Youngstu

Definitely a good plan with making that decision regarding the troll. I don't really see why he hasn't received a permanent ban for his persistent abuse directed towards other members of the forum. It would certainly be a much nicer place without the abuse and belittling comments that come from his direction. Undoubtedly he can make constructive contributions in several areas of the forum, but can't help himself from showing his true colours on a regular basis. Despite mental health awareness being greatly improved in recent years and their being a greater degree of acceptance and reduced stigmatisation of those who have mental health conditions, there are still plenty around who see no issue with throwing insults at those who are suffering with things that they don't have any understanding of. Through one aspect of my work I've come across several people in a similar situation to your nephew and it is heartbreaking for all of those around them to have them succumb to such a serious lifelong condition. Unfortunately due to the prevalence of home produced high strength cannabis strains, compared to what was in regular use 20+ years ago, this problem seems to be increasing greatly, as these highly psychoactive strains are being accessed by users from a young age when they are potentially most vulnerable to the negative effects. Despite having it pointed out to him previously by several, he seems unwilling to see that issues around excessive drug and alcohol use are far more complicated than people just being pissheads or junkies.

So you were making a deliberately vicious comment directed towards another member of the forum and their family then, without any real provocation! Just as I thought.

Ah yes, sorry I forgot that you'd including a winky faced emoji that showed everyone that you weren't really being a ....

So you manage to make some reasonably acceptable points with only a few digs about the people in society that you don't like, well done! Then you feel the need to finish off with a final, completely unwarranted barbed comment, directed towards another forum member and their family. What the hell is wrong with you?

Depending on where you live and whether your family likes to be able to walk your dogs off the lead where other dogs are walked it would seem to be bordering on irresponsible not to have your male dog neutered unless you're intending to breed from him. I have friends who have had to divide off their houses as they've insisted on keeping both the male and female siblings un-neutered as they might want to breed them sometime. It's obviously much worse if the bitch is in season but the male can be a pain at other times too. Other dog owners with young female dogs that haven't been spayed also have to deal with your big randy male dog and his urges. We have a female cocker and before she was spayed on the beach had to lift her up out of the way of much bigger out of control male dogs who were somewhat persistent with their desires! Depending on your house and garden situation you could also end up with an escape artist if there's a whiff of a bitch in season in the neighbourhood!

In Australia I was told it means "West of Gaza" and is (or was 20 years ago!) widely used to refer to people who originated from the Mediterranean, including Italians, former Yugoslavia, Turkey etc. Not necessarily used or taken as an insult, although not always easy to to be 100% sure with the Aussies!

Lovely. Nice to see that Colonialism is still alive and kicking. They should think themselves bloody lucky that the glorious British went over there and helped themselves to their resources, after all they helped build some lovely roads, railways and good old colonial style buildings. Then they had the bloody cheek to want their own land back after the Brits had rolled their sleeves up and done all that hard work!

So sorry Andy, I must be completely misinterpreting what you're saying. Now I see that when you're challenging someone to "say that to my face" (or similar) it isn't really meant to come across as threatening, or intimidating, or as I previously thought challenging them to a fight if they say the same thing in person to your face. From this statement I clearly see that all you're really saying is that you'd like to have a longer discussion about the topic in person as you really feel that the points could be better conveyed by both parties in a verbal discussion in person, as opposed to on a forum such as this. When you've asked them to suggest a time and place (or words to similar effect), you're at that point extremely passionate about arranging the meet up for a longer discussion. Sorry again for misinterpreting your words and making defamatory statements about your intentions without any real evidence that could be submitted in a court of law!😜

It does seem pretty consistent that you get involved in a row about something (often start the row as well if we're honest about it!), get increasingly wound up/insulting to the other person, then if you're still not winning, offer to meet them outside/down South/ wherever for a fight if they're happy to "say the same things to your face".

Seems a bit like this in here sometimes!

It was at the time that pension age was increased, maybe aligned with private sector, not really sure but the point is that the conditions of employment, benefits etc were changed for those already employed and changed significantly for those who were within sight of retirement who all of a sudden were no longer in that position and had another 5-8 years added onto their working life in that career (not to mention changes to how pensions were calculated) Definitely in the minority but more about his views and opinions which are very much of a traditional type as opposed to modern and progressive, embracing many of the things of the world that we currently live in. Why are teacher's working conditions and challenging unjustified changes to them classed as political just because the politicians make the decisions? It's not necessarily about fighting the politicians because of what colour their ties are, bt about fighting what they're being asked to do. So when other work places have to socially distance to help prevent widespread infection schools and teachers are magically immuned to this issue? It may not be unusual to do so but presumably the contracts in place and remuneration in those jobs make it an acceptable thing to ask and do. When you say that overtime is included in the salary, does that mean you just have to do it whatever or you're paid for overtime you may or may not have to do? You have made quite a big deal about how much you are paid for the job that you do (for the not many days a year you do it), presumably the levels of pay being received make this kind of expectation acceptable to employees, unions etc. Considering how well your daughters have done in the current education system their heel dragging teachers can't have done that bad of a job up until now. Unfortunately that last statement shows the kind of attitude from parents that is one of the contributing factors that leads to increased levels of stress for teachers, which leads to increased absence, kids being taught by cover supervisors/supply teachers and ultimately the loss of experienced teachers from the profession. Maybe rather than taking those negative articles as the basis of your opinions of teachers you could try and see that the vast majority are doing the best that they can in the circumstances that they find themselves in. It's not perfect but for many, if not most pupils it's ok... all things considered.

I really don't think that I am trying to downplay the role of the unions. Yes some of them are definitely up for a scrap with the tories at any given opportunity but they really don't have the influence that they used to. As I said previously they had little to no effect on preventing the incoming academies etc rewriting contracts, conditions of service, pay gradings etc. As such many teachers pay them little heed. I don't think my house is unusual in seeing any union correspondence heading directly from the letterbox to the recycling box. But as they still receive their dues they clearly have to be seen to be doing something. When there have been union imposed strikes in schools it's certainly not been the case of teachers following their union directives, either for financial reasons or because they don't want their students to miss out on their education. However I would have thought that it's absolutely right that they are fighting for the teachers to maintain their working conditions as they signed up to them. Back when there was a big reform maybe 10 years ago they changed the retirement age and having taught for about 8 years my wife all of a sudden had the same number of years until her retirement age as she'd had when she'd started. I hadn't hear of Chris McGovern, but having looked him up and his Campaign for Real Education. There are some aspects that I can agree with like greatly increasing the value of teachers in our society, which would potentially draw in more highly qualified graduates, but much of what he says and campaigns for wouldn't look out of place in the Daily Mail. Why did the mature and in particular male teachers choose to leave? Blair was definitely not loved by most left leaning teachers (being seen as a red Tory), although in the Labour years teacher pay went from awful to quite good, but Gove's tenure as education minister sent many more of them packing due to pay, conditions and his decisions regarding changes to the curriculum away from that advised by experts to what worked well for him. It certainly sounds like the unions provide you with fantastic protection for your job, pay, conditions etc! You may be right that those working in the public sector are often in a better position in a number of ways but surely that's no reason for them not to receive a similar degree of protection from those at the top making decisions (especially when those decisions are often political rather than in the best interest of the customer/staff/end user or in this case children). It's far from ideal I'll agree for our children to be in the situation that they are now, but the children of the key workers and those considered to be vulnerable (and a lot can fit into that category) are in school (along with a lot of teachers). There are tens of thousands of teachers spending huge amounts of time doing everything they can to provide the children who are at home with as good an education as they can in the most difficult of circumstances, desperate to get back to face to face teaching. I think claiming that they are using children as human shields is very misleading, if anybody is being used in that way it would be the vulnerable staff members or the vulnerable parents/grandparents of the children. They are the reasons that the schools are closed, they are the ones being protected from Covid, not the children at school.

Yes, most teachers are on the left of politics, but not really surprising considering that most work in the state sector and considering their levels of training and qualifications they are not earning as much as they could do if they had a more capitalist approach to life. If you've seen what tory governments have done to the education system, working conditions, expectations etc over the years you'd understand why they despise the Tories. The impact that Gove's "I know best" policies had on the morale of the teaching population, the numbers leaving the sector and the general feelings about their jobs was devastating, greatly increasing schools' reliance on younger, inexperienced newly qualified teachers as many more experienced ones (not retirement age) just walked. Having seen their real life wages tumble over the last 10 years due to below inflation pay rises has further exacerbated these problems. There are multiple unions all with different agendas and viewpoints and they rarely coincide unless it's for something that they see as particularly important for their members and there is a need to join forces. Is it not right that there is someone there to stand up for the workers (and children) when the government policies appear to be plucked out of thin air with regards to who is protected and how when they make sure they are trying to stick to an arbitrary promise and date? Undoubtedly some of those playing greater roles in the unions themselves and taking on the "shop steward" type roles in schools are the more militant types and up for a row at any given opportunity!! The members do have votes on some policies but many have little or nothing to do with them and ignore the union directives regarding strikes etc as they view the children's needs as more important than their own and treat their union membership as more of an insurance policy than anything else in case something goes wrong. At times Unions have undoubtedly caused excessive problems in certain industries but surely they do have an important role, particularly in this type of industry being discussed as there are huge numbers of employees with managers with widely differing agendas, being dictated to by government policy drawn up often by those with no expertise whatsoever in the sector, other than having gone to school! Do unions play a role in the oil sector? Protecting working conditions, pay etc or being largely private do they not get involved?

Wow! I didn't comment on your points about the union's for no particular reason, but as you asked so nicely😉.... My wife and her colleagues have little or nothing to do with them as there is basically no union presence in her school and most of the schools in the local area. This is quite a common situation these days in smaller schools and the whole MAT/ academy thing sticks two fingers up to them anyway which is a bad thing with regards to working conditions etc in my opinion. I do know however that in November and January when everything else was being shut other than schools, everyone else being told to work from home, socially distance etc and my wife and her colleagues were being told to go into small classrooms packed with 30+ 16 year olds. The general feeling/ impression given was that their health and vulnerability was worth sacrificing for the child minding services they provide. That's not to say that they wanted to not be in school, more that their health etc was worth the sacrifice in the view of those making the rules. The teaching profession has a lot of martyrs who would sacrifice everything for their students. School managements know this, gov knows this so they can get away with a lot more than they should. You could argue that this was the right point for the union's to step in which is what they did. I'm sure that whether you like or believe in what's happening ( which I know you don't), it makes no sense to say that society has to socially distance other than schools and teachers as they're magically immuned to transmission. My wife and her colleagues want to get back in as soon as possible for the good of their students, particularly those in critical years, but from my point of view I hope they're offered the vaccine as a priority group before it's decided that they should stop the whole isolation ahead of other industries and the rest of society.

Having two kids (not) at school, one at primary and one at secondary I'm very well aware of what the home schooling system is like at the minute and having to spend half of the week helping them with their work to make sure that they do their best when I could be earning money or getting on top of work that has been missed over the last year, I'm quite clear about what's happening in a couple of schools at least. It's not ideal by any stretch of the imagination, but the students do have the opportunity to succeed and progress if they and their parents have the facilities, technology and ability to help them. The lack of social opportunities for those at home is rubbish but most schools now offer at least some zoom type sessions, some for all their lessons, some for some and some like my eldest's school for a tutor period once a week which he really enjoys (but wouldn't want all of his lessons like that like some other local schools are doing. Exams have been a tried and tested method, yes one that successive governments feel the need to fiddle with, adjust and completely change on a regular basis, including coursework, not including it, including more or if and recently getting rid of it entirely. Arguably they are also grossly unfair for a lot of students who are judged entirely on their exam grades but excel in other areas of life but either struggle with the pressure of exams or struggle to display their abilities in those kinds of situations. The end of course exam based system also greatly favours children from stable families with the neccessary technology and space for them to study intensively at the end of their courses. (greatly favouring wealthier families, helping further widen the gap between the haves and have nots). Having a wife who is a teacher and several friends doing the same in different schools I do know hw they've been acting over these months, seeing the toll that is has taken on them, where they have more work that they would normally with few, if any of the positives that they would have when working in school. Having to learn entirely new ways of teaching and getting the information to the children, adapting it for those that can't access it, spending much of the day fielding problems from the children, setting work, assessing work is only the start of it. Then they're having to deal with unannounced changes from up on high, responding to a barrage of emails from children, parents and colleagues then having to deal with assorted parents who very kindly suggest that they do things in different ways because they think it would work best, or because they have a friend whose child is at a school where they do it like this and think it would be a better option for little Johnny. Regarding teacher's judgement and assessment of student's progress and abilities, for whatever reason you seem to think that they'll just pluck a grade out of the air depending on whether they like someone or not. From the teachers that I know and the systems that I have some understanding of I can assure you that wouldn't be the case, or even be possible as they have to present swathes of data and evidence to justify the decisions that they made (which were thrown up in the air when last summer the government decided to use an algorithm that took no account of the judgement that these professionals had made). Where children of front line workers (and those children classed as vulnerable) they are often in much smaller classes as would be expected where social distancing is supposed to being observed to a degree. However particularly in the case of secondary schools it is essentially babysitting with the kids sat in front of computers doing the same work as the kids at home, maybe with the added bonus of a daily PE lesson. For primary kids they are in classes interacting with one another which is great, although for many of the teachers they're trying to deal with those in front of them and the ones at home and still setting and delivering work for both lots. For most teachers this seems to have been the worst/hardest/most harrowing term ever with the sheer levels of work and lack of positives they've had to cope with. You've obviously got some clever and driven offspring there who have done amazingly to get where they are and until there is a complete system change regarding private education anybody coming from the state sector trying to get to top universities or study courses such as medicine will always be having to be extra good to even get an interview, let alone get a place. Until they change the whole application/interview process it will be dominated by the same sort of people. It has been improving but not fast enough.

It is really hard for teenagers doing their exams last year and this year, but teacher assessment is likely to play a massive part, so if someone is really capable of getting into medical school and would be expected to get those grades they could well be in s better position than in a normal year where everything hinges on the final exams and if they don't get the grades... tough luck. These years there may well be a bit more leniency in the system. Without dismissing the serious effects of the current situation on your daughter and other people in similar situations, the next 7+ years of medical training would be bloody tough too if the stories about being a trainee doctor and junior doctor are true!

I agree, it's rubbish for many people. Rubbish for isolated people considered to be vulnerable, rubbish for kids who should be in school, rubbish for adults who should be working with others, rubbish for teachers trying their best to teach online, rubbish for parents trying to hold onto their jobs whilst helping their kids with school work, rubbish for people who've lost their jobs or their businesses have failed, rubbish for students whose very expensive education has been nothing like they expected, rubbish for those trying to start their careers. Mental health is a massive issue, it was before and will be worse once this is finally over. When will enough be enough? I hope their won't be many if any more restrictions on our lives, I hope the roll out of the vaccine will reduce spread and allow things to open up again soon-ish. I hope my kids can go back to school soon for them, their teachers and the parents and I can get more work done rather than turning down work as I have to be there to help them half the week. But I won't be protesting, demanding the end to these restrictions if the scientific community generally feels it's the correct course of action. Personally I couldn't give a toss if we have to have so called vaccine passports to travel or use certain facilities, the government and whoever else have my details in numerous other ways and I'm keen to have it ASAP. I'm not scared of getting Covid but I'd rather not run the risk of having prolonged symptoms if I can avoid it. I don't have any elderly relatives that I see regularly, my in-laws have isolated themselves for a while now and my dad lives in Guernsey so despite him falling off a ladder and spending months in hospital I haven't seen him for over a year and they've had a lovely time due to very strict quarantine measures up until 3 weeks ago, now they're in the same boat as us except track and trace seems to be working and they may get on top of their outbreak again.

Considering your post count on this and similar threads, complaining and arguing relentlessly about the same things over and over, I can only assume that you are making this statement with your tongue firmly lodged in your cheek. Just for clarity, having had to shut down my own business for 6 months last year, I have absolute sympathy for you and others whose livelihoods have been destroyed as a result of what has happened over the last year, but I do still think that appropriately timed lockdowns were and are a necessary measure in reducing the spread of this and potentially other pandemics.

And in contrast for the last however many months you've gone on and on about how you hate lockdown, masks etc etc and attacked anyone who can be bothered to disagree with your point of view despite the likelihood of receiving a barrage of derogatory comments in response. I am very willing to criticise the government and their policies when I disagree with them or think they've made difficult decisions at the wrong time. I'm happy to say if I think they've done the right thing (like managing to get their hands on sufficient vaccine stocks for our population, although I don't think this makes up for the cockups in any way). When we're in the midst of a third lockdown, arguably each one instigated weeks later than they should have been (according to many scientists) it is surely understandable that criticisms are made. I agree that there are many other factors affecting the death rates, but if Boris & co had made those difficult decisions earlier each time maybe they wouldn't have had to last as long or resulted in so many hospitalisations or deaths. Maybe if they'd prioritised track and trace, closed borders in Feb/March last year or this year the waves may have been smaller. They didn't do those things, we can't turn back the clock but a lot of people have died and lost loved ones unnecessarily early as a result of these delayed decisions. What would you have done to try and reduce the impact of the pandemic on the population of the UK?

Yes you would be absolutely right to lay the blame at the 4 devolved powers but with those totals being: 101,311 for England 1,957 for NI 6,551 for Scotland 5,032 for Wales One Country in the UK seems to have done much worse (or suffered worst) from the year of delays, ditherings and general cock ups. My point was that no amount of great work in getting and dishing out the vaccine better than other countries makes up for the cock ups that have led to us having one of the highest death rates in the world.

To use an imperfect analogy, they're doing well like an oil company that buys some safer ships and cleans up some seabirds and the oil that washed up onto the beach after their tanker spilled millions of gallons of oil off the coast ! Hooray we might see the end of the pandemic before some other countries, unfortunately their delays and repeated incompetence and mishandling have resulted in 100000+ deaths...

Just a thought... Are the grooved patches evenly spaced? It's probably not this, as the wheels on the carriage are quite small, but are they true or for some reason out of line / one off the track in certain places? Or, alternatively are these patches appearing in the same places relative to the track? Could there be a slight wobble in the support beam in certain places when the weight of the sawhead is there?

When it comes to it, this was your response to Cropper's explanation of how his wife suffered and continues to suffer with the after effects of having Covid: "I keep hearing these examples on this Forum of this fit one and that healthy one who had it and are still floored by it etc etc , whilst I’m not deriding people’s own experience or saying this is not the case this is most certainly not my experience or the experience of those who have had it that I know. There are some on here claiming to know literally dozens of people whom have had the virus and it’s invariably a horror story. Big J quotes confirmed statistics. The symptomatic people I know young and old described either very little or moderate to bad Flu like symptoms 🤷‍♂️🤷‍♂️I’m no Doctor or expert but this rollercoaster of lockdowns is helping no one in any way shape or form. " Despite saying "whilst I’m not deriding people’s own experience or saying this is not the case" What followed looked as if you were saying "but i don't believe you and it sounds like it's all made up because it's not what I've seen or heard first hand from people that I know." You then went on to tell say that lockdowns aren''t helping despite someone having seen first hand the serious negative effects of Covid in his wife which may be prevented in other people through the use of the lockdown policies. Unfortunately this row that has now gone on for 10 pages because you said something that came across (most likely unintentionally) as dismissing another's traumatic personal experiences as unimportant in the greater scheme of things, then you got offended by his response. What it really needs is for both of you to sit down in a room with a teacher (socially distanced of course and probably wearing masks!), explain what has upset you about the other's behaviour, say sorry for upsetting each other and shake hands nicely without trying to break each other's knuckles (after using hand sanitiser or washing with soap for 20 seconds!)😜

Well.... when the chips are down...

Let's just hope that nobody on here had a stake in this hedging job or they could be for the axe.