Surface to air missiles in London

What rot. They can't use them any way.
Do they really think that they'll fire missiles at a Jet over London and bring it down?
a) 300+ passengers on board
b) where will it land?
It could be on Buckingham Palace killing how many people.

I think its just propaganda. They (the USA) let 2 jets fly into the twin towers. Why was that?

Doesn't seem to make sense to me.

30% more in Fuel Poverty - shame on the Government

So people in fuel poverty are up by 30%, am I surprised. When you consider that the first few units of fuel you use are charged at double the rate of the rest and then our lovely government add 5%VAT to it!

If you are on a fixed, low income or benefits then you are being taxed at a higher rate for keeping warm than the millionaires! It is tom me an obscene way to raise revenue.

If you are in arrears or on a prepay meter you can’t change company so benefitting from competition.

Write to your MP and demand the VAT is taken of these first unit tariffs. It won’t affect the Toffs who use loads of fuel ‘cos they can afford whatever. They deserve to pay more VAT. Why should poor people claiming Benefits have to pay Tax just to keep warm - daftness.

NHS online - self diagnosis is a risk?

I heard a piece on the radio about looking illnesses up on the net and getting it all wrong.

Well did you know that actually Doctors do the same thing? 

Ever wondered what the doctor is typing while you're talking to him? I happened to see once when I went to my doctor. He was on a medical site (maybe NHS I don't know) but he was following the prompts and asking me questions based on the screen. SO it led him to a diagnosis.

WHat has happened to doctors using their training etc? Do you trust computers? Well without details he wasn't interested really in my problem. He diagnosed back pain and gave me some mind blowing painkillers. After 2 days I was away with the fairies and had only taken 2 tablets - I was supposed to go up to 3 a day. I stopped.

Anyway food for thought - eh?

Toast is bad for you

So apparently now Toast causes cancer.
What else are the health police  going to dictate are BAD for us? Bad enough can't smoke, can't drink, now can't have my toast for breakfast.

Cancer causing chemical in foods

If you make your toast too dark it has this cancer causing chemical acrylamide. Surely we've been eating toast for centuries. If its browning your food what about my nice steak, brown and seared on the outside, no burnt sausages on the BBQ.

Where will this all end. the Government increasingly controls all aspects of our lives.

Tanker drivers - fuel shortages

So the Tanker drivers are to strike again (are they?), and no fuel in Garages, as everyone fills their tanks AGAIN!

Either this is a Government ploy to get us onto Electric Cars or they really do not understand how we all now depend on Cars etc. for LIFE. Everything revolves around transport powered by OIL. Especially outside the Cities we have no choice, what public transport is there?

So what are they to do about it? NOWT I guess. We have to get away from this dependence on oil. It may not be Tanker drivers next holding us to ransom, Iran, or Argentina. WHat ever the oil
WILL run out and Fuel WILL go up in price.

Maybe I'l get a horse?

Government Web Snooping

What's the fuss? Don't they know that they've been doing it for years - unofficially.

I don't care, I've nothing to hide and they're welcome to all those SPAM emails that I get!

Don't they know that 80% of all emails are SPAM. If they're going to keep them all they'll need huge DATABASE storage. Whose servers are they going to use? let me know - I'll get shares in that company.

Maybe not, don't worry. Iif this project is run half as well as the NHS computer upgrades (they were scrapped at a cost of billions) then we've nothing to worry about as it'll definitely never happen, or at best never work!

Teachers Strike overpay/pensions

So they want to strike over their pay and pensions. I don't think they'll get much sympathy when the rest of us are having a hard time. They have a job for life, annual rises (yes I know they're on a pay freeze but they still get increments until they are at the top). They get a damn good pension at our expense - still final salary. My mother was a teacher, and was comfortably off on her pension.

However I do think the Government is wrong to impose "area negotiated pay". It improve teachers. So lets say because Cumbria is a poor area, generally wages are lower than average, so pay teachers lower than average? If you do then teachers will go elsewhere, (if they're good). So you get poor teachers or none at all. Now is that good for schools and children?

Teachers on lower salaries will not influence the local economy, Joe Bloggs on a manual wage will not get more 'cos teachers get less will he? Can he apply for a Teachers job, not unless we drop the qualifications.graduates do now

Really what we need is good graduates entering teaching. What do Good graduates do now - NOT teaching!

Its not just about money and Teachers have themselves to blame. The loony left Trotskiists etc. have reduced teaching to nothing more than glorified child minding with Government contrition.

Remember the pillars of the community as it was, the professionals, Doctors, Clergy, Lawyers, and Teachers. No more. No respect for them.

SO it will take Government, Teachers and Parents to demand a "Professional" Teaching profession. Pay them and set them up as professionals with appropriate qualifications and let them do their job. Oh, you'll have to weed out the riff raff.

Secondary kids taught with Janet and John!

I just had to write this having read the article in the Daily Mail saturday 31st March.

Normally I applaud initiatives such as this one but on this occasion I have to tell you that far from this being a eureka moment this has already been done. I do not want to decry Miss Atwood's efforts or the initiative of the Sirius Academy. I was appalled to see them on television, how humiliating to be identified so. Its not their fault.

Over 15 years ago my wife was a special needs teacher in a secondary school. Children in main stream education had various disabilities to learning but with appropriate tuition great strides were made and most of them achieved an appropriate level of achievement to enable them to function in society. Some even gained qualifications.

At the same time there were a number of, so called, "normal" children who also suffered from a lack of achievement but not innate ability. Often they were the more disruptive elements and school refusers who had missed out on education for various reasons.

My main point is, yes they may have reading ages of 5 or so but they are 11 plus. You cannot demean them by giving them "baby" books to learn to read. Imagine how the Hard nuts will react.

So my wife used the various texts/materials that are available to encourage them to read. Yes she even taught Shakespeare to the SEN children. The key is "differentiated work". Most teachers are either not trained how to do this or do not have the time or inclination.

The school did not fund this remedial work as such but by using a small amount of the special needs budget my wife obtained materials and taught these children. I was appalled to see them on television, how humiliating to be identified so. Its not their fault. There was some resistance from the "normal" children - who were reluctant to enter a class of "numpties" as the SEN kids were known. With appropriate encouragement the children attended special lessons (sometimes 1:1) for just half an hour or so. Their reading and arithmetic came on and after say a year of this they were brought up sufficiently to return to normal classes and continue with their peers. Having been given a boost they could continue on their own.

Other aspects of this were, and I do not wish to demean Miss Atwood, but she does not have the experience, the material my wife used was in fact so good that "normal" children often got these books from the library for themselves. Yes they only took minutes to read but they enjoyed the stories and the other children gained a lot in self esteem now they were able to "read" real books. Sometimes the SEN children got better Marks in English than the others in their lessons,for their understanding of Shakespeare as taught by my Wife. This was in fact a testament to the fact of how these children were being taught. Small groups with appropriately differentiated work, excellent resources and attention from staff.

Another aspect was, that given the school refusers/disruptive elements who traditionally were excluded - after being persuaded to attend lessons with my Wife, they became engaged and even enthusiastic about her lessons, (although some would still not attend their normal lessons or behave in them). Given time their attitudes changed, they enjoyed learning and again some were able to gain (appropriate) qualifications (not necessarily GCSE's). Then go on to obtain employment.

This effort really does demand resources and appropriate techniques - NOT giving Janet and John to 12 year olds!

I sincerely believe that it is appalling that almost one fifth of student s are still leaving school officially "illiterate", but with appropriately directed tuition they can be brought up to a useful standard to function in society. Really it is the primary schools that are failing to address this but again lack of resources and appropriate tuition results in this situation. Given we are where we are it needs urgent action like Sirius is taking. Often it is these "dregs" who are the ones that society shuns and they end up being the rioters because they have no hope or aspiration. If you're never going to get anything then why not just take.

Perhaps the Sirius Academy would appreciate some consultancy from my Wife to take this project to the next level?