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Chatterbox

For all refugees from the old Beeb Food Boards :-)
Chill out and chat with the foodie community or swap top tips.
NOTE: CHATTERBOX IS IN THIS FORUM

Moderators: karadekoolaid, THE MOD TEAM, Stokey Sue, Gillthepainter

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Re: CHATTERBOX

Postby aero280 » Sat May 16, 2020 10:34 am

Save us all!! Brick up the tunnel on Water Lane! :D

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Re: CHATTERBOX

Postby Badger's Mate » Sat May 16, 2020 10:39 am

Fortysomething years ago, I emerged from Mile End tube station to find the front wheel of a bike chained to the railings outside, presumably someone had nicked the rest of it.

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Re: CHATTERBOX

Postby Earthmaiden » Sat May 16, 2020 11:09 am

There's been a huge spate of bike thefts round here during lockdown. I suspect that a few have been left unlocked in front gardens and that the rest have had systems very easy to penetrate with wire cutters. There was one where the young owner left a nice bike unlocked outside the Coop and huge uproar locally that the bike was stolen :roll:.

With regard to schools, it's quite an equation isn't it. Children of key workers have been at school all along, some children have been enduring awful conditions and gone hungry. It's only the lucky ones with a nice home and parents who have had time for them (I.e. who have managed to juggle positive parenting with home working) who have really thrived.

There is clearly a push to get people back on the work treadmill at all costs which is questionable in itself without proper preparation. This not only means getting children back to school but also that the whole network which supports it has to work - transport, school meals, childminders, grandparents etc. I don't see how that chain can work until good testing and tracking systems (and action taken on the results) are in place. That said, if a child has had a really miserable lockdown, it's hard to know what's best.It seems to be a social situation more than a educational one and that is an age old issue.

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Re: CHATTERBOX

Postby Suffs » Sat May 16, 2020 12:29 pm

The current message from the government that we have to ‘send them back to school because they might not be being fed properly or looked after properly at home’
appalls me.

For heaven’s sake, is the government now acknowledging that in what has been until recently the fifth richest country in the world there is such inequity that a large proportion of children are safer at school than at home with their families!?!?!?! Really?!?!?!?

Then why the f*** have they not done something about it? Was closing most of the Surestart Centres really such a good idea?

My blood is boiling :twisted:

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Re: CHATTERBOX

Postby Suffs » Sat May 16, 2020 12:31 pm

Apologies for the language, but I really couldn’t come up with anything else as appropriate. If the Mods can please change it.

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Re: CHATTERBOX

Postby Earthmaiden » Sat May 16, 2020 1:12 pm

I think that is the only way to truly describe the situation Suffs. :(

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Re: CHATTERBOX

Postby Stokey Sue » Sat May 16, 2020 1:30 pm

The free school meals is apparently a pn issue - plans to deliver food or vouchers to the children have not worked. It’s an issue every long vacation here too and little is done

Going back to bikes - there has been a positive blitz of bike thefts round here - a bunch of probably ~17 year olds were caught on CCTV taking one from a first floor balcony :o
On the plus side people on community media are digging out usable bikes they’ve realised they won’t use again and offering them to people who want to start cycle commuting at a token price

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Re: CHATTERBOX

Postby Busybee » Sat May 16, 2020 1:50 pm

I think it’s interesting how different schools are tackling the current situation.

Eldest niece at a state college is expected to be in Electronic attendance for all her timetabled lessons, I don’t know how but college can tell if they are attending, normal work being taught, set and marked. Additional work to “prove they are engaged” is also being set.

Younger niece at state secondary experience is a million miles different. Some teachers haven’t set any work, other loads but no structure to it just lists of web sites to use, work sheets to download etc. If work is being marked she certainly isn’t getting feedback. She is in the first year of GCSE’s.

The difference is you have one kid completely engaged and making headway and one disengaged and going round in circles. Unfortunately my sister didn’t grasp the fact that she should have been ‘home schooling’ and getting on top of what was happening until fairly recently. ;)

I can understand teachers fear over returning to work, but other professions are getting on with either returning, or planning how to return. I don’t know what the answer is, except I predict a lot of modular buildings being ordered and adverts for more staff?

BB

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Re: CHATTERBOX

Postby Sakkarin » Sat May 16, 2020 1:56 pm

Bikes again - It's a long while ago (2000), but when I worked in Wapping I used to cycle with one bike to Watford Junction, and chain it up there, then had another bike chained up at Euston which I rode to Wapping. I trusted the site at Euston because it had CCTV and the bike stands were embedded in concrete. What I didn't know though was that there was a bike-stealing gang which used to regularly come along at night and dig the bike stands up at night, so that bike didn't last very long, and I ended up having to do a very tedious extra tube journey. I had one nicked from Watford Junction too...

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Re: CHATTERBOX

Postby slimpersoninside » Sat May 16, 2020 3:39 pm

Suffs wrote:The current message from the government that we have to ‘send them back to school because they might not be being fed properly or looked after properly at home’
appalls me.

For heaven’s sake, is the government now acknowledging that in what has been until recently the fifth richest country in the world there is such inequity that a large proportion of children are safer at school than at home with their families!?!?!?! Really?!?!?!?

Then why the f*** have they not done something about it? Was closing most of the Surestart Centres really such a good idea?

My blood is boiling :twisted:


Well said Suffs. IMHO schools are for educating not fulfilling the role of parents. If parents/family aren't caring for children it should be addressed properly not handed over to schools.

Busybee wrote:I can understand teachers fear over returning to work, but other professions are getting on with either returning, or planning how to return. I don’t know what the answer is, except I predict a lot of modular buildings being ordered and adverts for more staff?

BB

I think the problem is that there are children involved. In an adult environment social distancing, hand washing etc will be a given, unfortunately this isn't always the case with children no matter the age (different reasons, same result). It really doesn't represent a comparative risk when comparing schools with, say, an office.

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Re: CHATTERBOX

Postby slimpersoninside » Sat May 16, 2020 4:41 pm

slimpersoninside wrote:
Suffs wrote:The current message from the government that we have to ‘send them back to school because they might not be being fed properly or looked after properly at home’
appalls me.

For heaven’s sake, is the government now acknowledging that in what has been until recently the fifth richest country in the world there is such inequity that a large proportion of children are safer at school than at home with their families!?!?!?! Really?!?!?!?

Then why the f*** have they not done something about it? Was closing most of the Surestart Centres really such a good idea?

My blood is boiling :twisted:


Well said Suffs. IMHO schools are for educating not fulfilling the role of parents. If parents/family are unable to care for their children it should be addressed properly not handed over to schools.

Busybee wrote:I can understand teachers fear over returning to work, but other professions are getting on with either returning, or planning how to return. I don’t know what the answer is, except I predict a lot of modular buildings being ordered and adverts for more staff?

BB

I think the problem is that there are children involved. In an adult environment social distancing, hand washing etc will be a given, unfortunately this isn't always the case with children no matter the age (different reasons, same result). It really doesn't represent a comparative risk when comparing schools with, say, an office.

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Re: CHATTERBOX

Postby Pampy » Sat May 16, 2020 5:07 pm

:clap :clap :clap Spot on, Suffs!
My sister used to be responsible for Sure Start centres for a city council and took early retirement when the council, in its infinite wisdom, decided to outsource virtually all of its Children's Services remit. What now exists is families who have problems (for many and varied reasons) with no support whatsoever, in any shape or form. My sis is fuming that all the fantastic work that her staff did over the years has just been discarded and that some families are left in the most dire need of support. What a lot of people don't know (including those who should, like politicians who make these decisions) is that Sure Start was a holistic programme - it helped families in all aspects of life, like parenting skills, money management etc, not just providing somewhere for young children to go.

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Re: CHATTERBOX

Postby cherrytree » Sat May 16, 2020 5:26 pm

I could go on and on about Sure Start. As a result. I have made a solemn vow to never ever listen to one word George Osborne says again
Sure Start was a wonderful thing. It was a long term project and it was expected and intended that the results would not be seen for possibly twenty years. Because politicians have the attention span of the tiniest insect, the results couldn’t be seen immediately. And with austerity, they were almost the first victims of the cuts. It’s heartbreaking and I agree with every word you say.

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Re: CHATTERBOX

Postby Seatallan » Sat May 16, 2020 5:31 pm

cherrytree wrote:I could go on and on about Sure Start. As a result. I have made a solemn vow to never ever listen to one word George Osborne says again
Sure Start was a wonderful thing. It was a long term project and it was expected and intended that the results would not be seen for possibly twenty years. Because politicians have the attention span of the tiniest insect, the results couldn’t be seen immediately. And with austerity, they were almost the first victims of the cuts. It’s heartbreaking and I agree with every word you say.


Ditto. In spades.
Food, felines and fells (in no particular order)

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Re: CHATTERBOX

Postby cherrytree » Sat May 16, 2020 7:14 pm

I don’t know if you’ve ever taught a Reception class like I did for forty years. I love small children and have nine grandchildren of my own as well.
However it has to be acknowledged that children at that stage of their education are tactile, physical and crucially, walking germ factories. Do you know that there is probably more faecal matter on the carpets and the equipment than on the toilets? Teachers need protection and so do the children who are likely to go home with an added hazard all over them.

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Re: CHATTERBOX

Postby cherrytree » Sat May 16, 2020 11:25 pm

My last comments were in reply to Busybee.

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Re: CHATTERBOX

Postby dennispc » Sun May 17, 2020 11:22 am

These latest posts I find both heart warming, and heart breaking. Warmth comes from recognising the passion you all held for the people you were helping; breaking as all that goodwill and commitment was thrown away on the altar of short term cost/benefit.

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Re: CHATTERBOX

Postby WWordsworth » Mon May 25, 2020 5:16 pm

Hmmm Mr Cummings is 15 mins overdue.
Must be heavy traffic on the M1.

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Re: CHATTERBOX

Postby dennispc » Mon May 25, 2020 5:17 pm

:lol:

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Re: CHATTERBOX

Postby WWordsworth » Mon May 25, 2020 5:24 pm

I see Andrew Bridgen has added his two penn'orth.
Sadly he's my MP.

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