VAT on school fees (you have to read this!)

[EverythingAllatOnceAllTheTime]

Government’s private schools VAT raid ‘could cost taxpayer £1.8bn’

Parents who are forced out of sector are likely to work less or even quit jobs, according to think tank research.

Adam Smith Institute.

It IS religious discrimination to me as it would mean denying religious people the right to educate their children in faith, forcing them to homeschool despite paying taxes etc. But I'm sure you won't agree 😁

@Ubertomusic "
It IS religious discrimination to me as it would mean denying religious people the right to educate their children in faith"

They have the other 18 hours. And it always amuses me when people simultaneously say "We need faith schools because we want to educate our children in the faith" AND "Oh, there's practically no faith in faith schools-blink and you'll miss it"!

I never said that there was no faith in faith school so I'm not sure why you add this argument here. There are quite a few state Jewish schools in and around London at least, you cannot seriously say there is no faith there. And it would be grave discrimination if you ban them.

Maybe some people just don’t want to work harder to give more of their money to people who don’t work as hard as them?

The separation of church and state in the US means most private schools (receiving no support whatsoever from the state) are run by various religious groups, predominantly RC.

Parents pay tuition and there's a lot of very polished and professional quality fundraising too, to support the schools' mission. They tend to have excellent reputations for academics.

In the case of RC parents who send their children to the public schools, RC parishes run evening and weekend religion classes. Parents are also encouraged to teach and model their religious beliefs at home too obv.

The alternative to state-funded religious-run schools isn't no religion in schools at all, and no children ever taught religion.

@Ubertomusic "I never said that there was no faith in faith school so I'm not sure why you add this argument here. There are quite a few state Jewish schools in and around London at least, you cannot seriously say there is no faith there. And it would be grave discrimination if you ban them"

That wasn't to you specifically. It's a circle that faith school supporters often try to square to justify the completely ridiculous idea of tax payer funded schools being able to discriminate against people without faith.

Incidentally, I would happily ban taxpayer funded Jewish schools as well. And the handful of Muslim schools. There is no place in state education for religion. All schools should be secular. Sadly, none are.

But there are hundreds of thousands of people who were already utterly screwed - who wanted to but couldn't afford to send their children to private schools. Generations of people, in fact.

I haven't heard much weeping for their plight over the decades.

Do we live in the US?
Ban the NHS then.

Yes I'm sure you would, it was pretty obvious :) That's what I find deeply disturbing as I said - that normal people, not Momentum-crazy teenagers, find discrimination kind of normal and talk about it in such a casual way. You cannot really do this in a democratic society yet it is clearly "normalised" already. Though of course democracy passed away during covid 🙂

Big Brother is truly alive and kicking… I just renewed my DC British Gymnastics, Recreational.
New Question - what type of school did you or your parents (if under 11) attend between 11-16? State, independent, both, prefer not to say etc.

Absolutely bonkers! Suffice to say, out of principle, I won’t be answering any more Diversity question ever again on behalf of my children or anyone in the family. Not race, not religion, not gender - fuck the fuck off you muppets!
And I went to state school until 16. Kids at state. It is going to be Prefer not to Say all the way. None of your business.

British Gymnastics: “We have to collect statistics on behalf of the Government.”

Discrimination can work in all ways. Up, down, sidewards etc. That is one thing that the last 10 years have taught me and the Nazis.

@Ubertomusic "find discrimination kind of normal and talk about it in such a casual way."

You have a very strange definition of discrimination. There are several schools local to me that my children had no chance of going to because we do not have faith. But people of faith could go to any school. It's not as if people of faith can't go to non faith schools!

@Araminta1003 isn't that just "counting"? You can't do anything to help underrepresented groups if you don't know if they're underrepresented or not!

That's a nice way of putting tax avoidance I guess.

I think the interesting thing for onlookers is its kind of the opposite of a moral dilemma for those affected. Do I want to continue buying advantage for my child, EVEN if I have to pay (ugh) tax to do so?

An amoral dilemma maybe?

Gosh @StormingNorman you really don't mind saying the quiet part out loud do you.

Is that really strange to you? https://www.equalityhumanrights.com/equality/equality-act-2010/your-rights-under-equality-act-2010/religion-or-belief-discrimination

Currently we have faith schools and secular schools. You propose having only secular schools and no faith ones. This is clearly treating people differently based on religion/non-religion. This IS discrimination as per HR definitions above - though again, human rights do not apply in the UK anymore, do they?

They did have your ideal world in the USSR where all schools were 100% secular and all children were allowed to go there, exactly as you propose. But religious people thought they were oppressed and many fled to the West gaining asylum on the ground of religious persecution. There are large communities of former Soviet Baptists or Adventists in the US, for instance.

How does it look like to you? That was a non-democratic state, wasn't it?

I have no skin in the game as my DC never went to a faith school. I'm just observing the developments of thoughts and ideas.

How is private school buying advantage if what type of school your parent went to is more relevant than household income?

eg household income 500k state grammar vs
household income 30k private school bursary vs
Household income 35k, single parent nurse happened to go to PS

Come on, it’s as loaded as the gender questions. Wake up people! This is the thought police coming for all us.

A private school in one of the most deprived areas of the country has blamed Labour for its closure saying its working class parents could not afford the Government’s VAT raid.

St Joseph’s Preparatory School, in Stoke-on-Trent, told parents yesterday it will close on December 31, one day before the Government’s 20pc levy on school fees begins.

The school said the “incredibly difficult” decision was made due to the “changes coming regarding independent school funding” and its priority now was to help find places for the 80 pupils who will need to find a new school halfway through the year.

BRAVO LABOUR!

@EverythingAllatOnceAllTheTime tgry are properly going on a race to the bottom

Even the SNP are blaming them…

@EverythingAllatOnceAllTheTime what for 🤦‍♀️

British Gymnastics: “We have to collect statistics on behalf of the Government.”

Im surprised there’s a ‘prefer not to say’ option. Also, how do they prove those filling in the forms are telling the truth?

Why jump to the USSR when the UK is a massive outlier among modern Western democracies in having faith schools within the state sector? It's like a weird nostalgia for a simple bogeyman to scare the gullible.

At any rate, the point of secularism is that it's neutral to all faiths and none. And secularism in state school admissions would remove a major skewing factor that often shuts off state schools to local students.

It’s all public domain.

Seek and ye shall find.

This is terrifying! it really is Big Brother! same questionnaires as in the USSR

The USSR is the only "project" that shows the development of all kind of socialist ideas on a massive scale and over a long period of time. As Labour are going to stay for at least two terms (if no major catastrophe), and the current breed of socialists/Momentum/ultra left/woke are very much in line with that school of thought, it would be wise to start revising history A Level books on the matter. They have already disrupted many lives and it's just two months into the first term. The more exciting events are yet to come.