Thread 15 Starmer - Nolite te bastardes carborundorum

[DuncinToffee]

Previous thread

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/_chat/5244293-thread-14-starmer-the-starmeristas-strike-back?page=40&reply=141334312

Ah, OK. Got you now!

Coding was meant to be the new Latin, but they have scrapped the computing funding too. All whilst announcing AI, at least there is some positivity though via some vague plan.

The jury is still out on whether coding is like learning a language. Most people who can learn Latin and Maths easily can also learn to code quickly.

Not sure the handmaid’s tale reference is that apt. Whole of society has become quite handmaid’s tale - get the poorer people to procreate and the slightly richer ones to pay a ton of taxes, so not sure it is a good choice. All whilst pupped by an increasingly global elite. Or maybe it is very apt.

I think all European countries should get together and part finance an European style social media platform that respects our historic values in the right way. Then the Chinese and US can suffocate on their own ones. It can’t be that hard to come up with something the young would enjoy. Can’t trust TikTok, Twitter nor any Meta enabled platforms. We can have our own version of free speech.

It is yesterday's language of power. I am pretty determined that my own children should not have a classical education which I had. My education was good but basically useless in terms of employment and as I get older I see it more and more; good for the King William Quiz. Handy for crosswords. Useful in case of having to make light conversation or reading the London Review of Books. Handy for the Oxford Union and meeting elderly judges. It is not current.

But my children will do far better had a good grasp of computing and AI for the reason that it is clearly going to be better to be someone who is in charge of AI than person subject to it.

I got grade A in Latin O Level 1975. All I can remember is Quintus puer est. But I did recognise Caecilius in Doctor Who

Isn’t the point with scrapping the Latin funding that no Government should be able to interfere half way through a school year when school budgets have already been set and kids are already studying for their GCSEs (so to exempt Years 10-13). The point being that such political interference is unacceptable full stop in children’s education because it is wielding too much political power and simply too interfering. By all means, it can be scrapped and replaced with eg coding but notice must be given, in accordance with the requirements of educators and the students?

Is that starlings? We have a clattering of jackdaws pass over our house every day aeound sunset. Obviously in winter it's just a handful but in summer, when their young have fledged, it can be over 100. I make sure I've got the washing in by the time they arrive 😂

Thanks for the new thread @DuncinToffee

Cat tax. Tolkien didn't want to get up this morning.

I do love a murmuration. A vee of flying geese is nice too.

My HOD said its sunk cost. Already been spent.

Yes. I hadn't seen one in years, it was so beautiful and the noise was gorgeous.
I was surprised that very few people actually stopped to watch. I remember being in awe when I was a child, just at how free they looked.

@Araminta1003 I didn't do Latin, but I do have a language brain - I am fully bilingual in English and Dutch and am fluent in French and German. I also 'speak' very decent HTML and CSS and yes, learning those does work along the same lines as learning languages.

My bloke’s from Belfast and he says the frequent murmurations round the docks are spectacular, apparently people stop in their tracks and just gaze. Unfortunately the birds have never obliged when I’ve been there.

On one hand I agree with you but this post has made me appreciate Latin. I passed the O level in the early 80s as one of 3 languages I took. I kept the other two languages going through uni and used both daily when I lived abroad. I now specialise in language development in children. I really don't think Latin helped me in my education or career.

However I do like that it means I can do certain crossword clues and pub quiz questions!

Thanks for the new thread - cat tax pic is my neighbours' kitties filling up the crate she got out to take her older cat to the vet.

Thanks for the new thread Duncin. I must try and pay some kind of tax sometime!

猫税

I’m with Tolkien in this weather. January and February in general, to be honest.

Cat Tax??

We have rooks going over early in the morning and sunset. They make a bloody racket.

I did Latin a bit, can’t remember a sausage. I remember more from the school of Monty Python…

cattus taxus attached. Thanks for the safe space.

A poll out today puts Reform ahead of the Tories, just behind Labour....

Long way out from a GE but its still v worrying, well, i think it is.

At this point in the political cycle I think it’s meaningless. If there’s still such a strong showing for Reform in the polls in a couple of years I’ll be much more concerned. I do think they’re making the Tories, particularly with their current leadership, increasingly irrelevant.

The figures across the poll averages for last Friday are;

Labour 28
Reform 24
Conservatives 22

I am not surprised on this because Badenoch was dire last week. Really bad. I don't understand why the Conservatives thought she was a winner. She is clearly not.