Urban v's the Commentariat

[equationgirl]

Almost all leavers progress to university. Almost all leavers progress to university. Almost all leavers progress to university. Almost all leavers progress to university. Almost all leavers progress to university

Jesus, i thought i was angry an hour ago.

The ones that become apprentices are probably never spoken of again, no matter how good their school grades. The ones that go into *gasp* businesses not owned by their parents could likely be counted on one hand, if any exist.

 

[chilango]

The ones that become apprentices are probably never spoken of again, no matter how good their school grades. The ones that go into *gasp* businesses not owned by their parents could likely be counted on one hand, if any exist.

there are plenty of university courses these kids can simply pay to be on, no matter how poor their grades. Switzerland, for example, has entire Universities that seem to be based upon this. I once met a buch of Brit med students in the Czech Rep who'd flunked in the UK, but paid to study there.

Only a few students from these schools need these safety nets though. Most will get the grades. Or a sports scholarship in rowing or something.

 

[Bakunin]

Also, the NUJ asked her to promote them to students of journalism (a simple retweet, no presentations or anything) yet she didn't according to her twitter profile. Not cool.

If she had promoted the NUJ then her union-busting employers at the New Statesman might be a tad peeved. Plus, sooner or later, people might start asking why she was promoting the NUJ when her employers at the New Statesman abjectly refuse to recognise the NUJ in their workplace.

Which might conflict with Penny Dreadful monetising the principles, people and causes that she claims to genuinely, passionately espouse.

 

[equationgirl]

If she had promoted the NUJ then her union-busting employers at the New Statesman might be a tad peeved. Plus, sooner or later, people might start asking why she was promoting the NUJ when her employers at the New Statesman abjectly refuse to recognise the NUJ in their workplace.

Which might conflict with Penny Dreadful monetising the principles, people and causes that she claims to genuinely, passionately espouse.

They may well refuse to recognise the bargaining power of the NUJ but there's nothing stopping her being in it as a member. Apart from not being able to monetise union membership of course.

 

[tim]

What's going on at the Abu Dhabi Brighton College? Teachers on scooters!? Wacky tie at 4:34? The wee fellow at 1:55 will be trouble in 20 years time mark my words.

Sound track sounds rather psycho shower scene to me.

And not many hijabs or indeed any indication of the world beyond the school gates.

 

[butchersapron]

The ones that become apprentices are probably never spoken of again, no matter how good their school grades. The ones that go into *gasp* businesses not owned by their parents could likely be counted on one hand, if any exist.

Wiling to bet not one person from this school started an apprenticeship. Ever. Even in the old days of proper ones.

 

[weepiper]

Good lord no. Apprenticeships are for people who have to get their hands dirty.

 

[butchersapron]

What's going on at the Abu Dhabi Brighton College? Teachers on scooters!? Wacky tie at 4:34? The wee fellow at 1:55 will be trouble in 20 years time mark my words.

Is that the new wes anderson?

 

[equationgirl]

Wiling to bet not one person from this school started an apprenticeship. Ever. Even in the old days of proper ones.

I think there might have been a couple over the years. But I would think they've been airbrushed from the history of the school.

 

[DotCommunist]

apprenticeships in the modern workforce are actually just code for 'we'll pay this mug less than the dole'

mate of mine left school and got work through his dads connection as an apprentice pipe fitter. They site bods gave him a hell of a time, and thats out of order. But he got paid a big wedge every week, was given out-of-area money if he was on a site some miles away and was taught the craft. They even had him do a btec one day a week, which they paid for.

where are the apprenticeships like that now? they don't even want skilled people anymore, just outsource it all. Sooner or later thats going to become an issue because you won't have trained bods anymore.

 

[J Ed]

apprenticeships in the modern workforce are actually just code for 'we'll pay this mug less than the dole'

mate of mine left school and got work through his dads connection as an apprentice pipe fitter. They site bods gave him a hell of a time, and thats out of order. But he got paid a big wedge every week, was given out-of-area money if he was on a site some miles away and was taught the craft. They even had him do a btec one day a week, which they paid for.

where are the apprenticeships like that now? they don't even want skilled people anymore, just outsource it all. Sooner or later thats going to become an issue because you won't have trained bods anymore.

I've seen a NMW job I once did as a waiter in a restaurant advertised as an apprenticeship, probably the worst preparation and training I've ever had before a job and the worst management too. Disgusting.

 

[Spanky Longhorn]

apprenticeships in the modern workforce are actually just code for 'we'll pay this mug less than the dole'

mate of mine left school and got work through his dads connection as an apprentice pipe fitter. They site bods gave him a hell of a time, and thats out of order. But he got paid a big wedge every week, was given out-of-area money if he was on a site some miles away and was taught the craft. They even had him do a btec one day a week, which they paid for.

where are the apprenticeships like that now? they don't even want skilled people anymore, just outsource it all. Sooner or later thats going to become an issue because you won't have trained bods anymore.

There are lots of shit apprenticeships but also there are lots of good craft and trade ones out there, especially in public services or outsourced companies doing public services , like gas fitters, plumbers, chippies etc

 

[Belushi]

I once met a buch of Brit med students in the Czech Rep who'd flunked in the UK, but paid to study there.

Yeah, I know a fella who did that. He's a GP now.

 

[equationgirl]

apprenticeships in the modern workforce are actually just code for 'we'll pay this mug less than the dole'

mate of mine left school and got work through his dads connection as an apprentice pipe fitter. They site bods gave him a hell of a time, and thats out of order. But he got paid a big wedge every week, was given out-of-area money if he was on a site some miles away and was taught the craft. They even had him do a btec one day a week, which they paid for.

where are the apprenticeships like that now? they don't even want skilled people anymore, just outsource it all. Sooner or later thats going to become an issue because you won't have trained bods anymore.

There's some, if you know where to look, but because manufacturing and construction have been decimated, the usual mass employers of apprentices are reducing how many they take or not taking on any at all.

 

[Citizen66]

Back when i was in construction there was a scam of sorts where lads would enroll on a sparky course at college and then use that as a pretext to become an electrician's 'mate' with the agencies, which paid more and was less brutal than general labouring. I guess a lot of them would have got the trade eventually if they did the college. In some ways it would have been better than an apprenticeship; 'mates' certainly got paid more than apprentices did. The bastard would be having to do college of an evening, but it certainly seemed another avenue in to getting a trade. People find a way.

 

[chilango]

I think there might have been a couple over the years. But I would think they've been airbrushed from the history of the school.

Nope.

There might have been a few internships though.

 

[Balbi]

Thread theme tune appropriated.

 

[Idris2002]

there are plenty of university courses these kids can simply pay to be on, no matter how poor their grades. Switzerland, for example, has entire Universities that seem to be based upon this. I once met a buch of Brit med students in the Czech Rep who'd flunked in the UK, but paid to study there.

It used to be you could do that at the College of Surgeons in Dublin. They had to stop it in the 1980s because you were getting people in there who totally and completely unsuited to being doctors.

 

[Theisticle]

A stone cold classic.

FUCK OFF! What shit ethics. Not what journalism should be about.

 

[Bakunin]

FUCK OFF! What shit ethics. Not what journalism should be about.

Given her treatment of the chap who threatened suicide (such as running the story even after the Samaritans and others had already clearly said it wasn't in that individual's best interests) I'd certainly question her use of the word 'ethical.' Come to think of it, having known a great many activists and having been one myself, I'd also question her claiming to be any kind of activist at all and I've always been sickened by her use of various causes and ideals as some kind of moneymaking pose while people involved who actually believe in their chosen causes are out risking daily harassment by the authorities, risking court appearances, risking prison sentences and often going to jail for their beliefs while Penny Dreadful simply exploits them as copy fodder.

That's what really makes me angry about PD and her ilk. To them protest movements are a mixture of career opportunities and moneymaking schemes. They're not involved out of a genuine commitment or devotion, they're involved because a spot of radical chic looks good on the CV and enables them to market themselves as being edgy/alternative/voice of a generation/insert fake marketing blurb and cliches here. Meanwhile, the people who take actual risks are doing so because they actually commit to causes and ideas and often suffer the consequences. I've been out on protests and at camps where arrest and jail wasn't an abstract concept or a small possibility, I've sat in court watching friends and colleagues being sent down and fined and slapped with onerous bail conditions and I've spent many hours doing the donkey work behind the scenes as well and I did all that because the causes were ones I actually believed in and thought were worth the time, effort and effort and money and working on them even when I was often ill enough that I should have been in bed. It was never a career move or a business opportunity or a pose for me. It is for PD and her ilk and the thing that infuriates me most is the dishonesty and mercenary motives concealed behind a fake belief in causes that's about as genuine as a Rolex off a Bangkok market stall.

 

[ViolentPanda]

If you do, get it on your phone please.

Before or after he culls them?

 

[ViolentPanda]

How come LP is the one who gets paid for 'crowd sourcing' 'journalism' and not the actual members of the crowd who do the work?

Because she's the (inter)mediator, getting their plebian content out to a wider audience. At least, that's how the dog-fuckers who solicit content from the public justify this to themselves - as serving a purpose that the plebs themselves can't fulfill.
It's absolute bullshit, obviously. Laziness and an unwillingness to research issues beyond tweeting for opinions. What gets lost is that those you're tweeting to are a self-selected group (of, say, Laurie fans), so your "crowd-sourced" data is value-laden and quite possibly skewed and full of Laurie-pleasing rather than "truths" or "facts".

 

[ViolentPanda]

I love the way she was doing that in 2007 though. Twitter only launched in July 2006 - was she really using it right at the start?

Also, the NUJ asked her to promote them to students of journalism (a simple retweet, no presentations or anything) yet she didn't according to her twitter profile. Not cool.

Why would she? What was in it for her? Certainly no monetisation of her radicality.

 

[ViolentPanda]

Almost all leavers progress to university. Almost all leavers progress to university. Almost all leavers progress to university. Almost all leavers progress to university. Almost all leavers progress to university

Jesus, i thought i was angry an hour ago.

It's a fantastic iteration of "money talks, all else is bullshit", isn't it?

 

[Pickman's model]

Because she's the (inter)mediator, getting their plebian content out to a wider audience. At least, that's how the dog-fuckers who solicit content from the public justify this to themselves - as serving a purpose that the plebs themselves can't fulfill.
It's absolute bullshit, obviously. Laziness and an unwillingness to research issues beyond tweeting for opinions. What gets lost is that those you're tweeting to are a self-selected group (of, say, Laurie fans), so your "crowd-sourced" data is value-laden and quite possibly skewed and full of Laurie-pleasing rather than "truths" or "facts".

it's always struck me something of a pity how people like lp think they're needed by the plebs to get the pleb message out

 

[ViolentPanda]

apprenticeships in the modern workforce are actually just code for 'we'll pay this mug less than the dole'

mate of mine left school and got work through his dads connection as an apprentice pipe fitter. They site bods gave him a hell of a time, and thats out of order. But he got paid a big wedge every week, was given out-of-area money if he was on a site some miles away and was taught the craft. They even had him do a btec one day a week, which they paid for.

where are the apprenticeships like that now? they don't even want skilled people anymore, just outsource it all. Sooner or later thats going to become an issue because you won't have trained bods anymore.

It's already an issue in some trades. Trackside signals and telecommunications on the railways is mostly the purview of blokes aged 50+, with fewer youngsters being trained up than "natural wastage" reduces the labour pool by. Eventually that'll mean people versed in theory rather than practice, doing that work, and that is a terrifying thought to me.

 

[treelover]

That article is bad though - it's inconsistent throughout, and whilst the image is indeed of Charlotte Church, it's not of Charlotte Church 'doing a sci-fi show' as the caption helpfully points out, it's a UV light show of Charlotte Church performing her latest EP 'Four'. And Charlotte Church would be the first to point out she's a fairly mainstream artist, so why the picture of her in the first place?

really like her new single, Glitterbombed.

 

[Theisticle]

Why would she? What was in it for her? Certainly no monetisation of her radicality.

Isn't the New Statesman still anti-NUJ? Would explain a lot.

Penny is typical of the ego who wants to be the focus of the story not the story itself. Not that I was a particular fan of hers to begin with, after seeing that tweet, I just cannot take her seriously any longer. The Louise Mensch of the Left.

 

[cesare]

Isn't the New Statesman still anti-NUJ? Would explain a lot.

Penny is typical of the ego who wants to be the focus of the story not the story itself. Not that I was a particular fan of hers to begin with, after seeing that tweet, I just cannot take her seriously any longer. The Louise Mensch of the Left.

We don't know if the New Statesman is still anti NUJ or not because the last time I looked the NUJ haven't tried to get recognition again.

 

[Pickman's model]

We don't know if the New Statesman is still anti NUJ or not because the last time I looked the NUJ haven't tried to get recognition again.

why would they, when there's a sign in the new statesman's editor's office reading

please do not ask for union recognition as refusal often offends