Tories
Or more specifically, the fear that one day I will wake up and find that I have become one.

Brings me out in the night sweats, this does.
( ancrenne doesn't eat anything that can play video games, Mon 14 Apr 2008, 11:00, closed)

Yeah! Good one.
But unlikely in your case. Your lefter than a very very left thing.
( big-girl's-baubles wishes she was top of someone's Christmas list, Mon 14 Apr 2008, 11:11, closed)

@BGB
So was Peter Hitchens, once upon a time... And most of the American Neocons started out as Trotskyists.
( Enzyme is in ur [noun]z, [verb]in' ur [noun]z, Mon 14 Apr 2008, 11:14, closed)

NOooooooooooooooo!!!
Peter Hitchens? Gah!

Teh Fear is strong now. I shall resist

BGB - thanks. Keep reminding me of that if I start to ... change ;)
( ancrenne doesn't eat anything that can play video games, Mon 14 Apr 2008, 11:17, closed)

@Enzyme
Your giving me a headache again with your knowledgeable retorts.

Plus I was trying to placate Ancrenne so she would be able to sleep soundly again.
( big-girl's-baubles wishes she was top of someone's Christmas list, Mon 14 Apr 2008, 11:17, closed)

Can't quite remember who said this
And it's a bit of a paraphrase but here goes

"If you're not a Socialist at 20, you have no heart. If you're still one at 40, you have no head*"






*I think that means U R Fick, not that you've been guillotined.
(osok Rebel without a clue, Mon 14 Apr 2008, 11:18, closed)

Tony Blair
Was once a left-winger. Member if CND and all sorts of things.

After a couple of years in office he was further to the right than the last Tory government (John Major) and only slightly to the left of Genghis Khan.

Smirky little bastard that he is....

Cheers
( Legless Fuck Victoria's Secret, Mon 14 Apr 2008, 11:20, closed)

@osok
I was a Maoist at primary school. I have since moved somewhat to the left of that. I'm not quite sure where that leaves me.
( Enzyme is in ur [noun]z, [verb]in' ur [noun]z, Mon 14 Apr 2008, 11:20, closed)

@Enzyme
I think that leaves you teetering on the edge. There is nowhere left to go after that.
( big-girl's-baubles wishes she was top of someone's Christmas list, Mon 14 Apr 2008, 11:24, closed)

Don't worry...
...things can only get better.

*vote Tory*
*vote Tory*
*vote Tory*

;-)
(Audax Victor, Mon 14 Apr 2008, 11:27, closed)

Hmmm.. CND?
Well, I'm not a member but was at Aldermaston the other day.

And Missus Blouse, while I appreciate you were trying to help me stay calm, I hereby give you permission, nay demand, that should I end up anything like the delusional 'god talks to me' war mongering filth that is Tony bloody Blair, you will push me over the edge of the nearest cliff.
( ancrenne doesn't eat anything that can play video games, Mon 14 Apr 2008, 11:29, closed)

@Ancrenne..
I would consider it an act of mercy and do as you wish.

What are friends for : )
( big-girl's-baubles wishes she was top of someone's Christmas list, Mon 14 Apr 2008, 11:34, closed)

Enzyme
Left of Mao? At primary school?

There must be something in the water where you're from - all I cared about at primary school was sweets and coloured paper and where the fabric went when I made a hole in my tights by falling over.

I too am in awe of your knowledgeableness

edit - thanks missus B :) you's lovely
( ancrenne doesn't eat anything that can play video games, Mon 14 Apr 2008, 11:37, closed)

@ancrenne...
Sadly, yes. We had a book rack in my classroom on which was a book on JFK and one on Mao. The latter fascinated me.

(My brother, at the same school, had a teacher who refused to teach him for two years - even pretty much refused to talk to him - because I had, by then, gone to the "posh" school up the hill, and my brother was going to follow me. That made us class traitors. I agreed with that teacher.)
( Enzyme is in ur [noun]z, [verb]in' ur [noun]z, Mon 14 Apr 2008, 11:42, closed)

Legless
Tony Bliar was once a member of the human species. Just proof that whatever the colour of the rosette, 99.9% of the current crop of professional politicians turn into self-satisfied trough-feeding snouts in suits as soon as they get in. We remain as the little people whose only function is to vote in decreasing numbers every now and then so that the political artificial reality keeps rolling on. Feed them all into a woodchipper. (Okay, there are a few exceptions scattered across the political spectrum who actually believe in public service).
(osok Rebel without a clue, Mon 14 Apr 2008, 11:43, closed)

@Enzyme
I can agree with that teacher too. And it's sort of one of the reasons I've quit my job - public sector work should not, in my opinion, be about making universities do commercially funded research. And nor should it be about paying someone like me a pretty good wage, from the public purse, when the academics in question don't want to do said commercial research. So I get paid to, um, read b3ta and feel like a thief :(

Hooray to resigning!


Oh - and osok? I agree. I kinds of have this feeling that people who want to make things better tend to get on with making them better. People who want power go into politics.

I know where I can lay my hands on a wood chipper.

Edited to remove pancakeyness. I can spell, just not type :(
( ancrenne doesn't eat anything that can play video games, Mon 14 Apr 2008, 11:57, closed)

ancrenne
Making them batter?

Is this proof that pancakes are the cure to all social ills?

(Feet first into the woodchipper, naturally)
(osok Rebel without a clue, Mon 14 Apr 2008, 12:04, closed)

All of this ^
(except perhaps the pancakes...) fits in nicely with Billy Connolly's feeling that people who want to be politicians shouldn't be allowed to be politicians.
( K2k6 has been using boiling nitric acid, Mon 14 Apr 2008, 12:06, closed)

Call me radical
But I'd rather have our Government than one with echoes of, say, Zimbabwe. At least when the buggers are voted out of office they have the good grace to actually go...

And two terms as 'leader' should be the absolute maximum for any PM. Actually, I'd go so far as to say 1 term is enough.
( Davros' Granddad booked a holiday, Mon 14 Apr 2008, 12:11, closed)

Politics
Arthur C Clarke wrote in "Songs of Distant Earth" that instead of dragging someone kicking and screaming out of the White House, the most democratic option was to run a state lottery and ensure that the randomly selected emcumbent is dragged kicking and screaming in to the White House.

Great idea I think...

I do have another idea, instead of policies being decided by the inept/corrupt, why not put it to a panel of randomly selected jurors, expressing the pros and cons of the idea and let a jury decide whether or not ID Cards or Road Pricing is a good plan?
(PJM Does not love Liberace, Mon 14 Apr 2008, 12:27, closed)

Polticians
Back in the Blair days, I was strongly on the belief that politicians should never appear on TV. Now we have Gordon Brown, I think politicians should not appear anywhere.
( mistaspakkaman is just a little boy who likes to press buttons., Mon 14 Apr 2008, 12:31, closed)

Call me what you want (except late to dinner)
But what exactly could the general population do if Cyclops Broon and his hideous sycophants were voted out of office and he 'pulled a Mugabe'?

Strangely, I feel that the above (hopefully) ridiculous scenario would be more likely to come from the current shower of self-satisfied shite than the last bunch.
(osok Rebel without a clue, Mon 14 Apr 2008, 12:32, closed)

@PJM
The problem with a jury is the jurors it contains.

I present this as evidence:
Students tell of fees resentment

They can suck hippocock for all I care.
( crackhouseceilidhband - "refreshing and logical", Mon 14 Apr 2008, 12:38, closed)

@CHCB
Damn straight. I had to pay fees, they all should bloody pay them. I started Uni the year they introduced fees. My friend, who started the year before, never had to pay them.

Of course, I say 'I' paid them, what I meant to say is, 'My parents' did.
(Boss Keloid Following Hitler with bourbon biscuits, Mon 14 Apr 2008, 12:46, closed)

CHCB
Next step, write out a cheque for the full balance and get a degree certificate on the spot?

Saves all the hassle of doing a McKeith and having to send your cash to the US.
(osok Rebel without a clue, Mon 14 Apr 2008, 12:48, closed)

sadly
it is at that stage.

I hate my job. I hate my job. I hate my job. I hate my job. I hate my job. I hate my job. I hate my job. I hate my job. I hate my job. I hate my job. I hate my job. I hate my job.

I love my research though.

The latest from academia? The Uni is so scared of students appealing that they screw their staff over instead.

I hate my job. I hate my job.

Can anyone tell I'm a little upset?
( crackhouseceilidhband - "refreshing and logical", Mon 14 Apr 2008, 12:52, closed)

@ CHCB
I'm still envious of you - I'm only bloody sessional so I have no idea whether my job will be there next semester :(
( chickenlady b3ta's very own Elizabeth Taylor, Mon 14 Apr 2008, 12:56, closed)

@CHCB
Glad it's not just this side of the academic fence that things suck. I have the greatest of respect for academics and think that academics + academic freedom tends to = great research and amazingly useful stuff. Add in commercial shite to that mix and you smother creativity and, in the much shorter term, piss people off royally.
( ancrenne doesn't eat anything that can play video games, Mon 14 Apr 2008, 12:58, closed)

K2K6
Billy Connolly for PM?

Sounds grand to me.
( ancrenne doesn't eat anything that can play video games, Mon 14 Apr 2008, 12:59, closed)

@chickenlady and ancrenne
It's true, I love the job security and the mediocre but regular pay. I'm currently enormously stressed out over some problems at work though where my department let me down massively. About 90% of my students are thicker than pigshit - I nearly wept in disbelief and disappointment at the final year projects I've been marking. I am given no information, no help and no support. The Uni where I used to work was a much better environment and I'm hoping that's the case with other places outside of my current employer. I love my research but never get the time to do any (no, not just because I'm on b3ta).

I find it so very hard to believe that academics actually want to be a part of such a flawed system anymore. If I could change it, I would. I'm trying.

Fuck it, I'm going back to bed and I'm staying there 'til the world improves.
( crackhouseceilidhband - "refreshing and logical", Mon 14 Apr 2008, 13:04, closed)

@ CHCB
I have in my mind a uni course where I will get my hands on the freshers and forcefeed them the stuff they need to know - make them read it! And then they will all be incredibly creative and their work will be worth reading when I have to face them again as 3rd years. I'm putting off going to pick up all my students' final portfolios until next week when I will have consumed enough chocolate and wine to no longer care.
( chickenlady b3ta's very own Elizabeth Taylor, Mon 14 Apr 2008, 13:09, closed)

Re general crapness:
GAH! Press the 'reset-button' say I.
( mistaspakkaman is just a little boy who likes to press buttons., Mon 14 Apr 2008, 13:24, closed)

OK, once PJM gets in as PM
and we've formed his cabinet, then we can sort out the country.

The education system needs a revamp. For starters, let's thin down the number of people going to university, such that only those who are sufficiently intelligent and have the desire to do so actually enter higher education.

For those who would otherwise have gone to university to study for a crap degree in 'media studies' or whatever, we will have a proper technical and vocational college system to train them for real, decently paid jobs. (FFS, plumbers earn twice my salary as an academic - there's a good motivation)

We will also have apprenticeships for other trades and skills.

Like Donna Noble's mum said in Doctor Who the other week, "It's not like the 1980s these days - no one's unemployed any more!" So for those people who are capable of working but choose not to because they're chavs who can't be arsed, if they don't attempt to do an available job, stop their benefits.

Or use them in chain gangs or something. That'll learn 'em!

CHCB - I believe you're the education minister-in-waiting. Over to you.

Alternatively Billy Connolly could get the PM's job, and at least we'd get a laugh.
( K2k6 has been using boiling nitric acid, Mon 14 Apr 2008, 13:31, closed)

@K2k6
You might want to catch me on a better day. Today, for example, my manifesto for my role as Minister for Education revolves largely around culling the thick, whinging scrotes that my department likes to call "undergraduates". Culling them with their own chavvy burberry scarves.
( crackhouseceilidhband - "refreshing and logical", Mon 14 Apr 2008, 13:39, closed)

On behalf of ms chcb
I shall glower at as many undergrads as possible as I am just off to campus for a meeting (coffee/chat).

If I can, I will trip some up for you miss. Karmic justice.
( ancrenne doesn't eat anything that can play video games, Mon 14 Apr 2008, 13:46, closed)

@CHCB
Just thought I'd add my little, as someone who started doing a Physics degree, and decided it wasn't worth it.

From the other side of the coin, I looked at my fellow students, the low pass marks, and decided screw it, why rack up thousands of debt for something thats looking like it'll be worthless. Instead I got myself real world experience working my way around the career ladder instead. I'm now 27 and had a bit of a reunion at the end of last year.

Result: Everyone I know who went to Uni is now on about half my salary, with less prospects, and hating their Jobs.
Most people, I know, who didn't do uni/college, are earning around the same as me.

Sure is a sad state of affairs when the most intellegent people I knew were let down by the system, and given no way to distinguish themselves from the rest. Seems to be the smartest route now, is to ignore academia, and create a path of your own devising.

Ofcourse, no-one wll actually suggest that to school kids deciding what to do with their lives.
(nibblet99 is avoiding work on, Mon 14 Apr 2008, 13:48, closed)

@CHCB
Culling would also be a valid solution.

You may find it difficult to win over the populace, but I'd give you a hand.

*digs out caveman-style club*

Hmm, where have all the undergrads gone?
( K2k6 has been using boiling nitric acid, Mon 14 Apr 2008, 14:06, closed)

On a side note...
I'd also be up for assisting in the cull.

No fancy caveman club for me though, I'm more of a traditionalist. A piece of Clue-by-four with a nail in it will suffice.
(nibblet99 is avoiding work on, Mon 14 Apr 2008, 14:12, closed)