Archers thread #155: Cold Comfort Farms! The rural sagas continue. Discuss The Archers here.

[Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g]

FILL THE OLD THREAD UP FIRST! https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/radio_addicts/4902507-archers-thread-154-cider-with-fat-rosie-meadow-rise-to-candleford-or-the-darling-horrobins-of-september-get-your-rural-saga-fix-discuss-the-archers-here?page=10

Thank you, @PseudoBadger, for kicking off this long, long series of Archers threads.

All views on The Archers welcome here! New blood welcomed, and of course we are always delighted to welcome back former or occasional listeners/posters. We don't all agree on all points, although we do mostly try to be civil about it. Most of us are posting tongue in cheek a lot of the time, so don't worry about revealing that you'd like to hear more scenes in the abattoir, or other unusual views.

Spoilers: not on this thread, please! We don't wait for the omnibus to discuss the weeknight episodes, but we do try our best to avoid cross-contamination from www.mumsnet.com/talk/radio_addicts/4636789-the-archers-spoilers-thread-7-cant-wait-for-702pm-join-us-here, where spoilers are positively welcomed!

For newer listeners, lurkers or those who just have no idea what we're talking about, @DadDadDad has created this useful thread: www.mumsnet.com/Talk/radio_addicts/3557323-For-Archers-fans-a-guide-to-acronyms-on-the-long-running-discussion-threads-and-any-other-meta-thread-questions-you-may-have - BOOP point for him! (See thread for explanation.)

Lots of lively discussion about Brad's university aspirations and the Open Day on the last thread. Do you want him to end up at Felpersham or do you want him to spread his wings and go further afield? Where will Mia go?

Will this thread see the end of Rob, or do we have many weeks more before his long overdue demise?

What's going on at Grey Gables? Are they running into financial trouble? Will we hear from Roy, who I had forgotten was working there until he was mentioned the other day? Who are the mysterious 'Owners'? Will the locum GP turn out to be Adil's sister, as we have been surmising since she first spoke? Why's she been conjured up?

Talking of the GP, I'm hoping against hope we're not in for bad news about Jim's mole.

Praying that we're going to get a long and much-needed break from hearing P*p. Not praying that we hear Rob being christened. Who would be his sponsor, as someone commented on the last thread? Harrison? Surely that would be a conflict of interest. Can't see who else would do it locally.

I wonder how Ben is getting on now he's back on his nursing degree? Will we ever hear anything about Lily's course, or how Freddie's getting on at the abattoir?

So many questions! Over to you for some answers and boundless speculation.

I think it was the idea that she is only a couple of weeks into the course and they’ve already started a second text - not that she’s reading other books herself

the way they are writing Emma at the moment makes her come across as a gullible fool. I don’t think that is their intention (I hope not!) but I’m finding it quite painful!

The practical and philosophical differences between an adversarial legal process and the Anglican Church was potentially a really interesting thing to examine within Alan and Usha’s marriage - but the SW fudged it.

But I am beginning to wonder - based on Kathy’s sudden implausible resurfacing - whether the business of Rob might conceivably bring about a vicarage divorce. The SWs have already replaced Usha - in terms of her role as friend, and ‘only’ in the village. Perhaps Souad Faress wants to leave?

How many classes a week are there? If there are two, it makes perfect sense to study two texts.

Usha has it wrong. It is none of her business. Just like she cannot take advice from Alan about her clients. She can't talk to him about them, in fact. And stricly speaking, I would think that he shouldn't talk to her about his, either.

AIUI if a lawyer's client reveals that they have, in fact, done the crime, the lawyer is obliged to advise them to plead guilty, and cannot continue to defend them unless they do, and then their job is to try for mitigation.

Rob wrong-footed Alan by coming to see him in the first place. This began the spaghetti-head which stopped Alan thinking "I don't think I should be touching this with a barge pole, I'll ask the Bishop."

I think it is all too plausible, and I'm very much enjoying listening to it.

With the English classes, it's not just two texts they're doing together, it's at least 3: Emma said that they were doing Of Mice and Men, and then when she talked about Great Expectations she said 'we haven't got to the end yet', or something to that effect - but she definitely said we, not I, so they're reading it in class rather than just her reading ahead. It's not clear whether they're actually studying the poetry yet.

It's just not the way English lit is ever taught. You can introduce a new text towards the end of the first one and do a bit of crossover - where you're purely analysing the first text but still reading through the second one. But you don't do 3 at a time! Unless we are to believe that everything anyone needs to know for GCSE level on Romeo and Juiliet has now been covered and they've moved on.

Of course, in most schools English lang and lit are timetabled just as English and only the teacher knows which classes are dedicated to which, so doing English lit as a standalone subject is rarer (less so English lang, which is very commonly taken as a resit). In that situation there's more variety from class to class. But three texts in a half term is ridiculous whichever way you look at it. The only logical explanation is that Emma is doing some kind of intensive class 5 nights a week to try to get the GCSE done in a term, but they really should have mentioned that! In any case, only English lang and Maths are available as autumn resits, so she can't take the exam until next summer. Why the rush to read all the texts at once?!

Joining this thread somewhat belatedly. Lovely to see more delurkers 😊.

30 years ago I was taught different English A level texts by different teachers at the same time. I can’t really remember what happened at GCSE.

I thought she said “I haven’t finished it yet” about Great Expectations, that’s why I presumed she was reading ahead. I’m honestly impressed at her supposed reading speed as that, Of Mice and Men and Macbeth aren’t exactly a quick peruse.

It feels like they are rushing her along because they have a story arc that needs to come to a climax soon? It’s just coming across as badly thought through

Oh, well found! Thank you. I was half-sure that was the case but not sure enough to say so. It did just seem as if Rob turning up where he lived made sense. Though if the church is closed, why are they using it for bible-reading classes? Heating the whole church for an hour or so one evening seems a little extravagant.

Are there entries also for Alan's other parishes: Darrington, Edgeley, Netherbourne, Loxley Barrett and Lakey Green?

Edgeley yes, not the others.Putting "test" into the search box throws up interesting results. Not least St Augustine of Hippo which I'm sure is a genuine place but made me laugh.

With o-level English Lit we certainly did 2 and perhaps 3 texts simultaneously. I made a practice of always under my desk reading any syllabus text except the one that we were reading painfully slowly around the class.

Lynda is treating Emma like an adult, unlike some posts on here which seem to me to have a patronising undertone.
Hear, hear.

I have a problem with the way Emma is being written.

I did English O level in 1977, like @Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g although I can't remember which board. We did Romeo and Juliet, First World War poetry and Northanger Abbey as I recall, but I'm pretty sure we studied more than one text at a time and I would definitely have read them all in the first couple of weeks of term anyway. I think Emma is keen to get ahead. Just because she didn't do well at school doesn't mean she is dim.

Being dim and poor academic achievement don't necessarily go hand in hand; some of the most academically gifted men I have known have been remarkably stupid about day-to-day stuff.

Emma, however, not only failed all but one of her GCSEs, she also got herself entangled with not one but both of the Grundy brothers and has shown no sign of any particular intelligence during the eighteen years since: she did actually say that she hadn't read anything for years until Susan (or was it Tracy?) got her onto looking at Lark Rise To Candleford, and given a choice about anything non-academic she seems to be drawn to the stupid course of action as a needle is drawn to the North.

Talking of Lark Rise, part 2 is on Sounds. I enjoyed it just as much as part 1. Must see if I can buy the book.

I wish our school had done more than one text at a time. When I then found out A level English involved doing just 6 texts across TWO YEARS I decided to try something else 😂

Call me overinfested :) but I've just suddenly thought re Emma - I bet she's getting through the books during quiet parts of the day in the tearoom (how busy can it be say 4-5pm in mid October?). I've never read as much as when staffing a reception desk in a very quiet office. 📚

@Fink I presume Emma is at a FE College, not school. Would that make a difference to the teaching strategy?

@WitcheryDivine I think you're right

Emma enjoyed being a teenager too much to pay attention in school. Since then, she hasn't had much spare time...

Not sure I understand this? Kathy resurfaced only for a final goodbye and isn't coming back. In TA, as we know, the fact that an actor wants to leave or even if one dies doesn't necessarily affect plotlines for the character concerned at all.

Ha ha, you would have hated my classes. I taught MFL so we only cover two texts for the entire A Level (obviously literature is not the only paper). The head of English in the family confirms that it's actually pretty hard work getting through all the set texts in the time - which is pretty much one year and one term, and then on to revision for the remaining time before study leave.

I spent an entire year (of a three year part-time) Masters studying only one text. My Mum was constantly astonished at the idea that there was anything left to say about it. 😅

MFL?

AIUI if a lawyer's client reveals that they have, in fact, done the crime, the lawyer is obliged to advise them to plead guilty, and cannot continue to defend them unless they do, and then their job is to try for mitigation.

Not quite. The lawyer can't put forward a case based on the argument that their client didn't do it. However, they are free to continue to defend them by testing the prosecution's case and arguing that the prosecution haven't proved guilt beyond reasonable doubt. They can also pass the client on to another lawyer.

@Passepartoute I knew someone would know
I did know they could pass them on to another vicar lawyer

I don't have any real experience of FE colleges. The only thing I would say is that they're even less regulated than schools and, as such, have the choice what qualifications they require from teachers. In that case, it's possible that Emma has an inexperienced teacher with no pedagogical training and a not great support network ... they might think that getting the class to read all the set texts in one go and then start to analyse them would be the best method!

We had a bit of a discussion on the last thread as to where Emma is actually doing this course (college specialising in adult eduction, standard sixth form college either part of an 11-18 school or not, online provider ...). None of the solutions seem watertight. I think more likely than not she's in a FE college, but it hasn't been spelled out on air.

On the IB they study tonnes more texts and (gasp) AFAIK the teacher chooses which texts they study.

I can understand doing fewer texts in a foreign language though! That makes sense.