Sunday, Feb 10, 2008
Countryside becoming a care home for the elderly
Telegraph: Countryside abandoned as schools close daily
Schools are being shut at the rate of almost one a day, with hundreds axed in rural areas in the past five years. The full extent of the closures is revealed for the first time in new government figures which show that a total of 1,704 schools have been shut in England since 2002 - an average of 6.6 a week. *** So much for the governments commitment to keeping village schools open - another labour lie.
Posted by uncle chris @ 05:53 PM (395 views) Add Comment
6 Comments
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1. daft boy said...
If the government taxed second homes and holiday homes in rural villages by a minimum of £20K a year then the propereties would become affordable to young locals who could then breed and keep the schools going again. Meanwhile the tax could be given to village schools and projects.
2. Such_short_memories said...
The countryside is increasingly being treated by the policy makers as a luxury commodity and as a result is becoming the playground for the rich. As a 26 year old who grew up in the Lake District but had to leave to seek a living wage, and be able to afford a roof over my head, this deeply saddens me. The despicable concept of second home ownership, combined with neglected public transportation and low wages (compounded by EU expansion) means that increasingly only those who have made their money and can treat country living as a 'lifestyle choice' (ie: to retreat from their high flying city careers) can live there. Everyone else has to reside in the drug/crime ridden dustbins that are our cities.
3. su said...
I'd like to know how many children are required to keep a village school open. There are schools in Scotland which only have 2 classes. I know from personal experience how wonderful a good village school can be - IMO much better than large schools where discipline is often much harder to implement. Outstanding or even above average schools can attract families into an area so their importance should not be underestimated.
I wonder if the falling birthrate has anything to do with the pressure on women to have careers. Women who stay home often apologise for being "just a housewife". I may work part-time but I'm proud of being a "home-maker".
Help ma boab! Am I turning into a feminist? Aargh!
4. denzil said...
Quite a few years back I stumbled across the Motley Fool and found myself looking at what they call "boards", which are like a forum for those unfamiliar with the Fool. There is a board on the Fool called, something like, "Living Below Your Means", which I used to read of a lunch break. One regularl contributor was discussing saving some money by saving up all the tiny remains of his bars of soap. When he had collected enough he would mix them with a little bit of water and squish them together to make a new bar of soap.
I never forgot that particular thread but the thing that stood out for me then and still does now is that if you scrimp and cut, and cut and squeeze every little last penny that you can save then you may save a penny or two but in many cases life is stripped of quality and ultimately becomes very sad. For me, the parallels between what the "soap saver" and what Gordon Brown has and will continue to do are incredibly similar. Brown's tenure of the treasury and as Leader have crystallised the penny-pinching, souless bean-counter that he actually is.
The loss of village schools is similar to the loss of the village post office, they are both focal parts of the community that are being cut. The thing that really irks me with all of Brown's cutting and scrimping is that our tax bill is the highest since the 70's, expendible income has dropped under Labour but year after year services are being cut and communities decimated, one would think the quality of life should have improved during that time. Personally I don't mind a high tax bill if our quality of life is reflects high taxation, sadly it doesn't.
5. tyrellcorporation said...
The countryside is actually a playground for Londoners where they can tootle down in Cayennes to their third homes in Devon and eat Grissini & olive tapenade and drink thin glasses of Leffe whilst wearing the rectangular black rimmed glasses and Parker jackets from the set of The Thing.
6. dohousescrashinthewoods said...
However nobbish that sounds, it's actually quite nice. Flat caps and wippets are fine for some and tapenade is great for others. (I fall into neither camp, but do enjoy a thin glass).
There are issues in rural areas, but they aren't to do with the difference between these cultures. Locals in London can't afford to live locally either.
The fact is, wherever you are, the super-rich are the only ones who can afford to do what they want. The rest of us have to get by on compromises, which probably includes moving away from a beautiful country village and putting up with a minuscule flat in gutter city just to earn a crust.