Thought Id start this one going because its rather dead on this board at the moment and I suppose all my usual muckers are either at the Stella tennis event watching Dim Tim (lose again) or at Henly Regatta eating cucumber sandwiches (they wish,...NOT).

Anyway please feel free to just talk to yourself blast away and let it go on any company or subject you wish. Just wish Id thought of this one before.

cheers GF.

Hays,

You are spouting more blinkered rubbish again.

Sinner,

Wilson was very interesting period and I well remember "pound in your pocket".

Very useful for me at the time, when I saw the opportunity of borrowing against devaluation over the coming few years.

He was a pragmatist, and managed to balance the divisions within the Labour party and maintain control and its general direction.

Also, important for Open University which gave many a second chance of an education.

(Hays seems to have squandered his opportunity.)

Also, as important got the country's backing for it to become a member of the EEC. after the failures of the Cons to do so. He gave a choice, while Hay's Dear Leader flies under opposite flags and exposes his confusion and appeases nobody.




May be interested in but difficult for those with limited concentration!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-21462012

gf
I didn't go to a private school. It is just that I approve of them. As I said above money still buys better schooling by buying a house near the best schools. You can't stop that. It is exactly the same as paying for private education. The school across the road from me is one of the best schools in the country and it is a state school. The 600 yards catchment area is full of rich people who have bought houses in the adjacent streets to get their kids in the school. It is a better deal than paying for education as you get the increase in value of your investment.


The net result is that the school is just full of rich parents. They are parents who treat education seriously and consequentially the school gets outstanding results. In reality that sort of system is far worse than people paying for private education. The consequence is that anyone outside the 600 yard boundary has to travel quite a way to a number of very poor schools. The ablest pupils are denied entrance to this school because it is already full of people paying £1m plus for their house and guaranteed entry to the school.


How is that better than people paying for private education?

gf

'Working Class' seems to be some sort of badge that you admire. It implies a set of people who cannot afford another badge. Most of them would get another badge at the first chance. All this 'salt of the earth' crap is yet another myth. Given the chance to change their circumstances, most you never look back.

GF - 2172 - and why do you think that being respectable (sic!!) to friends and neighbours was (sure as hell not the case now) was solely the prerogative of the working classes?

and Hays is right, that there is now (has been for the last 20 years) inverse snobbery in claiming to have paupie parents and flat vowels, and well brought-up middle class children being made to feel guilty about their so-called bourgeois background

i don't and didn't! ..... of course this inverse snobbery rubbish is exactly that ..... go back in history, and it is full of children, especially girls, from poor backgrounds who did their very best to climb the social ladder - and why not indeed?

=============

Hays on education ..... to follow up on that ..... we cannot afford to give my grandchildren the choice of private education, so my son and d-in-law bought a house in the right catchment area and feel obliged to have their half-jewish children baptised so they stand a far better chance of being accepted by the local, high-quality catholic school.

There are many, who although satisfied with the improvements in their own circumstances wish to enable others to obtain the same, or better, rather than simply hoarding for themselves and boasting about it.

That "betterment" was one of the drives of education and for many involved in it.

"Hays on education ..... to follow up on that ..... we cannot afford to give my grandchildren the choice of private education, so my son and d-in-law bought a house in the right catchment area and feel obliged to have their half-jewish children baptised so they stand a far better chance of being accepted by the local, high-quality catholic school."

UMMMHH,

I suppose that is standing up for what you believe in!

When the new 50p coin was introduced it was known as a
'Wilson'. -Seven sided and two faced.

Cyners,

I'm not saying that your son and daughter-in-law are wrong in wanting the best for their children but, from personal experience, the problem with relocating to what is supposedly the best school catchment area is that every chav within a 10-mile radius does exactly the same thing. You'll undoubtedly find that your grandchildren then end up mixing with a load of undesirables whose parents are ractas'. That can be far more damaging long term.

It's far better imo to position yourself for entry to a selective school which admits from a far bigger radius and where the dumbos don't get through the front gate, than to go for the 'best' school within any particular borough which admits from within the closest 1/2 mile.

hils - i don't care what the mix of children is like in the school .... you choose to miss the point .... actually, son+d-in-law didn't re-locate; they just took care when they married in choosing their house location in the first place

fred - we have never been practicing jews, though both sets of grandparents were highly regarded in the jewish community .... nevertheless, we would never (i hope) deny being jewish; d-in-law's family are catholic ..... thus, to have their children baptised to circumvent the schools' (there's more than one!) discreet quota system was pragmatic .... for that matter, my own (private!) school was originally for the sons of clergy and attending chapel mandatory

Hilary

The school near me that entry is by buying an expensive house is not full of chavs. It is full of champagne socialists who vote Labour and a few vote Lib. The parents are largely professional people with a large number of the chattering classes. There are some media personalities who often complain about private education. Their views don't seem to stop them from buying a local house in excess of £3m to get into the school. Double standards once again.


Don't forget that many Labour MPs went to private schools. Ed Balls, Tony Blair went to public schools.

One of my sons is at Uni. He has joined the cricket club. Every single member went to a private school. He has just signed the contract for renting a large detached house with 1/2 acre and 7 beds for the next 2 years. The other 6 students are all members of the cricket club.

Funny how sport at the highest level in the UK is dominated by the products of private schools.

hays - that can't possibly be true! .... professional football is the obvious; ones who have been to uni like cyril knowles are few and far between, and i'm afraid not too many make a decent fist of their lives once they retire

gf
You seem to be one of the sub species of the woking class. That particular variety is the one burdened by the massive chip on their shoulder. I came from a working class background and I recognise the chip on shoulder mentality in some of my relatives.

cynic
Plenty went to private schools though. Frank Lampard has all A* including Latin. They certainly send their kids to private schools.

Hays,

Stop chattering and mimicking your betters, it will not earn you any favours!

Looks like Oscar Pistorius is going to be granted bail.

Hays,

You must visit your optician sometime as your tinted glasses have developed cracks in the lenses.

Look and the man's game and see how many players are as you stated.

Manufacturing false statements once again comes to mind.

Pistorius - whether he is granted bail or not, it is murder. If it was pre-meditated or not, it's still murder. The gun culture in South Africa sounds almost as bad as in the USA.

Bail given at £20,00 until June

shut up fred :-) ..... btw, sure "the man's game" is rugby league!

hays - quite rightly, prof footballers have aspirations for their children, and perceive that private education will help them along the way - not necessarily true as it happens .....

for fred and his ilk to get all huffy-puffy about such things is humbug ..... the world isn't and never has been or will be "fair", which is why this present school culture that no one is allowed to fail, whether in exams or sport is nothing more than pandering to the utopians ..... that does not mean to say that "society" should not try to up-grade education systems etc to give everyone a better chance in life - should they choose to take it - whereas the current trend is dumb down ..... that is why unis are now full of the unmerited studying (perhaps a misnomer) for worthless degrees with which they haven't a hope in hell of finding a decent job

doodlebug - agreed, but it was a racing certainty that he would get bail.