"mothers would be like "lionesses" if anyone threatened the chances of their children" Netmums The cat species? You betya! @@That's how I got to be a blogger, isn't it?!
One day I was sitting at home lazing about in bed, stroking the cats and feeding the fat one some peanuts while he watched TV ... we were minding our own business ... then
the big BAAAAANG happened! ...
- I didn't get any interviews mother
- What? Why not??
... and I jumped! ... and every thing turned upside down! See, it was the grand earthquake of the now infamous
MTAS! An event that wrecked specialist medical training in this country and shook British medicine to it's core in 2007 ... with ripple effects lasting to the present day!And what was that
MTAS monster anyway?! And what
MMC are they all talking about?!
Even, what doctor training is that? Haven't 'kid' graduated?! ... with loads of honours and rewards too?! Therefore, isn't that training automatic for all young doctors?! ... I didn't have a clue! And it turned out to be the
biggest onslaught on young talent ever!A whole generation of
top achievers tumbling and turning as if
deliberately squeezed into a tumble dryer and left to powder dry! And what an injustice! All because of the
'inept' performance of those who were up there at the time. Those who were
supposedly responsible for a whole generation of hard working young doctors. The distinguished and decorated 'leaders' that were
entrusted with taking their younger colleagues forward, recklessly decided on arrogant and 'inept' policies that have no evidence base they can and will work whatsoever - then unleashed same - in a hurry - on our unsuspecting and trusting young ones',
'our kids' ... and all over the country too! ... and it messed up big time! ... and the 'distinguished' leaders got away with it ... even promoted too ... the lot of them!
...
We can't let that or similar happen to our children again :-(... and have 'they' learned from that lesson? ... I don't know, but how if nobody was punished for the mess?!

You know, sometimes I wonder if I would have ever gotten into trying to understand all this medical mess that is medical policy, and now a bit of general politics too, had my eldest been offered a training post in the first round of
MTAS 2007. Although knowing myself, the chances are I most probably would have still gotten involved, albeit maybe not as totally immersed to obsession point as I was when my
'Baby' became personally affected! .. and I am still here ... still don't know enough ... but I am still watching ... they've woken mum up ... and when the kids are big, mums won't wake up unless they are afraid because they see an injustice.

... and now other mums are waking up too, because of all these changes to university funding. You know, if it has to be, mum will always take anything thrown at
her but then ...
HANDS OFF THE KIDS! ... cos that's when ma fights! Netmums and
Mumsnet are the ones wanting to fight now and I can see why. It's because of a number of reasons and not just the latest on university funding. Some new, as well as some old policies and cuts that will badly affect their kids and maybe the welfare of their families too ...
1-
Child benefit; how they want it is
Unfair! You can't add insult to injury to a hardworking
wo/man who lost their partner, for any reason! Isn't it enough s/he has to cope on their own?! That the kids are already deprived of a parent?! Same for a family with one working parent and the other at home. Unless you lay
proper foundations for
safe and 'affordable' child care all over the country, because at the moment that 'provision' is a farce, expect that some people may prefer to leave one parent at home to look after the kids if they can't afford the extortionate prices of proper care! Bearing in mind that some may still not be able to go out and work because of a disability, caring for an elderly family member, etc, etc ... because, unlike some,
ordinary people do not all have the rosy lives our leaders seem to think they have, you know!
Solution? Either leave child benefit as is if you do not want the costs of means testing, or,
abolish the whole thing for everybody ... completely out - then add an
equivalent sum for each child to single or combined family incomes below a 'universal' more generous than 44k level. Add that to, say, the tax credits, family credits, or whatever else similar. Because, as I understand, those are means tested anyway, hence you already have the mechanism to deal with adding a provision for the children based on means too. And since those on benefits would get this help anyway, hard working families of lower middle income would not be penalised and be classified as financially able when they are actually fighting to live within restricted means. I hope, call it 'child credit', would be awarded to 'all' families up to a maximum of, say, 50-60k whether single or combined income. A little extra to allow for a 'humane' life for those hard working families ... and this
way, not only would that be fair, stops those who don't deserve, but you may even encourage those long term dependant on the state but able to do the same,
circumstances permitting, even save some more money the
government too ... admin costs is but one example, ....

2-
Education, the modern world is a competitive place and children need to learn the benefits of the working hard ethos from an early age, if they are to survive, thrive and grow up
proud of their own achievement and of being
independent of the state. Because the current culture of 'working at your own
Pace' does not only hold children back, it makes them lose their sense of achievement and that leads to frustration, then boredom followed by anger and all sorts of negative actions to accompany that, maybe even be one causes of
truancy latter on ... and
eventually, full dependency on the state, amongst many other things.
The way to fix that is to cancel all those little groups, those
separate ability tables within the classroom and
just go back to basics! Encourage and support every child to achieve and start teaching the whole class how to read, write and do maths ...
together!As for secondary schools, get rid of all those 'ability' groups segregating children in
separate classrooms, because they are proper
'disability' groups in reality. Let those children fulfil their potential by
'learning from each other' as well as from their teachers! You would be surprised what the most able can learn from the weakest, you know! ... and vice-
versa too! Education is a two way street, it works both ways or it won't work proper ...
always!And abolish all those
ridiculous zillions of
exam boards but just the best one and keep and enlarge that to top world standard. Because, not only are those multiple boards confusing for parents, each being with it's own syllabus and 'agenda', but parents have to juggle exam boards for each kid too, and hence, that hinders a parent help to their child/
ren as they try to understand the very different requirements for each. And once a child's school decides on one, the child is then stuck in that school even if it was found to be no good, or if parents need to move because of work commitments and have to find another school. Now they struggle to find one that follows the same
syllabus, especially if that child is nearing a national exam, be it their
GCSEs or A levels ... Simplify and allow flexibility in the system to help children and parents and to save lots of wasted money and doubling of efforts too.
One board, one exam ... for all! ...
much fairer too ... easier for uni's to select too.Makes life much easier for everybody, students, parents, teachers, inspectors, monitoring real standards ... publications, study materials, using and
fairly applying new technologies, students revising together ... etc ... and easier to ensure
efficiency for the government too! Needy of more help kids can always have that in one day or just one afternoon per week, when 'everybody' is allocated to an improvement class or even a class to support the most gifted. One afternoon for everybody and covering all subjects. That would be the only time where classes are split into groups for this purpose, and it will work, test it.
As for universities, while I can
understand the
freedom that will be
enjoyed by those when they are left to charge what they like for the type of education they provide.
Do Not expect that British mums will just sit by and watch rich foreign students take those British uni
lecture seats while they, and their kids, stand by and
watch! Nor will they just be happy for their
brightest kids to sit at home
in a box doing a fully online 'degree' because it is cheaper even if the kids don't want them!

Attending uni, lectures and living with friends on campus is a whole
experience that helps mould a child's communication skills and personality as well as future ... and the memory of a good time at uni lasts for life too, it did for me. Hence, no able kid should be
deprived of that on site experience because they are 'middle-income' and
poor-ish! That's not only a loss of opportunity for that youngster and their development emotionally and mentally, but a loss of valuable 'polished' talent for the future of this country too!
[Just found it, please read the
Imperial College Rector's
response to the Browne proposals
here ... and thank you
Sir Keith O'nions for your intended support for the students on lower incomes, but those with hard working parents on
moderate or middle incomes may sometimes need support too considering the projected high costs of uni courses in the future. Otherwise their kids maybe be excluded from your excellent establishment. I hope those will not be forgotten ... and Sir Keith, have you ever considered selling your best students like they sell footballers, but to industry? ... yours are
sooo good, they head hunt them a year or more before graduation ... me thinks they should pay for them too! ... money for the college and maybe those cleverest ones would then be exempt from their debt
burden ... even financially
rewarded for their excellence in performance too. Motivates and encourages achievement, and we wouldn't be greedy like footballers ... or maybe we will ...
and what a silly idea :-)
To reassure students as well as parents, I hope other unis will come out with similar statements soon, if they haven't done already]
And back to the
government ... it wants to charge graduates;
Up to 9% interest on a STUDENT loan?! @@
Well, they say that a graduate makes about 100k extra during their working life if they have a degree ... it seems that the government is
soo poor, it wants
all of it to itself too, or even more, given the number of years of pay back!
What's the point of uni then?! Why would the government charge interest above inflation levels anyway, make profit from the kids?! ... The
bankers mess up, we pay, they get huge bonuses for their incompetence! Government wastes, the kids pay for the huge sums squandered too, is that fair?!
Solution: Set a reasonable and not for profit rate and cap that to a fair limit throughout the period monies owed,. Then if payment are started a few years, say 3-5, after graduation for everybody regardless what earning power they have on graduation [ because those with more earning potential would be the products of more expensive/longer courses anyway] students may be able to pay the majority of what they owe while on zero interest and zero payments
before the 'payment is now due' begins - making the instalments of whatever sums remaining easier to cope with for those young adults hoping to have a life as well as work too ... or find something along those lines to lessen the impact of early large debt on young lives thus easing the burden ... and that would be
fair!
Providing 'all' students can still get a place in their uni of choice based on ability and not family income, allow a few years remission from payment of debt upon graduation and set a 'fair' interest rate for that payment thereafter ... Fair ... and will keep mum happy too!
[Cos I wouldn't get all those mums untied and running after me big boss, you know ... it's hard as it is to cope with just the one at home ... so can you begin to imagine?! .... Never muck with the mums!! ... priceless piece of advice here and you've already got them watching you now - and mums, if you get them on your side, they have amaaazing powers ... and are very loyal when treated right too! Yep!]Let's hope ..."There is that feeling that they have worked hard to get a better life, they're just coping - but now they're being thwarted at every turn" Netmums