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.

M4.

No real offence meant to you, but you are a big girl.

I was teasing you, but mainly others.

But I do tend to see the use of "boarding schools" as analogous to what I posted.

Also, I see that there is a necessity for such institutions, for reasons other than just a social convenience.

fred - how unlike you to be simplistic! .....
1) how much boarded up local housing is there?
an awful lot and perhaps you can tell us exactly how much

2) most (i think) new housing development comes with an insistence that there is a stipulated % of so-called starter homes

3) how much derelict housing is there that could be refurbished an awful lot cheaper than building on greenbelt?

4) am i not correct in thinking that there are now a number of schemes that allow people to acquire such properties on very generous terms on the precondition that they refurbish the house

5) landlords are not necessarily greedy with the rental they charge, and assuredly that rental level is dictated by the market

6) if you are a landlord and charging say £500 pm for your house - cheap by southern standards - you may get £750-1000 deposit against tenant default and damage. How much damage gets covered by even £1000? .... virtually none ..... being a landlord is not strawberries and champagne and in fact is often considerably less than a pie and a pint

I am looking to buy old council flats will buy two in a block
then i am going to put the new migrants in them and will drive out some tennants
and will get the rest cheaper .
going to start my buying in hereford that is were the cheap labour is wanted
should be good for rents 5 or 6 to a flat

Schooling.

If subsequent governments would leave education alone and for the changes already made to settle down, then education may improve.

The constant policies and goal changes have handcuffed and demoralised the teaching profession.

There should be a simplified National curriculum to be attained to by children, which teaching staff should operate within, but allows them to vary their teaching according to the "needs" f children in their care.

They are a profession and should be respected for that.

Some people are celebrating !!! Cameron should wake up.

fred - almost as an aside, ask your local school how easy (hahaha!) it is to get rid of bad teachers

Cynic,

You are again appearing deliberately obtuse.

1) DYOH. But question why it is boarded up. (May be the impending end to a bubble which hasn’t its final prick.

2) Check how many “starter” homes are being built and the cost and availability of those “mortgages”.

3) Agree, there are possibilities for this, but I believe projects in the north of the country similar to your suggestion have come to a halt. (Many, householders stuck in demoralise dilapidated areas.)

4) and 5) Her royal highness would say market for
ces are at work. This exposes one of problems with application of “pure” market forces.


You may be a little brighter than some and “know how” to survive in the market place, but there are many honest, hard working individuals who have contributed and still contribute to the overall wealth of the country who do not have your skills. Their needs should be considered not abused.
-------------

"All,

obviously an emotive subject from whichever side of the fence you sit on."

Ian a little story,

If you sit either side of the fence you could well end up with a damp or very cold bum, I once tried sitting "on" the fence but found it not to my liking.. Bit like being middle of the road, didn't exactly go a bundle on that either as I got knocked down twice.. in one day!

So stood on my own to feet in the end.. and got done for jay walking!

The moral of this story is never ever vote for the "Con" party as you will always sooner or later regret it

.. Cynic get back to work you skiveing employer.

fred .... i think you've got your numbering wrong in places .....
#1 many of these properties have been boarded up for years ..... i am almost certain that a heavy % belong to the council who, for for one reason or another, choose not to refurbish them ..... those that are in private hands could probably fall under CPOs if the will was there

#2 did i not say "so-called"? ...... i thoroughly agree, and the paucity of mortgages for anyone is a real nightmare .... however, i now see the (re)emergence of the building companies offering mortgages ..... what sort of deal attaches, i have no idea

#3+4 i think that numbering is correct ...... areas can quickly go up in the world ...... for example, All Saints Road and the surrounding area (near Portobello in London) was even a no-go area for the police in the late 70s; there is still a lot of council housing around there, but the area is now "very desirable" ..... going back to the late 60s, the area around Shepherdess Walk (E1 i think) was tatty in the extreme, with houses on the canal lying derelict for years and years; you would now have to be very wealthy to buy one of those

#5+6 so if you don't like "market forces" dictating, what do you suggest?

If the teacher is being deliberately "bad", then they should removed. If failing because lack of training, retrained and monitored.

If there is a problem it should be evaluated by and "informed" body and addressed appropriately.

----------

But teaching a classroom of developing delinquents has no appeal.

I feel sorry for some who tried to teach me and couldn't understand I had little or no interest in the arts or languages, but only fascinated by the sciences.

I was dyslexic and could understand and recall the syntax and semantics of science, necessary for science but not put a sentence together for answering an “arts” question.

(Some of this probably due to indifference and hard to get over.)

Moderation of responses to difficult situations.

Rather than rushing one's fences chasing foxes on borrowed horses.

fred - my wife was a school governor .... believe me, getting rid of poor quality teachers is incredibly difficult ..... and yes, i know plenty about dyslexia; one of the best things we ever did was to put all 3 of our children through a proper typing course; that sorted out a lot of the associated problems

chasing foxes is far too elitist for me ..... surprised you know about such things .... or were you a stern-handed whipper-in :-)

Driver you say,
What you are missing is that their Rent has to come out of the cap some high rents in Tory owned properties are so high the clamant could be left with nothing.

I am not missing that fact at all!

So its OK for those on benifit to live in properties that some in work can not afford.

Just one example was where a family of 2 adults and 15 children were given a home consisting of 2 massive houses knocked into one because they said their council house was too small and there are many more of the same ilk.

If child allowance stopped after the second child, I bet they would not have had so many kids.

In my past proffesion I came against numerous families of the don't work, won't work brigade and I don't mind admitting, I became and still am angry at the system.

Unless the system changes such behaviour will continue.


I know what would make tax payers think more about those who won't work, dozens of kids on benifits, illeal immigrants and the like.

Why not have a system where instead of PAYE going to the tax office, just work out how much equivalent benifit goes to your nearest scrounger and take it straight round to them on pay day.
Simples, and just think of that glow it would give to the giver as he/she starts the next working week thinking of how their hard earned money is allowing the recipients to lounge around all day, with their free fags and beer!

"If child allowance stopped after the second child, I bet they would not have had so many kids." You said that twice G/M -):

Thanks Stan,

Post edited.
Just goes to show how embittered I have become.

Cynic,

Probably, cheaper to buy them a computer with a screen and a spelling checker, or my wife, who writes my letters. (Not so sure about that.) Actually, one daughter out of my four had/has dyslexia and I met the headmaster and told him it was probably inherited problem and that she wasn't lazy and would come good.

She now has a PhD in marine biology and a MA, in Bioinformatics mainly based on programming and data base analysis. She often appears as bloody minded as he mother. 8-)

But part of the problem with dyslexia seems to me is how one associates and processes information.

Strange old world.

one aspect of housing benefit puzzles me, so perhaps someone will explain the logic ......

not so long ago, the benefit was paid direct to the landlord - he was then secure in the knowledge that at least that portion would be forthcoming

now, that benefit goes to the claimant who is of course then meant to pay the landlord .... hmm! thinks the landlord, not sure i like this idea as it's far too risky

as a result, you will see more and more letting notices stating that those on benefit need not apply

fred - dyslexia covers a wide spectrum of learning difficulties - just as does autism ..... unfortunately, dyslexia is now "fashionable" for all sorts of reasons, and it will suit many parents and teachers if the child is so labelled ..... heaven forfend of course that the child may just be thick!

Up the wages and conditions then so the need for benefits will be less.