LGTL

In a nutshell. Academies also mean the Headteacher can set their own pay scale, which is very much in Gove's interest.

I'd shut the whole forum down during pre-season, only to open it up for a day or two when there is big news such as ST prices etc. I think judging by this thread we could all do with a pre-season getaway.

Positive. Well it is in Hampshire anyway. http://www3.hants.gov.uk/education/schools/schoolholidays.htm

This thread has proved that you are never going to please everyone, and that there will always be somebody smug (like Dune) who will criticise the flag without putting in any effort whatsoever himself. It's a sign of the times that we are all worrying what everyone else will think of it. If Saints fans generally like it then what is the problem. It's the thought that counts in these things and that is plain to see.

I just hope we aren't already pretty much out of the mix after the first 10 games.

That clip is funny because Thatcher totally mis-interprets what he says. Why can't the rich still stay rich, rather then getting richer, to enable the poor to get richer? Thatcher just wanted the rich and the poor to stay where they were. They'd still have kids up chimneys if they could get away with it.

Dan Harding will be absolutely devastated.

Tough sh*t. I hate these local non league clubs thinking they are god's gift. Saints owe them nothing.

The problem is, Gove doesn't have a clue about Education, has never spent any real time in a proper school since he was about 16, and therefore if he has an opinion, the opposite is more often then not correct. In regards to exams, blame successive governements who have made "league tables" and "5 A-C grades" the be all and end all, not teachers or the students who have to put up with it.

I don't mind Public Sector workers educating our children, treating our grandparents and chasing criminals, but I don't mind Private Sector workers creating wealth, producing products and contributing large amounts of tax. But which one do I prefer most?!?!?!??!?!

Jackanory always produces the best discussions in the lounge, you should post more mate.

And you have Nazi ideologies. Oh, nothing like a stereotype is there.

It's graduate starter pay remember, in many cases postgraduate. It can't be compared to an apprentice starting out in the Navy or Army with only GCSE's. What does an officer etc straight out of training college/uni earn to begin with? Genuine question as I don't know?

Nothing at all, but there has to be people there in the first place to get them to University and into a position that makes them employable by the big companies. So the government need to make sure that they are still capable of attracting the best graduates into teaching like your girlfriend, and if they start eating away at those too much then people won't bother. One needs the other, if you will.

My girlfriend is Irish, doesn't really "get" it, but she tries her best to be interested when i'm going on about it. She says she would never come and interfere with my "lad" time, so all good.

Tell me about it, although I should hopefully miss out on that pathetic proposal by at least a year or two. As you rightly say, how will the Tories use "the city" to "create wealth" without anyone to teach them in their early life? Who on earth is going to spend three years studying the Sciences, Humanities and Maths only to come out with £50k debt, a crap starting salary and a rapidly depressing pension! Still, at least we know we are all in it for the right reasons.

Only NQT's in fairness.

So nothing. The start of the thread mentioned pay rises every year, which isn't strictly true.

And £21k a year?

You still move up the MPS ladder, but each section has been frozen. Once inflation is factored in, teachers are taking a pay cut like the majority of others.

It's what happens when everyone hates you Anyway, I don't think this is particualrly about political leaning, i'm sure there are many left wingers in the Private and vice versa.

Absolutely. If you aren't going to protect your own interests then who on earth is? The Private Sector, the sector of the weak.

I bet the 70 who lost their jobs aren't so philosophical mind you!

Life's a *****! It obviously can't be that bad though, even with the 5% reduction in your pension, otherwise you'd be doing anything possible for a position in the Public Sector. Of course it could be argued that it's Private Sector employee's with the chip on the shoulder, seeing as they enjoy inflated salaries, inflated benefits (healthcare, overtime, purchasing shares) then many of their Public Sector counterparts, yet they still begrudge them a half decent pension!

I never realised the Private Sector had such massive chips on their shoulders. If you think it's so great, why don't you go and find out for yourself? Or would you miss the BUPA healthcare too much?