Current Affairs

[towny44]

I said nothing about whether he was qualified or not.

But I do think Cummings/Johnson are surrounding themselves with yes men and women

As do all PMs. Nothing sinister here

One day you'll wake up one morning and realise we as a country are in a very bad place.

Until then, there's not much else I can say to you

I agree but I don't think Boris can be blamed for covid, and even if he made the odd mistake in how it was handled, we would still be in the same economic mess. I just thank my lucky stars that it's the Tories in charge and not Corbyn.

[Mervyn and Trish]

You were implying he was unqualified and probably biased because he was a political appointee, but he had been the UK ambassador to Denmark so presumably fairly senior in the foreign office.

I said nothing about whether he was qualified or not.

But I do think Cummings/Johnson are surrounding themselves with yes men and women

I doubt they will be yes men, but they will have similar political views, and that sounds perfectly sensible to me.

Cummings wouldn't be much of an adviser if he said "hey Boris. Why don't you surround yourself with a lot of people who are going to disagree with you?"

[Onelife]

Education Secretary Gavin Williamson says parents could be fined unless there is a "good reason" for their child's absence.

Another premature announcement that would have been better kept under wraps for a few weeks or until such time that we can see how things are panning out. If the Leicester outbreak/lockdown is anything to go by then I think any neighbouring schools from adjoining towns would be susceptible to infection. I think for many parent this would be a good enough reason to keep their child out of school.

[towny44]

Education Secretary Gavin Williamson says parents could be fined unless there is a "good reason" for their child's absence.

Another premature announcement that would have been better kept under wraps for a few weeks or until such time that we can see how things are panning out. If the Leicester outbreak/lockdown is anything to go by then I think any neighbouring schools from adjoining towns would be susceptible to infection. I think for many parent this would be a good enough reason to keep their child out of school.

And if he hadn't made this general announcement about what was intended come September, no doubt he would have been accused of not preparing parents for what would happen to them if they refused to send little Johnny to school?

[Onelife]

Education Secretary Gavin Williamson says parents could be fined unless there is a "good reason" for their child's absence.

Another premature announcement that would have been better kept under wraps for a few weeks or until such time that we can see how things are panning out. If the Leicester outbreak/lockdown is anything to go by then I think any neighbouring schools from adjoining towns would be susceptible to infection. I think for many parent this would be a good enough reason to keep their child out of school.

And if he hadn't made this general announcement about what was intended come September, no doubt he would have been accused of not preparing parents for what would happen to them if they refused to send little Johnny to school?

Timing is everything in politics and making such a statement with nine weeks still to go before pupils are due to return to school was unnecessary. It only gives fuel to the media to ask questions about what constitutes a “good reason” especially when you consider there is every likelihood we will see more outbreaks which could widen lock-down areas outside that of the spike area.
There are a lot of frighten parents out there and this ill thought out decision will be seen by many parents as the government reintroducing the cane.

[Manoverboard]

... I just thank my lucky stars that it's the Tories in charge and not Corbyn.

Talking of ' stars ' I would add Trump to the ' not ' list.

[Manoverboard]

... if he said "hey Boris. Why don't you surround yourself with people who disagree with you?"

We have

[Mervyn and Trish]

Timing is everything in politics and making such a statement with nine weeks still to go before pupils are due to return to school was unnecessary. It only gives fuel to the media to ask questions about what constitutes a “good reason” especially when you consider there is every likelihood we will see more outbreaks which could widen lock-down areas outside that of the spike area.
There are a lot of frighten parents out there and this ill thought out decision will be seen by many parents as the government reintroducing the cane.

Sounds like a good idea

[Onelife]

Timing is everything in politics and making such a statement with nine weeks still to go before pupils are due to return to school was unnecessary. It only gives fuel to the media to ask questions about what constitutes a “good reason” especially when you consider there is every likelihood we will see more outbreaks which could widen lock-down areas outside that of the spike area.
There are a lot of frighten parents out there and this ill thought out decision will be seen by many parents as the government reintroducing the cane.

Sounds like a good idea

Sorry Sir Merv….I can’t help you out on that one as I ‘m not into spanking…you could give Stephen a call because I know he’s into that kind of thing enjoy!

[Stephen]

Don't knock it till you've tried it I say. Oops, me and my mouth

[Manoverboard]

Sounds like a good idea

It sounds like it is but take it from me that it isn't ... well, not if it’s administered by an extremely sadistic ex saboteur who worked with the French Resistance during WW2 and also, unfortunately for me, happened to be our French Head Master at the time when two perverted teachers were victimising some of their students by recording false work rate / achievement levels against their names. Those who were treated that way were the chosen few who lived on Council Estates. Wouldn’t happen now of course but it sure did back then

[Gill W]

Education Secretary Gavin Williamson says parents could be fined unless there is a "good reason" for their child's absence.

Another premature announcement that would have been better kept under wraps for a few weeks or until such time that we can see how things are panning out. If the Leicester outbreak/lockdown is anything to go by then I think any neighbouring schools from adjoining towns would be susceptible to infection. I think for many parent this would be a good enough reason to keep their child out of school.

Hancock said that this Leicester outbreak ‘particularly affects children’, so I can’t blame parents for being concerned.

I think it’s fine to prepare for all children to return to school in September, as this takes time. But a bit too soon to be saying it’s compulsory. Like everything, we are playing a waiting game to see what happens next.

[david63]

But a bit too soon to be saying it’s compulsory.

But it is compulsory for children to go to school - it is the law.

[Gill W]

But a bit too soon to be saying it’s compulsory.

But it is compulsory for children to go to school - it is the law.

Ah well, let’s send them all into school, regardless of whether the the school can cope with social distancing or the state of the pandemic,

[towny44]

But a bit too soon to be saying it’s compulsory.

But it is compulsory for children to go to school - it is the law.

Ah well, let’s send them all into school, regardless of whether the the school can cope with social distancing or the state of the pandemic,

I believe that is why Williamson has made the announcement now, so that schools have ample time to sort out how they will cope, and so the teachers unions can't say they dropped it on them at short notice.

[Mervyn and Trish]

Health is important but there are other factors with school to be balanced. With children not at school many parents cannot return to work so the economy continues to plummet and poverty to grow. And if most return those that don't will get left behind and will suffer for years from their lost education, widening social gaps. Tough balance.

[david63]

Not only that but allegedly some children who are not attending school are having mental health problems.

[barney]

But a bit too soon to be saying it’s compulsory.

But it is compulsory for children to go to school - it is the law.

Ah well, let’s send them all into school, regardless of whether the the school can cope with social distancing or the state of the pandemic,

That’s the best thing that has been said for some time.
We’ve got to get back to normal eventually (or whatever the new normal is going to be)
The country cannot remain in lockdown.
People have got to get back to work or starve.

It’s safe to assume that most on this forum are quite well off because we are spending spare money on cruise holidays.

Millions and millions are not well off and need to be earning a living.
Many live hand to mouth and are already on their knees financially.

Get people back to work
Get kids back to school

[Mervyn and Trish]

Latest overall death figures show we're now falling below the five year average for the time of year. It maybe that, as some experts predicted, some deaths have been premature because of the virus, but not unexpected within a few months. It clearly is going to be some time before we have the full overall excess deaths picture.

[Mervyn and Trish]

But it is compulsory for children to go to school - it is the law.

Ah well, let’s send them all into school, regardless of whether the the school can cope with social distancing or the state of the pandemic,

That’s the best thing that has been said for some time.
We’ve got to get back to normal eventually (or whatever the new normal is going to be)
The country cannot remain in lockdown.
People have got to get back to work or starve.

It’s safe to assume that most on this forum are quite well off because we are spending spare money on cruise holidays.

Millions and millions are not well off and need to be earning a living.
Many live hand to mouth and are already on their knees financially.

Get people back to work
Get kids back to school

Agree Barney. The new norm should be back to school. The exceptions should be temporary, such as Leicester, when there is clear evidence of a local problem.

[Onelife]

Education Secretary Gavin Williamson says parents could be fined unless there is a "good reason" for their child's absence.

Another premature announcement that would have been better kept under wraps for a few weeks or until such time that we can see how things are panning out. If the Leicester outbreak/lockdown is anything to go by then I think any neighbouring schools from adjoining towns would be susceptible to infection. I think for many parent this would be a good enough reason to keep their child out of school.

Hancock said that this Leicester outbreak ‘particularly affects children’, so I can’t blame parents for being concerned.

I think it’s fine to prepare for all children to return to school in September, as this takes time. But a bit too soon to be saying it’s compulsory. Like everything, we are playing a waiting game to see what happens next.

I of course agree with everything you have said Gill l…instead of making silly statements about fines for parents they should think about fines for beach goers and street party abusers first .

[Gill W]

But it is compulsory for children to go to school - it is the law.

Ah well, let’s send them all into school, regardless of whether the the school can cope with social distancing or the state of the pandemic,

I believe that is why Williamson has made the announcement now, so that schools have ample time to sort out how they will cope, and so the teachers unions can't say they dropped it on them at short notice.

I did say it was reasonable to be preparing for a September return - but I also said it is too early to be making it mandatory that children go back because we don't know what will be happening with the pandemic in September.

The comment you have quoted was of a sarcastic nature

[Manoverboard]

I of course agree with everything you have said Gill l…instead of making silly statements about fines for parents they should think about fines for beach goers and street party abusers first .

Crawler

And double triple fines for every parent that takes their child to the beach but not to school because of the risk

[Gill W]

But it is compulsory for children to go to school - it is the law.

Ah well, let’s send them all into school, regardless of whether the the school can cope with social distancing or the state of the pandemic,

That’s the best thing that has been said for some time.
We’ve got to get back to normal eventually (or whatever the new normal is going to be)
The country cannot remain in lockdown.
People have got to get back to work or starve.

It’s safe to assume that most on this forum are quite well off because we are spending spare money on cruise holidays.

Millions and millions are not well off and need to be earning a living.
Many live hand to mouth and are already on their knees financially.

Get people back to work
Get kids back to school

My comment was actually of a sarcastic nature.

But it seems to have struck a cord - send to children back to school regardless, even if the pandemic is surging again

[Gill W]

Education Secretary Gavin Williamson says parents could be fined unless there is a "good reason" for their child's absence.

Another premature announcement that would have been better kept under wraps for a few weeks or until such time that we can see how things are panning out. If the Leicester outbreak/lockdown is anything to go by then I think any neighbouring schools from adjoining towns would be susceptible to infection. I think for many parent this would be a good enough reason to keep their child out of school.

Hancock said that this Leicester outbreak ‘particularly affects children’, so I can’t blame parents for being concerned.

I think it’s fine to prepare for all children to return to school in September, as this takes time. But a bit too soon to be saying it’s compulsory. Like everything, we are playing a waiting game to see what happens next.

I of course agree with everything you have said Gill l…instead of making silly statements about fines for parents they should think about fines for beach goers and street party abusers first .

I'm being very cautious about what I do next, so I feel that I can't expect other sections of society to be completely gung ho about the way they proceed.

I totally agree about fines - if we'd started off with stiff penalties for breaking lockdown, a precedent would have been set, and people would be less likely to behave stupidly if they knew they might get clobbered with a heavy fine. (of course, eye test excursions to Barnard Castle are exempt )