When did a freshers week "rite of passage" become a right?

[Pete]

The only difference between Bliars labour and the tories was the colour of their neckties..............

Pete

[shugie]

The only difference between Bliars labour and the tories was the colour of their neckties..............

Pete

Oddly, that's a view expressed by many who identify as socialists. I could care less frankly, he kept the actual Tories out for over a decade, and that alone is worth voting for.

[dromia]

Aye but he was twat thatcher on steroids.

He kept driving her deregulation, destroy the public sector, manufacturing sector, big money globalisation that has led the world to the sorry state it is now in.

That was then compounded by c*** cameron and osbastards vindictive austerity that put the nail in this country's coffin so that when covid came we were institutionally bereft, combine that with a current cabinet whose collective IQ must be less than that of a goldfish.

Still the disgraceful and corrupt governments we have had in are just a pale reflection of the British people as they are getting what they have voted for, you put shite in yopu get shite out.

[Geek]

Aye but he was twat thatcher on steroids.

Thatcher, as far as I am concerned is our greatest Prime Minister after Winston Churchill (although, I will agree, she lost it a bit at the end).

[Geek]

The only difference between Bliars labour and the tories was the colour of their neckties..............

Pete

Oddly, that's a view expressed by many who identify as socialists. I could care less frankly, he kept the actual Tories out for over a decade, and that alone is worth voting for.

Blair should be charged with war crimes for Iraq (where were the weapons of mass destruction?). He also gave away our rebate (negotiated by Mrs M. Thatcher's government) to the EU Ponzi scheme and received nothing in return. He would have sold the UK down the river to be EU president (he is a complete and utter parasite).

[Geek]

The whole "woke" business appears to me to be little more than those on the right seeking to suppress political views they don't like,...

Speaking as one from the right of the political spectrum, I have to say that I think you have somehow got the thing backwards.

It is not the political right who are:

- demanding so-called 'hate speech' laws which are so broadly drafted that they would in fact completely completely abrogate the right of free speech, such
as making it an offence to criticize Islam;
- shouting down and preventing from speaking ('cancelling') anyone whom they perceive to be 'wrong', which to them means anybody with whom they
disagree;
- corrupting academic research and scientific investigation along political lines;
- demanding so-called 'safe-spaces' at university where they can be protected from hearing any opinion which might disagree with their accepted world
view;
and most importantly, it is not the political right that is rioting in the streets and destroying private property, seemingly with complete impunity.


As for woke. I just found this on-line and it is something with which I agree when it comes to 'wokeism'.

America is undergoing a godless revival. A new creed—called “social justice,” “wokeism,” or “the successor ideology”—resembling religion yet avowedly secular and anti-spiritual, is spreading across the country. Its seminaries are the nation’s elite universities, its missionaries work in prestigious newsrooms. Adherents are remaking powerful institutions by “canceling” anyone who dissents or lacks zeal for the cause. Like any good revival, this one is replete with hellfire preaching. Eager audiences are told of their inescapable guilt, or “privilege.” Repentance is demanded, but forgiveness is not offered.

Secular progressivism has become more zealous and evangelical, trampling over traditional American notions of limited governance and tolerance. The defining fault line in American politics may no longer be between left and right. The relevant division now is between people who accept the binding, state-backed power of the new post-secular creed and the diverse coalition of groups—including traditional religious communities, conservatives, left-wing materialists, and one-time liberals alienated by the creeping dominance of left-wing absolutism—who resist its authority.

Heresy on the cardinal issues of race, the nation, and gender is not tolerated. Prominent media, educational and ordinary citizens have lost their jobs or otherwise been punished for alleged ideological infractions. “Wokeism” is not merely an idle belief system—increasingly it is the official philosophy of the ruling class, employed to justify the exercise of coercive power. Governmental authorities and corporations now coordinate in enforcing the dictates of the new secular progressive faith, often at the cost of protecting the constitutional liberties.

Consider the response to the novel coronavirus. Actual religious services among Jews, Christians, and Muslim communities were banned, while mass demonstrations were cheered on by elected officials, civic leaders, and public health professionals. This provides the clearest articulation yet of the way in which the original understanding of America has been reversed: The state, having aligned itself with one creed over others, no longer serves to protect freedom of expression.

Well said, I could not agree more!

[channel12]

Aye but he was twat thatcher on steroids.

Thatcher, as far as I am concerned is our greatest Prime Minister after Winston Churchill (although, I will agree, she lost it a bit at the end).

Thatcher was becoming more and more eurosceptic so that big europhile Heseltine engineered her downfall and so we ended up with another europhile John Major. There's no way Thatcher would have signed the Maastricht treaty so she had to go.

[channel12]

I went to Uni in the '90's as a part timer mature student and there wasn't a freshers week for our intake and we all paid in hard cash upfront for our degree course, no student loans at £9000pa never to be paid back.

I was working full time and for two nights a week during term time after work I went the Uni from 6pm to 9-30pm. It was about an hours drive each way so it was a long day and still managed to do this for four years in all kinds of weather. After four years we part timers sat the same finals as those doing the three year full time course and I got a second class honours. We part timers used to wonder what the full timers were doing for the three years, we guess they had a lot of "free study" time. I know that apart from two night at Uni I was out two nights at exercise classes and at least one evening taking the wife out and Sunday morning at the gun club.

My reasons for getting a degree was what Rita said in "Educating Rita" I want a certificate to say I had a brain. I worked with graduates who felt themselves superior because of their Uni education but it many cases they weren't brighter or better than me.

I once worked out that since leaving school I've spent about fourteen years in part time further education doing various vocation courses which meant fourteen summers taking exams !

[RDC]

My reasons for getting a degree was what Rita said in "Educating Rita" I want a certificate to say I had a brain. I worked with graduates who felt themselves superior because of their Uni education but it many cases they weren't brighter or better than me.

I get this. We've had grads come in and are useless, but think they are God's Gift. As a 'shopfloor' worker I fell into the us vs them mentality simply because they thought they were superior to us, and we knew we were superior to them...

I personally think a mature student has an advantage if its also relevant to their work since you are able to apply the theory to what you do and see each day.

If the stars align, I'll be finally doing a part time degree in support of my latest job role. Experience only gets you so far, and I want to be able to do my job to the best of my potential, not just the best of my ability.

[shugie]

Aye but he was twat thatcher on steroids.

He kept driving her deregulation, destroy the public sector, manufacturing sector, big money globalisation that has led the world to the sorry state it is now in.

That was then compounded by c*** cameron and osbastards vindictive austerity that put the nail in this country's coffin so that when covid came we were institutionally bereft, combine that with a current cabinet whose collective IQ must be less than that of a goldfish.

Still the disgraceful and corrupt governments we have had in are just a pale reflection of the British people as they are getting what they have voted for, you put shite in yopu get shite out.

There's a film called "The Spiders Web - Britain's Second Empire" which is well worth a watch if you want to understand why manufacturing was hung out to dry. Largely because it was too easy to make a better return on capital in the London money markets than it was to invest in anything else. I think brexit might finally dent the power of the City of London.

I'm not convinced Blair could have done much more to prevent big money globalisation without alienating those who elected him, a government that actively intervened in the London money markets would be perceived as far too socialist to get re-elected. Blair certainly screwed the pooch on PFI, failing to fix the banking regulatory system that the Tories blessed him with, and getting involved in foreign lands. Suez showed the folly of that.

I'm strongly in favour of continuing education, only gave it up when the Open University jacked their fees up massively, I decided not to finish the final year of the law degree I was taking. Although the old argument about graduates being a bit useless seems to be less applicable when pretty much every job worth having now requires at least a "foundation" degree. I'm rather more in favour of vocational education, having taken an HND before my degree I could breeze the lab work, and was also quite well paid by Racal Thanet at weekends to rework receivers that failed their QA.

A good education should provide both relevant practical skills, and the ability to think critically, so when someone tells you to do something, you know if they are acting in your interests or theirs. Brexit only happened because a lot of people were made promises that could never be delivered on, but they lacked the ability to question the information being presented to them, not just the message, but the motivations of the messenger.