Wow just wow. AIBU to think MH is a complete tw*t

[Moonshine86]

Words fail me

I wasn't fooled by him on I'm a celebrity.

My DD was in school throughout.
She was supported academically and with her fears about Covid by an amazing bunch of teachers, some of whom got long- Covid.
I don't think any of them had access to the sort of PPE that other front line professions received.
Thank you teachers.

And teachers had to balance home schooling as well!
Teacher unions represent teachers - what do expect them to do but defend their profession? They weren’t saying they wanted special treatment and actually would have preferred schools open. They were trying to force the government to invest in workplace safety measures.

It is important to remember that this government ended up with lockdowns because they couldn’t get testing sorted in the early stages, they had not pandemic plan’s despite it being flagged and had cut funding to the NHS. If they had done their job properly then we wouldn’t have had the shit show that we did.

matt handcock knows that hence trying to redeem himself with his stupid book.

DH is a Headteacher of a very large secondary school. He still has about a third of his staff suffering from long covid.

I work in healthcare. I spent the pandemic sending nurses into working conditions that I knew were going to cause them harm, all because we didn't have enough, or adequate PPE. Out of a workforce of 50 I lost three to covid, 4 have long covid and another 10 have been diagnosed with PTSD.

The word twat feels too frivolous for what those pair of bastards did.

The teaching unions behaved despicably during the pandemic.

(although MH definitely behaved worse)

I disagree. They were one of the few calling for public health measures in schools at the time.

Covid has long term health implications and can dampen your immune system. It was a novel virus - related to SARS - I don’t understand why people would want their kids to get it. There’s no long term immunity, people keep getting it and getting ill with it. It is implicated in the strep a issue and causes long covid. It raises your risk of heart disease no matter your age.

This government behaved despicably.

They did their job, to try and protect their members.

Teachers were denied PPE and many of us were in school, teaching vulnerable/key worker kids with vulnerable relatives at home. It was terrifying at the time. We are all seemingly forgetting how bad those first few months were.

Undeniably, the government cock ups at the start left ALL workers who couldn't WFH in vulnerable positions.

I can't work out whether some posters here are illiterate, ignorant or just trolls.

rapidly became evident that teachers and pupils weren't at any significant risk of serious illness or death from the virus. It was mass hysteria and over anxiety. The government's worst mistakes were in giving in to this rather than telling people to keep calm and carry on. I work for the police and we worked throughout, so my children were in school. To this date none of us have had covid

^You* haven't had covid so those of us who have been in classrooms, testing positive multiple times are what, then,? Making it up? Within 8 miles of where I live I am aware of 5 school staff deaths. I have 2 immediate colleagues with long covid - both of whom will be taking retirement a good 15 years earlier than necessary. It is absolutely criminal what has happened to them, fabulous teachers literally struck down in their prime, both shadows of their former selves. Heartbreaking to see.

And don't get me started on the cavalier attitude towards vulnerable children.

Describe this despicable behaviour please, without simply repeating that they behaved “despicably” with no evidence to back it up.

Hello Matt 🙄

^This

I remember March 2020, the headlines about Italy and the government flip flopping. I suspect the inquiry will find failings in that period of indecision.

I also suspect failings would be found in the WHO as well who didn’t help with changing messages and confusion about airborne transmission vs water droplet transmission (which, to the man on the street, is a technical argument - the solution is clean air, masks and ventilation).

“Ineffectively” might cut it though.

rapidly became evident that teachers and pupils weren't at any significant risk of serious illness or death from the virus. It was mass hysteria and over anxiety. The government's worst mistakes were in giving in to this rather than telling people to keep calm and carry on. I work for the police and we worked throughout, so my children were in school. To this date none of us have had covid

Schools were a hot bed for covid rates blowing up and therefore a cause of community transmission. As Chris Whitty tried to patiently explain to Boris Johnson, while the risk to an individual may be low, the transmission rate will blow up if you ignore the risk of spreading to others.

I guess scientific, epidemiological and statistical theories are hard to explain and understand.

Think what you like about MH.

MPs are servants of the public, not servants of the NEU (with the exception of some on the Labour benches who are actually servants of the NEU).

Most are in it to do a good job and there is a lot of cross party goodwill and cooperation going on. The media doesn't like that view of Parliament and therefore people rarely see it in the news!!

MPs are servants of the public, not servants of the NEU (with the exception of some on the Labour benches who are actually servants of the NEU)

Prove it.

Well, he'd have been a twat without ever sending this yes, but also it's a complete dick thing to say.

The fact that people are allowed to say things in private is neither here nor there really. Especially when they make them un private by giving them to a third party. I wonder if all the other people in these what's app messages gave Hancock permission to give then to Isabelle Oakeshott?

MPs register of interest. It's a matter of public record.

Oh well apparently he wanted them closed in Dec 2020

So not with him there

There is absolutely NO evidence that 'the public' have a low view of teacher's unions and what the NEU may have said about eg behaviour strategies to teachers since the pandemic is irrelevant. The people who have a 'low view' of teachers' unions will almost certainly have a low view of all major unions, I'd bet.

Please don't base ideas of'public opinion' on some loud voices on MN. It's hardly a scientific approach.

Throughout Covid, the unions' role was to support the people they represented. They did not say more than half the stuff the Tory spin machine said they did and I am bemused as to why people are so gullible. Leaked whatsapps in fact reveal that MH himself said schools should shut in the January and was shouted down. He turned out to be correct that a U Turn would be inevitable.

People have selective memories. I fully remember driving to school on traffic free roads to teach students in classes of 30 when most of the public was still WFH. It was a surreal time to be crammed into schools (with masks and nothing else) and then on the way home no be able to shop normally, go to the GP in person, go to the pub, visit the cinema...

As a teacher I have sadly realised that some people just think we’re lazy. I don’t know why I’m writing this because the people who think we’re lazy won’t change their mind. But this thread has made me so angry.
Me, and every teacher I know, worked very hard in lockdown.
it was the GOVERNMENT keeping schools closed, not teachers.
safeguarding worries went through the roof.
the exam results day in 2020 was an absolute shambles, a shameful fiasco. Students in tears on the phones, losing Oxbridge places etc for a stupid algorithm.
my dh, a member of slt, had a mental breakdown.

It was an awful time. I was not sat at home drinking a glass of wine at lunch.
also I had two small children.

so to those of you saying teachers are lazy I want to say f off foff and f* off.

you’ll be the ones moaning when your child is being taught chemistry by a geography teacher for the third year in a row in a few years time and wonder where all the teachers have gone.

Perhaps we should focus more on who the actual donors to the Tory party are. The current Labour party are not in thrall to 'union paymasters'. The teaching unions make no payments to any political party and are not affiliated.

This thread is dominated by typical posts calling others thick, trolls etc. No change there, still demanding people think positively whilst hurling abuse. Thats fine. It’s just mn not rl and doesn’t impact much.

As for public opinion on unions YouGov is useful. It’s not always positive towards unions and negative view has risen since strikes.

Prove it. The NEU is not aligned to any political party so you’re grasping and talking utter bullshit.

boris comparing people falling down the stairs to the virus was a really good highlight for me