Current Affairs

[oldbluefox]

No matter how well off, if you have parents who are committed to helping their children you can go a long, long way and I take my hat off to them.

[david63]

Can anyone explain why there is surprise that the Taliban are taking over in Afghanistan now that the western troops have left? Wasn't it inevitable and foreseeable?

[Mervyn and Trish]

It was. And always will be. It makes no difference if we went back in. More people would die and when we left again it would happen again.

[Quizzical Bob]

No surprise at all. They live there and we don’t.

[Stephen]

No matter how well off, if you have parents who are committed to helping their children you can go a long, long way and I take my hat off to them.

How any of them got a grade in English I don’t know listening to the students being interviewed this morning on BBC breakfast. And why do some talk with a black persons accent when clearly they are not.

[barney]

Brilliant interview with a young lad on GBnews this morning.

GBn - what did you get?
Lad - 6 grade 9 - three grade 8 - 1 grade 7
GBn - did you expect that?
Lad - yes I did.
GBn - well, you are very clever aren't you?
Lad - yes I am.
GBn - so, what are you taking for A levels?
Lad - three sciences
GBn - oh! well thankyou.
Back to the studio

She was a bit out of her depth.

[screwy]

No matter how well off, if you have parents who are committed to helping their children you can go a long, long way and I take my hat off to them.

How any of them got a grade in English I don’t know listening to the students being interviewed this morning on BBC breakfast. And why do some talk with a black persons accent when clearly they are not.

Cos dats wot they do, U no dat in it.!

[oldbluefox]

Don't get me started!!! You only have to listen to supposedly highly educated (or so they tell us) news presenters and reporters who seem to struggle with basic English rules.

[Manoverboard]

I know the ' English ' rules but there would be nobody to speak to if one observed them.

' Inclusion ' is the new word so ye gorra said wot yer wont ... init

[oldbluefox]

You've got the job.

[Manoverboard]

Gawd bless yer Guvner ....

[Mervyn and Trish]

So Sir Keir wants the Education Secretary to resign because some kids got better results than others. What an increasingly vacuous waste of space that man is. Why doesn't he encourage his supporters to take responsibility for themselves and their kids instead of always blaming someone else? I was brought up in council house and ended up with a First Class Honours degree. It's not impossible.

If my car fails its MoT next year can i demand the resignation of the Minister of Transport?

[towny44]

So Sir Keir wants the Education Secretary to resign because some kids got better results than others. What an increasingly vacuous waste of space that man is. Why doesn't he encourage his supporters to take responsibility for themselves and their kids instead of always blaming someone else? I was brought up in council house and ended up with a First Class Honours degree. It's not impossible.

If my car fails its MoT next year can i demand the resignation of the Minister of Transport?

Merv, you need to stop thinking sensibly when it comes to labour party policy, all they want to do is to realign us all to middle of the road mediocrity, and malign Boris's plans to level up.
So your first class honours degree will now be a grade C pass,!

[Mervyn and Trish]

Sorry. My bad.

[screwy]

So Sir Keir wants the Education Secretary to resign because some kids got better results than others. What an increasingly vacuous waste of space that man is. Why doesn't he encourage his supporters to take responsibility for themselves and their kids instead of always blaming someone else? I was brought up in council house and ended up with a First Class Honours degree. It's not impossible.

If my car fails its MoT next year can i demand the resignation of the Minister of Transport?

Well said Merv.
My 2 cousins , like myself, were brought up in a council house. Both gained fantastic qualifications and went on to work at Avro aircraft company in Manchester. They both moved to the States in the 60's to escape Wilsons Tax. My surviving cousin was Chief Engineer on the B2 Stealth Bomber build amongst other things.

[Kendhni]

Starmer actually raised a couple of important questions that deserve answers - but I doubt if anybody on this board noticed them.

[Manoverboard]

The most important comment this week, for me, is the outgoing General Secretary of the Unite Union stating that Labour are dead in the water with Sir Keir as the Leader of the Party.

[Kendhni]

The most important comment this week, for me, is the outgoing General Secretary of the Unite Union stating that Labour are dead in the water with Sir Keir as the Leader of the Party.

But then Unite wants their performing chimp, Corbyn, back - a very retrograde step.
Then of course there is the plot(s) to get rid of Johnson (the scapegoat for everything that goes wrong for the next 10 years).
Politics is a dirty game.

[towny44]

Starmer actually raised a couple of important questions that deserve answers - but I doubt if anybody on this board noticed them.

Please enlighten us Ken, we do appreciate your overseas views.

[Kendhni]

Starmer actually raised a couple of important questions that deserve answers - but I doubt if anybody on this board noticed them.

Please enlighten us Ken, we do appreciate your overseas views.

I suggest you listen to his comments and educate yourself instead of sniping.

[towny44]

Starmer actually raised a couple of important questions that deserve answers - but I doubt if anybody on this board noticed them.

Please enlighten us Ken, we do appreciate your overseas views.

I suggest you listen to his comments and educate yourself instead of sniping.

Sulking is not really an attractive character trait.

[Kendhni]

Please enlighten us Ken, we do appreciate your overseas views.

I suggest you listen to his comments and educate yourself instead of sniping.

Sulking is not really an attractive character trait.

So why do you do so much of it - you could be using that valuable time to actually educate yourself avoiding you posting so many made up things.

[Ranchi]

Not in the country at the moment so I would appreciate enlightenment regarding KS’s questions. ( scanning my online paper they seemed to elude me,)

[Kendhni]

Not in the country at the moment so I would appreciate enlightenment regarding KS’s questions. ( scanning my online paper they seemed to elude me,)

Certainly Ranchi, no problem at all (naturally I can only summarise and you would need to read his full comments from several different interviews to understand the broader issues he was talking about).

The first point he raised was why had the education authorities not managed to prepare themselves better (a neighbour who represents a teaching organization attended multiple sessions last summer to put in place exam contingency plans for 2021 - yet they still failed to deliver).

Another point of interest was the disconnection between the overall results being higher than ever versus claims that students have been disadvantaged due to remote learning. Claims that exams/tests/course work are getting easier have been verifiably debunked so many times.

There was a third point which escapes me at the minute. I am not sure if it was him or another interview I was listening to that raised concerns about a year that had failed to get into university (due to lack of places) and how this would be impacted in the years going forward (since it is obvious we are going to have the same problems this year).

Before the snipey element start throwing their toys around, I can easily think of counter arguments to the points he made, but I still think they are valid questions that deserve a reasoned response and proper explanation from the government.

[towny44]

Not in the country at the moment so I would appreciate enlightenment regarding KS’s questions. ( scanning my online paper they seemed to elude me,)

Certainly Ranchi, no problem at all (naturally I can only summarise and you would need to read his full comments from several different interviews to understand the broader issues he was talking about).

The first point he raised was why had the education authorities not managed to prepare themselves better (a neighbour who represents a teaching organization attended multiple sessions last summer to put in place exam contingency plans for 2021 - yet they still failed to deliver).

Another point of interest was the disconnection between the overall results being higher than ever versus claims that students have been disadvantaged due to remote learning. Claims that exams/tests/course work are getting easier have been verifiably debunked so many times.

There was a third point which escapes me at the minute. I am not sure if it was him or another interview I was listening to that raised concerns about a year that had failed to get into university (due to lack of places) and how this would be impacted in the years going forward (since it is obvious we are going to have the same problems this year).

Before the snipey element start throwing their toys around, I can easily think of counter arguments to the points he made, but I still think they are valid questions that deserve a reasoned response and proper explanation from the government.

Ken, my immediate reaction is as follows:-
Point 1 last summer no one anticipated that the winter wave would be so severe, which was why the education secretary had to abandon plans for exams this year.
Point 2, not really sure what Starmer's or your point is, unless like me you doubt the debunked claims about tests becoming easier.
When you remember point 3, perhaps you could let us know.
For myself, I am concerned about the problems teachers will face with some students who have not had the parental support during on line teaching lagging behind classmates who have, as well as the general lower understanding of the last 2 years curriculum that all current students will be suffering. This is going to require significant extra expenditure, which with the extra demands from every sector of govt. will be of major concern to the exchequor for years to come.
I would welcome Sir Keir's input on how the country squares this circle, rather than his constant sniping at any and every action the govt take.