Whitehall “braced for private schools collapse” 7

[ICouldBeVioletSky]

Continuation of previous threads discussing VAT on independent school fees. The thread title is a headline from a Times article last autumn.

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/education/5237575-whitehall-braced-for-private-schools-collapse
https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/education/5242586-whitehall-braced-for-private-schools-collapse-2
https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/education/5280646-whitehall-braced-for-private-schools-collapse-3
https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/education/5301690-whitehall-braced-for-private-schools-collapse-4
https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/education/5317397-whitehall-braced-for-private-schools-collapse-5
https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/education/5337850-whitehall-braced-for-private-schools-collapse-6

In what way is me saying I find you rude me “not taking it”?

I don’t recall accusing you of being unreliable, but I’m happy to take your word for it that I may have done.

I think certain posters conflate people not just slavishly agreeing with them with being rude. Other opinions are allowed.

Agreed, and that works both ways. You were the one bringing up rudeness

I am still shocked that people support a policy which is damaging lives. Mount St Mary’s (Sheffield) announced its closure very suddenly this week. 600 children need to find new schools if the rescue fails. Their staff won’t be paid and are jobless - think about the worries they are facing. Yes, the school have been facing financial difficulties but VAT was the nail in the coffin. This is a policy put into place by OUR government. Trump, Putin and other foreign leaders make decisions which negatively affect us - I don’t like it but they are not elected to look after the people in this country. Our government are elected to make our lives better. This is not a sparkles and rainbows policy, it is causing harm to many people who live here and the ‘benefits’ (haha) are unlikely ever to be seen. I appreciate the work @twistyizzy has put into highlighting the issues.

Yes I am also allowed to bring up rudeness when posts are rude.

Just as @Araminta1003 has been long predicting, Labour’s disastrous taxation policies are causing wider damage to the public purse.

Utter madness to be driving away these golden geese, but ideology is all, eh?!

“Thousands of company directors leaving UK over Labour’s tax rises

www.thetimes.com/article/146a8748-a145-4711-885e-5997478621a0?shareToken=0307869d65788e11bc9ebb27bdbcb63f”

Like I said, it works both ways.

Nope. Which is why no one objected to @Gattopardo 's post yesterday.

Now let's look at my exchange with @Rocketspam.

Her opening post is deliberately aggressive and provocative:

@Rocketspam
"It’s a shame that mismanagement of the independent sector has caused so many schools to close"
Victim blaming, much!

"try to figure out when it was you started to be ripped off, and perhaps challenge that"

Children's schools are closing due to deliberate government policy. I mean it's like coming onto a diabetes thread and saying "It's a shame that your lack of control has made you so fat. Try to figure out when you started over-eating and perhaps just stop".

But mumsnet is all about 'robust debate'. So OK. I think my response was fairly restrained, and not particularly rude given the tone she had set:

Me:
"[quoted a bit] Whilst the whole post is poorly thought out, I really need to pull out this bat-shittery.
Could you explain your 'logic' please?"

But the great and good can't be challenged by evil private school parents!! So Rocketspam escalated to personal attack

@Rocketspam
"Is your lack of vocabulary the result of an independent school education, or did you not pass the 11+ yourself"

"You’ll just swear and rail a bit more"

Seriously? Swearing is allowed on mumsnet. And bat-shittery isn't particularly bad. That kind of personal attack really can't go unanswered. My response:

Me:
"I also can't believe the utter lack of logic which tries to link exemption from VAT with previous fee rises. There's no link. You're just tying together soundbites.

As for the vocab comment, presumably it's batshittery you're objecting to? We can expand it to fuckwittery and dickwaddery if you like."

And later (not to her)
"Like @twistyizzy I'm done with putting up with bollocks"

So we get another personal attack from Rocketspam

@Rocketspam
"You are both woeful representatives of independent sector parents (and the education these schools provide)."

Anyone looking at this objectively can see that it's Rocketspam who is rude and aggressive, Rocketspam who escalates with multiple unprovoked personal attacks. You're just so used to thinking of yourselves as superior to everyone else that you can't even see your own rudeness.

I mean, can you imagine if I'd said (unprovoked) ""Is your lack of logic a result of a comp education, did you not pass the 11+ yourself"

Or even
"You are both woeful representatives of comp parents (and the education comps provide)."

Can you really not see how completely unacceptable it is to make rude personal attacks about private education and those who use it??

No they can't see it! They can't see past the end of their noses that it's children who are being impacted.

“In June 2025, the public sector spent more than it received in taxes and other income, leading to a net borrowing of £20.7 billion, the second-highest June net borrowing on record, after that of 2020.”

https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/governmentpublicsectorandtaxes/publicsectorfinance/bulletins/publicsectorfinances/june2025

Borrowing more than during Covid?! 6.6 billion more than Tories.

• The interest payable on central government debt was £16.4 billion in June 2025, largely because the interest payable on index-linked gilts rises and falls with the Retail Prices Index; this was £8.4 billion more than in June 2024 and the second-highest June central government interest payable since monthly records began in 1997, after that of June 2022.

Against this kind of mismanagement of sovereign debt and finances, things like private school VAT are used as a class war distraction. It is whataboutery at its finest.

And let’s not forget that a gambling tax was actually more popular with the entire public. But Labour chose to penalise some school kids and their families, especially some with SEND.

Didn't you know that "rude" like "snarky" is an irregular adjective?

I'm not that interested in your specific exchanges with other random posters. That's falling into "someone called me a bad name once so it's okay to be rude to others" rationale which seems a bit twisted to me. Posters should be allowed to have different opinions without being jumped on with comments like your "which is none of your fucking business". If you have to resort to that type of posting, you've already lost the argument as your post reads like it was written by a hormonal teenager.

I am being deliberately rude to you because your behaviour on these threads and others is appalling, and you have done any sensible debate on this issue an absolute disservice.

The language that you use, alone, makes you are a completely inappropriate advocate for schools. Shameful.

Do you know I don't care?

I wasn't being rude or snarky, merely stating supporters of VAT don't care that it's children who are being impacted. Anyone who supports this is supporting the education of children being taxed.

Says the person who made repeated personal attacks on this thread, sneering at educational sector 😂

Swearing is fine by mumsnet guidelines - and sometimes the only appropriate response to fuckwittery. Personal attacks are not.

Shame on you. Just 'own' that YATA.

Is Mumsnet going to stop these threads?

What good are these two doing themselves at this point? Surely there needs to be an intervention?

Report any posts that breach guidelines. Oh wait, that would only be your ones.

The threads are still useful for new information that comes up about how consequences of the policy are panning out.

If posters like you could refrain from derailing it with deliberately rude, insulting posts - which as we've said, we'll no longer tolerate quietly - then the thread can carry on quite nicely with its intended purpose.

I have reported you. The way you speak to people is unacceptable.And this has been going on for a very long time, and not just on the threads that you set up yourselves.

People come on here out of genuine interest, they engage and then … receive swearing and personal abuse.

If you are serious about campaigning on this issue then use Mumsnet to inform
and then carefully read the counter-arguments because that is how you then refine your own arguments.

Most of this thread is people asking why you are speaking to them the way that you are. Please let’s not have Thread number 10 of more of that.

You know how you can prevent the next thread from decending into rudeness. Don't post insults and rudeness yourself.

Calling someone a passive aggressive dick is certainly a personal attack.

I don’t think MN will stop these threads as they still attract a lot of views and MN needs advertising revenue. Just like the press aren’t going to stop with numerous private school stories. It’s an emotive subject and it sells! The fact it’s going to backfire on top and not raise revenue either, is going to be a long term thing surely. Exactly what did they expect? The Telegraph articles attract thousands of comments each time. This is divisive policy textbook style.

Report it then. Not sure what for though.....

You know you can just scroll past though, you aren't obligated to keep engaging 🙄