Archers thread #198: Josh sent to Patagonia, Pip stays put. Wrong way round! Discuss The Archers here.

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Not feeling greatly enthused about what's going on in Ambridge at the moment, tbh. I'm annoyed at Brian's hypocrisy about Ruairi given the furore over George's attempt to frame Alice as the cause of the accident. I do hope we don't have a slow drip drip drip now as one after another the members of the Aldridge/Archer clan find out what really happened and endlessly agonise over what to do. Frankly I don't care. There! I've said it.

Pip's OK. Well, good, but what was the point of that story, I wonder?

I suspect I'm in a minority of one in rather enjoying hearing (a) from Bert Horobin and (b) about Fletcher. I surmise Bert is here to stay for a while because the BBC has (amazingly) updated his character page: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/profiles/1wQP3mKR6yr9LVs05jddxcY/bert-horrobin (prominent actor photo warning). Given how out of date a lot of the other character pages are, this seems odd, but there we are.

That's all I can be bothered to say! Over to you.

I really didn’t feel that.

I think he's vocal for a reason. He's probably going to die and Tracey will feel unnecessarily guilty.

A perfect summary! Natasha is definitely going to be looking into private schools after that conversation. It also sounds like she's thinking of selling some of her shopaholic purchases, though it was neatly emphasised how little she'd get in return. Or maybe she'll just end up spending more after Susan and Tracy pointed out what bargains were on offer.
I preferred silent Bert - I feel like he's being groomed as a replacement for Joe Grundy.

I’d love to think they were going to do a bit of public service broadcasting about council house tenancies (eg is Tracey on the lease if dad really does pop his clogs hopefully under a big chunk of masonry?) but I fear instead it’ll be one about private school VAT.

I thought they mentioned a few years ago that Tracey is on the tenancy.

That doesn't mean the SWs will remember...

The Horrobin tenancy was covered when Tracy moved in either her dad. Briefly mentioned here:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/profiles/gQ9f0WVGpJFgfZvrRNdZcH/tracy-horrobin

We are due another independent school storyline - it’s a million years since Freddie and Lily, and more recently Ruairi, left their schools. (The nonsense of Rob wanting to send a tiny infant to boarding school doesn’t count.)

But it would require the SWs to acknowledge that some people have more money, and thus more choices, than others. So I guess it will be shut down pdq …

Private school fees are about £15K pa for day pupils. TomnTash won't have that kind of money so it can be a SL and won't be shut down pdq.
Tash has been spending money she doesn't have for years and they have presumably massive mortgage.

If only Peggy was around.

I can imagine Natasha needling Tom to drop a few hints that The Celestial Twins deserve a stellar education.

Maybe she’s got her eye on the money from the sale of the Angus herd?

I'd be annoyed if they went down the private school route in any serious way. Every single child we know of in Ambridge with the possible exception of the Aldridges went to Loxley Barratt Primary School. The vast majority then went on to Borchester Green School and Borchester FE College. The outcomes have varied but many have done very well indeed. It would be idiocy for a couple with existing money problems to commit to two sets of school fees for years and years to come.

It would be. I'm not sure what one gains from private education.

Some friends and acquaintances went and the academically-inclined went on to Oxbridge, Durham or Bristol, so they may have gained.

I doubt that Sarin and Novochok will be academically inclined.

I think private can be a big help to those who are sporty e.g cricket, rowing or rugby.

No reason why the twins should be any less academically inclined than Phoebe.

(But anyway, the vast, vast majority of students at any English university are from state schools. University outcome alone would be a ridiculous reason to pay for a school. If Natasha decided she wanted it for them, it would be primarily for social reasons. Or perhaps because she wanted to draw a clear line under the emotional precarity of her own childhood.)

Different genes. Jennydarling was bright and Brian isn't thick. Kate didn't try at school so we don't know but Adam, Debbie and Alice went to university as did Rotaboy.
Tom has never appeared to be intellectual. Don't know about Natasha.

IRL, I don't think Phoebe would have gone to Oxford and I have no idea why she did.

the vast, vast majority of students at any English university are from state schools. I'd imagine they are because only a small proportion of people are privately educated.

IRL, I don't think Phoebe would have gone to Oxford and I have no idea why she did.

Why not? She had an interesting and varied upbringing, with loving and stable hardworking parents while growing up (Roy and Hayley), lots of attention and affirmation from Roy and Kate’s respective families, and access to lots of different experiences and perspectives. Jenny was always aspirational.

But with all these advantages, she has seen enough to know that she needed to carve her own way. I’m sure she knew from early on that she would have to be self reliant and that she wouldn’t be able to count on a future on the farm.

@Darker, Basing it on the people I know who went and how Phoebe came across as a teenager and student.
The people I know who went are only a small sample and it's not easy to explain but you can sort of tell.

Where did Natasha find leather trousers for £150 in the last ten years?

Recycled Aberdeen Angus...

Is Brian still a bit homophobic because Adam is gay?

Well, that would be illogical, since Ruairi is apparently bi-sexual and currently has a boyfriend.

(Paul seems to have been in St Lucia for ages now.)

HerSon and MySon. Completely different.

She probably had them made from the cowhides that were briefly hung on the
T-rum walls.

No, he just dislikes the mardy little creep because Adam is Adam.

Buy Y.A.S Black Straight Leather Trousers from the Next UK online shop

Well said Lillian, a perfect summary of Adam’s qualities, and Brian himself actually admitted Adam was the only person capable of running Home Farm.
I don’t understand why Justin would pay Natasha to show his investors around - how is she the best person for the job? And what was that music they were playing in the Terum? It sounded like one of Fallon’s old soundtracks - have the SWs forgotten about the redesign?

@LillianGish I don’t understand why Justin would pay Natasha to show his investors around - how is she the best person for the job?

Perhaps Justin knows them socially through the leather-trouser fetishists club?