The UK government is like a functioning alcoholic

[canbuywontbuy]

For the alcoholic, the beer in the morning prevents the hangover.  The listerine (swallowed, why waste it) hides the beer smell.  The make-up hides the redness.  And so on.  The alcoholic spends her energy hiding signs of alcoholism and does just enough to keep up appearances.  Her health is ruined, her liver sclerotic - but if you squint, she looks fairly normal.

The UK government is the same in regards to the economy.  All appears normal on the surface.  They use all the tools available to make the economy look good - tax credits, housing benefit, QE, borrowing, mass immigration (keeps GDP in the black), adding prostitution and street drug selling to economic figures, propping up the housing market and using property as a measure of the economy's health.  All of these are simultaneously "helping" the economy in the very short-term (as in, merely keeping the plates spinning, or merely "look good on paper if you hide half the figures"), while causing serious long-term damage to it at the same time. 

Both eventually hit a wall and they have to face their problems because their system no longer functions properly.  But in the meantime, one more beer / no rate-rise (BoE/gov, all the same body of people).

[interestrateripoff]

The global economy is a charade. 

[zugzwang]

1 hour ago, canbuywontbuy said:

For the alcoholic, the beer in the morning prevents the hangover.  The listerine (swallowed, why waste it) hides the beer smell.  The make-up hides the redness.  And so on.  The alcoholic spends her energy hiding signs of alcoholism and does just enough to keep up appearances.  Her health is ruined, her liver sclerotic - but if you squint, she looks fairly normal.

The UK government is the same in regards to the economy.  All appears normal on the surface.  They use all the tools available to make the economy look good - tax credits, housing benefit, QE, borrowing, mass immigration (keeps GDP in the black), adding prostitution and street drug selling to economic figures, propping up the housing market and using property as a measure of the economy's health.  All of these are simultaneously "helping" the economy in the very short-term (as in, merely keeping the plates spinning, or merely "look good on paper if you hide half the figures"), while causing serious long-term damage to it at the same time. 

Both eventually hit a wall and they have to face their problems because their system no longer functions properly.  But in the meantime, one more beer / no rate-rise (BoE/gov, all the same body of people).

One more beer = another £100bn on the national debt.

One more beer = unsecured debt growing at 11% p.a.

One more beer = a current account deficit of 7%

[North London Rent Girl]

Can they keep up the facade in this way until the election in 2020? That might be quite a long old haul for them. I am very much hoping that we will find them passed out in the gutter with their trousers round their ankles and vomit down their front and the jig will be up for all to see.

edit: I changed our helpless alchies to men, think it's more representative of the reality. I do regard ms may as more a jennie-come-lately-don't-know-what-the-hell-to-do-about-it, rather than a ringleader...

Edited January 25, 2017 by North London Rent Girl

[Assume The Opposite]

Not to mention we are now a service driven economy which accounts for over 80%. Less than 10% is manufacturing I believe. 

The economy was gutted well before New Liebour. They just finished it off. 

We need all these props and tools just keep things ticking over. 

The bigger picture is that the entire financial system is based on credit creation and banks create over 95% of our money supply when they lend.

We need to expand the debt to grow. 

If you want less debt you'll have less money. 

Edited January 25, 2017 by Assume The Opposite

[Wayward]

...but the economy is going to be 'rebalanced ' remember !  March of the makers, the northern powerhouse...it would be hilarious if not so tragic.

It has become very clear to me that TPTB are only interested in keeping the plates spinning so long as they enjoy a comfortable retirement...they don't see any further than that.

[John51]

A poorly functioning alcoholic.

There have been plenty of successful alcoholics in business. They delegate. As long as the person in charge understands the big picture and knows the capabilities of their staff, they don't have to be that sharp day to day.

We haven't got that with our government.

[nome]

Agree with everything already said, possibly with the exception of this being a ''very short term fix''... it's starting to feel to me like this could be one of those alcoholics that defies all the odds and lives on for years and years... and years. 

[spyguy]

6 hours ago, Assume The Opposite said:

Not to mention we are now a service driven economy which accounts for over 80%. Less than 10% is manufacturing I believe. 

The economy was gutted well before New Liebour. They just finished it off. 

We need all these props and tools just keep things ticking over. 

The bigger picture is that the entire financial system is based on credit creation and banks create over 95% of our money supply when they lend.

We need to expand the debt to grow. 

If you want less debt you'll have less money. 

No.

This is one of Labour's lies.

The UK economy in 97 was in great shape.

Good growth, low debt.

In stayed in a good shapre, as Gorddie carried on Ken Clarke's spending plans.

Then in project 'Brown-for-PM' Brown spent about 20 years money in ~5 years.

And here we are. Fcked.

 

[Bland Unsight]

Bump

[canbuywontbuy]

On 25/01/2017 at 11:06 PM, nome said:

Agree with everything already said, possibly with the exception of this being a ''very short term fix''... it's starting to feel to me like this could be one of those alcoholics that defies all the odds and lives on for years and years... and years. 

The governments of the last 5 or 6 years appear to have legendary livers

To add to the analogy: imagine the alcoholic starts getting complications with her* health due to the drinking - high blood pressure, memory loss, stomach ulcers.  So she takes medicines to help deal with those, while of course, continuing drinking.  But the medicines have various side effects, so she must take other medicines to counteract the side-effects.  The net result is : she can still function, but her system is under incredible strain and WILL breakdown and develop chronic, irreversable diseases - it's just a question of time. 

*I use a female example just to counter the stereotypes.

[Mikhail Liebenstein]

On 25/01/2017 at 9:20 AM, zugzwang said:

One more beer = another £100bn on the national debt.

One more beer = unsecured debt growing at 11% p.a.

One more beer = a current account deficit of 7%

Bottle of Vodka = we're talking post Brexit trade with Donald Trump

[Mikhail Liebenstein]

On 25/01/2017 at 0:50 PM, Wayward said:

...but the economy is going to be 'rebalanced ' remember !  March of the makers, the northern powerhouse...it would be hilarious if not so tragic.

It has become very clear to me that TPTB are only interested in keeping the plates spinning so long as they enjoy a comfortable retirement...they don't see any further than that.

Indeed, the trouble is we don't have the skills to build a power house.

To do so we'd need to start with the schools. It would take 10 years to reform those, requiring better funding and more skilled teaching staff. At that point it's the another 20 years before useful smart kids hit the market.

Meanwhile we'd still end up supporting the swelling ranks of the retired and the chunk of those of productive age who have never worked and their generation of intellectually crippled kids.

This is a 30 year problem all of Gordon Brown's making. And the fact is Theresa May is just as inept.

Never trust the offspring of a Vicar, invariably they are sanctimonious and inept. Brought up in house where fake sincerity is the order of the day, and there is no aspiration and ultimately no will to do anything as everything is down to the great sky god.

 

 

Edited January 28, 2017 by Mikhail Liebenstein

[Arbitrage]

1 hour ago, Mikhail Liebenstein said:

Indeed, the trouble is we don't have the skills to build a power house.

To do so we'd need to start with the schools. It would take 10 years to reform those, requiring better funding and more skilled teaching staff. At that point it's the another 20 years before useful smart kids hit the market.

Meanwhile we'd still end up supporting the swelling ranks of the retired and the chunk of those of productive age who have never worked and their generation of intellectually crippled kids.

This is a 30 year problem all of Gordon Brown's making. And the fact is Theresa May is just as inept.

Never trust the offspring of a Vicar, invariably they are sanctimonious and inept. Brought up in house where fake sincerity is the order of the day, and there is no aspiration and ultimately no will to do anything as everything is down to the great sky god.

 

 

The UK education system is utterly screwed; the private sector is probably in a worse state than the state sector (I speak as somebody who works in a top private school. My kid attends a solid state comprehensive)

The biggest problem with education in Britain is that it turns kids into pathetic snowflake adults, who are immature and who lack drive and initiative. The underlying cause of the problem is the culture created by teacher PRP and school league tables. In this environment nothing else matters but goosing the results. The rich do this by using 'dyslexia' to purchase extra time for their kids in public examinations. You have to pay for an educational psychologists report to get the dyslexia diagnosis. The school where I work is in the top 20 for GCSE and A Level exam results, but 40% of the cohort get extra time. At my kids school less than 1% are dyslexic - they don't have the dough to pay for the EP reports, and they also have greater integrity, and would be ashamed to cheat on behalf of their kids by effectively purchasing extra time.

On a day to day basis everything is done for the kids; they're told what to do, and how to do it; they don't have many opportunities to make decisions. As a result, they are very bad at making decision making, and are unwilling to take personal responsibility for their own academic progress. When these kids go to univeristy their helicopter parents hassle university departments for special favours. This was not the case when I started teaching 35 years ago. Employers in Britain began to see generation snowflake entering the workforce about a decade ago. They're also entering politics - and seem incapable of making even basic decisions

As time goes on employers will encounter progressively less resiliance amongst the school and university leavers who they recruit. Fortunately, I also get to teach some great kids. They tend to come from places like Hong Kong. The contrast could not be greater; they're mature, charming and extremely hardworking. If they score badly in a test, their first reaction is: "what did I do wrong? How can I improve?". The British kids start crying (6th formers) and then they're straight on the phone to their parents to complain about the same teacher who's delivering top results to the overseas students in the same class.

The education system needs to be fixed.

 

[Si1]

15 minutes ago, Arbitrage said:

 

As time goes on employers will encounter progressively less resiliance amongst the school and university leavers who they recruit. Fortunately, I also get to teach some great kids. They tend to come from places like Hong Kong. The contrast could not be greater; they're mature, charming and extremely hardworking. If they score badly in a test, their first reaction is: "what did I do wrong? How can I improve?". The British kids start crying (6th formers) and then they're straight on the phone to their parents to complain about the same teacher who's delivering top results to the overseas students in the same class.

The education system needs to be fixed.

 

I wonder if that's a reflection also of where the new money in Britain comes from.

If you made your millions out of rentierism, then bullying teachers to get better results for your kids is just further application of a successful approach that got you rich enough to send them to expensive public school in the first place.

Edited January 28, 2017 by Si1

[mathschoc]

11 minutes ago, Arbitrage said:

The UK education system is utterly screwed; the private sector is probably in a worse state than the state sector (I speak as somebody who works in a top private school. My kid attends a solid state comprehensive)

The biggest problem with education in Britain is that it turns kids into pathetic snowflake adults, who are immature and who lack drive and initiative. The underlying cause of the problem is the culture created by teacher PRP and school league tables. In this environment nothing else matters but goosing the results. The rich do this by using 'dyslexia' to purchase extra time for their kids in public examinations. You have to pay for an educational psychologists report to get the dyslexia diagnosis. The school where I work is in the top 20 for GCSE and A Level exam results, but 40% of the cohort get extra time. At my kids school less than 1% are dyslexic - they don't have the dough to pay for the EP reports, and they also have greater integrity, and would be ashamed to cheat on behalf of their kids by effectively purchasing extra time.

On a day to day basis everything is done for the kids; they're told what to do, and how to do it; they don't have many opportunities to make decisions. As a result, they are very bad at making decision making, and are unwilling to take personal responsibility for their own academic progress. When these kids go to univeristy their helicopter parents hassle university departments for special favours. This was not the case when I started teaching 35 years ago. Employers in Britain began to see generation snowflake entering the workforce about a decade ago. They're also entering politics - and seem incapable of making even basic decisions

As time goes on employers will encounter progressively less resiliance amongst the school and university leavers who they recruit. Fortunately, I also get to teach some great kids. They tend to come from places like Hong Kong. The contrast could not be greater; they're mature, charming and extremely hardworking. If they score badly in a test, their first reaction is: "what did I do wrong? How can I improve?". The British kids start crying (6th formers) and then they're straight on the phone to their parents to complain about the same teacher who's delivering top results to the overseas students in the same class.

The education system needs to be fixed.

 

Could not agree more. I am teaching in state but have taught 3 years in private. We had "Oxbridge" training sessions in the private school, one year the numbers who got in were lower than usual the parents were fuming about this at the parents forum.

Like you I have taught students from Korea, China and Singapore, the attitude to learning and sense of responsibility is massively different- they are grateful, hard working, keen to improve and as a result more intelligent.

The dyslexia and "processing speed" thing for extra-time is rife in private schools, it is a joke.

I went back to the state sector as I got fed up of the parents.

[crouch]

16 minutes ago, Arbitrage said:

The UK education system is utterly screwed; the private sector is probably in a worse state than the state sector (I speak as somebody who works in a top private school. My kid attends a solid state comprehensive)

The biggest problem with education in Britain is that it turns kids into pathetic snowflake adults, who are immature and who lack drive and initiative. The underlying cause of the problem is the culture created by teacher PRP and school league tables. In this environment nothing else matters but goosing the results. The rich do this by using 'dyslexia' to purchase extra time for their kids in public examinations. You have to pay for an educational psychologists report to get the dyslexia diagnosis. The school where I work is in the top 20 for GCSE and A Level exam results, but 40% of the cohort get extra time. At my kids school less than 1% are dyslexic - they don't have the dough to pay for the EP reports, and they also have greater integrity, and would be ashamed to cheat on behalf of their kids by effectively purchasing extra time.

On a day to day basis everything is done for the kids; they're told what to do, and how to do it; they don't have many opportunities to make decisions. As a result, they are very bad at making decision making, and are unwilling to take personal responsibility for their own academic progress. When these kids go to univeristy their helicopter parents hassle university departments for special favours. This was not the case when I started teaching 35 years ago. Employers in Britain began to see generation snowflake entering the workforce about a decade ago. They're also entering politics - and seem incapable of making even basic decisions

As time goes on employers will encounter progressively less resiliance amongst the school and university leavers who they recruit. Fortunately, I also get to teach some great kids. They tend to come from places like Hong Kong. The contrast could not be greater; they're mature, charming and extremely hardworking. If they score badly in a test, their first reaction is: "what did I do wrong? How can I improve?". The British kids start crying (6th formers) and then they're straight on the phone to their parents to complain about the same teacher who's delivering top results to the overseas students in the same class.

The education system needs to be fixed.

 

I read an intriguing article the other day that suggested that we were getting dumber. One of the reasons was that many of the tasks we had to carry out years ago were no longer necessary and that we would lose the capacity over time to do these things.

I remember some years ago I was working with some Japanese and I had to do a discounted cash flow calculation. Naturally I used the Excel formula but the Japanese wanted to know what this meant. As I am of an age when we often had to do these things manually and iterate for a result I was able to show them the mathematical formula and calculate the result from first principles offhand. I wonder how many 25 year olds could do that these days - offhand?

 

[mathschoc]

8 minutes ago, crouch said:

 

I remember some years ago I was working with some Japanese and I had to do a discounted cash flow calculation. Naturally I used the Excel formula but the Japanese wanted to know what this meant. As I am of an age when we often had to do these things manually and iterate for a result I was able to show them the mathematical formula and calculate the result from first principles offhand. I wonder how many 25 year olds could do that these days - offhand?

 

I have been teaching maths for 22 years, the ability to even do a mental calculation using decimals by students is non existent now.

Children are not brought up these days to be self sufficient and to take responsibility. As a result it is impossible for them to carry out even a maths investigation in class, they (and their parents) expect to be told everything, that is "what teachers are for". 

There is the rare odd child who will enjoy a maths investigation, who will complete it of their own accord at home, who is resilient enough to make multiple attempts, but they are often from abroad.

[Si1]

Like a millionaire btlr who couldn't consider basic leverage risk but got bailed out again and again by the government. Like a senior banker who persuaded Gordon Brown to bail out his bonus. Becomes rich, sends kids to expensive school. Buys and bullies better results for their kids, passes on the story of their success to their kids. Rentierism. Moral hazard becomes transposed onto education outcomes.

Edited January 28, 2017 by Si1

[Arbitrage]

One last point::

The extra time bought by the rich in exams (via a 'educational psychologist report indicating 'dyslexia') is a disposable disability. The 'dyslexic and their parents will continue to claim they've got 'special educational needs' whilst they're at university. They do this to fraudulently out-perform their more honest peers. However, as soon as they leave university, their dyslexia magically disappears; they certainly won't mention it at a job interview, nor will their 'special educational needs' status ever appear on their CV. The future employers of the dishonest snowflake are thus deceived. Too many firms  end up hiring morons for top jobs on the basis of top quality paper qualifications that have been fraudulently obtained . Having the wrong people in the wrong jobs damages the economy. At the very least, exam certificates should state whether the student received extra time or not in their exam. 

 

Edited January 28, 2017 by Arbitrage
typo

[Rave]

My mum taught in a private school for 20+ years- which meant that I got an excellent education thanks to her staff discount on the fees. She retired in 2011 to go off volunteering for a bit, but still goes back there every week to teach English to various foreign students. The new head is apparently focused on exam results to a ludicrous degree, he seems to think it's important that a little school with ~700 pupils should be in the top 50 in the national league tables; when I did my GCSEs and A-Levels 20 years ago we already punched above our weight.

The latest depressing news to emerge is that they've cancelled the exchanges with pupils from a school in France that they'd been going to fo 25 years or more, through lack of volunteers apparently. I enjoyed my exchange and it noticeably improved my French, but now apparently very few of the 13/14 year old kids are prepared to leave their own family for 10 days to stay with another one. Apart from anything else, it's a boys school for years 7-11, with a mixed sixth form, whereas the school in France was mixed, with an over-representation of girls volunteering for the exchange at their end- so there was an obvious incentive to sign up. Kids nowadays!

[ChewingGrass]

27 minutes ago, Arbitrage said:

Too many firms  end up hiring morons for top jobs on the basis of top quality paper qualifications that have been fraudulently obtained . Having the wrong people in the wrong jobs damages the economy.

Come across a student yesterday doing a placement who was publically criticised for spelling 'Jamaica' wrong (spelt exactly how the student spelt it) which shocked the student as they were convinced they were right, as indeed they were. The teacher making the invalid ctitiscism is BSc Hons.

[Arbitrage]

38 minutes ago, ChewingGrass said:

Come across a student yesterday doing a placement who was publically criticised for spelling 'Jamaica' wrong (spelt exactly how the student spelt it) which shocked the student as they were convinced they were right, as indeed they were. The teacher making the invalid ctitiscism is BSc Hons.

Yes, but what we really need to know is this: Did the teacher in your story get extra-time in their exams because they were 'dyslexic'?

[Conquistador]

17 hours ago, ChewingGrass said:

Come across a student yesterday doing a placement who was publically criticised for spelling 'Jamaica' wrong (spelt exactly how the student spelt it) which shocked the student as they were convinced they were right, as indeed they were. The teacher making the invalid ctitiscism is BSc Hons.

My other half visited a primary school (latest OFSTED: outstanding) in a deprived area the other week to observe class. Very diligent and well meaning  teacher was giving a spelling test, but had misspelled several 'correct' answers.

[spyguy]

34 minutes ago, Conquistador said:

My other half visited a primary school (latest OFSTED: outstanding) in a deprived area the other week to observe class. Very diligent and well meaning  teacher was giving a spelling test, but had misspelled several 'correct' answers.

My partner works in a school.

Ive stopped being surprised at the the teachers inability to perform basic level of Maths and English.

They are all graduate. None appear to be able to handle  year 1 + 2 Maths. Think counting rather than calculus.

If the government is serious about improving quality of teaching then they need to insist that all teachers sit down and pass GCSE Maths + English.