Random political stuff - old news, or not news

[icowden]

I know it's a real stretch for many (and I'm sorry it is for you), but if the sector overall can continue without a dramatic decline in pupil numbers despite a 20% increase in fees on top of the significant increases the schools themselves have imposed, then, as I say, it's not a strong overall argument for the removal of VAT. As PP says, intakes this September will be a better indicator as to the impact on how parents view affordability.

Yes, there are huge concerns about new intake. Those with kids at the school are just making further sacrifices (at the not being massively rich end of the spectrum). No one wants to move their child's school if they are doing GCSE or A-Levels, so that's years 9 to 11 being pretty static.

You might be aware that I worked in a private school for 24 years, albeit one that has relatively low fees in comparison with much of the sector, so I'm not coming at this vindictively.

Oh I know.

 

[briantrumpet]

Well, I suppose it would be too much to ask for an apology for the part the Telegraph has played in this, but it's a start.

 

[First Aspect]

Well, I suppose it would be too much to ask for an apology for the part the Telegraph has played in this, but it's a start.

View attachment 16838

It's what several on here have been saying for a few years. We need balance in UK politics, not the playground politics of the current right.

 

[briantrumpet]

It's what several on here have been saying for a few years. We need balance in UK politics, not the playground politics of the current right.

And we were saying on 'there' as well. Wanting weak opposition is not the way to test proposed policies or to have well-functioning politics. It's why it troubled me that both the Tory Party and The Telegraph lost their minds over Brexit and Johnson, but under Corbyn there wasn't a serious opposition. The same is true now, with Tories having tried to match the craziness of Reform & Restore, and untethered themselves from serious, principled argument on verifiable data. It's all about the memes, and that's it.

 

[Ian H]

Conservatism is just a dwindling sub-section of right-wing politics. Its aim is merely the quiet conservation of privilege.

 

[The Crofted Crest]

Nah, conservatism is being an apologist for the status quo.

 

[Ian H]

Nah, conservatism is being an apologist for the status quo.

I'm not sure we're disagreeing here.

...Its aim is merely the quiet conservation of privilege.

 

[Ian H]

John Prescott was a decent sort.
It’s peak ‘silly season’ when there is limited news (what there is, is rather serious) and the media look for diversions.

Reform have been doing their best with Richard Tice opining that there is nothing that can be done about climate change and so we should all enjoy the heat, along with the drought, food shortages etc.

However the late John Prescott remains the benchmark for a peak silly season story

In August 1997, the first summer of the newly elected Labour Government, PM Blair was away, and Deputy PM John Prescott was in charge. On 17th August 1997 Prescott was by the Thames launching a new environmental initiative. He was pictured addressing a Chinese crab in a jar. He named it Peter (Mandelson) and pondered if it would claw its way on to the Labour NEC.
https://kmflett.blog/2026/08/21/pea...john-prescott-in-1997-is-still-the-benchmark/

 

[briantrumpet]

I still wonder how/why that happened: did the risks to children really get that much greater, did parents get much more protective/worried, or was it something else?

https://www.edinburghinquirer.co.uk/p/even-the-worlds-worst-cycle-lane

 

[Pblakeney]

I still wonder how/why that happened: did the risks to children really get that much greater, did parents get much more protective/worried, or was it something else?

View attachment 16926
https://www.edinburghinquirer.co.uk/p/even-the-worlds-worst-cycle-lane

Maybe just my perception but there seemed to be more smaller local schools. Now they are centralised and larger with longer travelling distances. That, and we as a population have gotten far lazier.

 

[briantrumpet]

Maybe just my perception but there seemed to be more smaller local schools. Now they are centralised and larger with longer travelling distances. That, and we as a population have gotten far lazier.

The linked article does go on to explain stuff too about why. There's an irony that the bigger SUVs that parent use to keep their children safe are actually much more lethal for children outside the SUVs. Essentially most of the world decided that the car was the answer to all problems, whereas the deaths of children on Dutch roads in the 1970s led to the polar opposite answer. In effect, the rest of the world mirrored the US mindset on guns: that the answer to too many people being killed is to promote the very things that are killing people as the solution.

 

[First Aspect]

Maybe just my perception but there seemed to be more smaller local schools. Now they are centralised and larger with longer travelling distances. That, and we as a population have gotten far lazier.

There are a lot of studies about risk perception versus actual risk. In this context I am fairly sure the risk to children isn't higher, but the perception is fuelled by access to more "news" that makes it feel riskier. I'd be curious to know whether the risk of being injured being driven, or exiting a car in the school run melee is actually higher.

 

[AuroraSaab]

It's a few factors I think. People working further from home, more 2 car families, means lots of parents drop kids off by car on the way to work now rather than walk them there then get their own bus to local work. Plus the general perception that kids are less safe on the streets generally means a reluctance to let them walk to/from school. In my experience, the kids often want to walk but the parents prefer to drive them.

 

[icowden]

Increase in media reporting of "dangers" make the world seem more dangerous. The more information we have from the whole country the more dangerous it seems.

A dog attacks a human and suddenly there are news stories of it happening every week.

News used to be something that dad read in the paper of a morning or by watching the BBC at 6 PM. You got a few national stories and a few local ones. That was it

Now, if someone posts a video of the cat in the hat apparently set in Northern Ireland it becomes a national concern overnight

 

[AndyRM]

Increase in media reporting of "dangers" make the world seem more dangerous. The more information we have from the whole country the more dangerous it seems.

A dog attacks a human and suddenly there are news stories of it happening every week.

News used to be something that dad read in the paper of a morning or by watching the BBC at 6 PM. You got a few national stories and a few local ones. That was it

Now, if someone posts a video of the cat in the hat apparently set in Northern Ireland it becomes a national concern overnight

I saw a headline about the Cat in the Hat thing. WTF?