateral trading agreements play a more central role favours the biggest countries, such as the US and China. Their power affords them superior bargaining leverage to win concessions favouring their domestic constituencies. Australia and most other countries have an interest in more global agreements.
My view is there's a certain amount of paranoia about Brexit being reversed (and that's not entirely unjustified when we look at the Constitution referendum shenanigans back in the day), which is causing indecent haste in rushing for the exits.
Apologies for flogging the dead horse once more. I shall try and resist the urge to refight 2016.0 -
I’m sure the Man U fans don’t need any encouragement!MarqueeMark said:
Someone better take TSE's belt and shoe-laces......Sandpit said:
It’s been perfectly fine up until today! Goodbye to 2nd placeFrancisUrquhart said:Liverpool defence is crap isn’t it ....
0 -
Very short term thinking by the students. What if they end up dropping out of the degree? It happens. They will have very poor A levels to fall back on.Fysics_Teacher said:To expand on my slightly flippant remark about ‘deserved’ results, one problem those of us who teach Year 13 face is that sometimes a student will be holding an offer from a university that doesn’t include the subject you are teaching. They will, entirely rationally, not spend much time preparing for it and so underperform. We, both as individual teachers and as departments will then be held to account over this.
There are even an increasing number of students holding unconditional offers, issued by universities determined to get a firm acceptance. They can be a challenge to motivate...0 -
We still have territory there. Pitcairn Island I think.FF43 said:
Questions. How far away is the UK from the nearest bit of the Pacific Ocean? Are we the furthest away of any country on earth?Elliot said:
This is why we should join the Trans-Pacific Partnership first.williamglenn said:
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/mind-the-gap-benefits-from-free-trade-havent-quite-gone-the-distance-20100302-pg6p.htmlMaxPB said:
FPT, I completely agree with this position, out Trump's supposed exception into the context of a free trade deal with the US.rcs1000 said:@Charles:
If I were Trump I would exempt the UK. Our steel exports to the US (even before tariffs) were de minimus, so why not, as it garners a little bit of good publicity.
The question is whether we should take the bait.
And my belief is 'no'. A rules based - i.e. WTO - system for world trade works in our favour in the long term. A 'might is right' system works for the US and China and (possibly) the EU. It doesn't work for any of the next 10 world powers, which is where we sit.
We want a rules based system. We don't want bigger, stronger, countries to be able to rip up their treaty commitments for short term gain.
Our long term interests are in telling the US, "yes, we'd like tariff free access to the US, but it needs to be in the context of a proper FTA," not at the whim of the current US President.
The ardent pursuit of such an agreement with the US suggested the Howard government did not have a clear perception of Australia's national interest. Australia's opportunities for future trading growth were much more likely to be in Asia.
But it also represents a deeper misperception. Australia is a middle-level power whose prosperity is enhanced in a world where trade is free and governed by universal rules, rules that facilitate a level playing field and make trade between all nations easier.
A world in which bilateral trading agreements play a more central role favours the biggest countries, such as the US and China. Their power affords them superior bargaining leverage to win concessions favouring their domestic constituencies. Australia and most other countries have an interest in more global agreements.0 -
Wouldn’t we all have done that. These students are 17-18, and they seemed to have jumped the hurdle.rottenborough said:
Very short term thinking by the students. What if they end up dropping out of the degree? It happens. They will have very poor A levels to fall back on.Fysics_Teacher said:To expand on my slightly flippant remark about ‘deserved’ results, one problem those of us who teach Year 13 face is that sometimes a student will be holding an offer from a university that doesn’t include the subject you are teaching. They will, entirely rationally, not spend much time preparing for it and so underperform. We, both as individual teachers and as departments will then be held to account over this.
There are even an increasing number of students holding unconditional offers, issued by universities determined to get a firm acceptance. They can be a challenge to motivate...
Arguably our friend Mr FT should be counselling them. of course.0 -
Yes, I’ve tried that argument. They don’t think it will happen to them, and the ones who don’t need Physics but do need the others (often medics, so very bright) are too worried about just missing their offers.rottenborough said:
Very short term thinking by the students. What if they end up dropping out of the degree? It happens. They will have very poor A levels to fall back on.Fysics_Teacher said:To expand on my slightly flippant remark about ‘deserved’ results, one problem those of us who teach Year 13 face is that sometimes a student will be holding an offer from a university that doesn’t include the subject you are teaching. They will, entirely rationally, not spend much time preparing for it and so underperform. We, both as individual teachers and as departments will then be held to account over this.
There are even an increasing number of students holding unconditional offers, issued by universities determined to get a firm acceptance. They can be a challenge to motivate...
Ironically I was in a similar position myself at school, back in the days of Fourth Term Entrance, as I had a two E offer. I don’t remember busting a gut in those last two terms.0 -
Exactly and NHS is run in similar manner, they hose money down the drain. Pretty sure most government departments are the same , PFI and outsourcing are two scandals for sure.Dura_Ace said:
Tory defence policies are always defined by their anticipated reception by the deranged reactionaries of the Daily Mail comments section. Hence when Cameron decided to get rid of 5,000 RN ratings and officers (only 7% of the entire force, no big deal) the MoD didn't fancy the shitstorm that compulsory redundancies would provoke and so made it almost all voluntary redundancies. The people who took the voluntary redundancies weren't the ones the RN actually needed to get rid off but those who had the best civvie employment prospects. So we paid the most experienced personnel with niche technical skills to leave the service. The leads to the happy situation in which we now find ourselves where 10% of the escort fleet are tied up for lack of ratings and officers.malcolmg said:Defence is a black hole for willy waving Tories, again sort out the half witted leaders and their piss poor procurement. Far better things for money to be spent on.
0 -
There's no votes in "efficiency savings".malcolmg said:
Exactly and NHS is run in similar manner, they hose money down the drain. Pretty sure most government departments are the same , PFI and outsourcing are two scandals for sure.Dura_Ace said:
Tory defence policies are always defined by their anticipated reception by the deranged reactionaries of the Daily Mail comments section. Hence when Cameron decided to get rid of 5,000 RN ratings and officers (only 7% of the entire force, no big deal) the MoD didn't fancy the shitstorm that compulsory redundancies would provoke and so made it almost all voluntary redundancies. The people who took the voluntary redundancies weren't the ones the RN actually needed to get rid off but those who had the best civvie employment prospects. So we paid the most experienced personnel with niche technical skills to leave the service. The leads to the happy situation in which we now find ourselves where 10% of the escort fleet are tied up for lack of ratings and officers.malcolmg said:Defence is a black hole for willy waving Tories, again sort out the half witted leaders and their piss poor procurement. Far better things for money to be spent on.
0 -
It is bizzare.Sandpit said:
I still don’t understand why a group of people who all work in the same building feel the need to communicate in writing like this. In any group of people, someone will eventually get p1ssed off with something and leak the whole conversation to a friendly journalist. Stick with the smoke-filled rooms for plotting.Mortimer said:
It's how you tell em, Bill.williamglenn said:
The Leavers were being restrained and keeping their criticisms private. Only the Remainers who decided to go blue on blue, because, I suspect, they know they don't have the numbers to archive anything now.
I see no problem uniting the party after Brexit. One or two back benchers always have a grievance about something; this issue will be no different.
Pick up the phone? Have a meeting? Nah, we'll chat on a permanently recordable medium....
0 -
Or it became impossible when so-called moderate Remainers started doing all they could to frustrate the result of the referendum....AlastairMeeks said:
EFTA/EEA became impossible when so-called moderate Leavers fell in behind xenophobic lies in the referendum campaign. Still they seem unable to realise what they did.John_M said:
We should have joined EFTA/EEA. It didn't have to be forever. Our entanglement with the EU lasted decades; we should have budgeted a decade to unwind that process.Elliot said:
This is why we should join the Trans-Pacific Partnership first.williamglenn said:
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/mind-the-gap-benefits-from-free-trade-havent-quite-gone-the-distance-20100302-pg6p.htmlMaxPB said:
FPT, I completely agree with this position, out Trump's supposed exception into the context of a free trade deal with the US.rcs1000 said:@Charles:
If I were Trump I would exempt the UK. Our steel exports to the US (even before tariffs) were de minimus, so why not, as it garners a little bit of good publicity.
The question is whether we should take the bait.
The ardent pursuit of such an agreement with the US suggested the Howard government did not have a clear perception of Australia's national interest. Australia's opportunities for future trading growth were much more likely to be in Asia.
But it also represents a deeper misperception. Australia is a middle-level power whose prosperity is enhanced in a world where trade is free and governed by universal rules, rules that facilitate a level playing field and make trade between all nations easier.
A world in which bilateral trading agreements play a more central role favours the biggest countries, such as the US and China. Their power affords them superior bargaining leverage to win concessions favouring their domestic constituencies. Australia and most other countries have an interest in more global agreements.
My view is there's a certain amount of paranoia about Brexit being reversed (and that's not entirely unjustified when we look at the Constitution referendum shenanigans back in the day), which is causing indecent haste in rushing for the exits.
Apologies for flogging the dead horse once more. I shall try and resist the urge to refight 2016.0
This discussion has been closed.