#5434

It’s a real thing, and is the kind of thing that would lead to a fall in the government were it anyone else.

Someone did a run down of a clutch of the most prominent political reporters and how many tweets they sent yesterday Vs how many mentioned this story:

HODGES (111/0)
RENTOUL (60/0)
BRAND (30/0)
KUENSSBERG (18/0)
NEIL (8/0)
PESTON (6/0)

6 Likes
#5435

Fair point, but I still think it would be beneficial for people in these fields to learn different, less hard science, perspectives, especially ones that explore the social and cultural factors, not because any one discipline has all the answers but because each one has assumptions conventions and biases that it must be easy to get caught up in

1 Like
#5436

I couldn’t believe at the time that the school I was at was a charity. Made no sense whatsoever (even to my tiny 18 year old mind) and I saw little to no evidence of charitable work (that wasn’t also v beneficial to the pupils/school).

Interesting that WikiJim tweets that some parents might be dodgy tax avoiders but doesn’t make the link that the schools themselves are avoiding taxes.

#5437

Charity law needs wholesale change. It is startling the number of for profit businesses that have wangled themselves cod-charitable status.

5 Likes
#5438

Chirst on a bike.

#5439

Free press there, holding power to account good and proper. Why is it the preserve of outlier media to do this job now? What has happened to the political economy of the news that has shifted this? (I’m actually asking, and if anyone has any decent sources on it I’d be grateful to have a read)

#5440

Why not? They’ll have no need for all their buildings once they’re integrated into the state sector so seems sensible for a Labour government to put all that spare property to use.

#5442

I dont’ feel I know enough about this, but they do feel different to private schools. But I don’t think that’s a given. They seem to be more like an image of what nationalised private schools could be like in a few decades

#5444

I think there can be some good to having them as charities but the way they operate in 2019 is far from it. Board members being on massive 6 figure salaries, endownment funds investmented in fossil fuels, arms and tobacco, etc.

1 Like
#5447

No doubt, yeah.

#5448

How come?

#5449

assuming by the air-quotes that you mean it’s not actually hypocritical, but people will portray it as such, right?

#5450

Depends who it is about. If you’re someone who advocates the abolition of private education, but you educate your own children privately, I fail to see how you can escape an accusation of hypocrisy.

But in most instances, yes, it will doubtless be used as a broad-sweep portrayal of the left. The problem is, it can stick.

3 Likes
#5451

It’s the massive donations that the likes of Oxford get from alumni that wind me up.

#5452

Because it’s the same argument as “OH YOU’RE AGAINST CAPITALISM AND YET YOU OWN A PHONE”, but just on a slightly larger scale.

1 Like
#5453

the way i would try to persuade people unsure about it is just be like, you are showing the upper classes a degree of solidarity they never extend to you.

but then that is the english pathology i suppose.

2 Likes
#5454

Well, if these are used to allow people to study that couldn’t otherwise (financially) then this is a good thing and is why there can be a clear benefit to charity status… Big if though innit.

#5455

Dunno about this.

I don’t really know eg Diane Abbot’s reasons nor anything about schooling in Hackney but the state system in a lot of places is not great.

I don’t think choosing to opt your children out of that while wanting to facilitate long-term solutions to that problem is a completely indefensible/contradictory position to take.

2 Likes
#5458

Oh blimey. Ok, so they’re nothing like what I imagined them to be like :grimacing:

Are they worse now than they were 20 years ago or have they always been like that?

#5459

was just about to ask when you were starting. good luck :blush:

1 Like