Dianne abbot has made me laugh this weekend.
She started of with a statement about the Tories insulting people's intelligence!
Then had to agree to a labour policy of closing private schools down whilst her own child goes to a private school.
You couldn't make it up !

When Corbyn was elected, the Mail ran a piece imagining what would happen if he became PM. As you can imagine it wasn't that sympathetic, ending with an economic crash which lead to food shortages, medicine shortages, riots and an increasingly paranoid government fleeing the country.

Now, we have a government whose own documentation predicts that their policies will do exactly that. I think it really raises a lie we've all bought in recent times, which is that only Socialism leads to social turmoil and inflation. In fact, unregulated capitalism can do so far more severely.

That's the choice we have now. Allow neoliberalism to go on unchecked, or attempt some form of redistribution of the obscene levels of wealth coming in to this country. I have always had reservations as to whether it could be done given how entrenched the elite are in this country. But Now, given the f*cling mess of the past few years, I actually think there's a sliver of a chance.

If punk ever happened I'd be preaching the law, instead of listenin to Lydon lecture BBC4

Someone always had to be the first to identify a principle which has subsequently become the cornerstone of the British system. Many luminary Parliamentarians have since confirmed the concept, including Winston Churchill and I don't believe any have argued against it.

That there is a disconnect between what the general population believe is the duty of their MP and what the system actually is, is also true and has become more obvious since the referendum with apparently a majority believing they should always do what their constituents tell them to do, especially among the Brexiteers. More education needed? Or a change to the system?

For the avoidance of doubt any comments in response to a previous post are directed to its ideas and not at any, or all, posters personally.

Of course she voted for it. The school wouldn't close but all of us would pay the fees through taxation and she would be better off.

I am surprised it isn't already Tory policy. All they need do is maintain a suitably strict admissions policy.

For the avoidance of doubt any comments in response to a previous post are directed to its ideas and not at any, or all, posters personally.

Do we support private fire brigades or private armies?

This essentially comes down to what we think is best served via communal effort and what we understand is best served via private ownership.

Private schools are elitist.....I see the benefit of them but it's essentially a benefit for a few.

I see some weaknesses within my own position as well.....I mean if we ban private schools we surrender a plank of meritocracy where the supposed best minds are housed and educated together (when in reality it's more often the richest)....the idea being that we have the best in the most important positions.

But...errrr.

Look at what the products from these schools and later universities have been doing to this country over the last fifty years.

So f**k them.

Come swim in the pool you created.

Edited by Stirlingsays (23 Sep 2019 9.58am)

'Who are you and how did you get in here? I'm a locksmith. And, I'm a locksmith.' (Leslie Nielsen)

Works for me.

Ideally, I would like to see the entire education system privatised with parents issued vouchers which schools could compete for but I accept that my position on this is a minority one.

And therefore if people prefer the state to be responsible for the provision of education then there needs to be a total equality in that. One system, one curriculum and an onus on our politicians to have a stake in it.

"The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command." - 1984 - George Orwell.

Although I didn't vote for them at the last election, I have voted for them before.

I'm sure that Corbyn is a decent man but he is a born backbencher, someone to make sure his party sticks to what they are supposed to be doing.

Yes, he should step down but unfortunately I don't really know the others well enough to know who should replace him.

It's 106 miles to Chicago, we got a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes, it's dark... and we're wearing sunglasses.

All those posh lovey dovies at festival
Time singing "ohhh Jeremy corbin" who now wants to shut down their posh schools, couldn't make it up lol

Your funny and I love watching Labour slowly die.

I see the logic in how closing private schools would improve the chances of the equally gifted pupils in state schools. They will be among more children with non financial backing from their parents.

I’m not sure how it will improve the chances of the less gifted, but I guess there’ll never be impressive names on cvs again that mean a lot of the ones with comprehensives on get chucked in the bin as a way of filtering, even if they’d rather not filter that way.

It won’t reach perfection though as you’ll still get families moving into pricey areas to be among the families aiming for the same school. Inner city kids will be screwed for life still.

I see why Diane Abbott backs it for a few reasons.

Her kid(s) get free education around same kids in its initial stages.
It has to be a complete closure for it to work. One pair of parents can’t make a stand against privatised schools they disagree with if they’re in an area where if they put their kids in state schools there’s very little parental focus on education.

She is a complete idiot but you can still be against something even if you currently go along with it, especially if what you propose currently isn’t a good option because it needs what you propose (closing private schools) for it to be successful.

The people who would or should be worried are those in areas with lots of state schools and a very small choice of private schools who scrimp and save for private education and their kids win scholarships, or wealthy(ier) parents with not particularly clever kids at all (but benefit in life because they sound well spoken, clever, smart), which leads me onto a big big benefit of private schools or being around middle class children...

They sound the part most comprehensive children never will.

This proposal could work and be the biggest change in social mobility. Depends on if enough higher earning labour voters think or see the bigger picture rather than just the immediate wishes for their kids.

I wonder how it would affect the gentrification of London. Not a lot probably. Most office professionals take their kids to the suburbs away from the teenage problems in London.

COYP