The Conservative Party

[Ifwecouldjust.......]

Completely the opposite. As one who hit the job market just as Thatchers policies were biting, the one thing I did learn is, if you want to get on , stand on your own two feet and determine your own destiny, don’t rely on others. It has served me well.

Good job you're not disabled ..

 

[Ifwecouldjust.......]

Agreed. Education, education education as Tony Blair once said. If the State Level could get anywhere near to the private level it would be a massive step for social mobility. One can only dream because it will not come from just throwing money at the problem

Just a reminder that the private schools do not use the UK GCSE standard but instead use IGCES which have been acknowledged as easier and allows easier entry into universities as they fail to differentiate. (for a reason obviously)

‘Easier’ exams offered by private schools smooth pupils’ entry to top universities

Russell Group members admit they treat less-rigorous IGCSEs the same as new, harder GCSEs

www.theguardian.com

hopefully you will be able to cope with such a long article.

 

[Phil1]

Halfmist doing his annual ‘I’m considerably richer than you’ posting frenzy I see.
Haha! Bless!

 

[Mr Kobayashi]

Halfmist doing his annual ‘I’m considerably richer than you’ posting frenzy I see.
Haha! Bless!

An embarrassingly tedious ****.

 

[west didsblue]

Your smug self satisfaction makes me puke you ****.

An embarrassingly tedious ****.

You’ve done it now.
He’ll be back whining about lefties being abusive.

 

[metalblue]

It's a nice number, especially this year!

I know reasonably well maybe a dozen of so who fall into the category and a couple who I think qualify as high net worth individuals which is >£25m I think these days before HMRC take a bit of an interest in you?? One is definitely not playing with a full deck and I would say is amoral rather than immoral, another is just a nutter whose made money in security but the others are mostly in that third category. A few of them are state school and are down to earth types but even then come from a reasonably comfortable albeit not posh background, I can think of one from a similar background to halfmist. I once had a boss who was very much in the self-made man category, very bright and sociable and looked like he had everything going for him including family and big network of friends, he was someone who lots of us took as a bit of a mentor but one day out of the blue, he booked into a hotel room and killed himself and it seemed like the pursuit of ever greater wealth might have played a part. A sad sad saluatory situation.

It's a really interesting subject, about 18 months ago I fell into working with some academics one of whom has a specialism in understanding how social capital impacts life chances, some stuff is obvious other bits less so. There's all sorts of factors but education (in the broadest sense) is a key thing which can make a difference, which is why I would love to see it stop being used as a political football. The number and type of Secretaries of State we've got through over the years is farcical.

I’ve perhaps heard the story of your boss or maybe someone else but exactly the same type of situation. The reason being he didn’t think life could ever get any better so went out on a high if you like. Mental health is something that can affect us all.

 

[Mr Kobayashi]

You’ve done it now.
He’ll be back whining about lefties being abusive.

Whilst writing war and peace about how rich and successful he is and boring everyone across the political spectrum.

 

[metalblue]

You see this is the problem with the internet. People start making assumptions when not in possession of the facts. You have absolutely no idea what I do with my money or what type of person I am compared with others.

Don’t think I was singling you out mate was merely saying I like people to be humble. You might well be, I don’t know you from Adam and I don’t really follow your posts that rigorously to have an opinion.

 

[Ifwecouldjust.......]

Halfmist doing his annual ‘I’m considerably richer than you’ posting frenzy I see.
Haha! Bless!

you've misspelled ''anally''

 

[threespires]

Academies another scam to put public money in private hands (mostly Tory)

I think it had two "benefits" from the current governments perspective: one venal as you point out but the other one more ideological. In effect if you get to a critical mass of academies in a particular area you essentially kill the LEA or at least make it increasingly irrelevant and it's role significantly smaller, so you get to dismantle the state that you despise so much and better still you get to you get to remove local autonomy and continue to centralise power.

That's the bit that distresses me the most, kids educations being chucked under the bus in pursuit of policies which have bugger all to do with education. Blair wasn't the originator as Thatcher had thought up CTCs earlier, but new labour thought they were being clever and their cack-handed implementation allowed subsequent tory governments to absolutely take the piss.