Westministenders: Transition

[RedToothBrush]

Last thread opener, it was all about the government buzz word being shown to listen at every opportunity.

Now transition is creeping in as people realise that no we can't just do a settlement, arrange a new trade deal with the EU and have a whole host of other deals in place in two years.

Who'd have thought.

We will be getting Brexit because we give in to threats of terrorism. Not quite getting how that takes back control.

But Brexit will be good. It will be glorious. And in the long term we will be better off for it.

Er ok.

This has made me laugh

Andrew Lilico @ andrew_lilico
It's remarkable how many UK folk confidently & ignorantly avow CANZ voters have no interest in CANZUK, when polls show the opposite.
Canadians & NZers are v keen on CANZUK, Australians pretty keen. The country that is most sceptical & that most needs convincing is the UK.
The main threat to CANZUK is arrogant Britain-hating Brits.

Mr Claypole @ Alexispavlou
Nothing wrong with it, other than we already have Can Free Trade and to sacrifice FT with 52 more countries + EU for ANZ is a bit silly

Andrew Lilico @ andrew_lilico
CANZUK is not not not why we are leaving the EU!!! That's not what it's about!! How many times must I say that!?!
"We must not support CANZUK even tho it's a good idea, cos we shld stay in the EU' is 1 of the most pathetic positions I've ever come across
It's exactly like saying: "Tax cuts are a good idea in a recession, but I'm opposed to tax cuts this time cos we shldn't be in a recession."

No Mr Lilico, Brexit is literally choosing to have a recession! It's all about ideas of Empire and hating people who don't speak the same language rather than anything remotely to do with trade.

Mr Claypole @ Alexispavlou
Its like saying 'there's a private health insurer who'll insure the chronically ill' as we debate leaving the NHS. Big deal.

I've just finished reading Your Life in My Hands by Rachel Clarke (@doctor_oxford on Twitter). I would really recommend it for a powerful overview of the situation in the NHS right now. She used to be a journalist before retraining as a doctor and it is very well written. I zoomed through it. Though I would suggest you don't read it before bed unless you enjoy lieing awake for hours in a state of incandescent rage (spoken from experience).

Robert Colville @ rcolvile
The Katie Perrior piece on Nick and Fi is extraordinary. These just a flavour
t.co/SUQODbL5HQ
Inside Team Theresa
Katie Perrior was used to the high-pressure world of politics. But nothing prepared her for the toxic atmosphere inside No 10 – and the volatile behaviour of the prime minister’s closest advisers

'I once stopped her going to join a bunch of journos at the back of the PM's plane, dressed in flannelette PJs and two bottles of red down.'
'I went back on 10k more than most other press officers. It was dubbed danger money because nobody else was nuts enough to work for DD'

I read the full thing

Hill sounds dreadful but Perrior doesn't come across as a particularly nice person either. A case of 2 highly driven, ambitious women people clashing.

I wonder how May is coping without Hill and Timothy. If they were as powerful as people say, she must be feeling adrift. I doubt Gavin Barwell has the Rasputin like hold over May they were supposed to have.

Curious that the leather trouser's saga was, according to Perrior, a Hill bloop.

Trousers'

www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/theresa-may-prime-minister-trousergate-995-leather-trousers-amanda-wakeley-fiona-hill-nick-timothy-a7842481.html

Theresa May didn't want to wear £995 leather trousers but was forced into it by aide, report claims

The Prime Minister was told to wear the chocolate-coloured Amanda Wakeley strides by her 'infuriating' former aide Fiona Hill, it is claimed

'Forced to'

That Katy Perrior piece is a bit disappointing. Badly written (especially for a comms professional!) and I've got better Hill / Timothy stories (which I can't share here as they are massively outing)

I have a child who is born right at the start of September. This has been an issue for him and he is mature and always out of sync with his peers, too much ahead so that he can be stretched appropriately etc...
He would have been much happier born on the 31st August and a year ahead than he is.

It's not as simple as it looks .

My Ds2 is a September born but (unusually) there are quite a few sept-Dec b days in his class and it's mostly boys (20 out of 25!) so it's never been an issue re being different to his peers.
I've got a summer born too (ds1) and I know which I prefer!!
I do think (from working in a school) that summer borns can struggle more...whether socially, emotionally, physically or academically.
Ds2 has 3 in his class who are 11 months and 1 week younger than him.
Of course this is just anecdote, not data :)

purple yes, the summer birthday disadvantage is only on average - I think bright kids with autumn birthdays can go through school feeling out of sync. This was true for me when I was a kid in the 1970s, and I think I would have been better off going up a year. My DS has a birthday just after the cut-off and he was terribly out of sync with his peers at nursery school. The school put him up a year when he was 5 and with the benefit of hindsight it was a good decision. (Much easier here to get put up a class - in DD's selective class 15-20% of the cohort are a year ahead).

I haven't read the Perrior piece because we dont need kiss'n'tell to know that No 10 is dysfunctional under this administration - but it all sounds a bit undignified.

Anyone who is happy to pay an extra year for childcare must be a lot better off than me! We have a child that just missed the august cut-off and that extra year of childcare was punishing, to say the least. Two in childcare meant I was paying to work. All I can say is that she better do bloody well in school after the extra money we paid

Seriously though, the cost of childcare prevents us from having anymore children, we just could not afford a third no matter how much we'd like one. Wages have stayed static since the financial crash whilst childcare costs have risen dramatically. Add to that the extortionate cost of housing and it's pretty hard to make ends meet if you have preschool children. If they took away early years provision then a lot of families would be financially crippled and women like me would have to give up our careers. That, to me, would be a HUGE step backwards. Either you want to keep women in the workforce or you don't......

Just read Daphne du Maurier's "Rule Britannia". First published 1972, predicting Brexit scenario

I'm not saying I'm a bloody difficult woman i am but no one has forced me into any item of clothing since I was a young child

Bolshy the reason I don't work is that it would cost us a lot for me to do so, at least until September when ds starts. And I don't have a defined career to worry about thankfully. And dh likes his job which pays better than mine did! I need to start looking at the cost of going back to work even in September as wrap around care could make work unaffordable. I'm not moaning of course, I chose to have my DC and knew the possible consequences. That said we're feeling the pinch massively already now. Dh being in hospital is actually helping our food bill out

I know that pinch well, hashi! Wrap around care is considerably cheaper than nursery, at least where we are, and you can use childcare vouchers to pay for it too, I think (we're just looking into this ATM).

It's fascinating how people in the uk are so attached to this idea of being a summer born, September born and how much difference that makes to the children etc etc.
But in other places (eg France), it's something that no one talks about.

I was talking to my mum about it who has been a teacher all her life, both in primary and then in secondary (up to A levels).
Her comment has always been that yes it's harr for the YOUNGEST for about a term coming back to school and then they sort fall in line with the others. At the end of primary school, there is no more difference in between the oldest and the youngest.
But then not getting reading until a child is 6~7yo is also considered normal....

I do worry about the fact that thinking younger children aren't suppose to be doing as well is becoming somehow a reality BECAUSE we believe it's the case. The same way that thinking that girls aren't good at maths means we end up with a clear divide atbthe start off secondary school. A divide that you don't find in other countries again..... (so it's not an issue with real ability or real difference between boys and girls. It's a difference coming from who they have been educated.)

Sorry we are getting further away form Brexit there!

I was lucky that the (state) nursery (half days during term time) was close by and that dh was (mostly) working from home so that he could pick ds up from his morning session and drop him off at the childminder (she didn't do pick-ups). My parents or dh's parents were available in emergencies.

But the point about living in a society is that it shouldn't be so dependent on luck.

Ultimately, it will be these children who are looking after us in our old age . It's either that or accepting that we will need to find other solutions for care or not in old age/ill health

I've got better Hill / Timothy stories (which I can't share here as they are massively outing)

Oh, go on. You're among friends, no-one's reading these threads

Nice try, Swedish!

Swedish

It's fascinating how people in the uk are so attached to this idea of being a summer born, September born and how much difference that makes to the children etc etc.
But in other places (eg France), it's something that no one talks about

That's because the young for year boys (and it is boys most affected) repeat a class ...

I used to know an ed psych here on France working in the state primary system. A good chunk of his workload was young-for-year boys. The effect is real, but not all children are affected. My DD who just turned 16 goes into Y13 in September, you wouldn't know she was any younger than her friends (and she is not the youngest in her class).

Mistigris - we don't (usually) repeat years in Scotland but at least we do have the chance to defer initial entry. So the March born kids (March is the theoretical cut-off date in Scotland) won't be the oldest in the year as there will be some February, January and even a few December and November birthdays who will be older - but there will also be January and February birthdays who are nearly a year younger. So there is blurring at the boundaries which will (usually) be based on how ready or not their parent(s)/nursery thought they were ready for full time schooling.

Ds will turn 17 a month after he starts his final year at school (back in the middle of August ). In theory he could have gone to Uni this year (although one of his friends has accepted a place) but fortunately has decided to do 6th Year.

t's fascinating how people in the uk are so attached to this idea of being a summer born, September born and how much difference that makes to the children etc etc.

This will totally out me but dh through work can get hold of a lot of kids magazines. He regularly drops a ton of them almost literally on school, and they love it. The teacher say they help the boys especially into reading. It's not exclusive of course, but most teachers do see similar patterns recurring and I wish they had more resources to close the gap sooner.

pretty i think the scottish system has merit, although it does risk simply pushing the problem back by 3 months if too many parents defer! (This happens in some parts of the US)

Larger age ranges in classes does help smooth over some of the differences in ability and development, and I think allowing parents some input into the decision is very sensible. Obviously there are disadvantages too (one of which you've identified: my DD wont turn 18 until nearly the end of her first year in higher education, which will no doubt complicate issues like financial independence, learning to drive, etc.)

I went to Uni after S5 and although I was at the "old" end of the year (April birthday), it meant I only turned 18 towards the end of 1st year.

By in my day (a looooong time ago ), it wasn't too much of an issue: as I was at St Andrews (majority of English students), everyone in particular and importantly the pubs assumed you were over 18 . Nowadays it would be more of an issue, with colour coded/bar coded ID cards etc.

Bringing it back sort of to Brexit, it is interesting to see how different countries address schooling (including pre and post "compulsory" schooling). The Erasmus scheme will be a major loss.