Politics

Anything that doesn't fit anywhere else, and is NON CH related - chat about the weather, or anything else that takes your fancy.

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DavidRawlins
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Re: Politics

Post by DavidRawlins »

This country is, theoretically, an elected oligarchy.
However the civil service have a lot of power, and were completely unaswerable. This has changed a bit recently.
Now a certain amount of power has been given to the Americans, and more has been taken by the large international corporations, and also by the mega rich.
Maybe power should only be wielded by those who do not want it. However, they may soon become corrupted.
Col A 1946-1953
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LongGone
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Re: Politics

Post by LongGone »

DavidRawlins wrote: Maybe power should only be wielded by those who do not want it. However, they may soon become corrupted.
There was a proposal along those lines, with the proviso that they could step down if they successfully solved specific national problems. Similar to the idea that you pay your doctor as long as you are well, and stop any time you are sick.
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J.R.
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Re: Politics

Post by J.R. »

Mid A 15 wrote:I do find it ironic that "the left" are happy to advocate diversity until we reach the subject of education when they preach State indoctrination unless it is their own children involved of course!

The child of Harriett Harman and Jack Dromey traipsed across London to a grammar school in Orpington, Diane Abbott avoided the State system completely and sent her child to a private school and the Blair babes (children rather than female MPs) traipsed from North London to South West London to attend an eminent faith school. That's just three luminaries of the left who come to mind without thinking too hard.

I love Alan Bennett but he, and others like him, are simply advocating pulling the ladder back into the attic to prevent others joining them up there.

The gap between the richest and poorest grew to its greatest ever during 13 years of socialism under Anthony Blair and Gordon Brown.

Do as I say not as I do!

Ar !

Now then - FAITH schools. That subject is very close to me heart, given the present revelations that have come out of Birmingham, via OFSTED !!

.... but, perhaps this might need to become a NEW topic !!
John Rutley. Prep B & Coleridge B. 1958-1963.
rockfreak
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Re: Politics

Post by rockfreak »

J.R. wrote:
Mid A 15 wrote:I do find it ironic that "the left" are happy to advocate diversity until we reach the subject of education when they preach State indoctrination unless it is their own children involved of course!

The child of Harriett Harman and Jack Dromey traipsed across London to a grammar school in Orpington, Diane Abbott avoided the State system completely and sent her child to a private school and the Blair babes (children rather than female MPs) traipsed from North London to South West London to attend an eminent faith school. That's just three luminaries of the left who come to mind without thinking too hard.

I love Alan Bennett but he, and others like him, are simply advocating pulling the ladder back into the attic to prevent others joining them up there.

The gap between the richest and poorest grew to its greatest ever during 13 years of socialism under Anthony Blair and Gordon Brown.

Do as I say not as I do!
Socialism under Blair and Brown? Don't be ridiculous. This was an ersatz Thatcherite party. The inequality gap has been growing gradually since 1980 and I think you'll find it's growing massively again now as the toppermost one percent (oligarchs, investment bankers, etc) pull away from the rest (including the middle classes). Another big problem of course is not just salaries but basic costs of things. As Larry Elliott, the economics editor of the Guardian wrote recently, it's the essentials that have come under attack since Thatcher: reasonable job security, affordable housing and affordable and reliable public transport in the outlying areas. These are all things that contribute to the difficulties and costs of life for many people. You and I both come from modest backgrounds JR. Had you not had that lucky break to get into a public school on the cheap can you say, hand on heart, that you'd now be writing in your above tone about choice, etc?

Ar !

Now then - FAITH schools. That subject is very close to me heart, given the present revelations that have come out of Birmingham, via OFSTED !!

.... but, perhaps this might need to become a NEW topic !!
rockfreak
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Re: Politics

Post by rockfreak »

OK gang. Let's sort out CH's funding problem. As we've got so many Thatcherites posting on this thread let's propose some Thatcherite solutions. Firstly, how about privatising the school band? Disband them, sell the instruments (they'll make a pretty penny) and bring in unpaid interns from the Horsham area to play tin whistles, comb and paper and banging on biscuit tins. It'll make an interesting alternative arrangement to Sussex by the Sea which has been played the same way for about the last hundred years. Secondly, bring in zero hours contracts for the teachers. "Sorry Mr Scuttlebutt but we don't have a full week's geography teaching for you this week but don't try dodging off to Charterhouse for a few hours' moonlighting because we've always got the back door covered." Lastly, let's go the whole hog and float CH on the stock exchange. The trouble is that you'll have to make it sufficiently attractive to investors. All that vacant land. Property developers will have to be sufficiently convinced that they can build trendy apartments on the playing fields. But don't worry guys, it'll make rugby more interesting. Just as you think you've got a run at the line you'll trip over a Greek shipping magnate walking his two afghan hounds. It'll be a bit like real tennis - only muddier. And if it's taken over by an offshore private equity company in due course, well don't worry, they only average 17% redundancies. Fewer teachers but you can always merge the Latin and Maths classes. You'll just have to do maths in Roman numerals. Thatcherism can solve everything. Just ask Michael Gove.
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J.R.
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Re: Politics

Post by J.R. »

SORRY, but I don't agree with mainly any of the above. Sale of land, possibly, depending....

And by the way, I am definitely NOT a Thatcherite !!
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rockfreak
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Re: Politics

Post by rockfreak »

I'm pleased to say that my youngest daughter rang me in great excitement last week to say that she's got her BA and a job that relates to her subject. Well done Caroline and well done to the teachers at our local, er, comprehensive.
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Re: Politics

Post by rockfreak »

Rockfreak (yours truly) gets lead letter in today's Guardian (3 July) under general heading "Is radicalism not Labour's business?" Do any other OBs post in the broadsheets? Stuart Holland sometimes posts in the Grauniad from his academic position in Portugal. Someone once told me that there was a saying, "if you can't get a letter in the Guardian, write a novel". I wonder what mine would be? How about "Fear and Loathing on the CH Unofficial Website - a Savage Journey to the Heart of the Public School Nightmare". A gonzo ex-public schoolboy sets out on an epic odyssey from Gravesend to Horsham, with his attorney, a convertible and a bootful of drugs. They take LSD and before long they seem to be under attack from snobs, pedants, sophists and mad professors, all swooping, pterodactyl-like about the car. When they get to CH they find that the place has been booked by the Tories for their annual conference and there aren't enough rooms. Still hallucinating, the nightmare intensifies when they find themselves haggling for a room while wedged between Michael Gove and Ian Duncan-Smith. Now read on...
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Re: Politics

Post by sejintenej »

rockfreak wrote: Do any other OBs post in the broadsheets? Stuart Holland sometimes posts in the Grauniad from his academic position in Portugal. Someone once told me that there was a saying, "if you can't get a letter in the Guardian, write a novel". .
Sure; I've had bits in the FT when I was working and now I contribute elsewhere under a nom de plume. Great fun teasing peeps and leading others off subject though I tend to get more plaudits than hate replies
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J.R.
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Re: Politics

Post by J.R. »

Not in the broad-sheets, but I used to have my own column in a world wide distributed cats magazine - A lot of which was to do with animal rights.
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rockfreak
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Re: Politics

Post by rockfreak »

J.R. wrote:Not in the broad-sheets, but I used to have my own column in a world wide distributed cats magazine - A lot of which was to do with animal rights.
I had a cat named Samantha (named after the TV series Bewitched) who lived to be 17. Tell me about your cats JR.
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J.R.
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Re: Politics

Post by J.R. »

rockfreak wrote:
J.R. wrote:Not in the broad-sheets, but I used to have my own column in a world wide distributed cats magazine - A lot of which was to do with animal rights.
I had a cat named Samantha (named after the TV series Bewitched) who lived to be 17. Tell me about your cats JR.
At the risk of being accused of hi-jacking this thread........


17 is a good age for a cat but not unusual these days.

I wasn't a 'cat=person' until I met my wife in the early 70's.

Since then we have been owned by many cats. For several years we bred and showed Chinchilla's. (The cat NOT the rodent). The Americans call them Shaded Silvers and they are part of the Persian cat family. At most weekends, if not showing I used to help and steward at southern G.C.C.F shows and had a monthly column in 'CATS' magazine.

At present we have only one cat owning us - Tobias, (Toby to his friends). He's a huge half Somali and half Birman, soft as butter and intrigued by a young badger that has just started visiting our patio for peanuts in the very late evening/early hours.
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rockfreak
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Re: Politics

Post by rockfreak »

Rockfreak gets another letter in today's Guardian, 18 August (The race to the bottom on wages). A Coleridge B contemporary, the late Tony Ray-Jones, featured recently in either the Grauniad or Observer arts pages, with a picture of himself taken in a distorting mirror. It was touted as an early example of a selfie. He was always known as Harry to his Col B friends in the '50s, for some reason, and I remember him as a member of the rock 'n' roll rebel crowd in the house. I might have missed it on the site but I can't remember a mention of another 1950s contemporary, Simon Caulkin, Prep B and then one of the Barnes houses. Simon was a magazine then newspaper journalist who edited a very perceptive Management and Business column in the Observer for many years. I often found myself in agreement with his caustic views on British management. He was also a blues fan and I seem to remember features by him on Chicago blues and the guitarist Hubert Sumlin.
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Re: Politics

Post by Angela Woodford »

J.R. wrote:
For several years we bred and showed Chinchilla's. (The cat NOT the rodent). The Americans call them Shaded Silvers and they are part of the Persian cat family. At most weekends, if not showing I used to help and steward at southern G.C.C.F shows and had a monthly column in 'CATS' magazine.
I've seen pictures of Mr and Mrs JR's Chinchillas. Absolutely gorgeous. I'd write more, but the keyboard is obscured by the tail of a Siamese.
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rockfreak
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Re: Politics

Post by rockfreak »

Can we create a new thread for Cat matters. I didn't realise what I'd started. This will then free up the Politics thread for Guardian and Telegraph readers to continue throwing rocks at each other. How do we do this, Mr Forum Moderator?
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