to think the strike yesterday was a bit of a damp squib really

[NunSoQueer]

wouldn't you agree?

[hobnobsaremyfavourite]

no

[Northernlurker]

What were you expecting? Schools in flames?

I do think it is hard to see where this dispute is going. Many more one day srikes will lose the teachers much public support. An all out running strike would completely decimate their support. Though it would be amusing to see Michael Gove drafting in the Army to teach the dcs.....

[LostMyIdentityAlongTheWay]

ooooh spot the troll

(And put the message in 'Chat' where it belongs. Traffic wannabe..... )

[NunSoQueer]

Not a troll!!!

To have had a real impact that should have done it on a GCSE exam day non? That wouldve got people's attention. As it is, I wouldnt have even known they were on strike had I not put on the news...

[southeastastra]

i would have liked to have seen more coverage and more people on the streets, shame more didn't strike really, my job is going and no-one seems to give a shite

[southeastastra]

wtf is with all these troll accusations this morning and biscuit faces, it's most odd

[tazmin]

if i hadnt seen the news, i wouldnt have known anything was happening

certainly didnt impact on me in any way

[GabbyLoggon]

It went so well the governemnt had to tell lies about its effect. It shows we are not all tory govt backside lickers. amen

[feckwit]

I kind of agree to be honest, I'm not sure whether it has had much impact? But then I don't really see how the government can change things, where would the money come from to enable teachers and other public sectors to retire and potentiallly have 25 years pension?

I am only aware of one school that was fully closed in my area, most were partially open which meant parents needing childcare for maybe only one child and other parents jumped in and helped. No exams, schools winding down so no parent stresses about how it would affect exam teaching for example. I saw no marches, no picket lines, not even a poster!

[tethersend]

Impressive- a strike which managed to simultaneously make parents' lives difficult without having any impact at all...

We teachers are impressive, you know

[tethersend]

And we do know more words than 'impressive', honest.

[tazmin]

didnt make my life difficult

as i said, i didnt even notice it apart from it being on the news

[wordfactory]

The build up was worse than the reality ... which is exactly what the government lnew would happen of course.

I do wonder what the teachers will do now? Ongoing industrial action in the Autumn will be a disaster for their support base, but what else can they do?

[GabbyLoggon]

word well said, we meed to get off our knees to the wretched camerooney government.

[LineRunner]

I thought it went well for the teachers.

Lots of publicity including a very good debate on Questiontime, well attended and well behaved marches, and good arguments put forward by union leader Christine Blowers. (Not so keen on the other fella.)

Both my kids' schools were closed so it did affect us, and actually I think it will be the kids who might make the teachers feel uncomfortable today. My DD was told on Wednesday by a teacher, for example, that it was 'insolent' of her to ask her teachers if they would be striking. She's 15 FFS - she's entitled to a conversation about stuff that is really actually happening to her school.

[piprabbit]

The only way it impacted us was because the local swimming pool was full of over-excited teenagers making the most of a day off.

But as DDs school was open the rest of the day was entirely normal.

[NunSoQueer]

Nothing on the news today... surely that's the sign of whether or not it was successful or not??

[azazello]

I saw a very small demonstration in the middle of town yesterday, although according to the news yesterday evening there were 1000 people. It looked more like 10 but I was out at lunchtime.

One local school closed completely, afaik. Most seemed to close a class or two. It was probably more inconvenient not knowing whether the schools would be open than the strikes themselves - did a lot of people break strike?

[IslandMoose]

It certainly had an impact on me. I flew back in to LHR from Zurich. Normally, passport control is a bit of a zoo. Yesterday, though, it was fantastic - organised, smooth, efficient and friendly. By far the best passport-clearing experience I've had at Heathrow.

[charliejosh]

OP - funnily enoough this is exactly what The Sun newspaper called it - a damp squib.........

[NunSoQueer]

charliejosh !! Lordy I must be right then!!!

Where on earth did that saying come from - a damp squib??!!