What do people think will make Britain great again?

[Logiclady94]

I keep coming back to this thought and I wondered what other people thought so I decided to ask the wonderful people on mumsnet for their opinions. I was reading that more jobs were lost, people are being told to return to work to save the economy, coronavirus means that people still don’t feel comfortable doing that, work/life balance needs sorting, income and taxes need rectifying. Not an opinion but you see a lot of the richer need punishing, house prices are ridiculous..

So my wondering is what are people’s thoughts genuine thoughts about what they would change with this country?

@Raimona is your DH SE? Many places pay full wage for 2 weeks or 1 at the very list. If he's earning 52k a yr surely you have some savings to fund one week off work?

And yes I’m Irish - Erie is usually used by thick shit Brit’s who don’t really understand shit.

I've never heard Erie or Eire been used in England, many don't realise the Republic & the north are separate countries! The only people I know who use Eire are old Irish people.

We need better resources for men/women to continue working after they’ve had children. The idea of switching the free childcare hours round to 1-3 would mean that parents could return to work possibly full time rather than part time.

My ideal thoughts would be a full years paid maternity/paternity leave if you’ve been with the company for over 2 years than the 2nd year being either 50% of the employees annual gross income if they wish to stay off for a 2nd year or 50% Childcare costs if they want to return to work when the child turns 1

Many men can’t even afford to take the two weeks. My husband earns £1k per week.

But that is a very high salary. And he “can’t afford” to take a couple of weeks off?

@betteliefsen

Less focus on consumerism and more on community and family Not keeping up with the Jones's More time spent outdoors in the countryside and doing sport and less watching tv or online

Yes to this!

Also, sorry: a pet peeve and tangent: the ‘Great’ in Britain is or was originally a geographic term not a boast. It is the largest island in the British Isles. Like the Great War meaning a huge conflict or Great Lingford being a bigger place than Lingford Minor.

What a stupid thread! We are immensely lucky to live in Britain - we have so little to worry about that we can moan and groan about such petty things! Look at India, China, large swathes of South America and countless other places where life is much, much harder! The idea of Great in the populous is a transient and fickle one. I remember how everyone was bemoaning how shit our country was before the London olympics, how we would fuck it up and embarrass ourselves. We didn’t and it buoyed patriotism for a couple of years. As a people we are massively self deprecating and pessimistic because we find pride in your own country distasteful. It’s a national trait.

You’ve made up a whole load of things here which don’t happen and list problems which have been addressed.
Primary children have lessons called practical or everyday maths. They learn percentages and about debt, interest and money management etc. It’s on the national curriculum.
Universities require certain grades for entry which are translated into points, you have to apply via UCAS. Some courses have their own entry exams and interviews, such as medicine. Look at any university website!
Universities have faculties who deal with groups of courses eg. Health. They don’t need separate institutions for things like this because the faculties are often so big they function like their own institution.
There are lots of apprenticeships about for in work training.

@raimona- yes I need to agree with the PP’s. Your husbands salary is very high and in my post I was saying that men and women should be paid their full wages from the company. I think it is disgusting that the media and people say women should get paid the same but men don’t have the same rights also.. my DP loves our kids just as much as I do but yet he doesn’t get that year to bond with them and he misses all their firsts but then he is expected to feel like the equal parent role if we were to ever separate.

thegreenlight

Why is it "stupid" to think about whether your nation's reputation for greatness is deserved and whether we can help improve or sustain it?

Wouldn't it be more stupid simply to take it on trust? Shouldn't we think about these things?

I think your definition of stupid is odd and suggests a rather closed mind.

'complete overhaul of the hideously negative media.'

Totally agree, they of course need to scrutinise and challenge but from people like the sneering Boulton on sky news to equally sneery Piers Morgan on GMB they need to offer balance. So yes, quite right focus on lack of PPE one day but also at least mention how the production of ppe in the UK has been massively increased now. Thry need to talk about success as well as failure, but they don't!

I agree with the “everybody in the same boat” spirit at the beginning of lockdown but think the flouting of rules by various Ministers & senior advisers without consequence drove us back to “my personal liberty is more important than the common good”

The media’s job isn’t that of a PR agency to the Government and to convey positivity irrespective of where the Government is lacking.

@Logiclady94

See my thoughts are definitely on making us more self sufficient as humans. I mean my children are not of school age but I have two younger siblings who are and the things they are taught these days just seem so bizarre and not really necessary information, don’t get me wrong some lessons are but aspects within those lessons are not.

I remember learning things in English and History that are just not necessary now I am an adult. I wish I had been taught money management at school- budgeting, taxes etc. I wish lessons like Geography and History had more relevant up to date information than what they did.

English was ridiculous, I mean watching films like Romeo and Juliet etc isn’t necessary. They are not lessons which help me now as an adult.

As people say high school should be for teaching life skills & then college should be for further education in those areas. Then if people want to go to University there should be a qualifying bar that people need to pass in order to attend, then funding would be more readily available. There used to be a criteria in order to get into a university.

Or university’s be divided into what they are teaching- If you want a career in the jobs that require proper degrees like medical careers etc than the classic universities be the place to go.

If you want a career in a certain area there should be colleges that you apply for with certain roles which give you the qualifications you need without putting yourself in debt to do so.

There already is a 'qualifying bar' - what on earth are you talking about?

What is a 'proper degree'?

Why is Shakespeare 'ridiculous'?

Seriously, your assessment of education and its purpose is lamentable.

Nothing, at the end of the day we are an island.

@Esmesmommy- if they are now on the curriculum that’s great but they should have always been included. I am in my late 20’s they weren’t included. I have siblings who are under high school age and they’ve not learnt anything of use to them (their words not mine, my sister is very sassy)

Since lockdown my sister says she has learnt more about life values and lessons since being at home than being at school. She has her own pets which teach her responsibility, she has been learning cooking etc and I know as the parents we can help with life values too.

I just think some lessons at school should only be required if the child shows interest or skills in that field. I hated music in High School but for some reason I had to do until year 10 when I chose my GCSE subjects. PE doesn’t help teach children to be healthy and live healthier lifestyles- they were more like “games” and that’s fine for primary school not for High School. It was only Year 11 when we chose a PE outing to the local Leisure Centre and we had to pay extra (this was fair enough but I guess for underprivileged children it wasn’t) to do either Aqua aerobics, a session in the gym or badminton/Tennis. However I don’t agree that there were options for bowling or pool (off course everyone would try and get slots for these first because no one wanted to do the others) These activities shouldn’t be classed as PE

'We are immensely lucky to live in Britain - we have so little to worry about that we can moan and groan about such petty things! Look at India, China, large swathes of South America and countless other places where life is much, much harder! '

Yes but that will be 'whataboutery' you see.

We have so many rights in this country, we have it so good. I mean 'more paternity leave for men so they bond', really? Fathers have managed fine and that's even without a paid 2 week leave before.

'And yes I’m Irish - Erie is usually used by thick shit Brit’s who don’t really understand shit.

Are you sure you're Irish @lovelyupnorth because you know you've not spelled that correctly??? I know older Irish people who use Eire, so there.

OP: am I correct in thinking that your solution to 'making Britain great again' is getting rid of Shakespeare, Music and PE in schools?

@KaptainKaveman- Shakespeare isn’t ridiculous, watching the film for an hours is. I just think some aspects of the curriculum especially at secondary school are bonkers. I mean I had to chose a tech class but baking, textiles or the other one are silly. I wasn’t allowed to not choose one though

You know what I mean by a proper degree.. medical, veterinary etc.

@KaptainKaveman- you are being argumentative and you are twisting my words. I do not think we should get rid of these things I never said that. I said they need a restructure of what is taught. I don’t think dodgeball and the run where you are timed to run from one side of the room to the other and high jump etc are necessary. The students should be taught how to keep fit, have a healthy lifestyle etc.

Looking at this thread I think poses the question of why we are not proud of our country.

You know what I mean by a proper degree...medical, veterinary etc.

Unbelievable.

The issue, for me, is that our global reputation and our global power has declined. For good reason. The question is what we do to fix this.

Not sure we ever can - our biggest post war asset was our soft power world service and BBC international standing - they've both been diminished though cuts and politics.

Wider than that Brexit has reduced our world standing and power as has our handling of covid 19.

Much of our world class culture and expertise is taking a hammering with covid 19 and may not return for decades.

There's also so much long term structural stuff that needs dealing with in UK: our aging population -social care -demands on NHS, house prices, lack of infrastructre spending, proper educational reforms too many exams too few routes through, lack of childcare options and high prices just as we need more workers paying tax, our ecomomic mix and post brexit food production.

Add in a lack of poltical leadership over successive governments - they're not tackling hard issues constantly delaying.

@KaptainKaveman- also for music I don’t think it is necessary in schools.. if a child is interested in music and pursuing a career in music they can choose it as a specialist subject and students that aren’t interested in music and arts shouldn’t be forced to waste their times in lessons that they aren’t going to pay attention in.

Year 10 & Year 11 were the only years were I got a say in what lessons I went too and I was much more likely to not bunk off them because I was interested and I chose this subjects rather than year 7,8 and 9 where the subjects were forced on me.

I didn’t like Art, Music, but I liked History and Geography. The worst thing was when I got to year 10 I could only do one or the other.

Start with sacking Mr Johnson, most of the Tories in the party would do a better job. Then bring criminal charges against him and Dominic Cummings. Mr Johnson's inaction has led to thousands of avoidable deaths.

A few things I'd do:

I'd stop putting clocks back in winter. Helps tourism and reduces seasonal affective disorder as there is not the sudden going home from work or end of the working day in darkness.

I'd have stamp duty kept, or a house profits tax, but paid by the seller, so the amount needed upfront for a house is less.

For education I would have a maximum number of exams a child can take at 16. Make each more valuable. More time can be spent on life skills at school, such as teaching boys how to respect girls/women.

I'd encourage those who want to work at home on a long-term basis by giving those in certain jobs the statutory option/right to do so for a minimum percentage of their contracted hours. Many people can do so and save on travelling time and cost, but my making it an option those who have difficult home lives or not the space can still go to a workplace. It also means people don't have to move near a large city to work.

Finally, I am in favour of giving Scotland independence, with its different education, legal and cultural traditions.

@Guineapigbridge

Great countries treat their most vulnerable citizens - especially vulnerable children - well.

This.