The Political Thread

[Tjm86]

Fair point, mind your it is predicated on the assumption that the earnings are generating a profit.  That's why Christmas sales are so important to retailers.  It helps to pick up the slack of quiet periods.  Granted the likes of Tesco are making significant profits through the year but then again they seem to have significant difficulty counting at the best of times these days!

What makes me laugh at the end of the day with the whole 'debate' is that there is an assumption about entitlement that could do with reflection.  This is all arguing about the cost of an optional leisure activity.  In a world where children are being killed with nerve agents, starved to death or forced from their homes by religious extremists, what is the major talking point in the UK?  Why we have to pay so much for our holidays when the kids are all out of school.  What does that say about us as a nation?

[IndigoPrime]

I don't see it like that. Yes, people could do more about looking at and fighting against greater injustices, but it's possible for us to concentrate on multiple things at once. I've got a lot of stick in the past for writing about accessibility in mobile devices and equality in things like children's clothing and toys. People have berated me because there are wars in the world, and people are being raped and murdered. But I can't do anything about those things to any great extent, yet can seek to push for changes in small areas that matter in people's lives.

For me, the holiday thing is indicative of larger problems in British society. The education system is reverting to a place of rote and extreme rules. Also, there's the notion that if you're wealthy enough, you can afford a holiday and to take your children to new places. If not? Tough. I'm not saying that everyone should be entitled to such things, but should we really be cracking down on families who dare to take their children out of school for a week, in order to actually be able to afford to give them a potentially unforgettable experience with their family?

[Tjm86]

Should we?  No way in hell.  It's bonkers.  Also, a valid point on being able to worry about more things than once.  My apologies for any offence caused on that score, it's just that to read some of the headlines from the Trashzines you would think the judgement was the greatest atrocity since Stock, Aitken and Waterman.

[The Legendary Shark]

The judgement is, in my view, an atrocity - not for its specific content but for what it represents. It says that we're all no better than slaves to the system and must subvert all aspects of our lives to it. Must do as we're told.

The modern schooling system, being based on the Prussian Method of education, is primarily (again, in my view) about training the young to be subservient and dependent. The very first lesson taught, and the only constant lesson throughout, is that permission must be sought for everything - from going to the toilet to speaking up - and that one must follow orders without question. To say "no" to a teacher is unthinkable (at least, it was in my day). With some general knowledge thrown in to make it look good, our education system is more about producing dependent citizens than self-reliant people. (The old saying went along the lines of, "making us smart enough to work the machines but not smart enough to ask why.")

The ruling in question is merely an extension of this permission-seeking, do as you're told culture. It's another quarter turn of the screw crushing us into mindless obedience by degrees.

I think, when it comes to education, it's time for the Trivium to make a comeback.

Also interesting, Dorothy L. Sayers's 1947 essay, The Lost Tools of Learning.

[TordelBack]

This is all arguing about the cost of an optional leisure activity.  In a world where children are being killed with nerve agents, starved to death or forced from their homes by religious extremists, what is the major talking point in the UK?  Why we have to pay so much for our holidays when the kids are all out of school.  What does that say about us as a nation?

That the UK is a great place at a great time, and that all people should yearn to have it so good?  That's got to be better than wishing it was the 1790s or the 1950s, which seems to be the other main talking point.

[sheridan]

I'm not saying that everyone should be entitled to such things, but should we really be cracking down on families who dare to take their children out of school for a week, in order to actually be able to afford to give them a potentially unforgettable experience with their family?

Search me - I went on three family holidays in my childhood (the furthest afield being a day trip to the continent).  I always get surprised when people I work alongside go on more holidays each year (and for longer) than I did in my entire childhood.  I don't remember if those holidays were during term time or not.

[Hawkmumbler]

This is all arguing about the cost of an optional leisure activity.  In a world where children are being killed with nerve agents, starved to death or forced from their homes by religious extremists, what is the major talking point in the UK?  Why we have to pay so much for our holidays when the kids are all out of school.  What does that say about us as a nation?

That the UK is a great place at a great time, and that all people should yearn to have it so good?  That's got to be better than wishing it was the 1790s or the 1950s, which seems to be the other main talking point.

Mainly from straight white dudes who want to go back to a time where women and darkies and dykes and queers and japs knew their place.

Sounds glorious, right? Nah.

[Theblazeuk]

I miss the 1950s. I was certainly less stressed then, in the dark void before existence.

[Goaty]

Great photo, remind me of Preacher moment.

[Hawkmumbler]

HA! Brilliant!

[Rately]

Great photo, remind me of Preacher moment.

Absolutely love it.

As someone said earlier to me, "the future and the past!"

[IndigoPrime]

Saffiyah Khan: my current hero.

Elsewhere:

Also, a valid point on being able to worry about more things than once.  My apologies for any offence caused on that score, it's just that to read some of the headlines from the Trashzines you would think the judgement was the greatest atrocity since Stock, Aitken and Waterman.

No apology needed, and I agree with the way the media reports stuff. In a general sense, though, I think our worlds are better when people try to make lots of little changes as well as big ones. (I've already noticed our 3yo talking about her favourite colour being pink, for example. That's not come from us. But, hey, girls should know their place, right? At least according to a great many places selling goods for kids or directing media at them.)

As for other posts about the UK going back in time, it is odd how short memories are. Pre-EEC, we were – as various EU people have pointed out – the "sick man of Europe". Through EEC membership (and latterly EU membership), we've punched above our weight. Now we get to spend 20 years attempting to claw our way back economically to the point we're at today, while shedding human rights, environmental standards, food safety, compassion, and a raft of other great things the UK was known for.

Emphasis on was.

[The Legendary Shark]

Being out of the EU does not mean economic chaos. It means trading under well established global rules already in place, such as those of the WTO - many of which offer better deals and lower tariffs. When trading with us, the EU will also be bound by those rules. It's not as if there's absolutely no rules outside of the EU. Similarly, UN, etc., rules in all the areas you mention, and more, will come into play as the EU rules fall away - rules which both the EU and GB adhere to already when dealing with non-EU countries.

Don't fall for the scaremongering - it's just pro-EU factions trying to frighten us, and other member states, in order to protect their gravy train.

[Theblazeuk]

There's a peculiar brand of naivety in the anarcho-skeptic.

[Hawkmumbler]

It always seems to hinge on "Our Terms".

Which begs the question, why would they? We hold none of the cards, we import more than we export, why should any world power wish to trade with us on OUR terms?!