Coronavirus

[View From The Top]

6 minutes ago, AlexLaw76 said:

Couple of weeks to prepare as best you can. Maybe, you have not quite finished as Xmas is another week away? 

Good luck.

Schools and colleges have finished or finish tomorrow lunchtime.

My place is closed. Staff are gone. They won't be back until the 4th. 

We'll be receiving no training as it's Xmas. We'll be getting no kits as it's Xmas. We also have no capacity to test 1000s of students. We have no staff to do it.

It's yet another DfE fuck up that could have been avoided.

 

[View From The Top]

Yeah, right.

[View From The Top]

And where do we magic these staff from?

[View From The Top]

FE Colleges have thousands of students.

[RedArmy]

“The government aren’t doing enough” 

The government do more. 

“Wahhhhh we can’t handle that much” 

They’ll never win in the eyes of tribalistic Tory haters. 
 

 

[View From The Top]

16 minutes ago, RedArmy said:

“The government aren’t doing enough” 

The government do more. 

“Wahhhhh we can’t handle that much” 

They’ll never win in the eyes of tribalistic Tory haters. 
 

 

This isn't about the government, it's about the DfE bringing something in after many schools and colleges have closed and expect it to be in place on the day they re-open.

On Wednesday they decide 1st week back is remote, on Thursday evening, after many have closed for the holidays, following DfE instructions of no face to face teaching at all on the Friday (today), the publish details of mas testing in schools and colleges. Everything last minute.

Gibbs, the school minister, has just said on Sky News that it will be done by volunteers.

How are volunteers to be recruited, trained, DBS'd over Xmas? What happens if there are no volunteers? 

This could and should have been announced weeks ago so it could have been actioned this side of the hoildays ready for the return.

 

[badgerx16]

Next week's volunteers could quite easily become January's CoViD patients or close contacts.

[badgerx16]

1 hour ago, RedArmy said:

“The government aren’t doing enough” 

The government do more. 

“Wahhhhh we can’t handle that much” 

They’ll never win in the eyes of tribalistic Tory haters. 
 

 

Nothing to do with Tory hating, everything to do with a Government that is clueless, panicing, and making up Cloud Cuckoo Land policy on the fly.

[Tamesaint]

10 minutes ago, badgerx16 said:

Nothing to do with Tory hating, everything to do with a Government that is clueless, panicing, and making up Cloud Cuckoo Land policy on the fly.

It is sad but perhaps inevitable that the Government's handling of the pandemic gets seen through a political prism. I have no love for Johnson and believe this current Government  to be incompetent . I am just grateful however that he and not Corbyn won the last election. I dread to think how a Corbyn led government  would have handled things.

[badgerx16]

12 minutes ago, Tamesaint said:

It is sad but perhaps inevitable that the Government's handling of the pandemic gets seen through a political prism. I have no love for Johnson and believe this current Government  to be incompetent . I am just grateful however that he and not Corbyn won the last election. I dread to think how a Corbyn led government  would have handled things.

I agree. But it is only in comparison to the Corbyn administration alternative that Boris' mob appear faintly capable.

[AlexLaw76]

Ah right, schools are closed, so even if the staff wanted to do something (I am sure you want to be part of the solution), it would be impossible.  I get that!

 

We put man on the moon, yet can't peel a public sector worker away from their holiday.  

[View From The Top]

6 minutes ago, AlexLaw76 said:

Ah right, schools are closed, so even if the staff wanted to do something (I am sure you want to be part of the solution), it would be impossible.  I get that!

 

We put man on the moon, yet can't peel a public sector worker away from their holiday.  

I worked the Easter holidays, May 1/2 term and 2 weeks of the summer. Our sites haven't shut.

Our governing body has insisted we shut and no staff to take any work or their laptops home so kindly fuck off.

You explain to me how we are going to recruit, equip with PPE and test kits plus DBS volunteers capable of testing over 6000 students across 4 sites whilst equipping space that doesn't exist, with equipment we don't have over Xmas ready for Jan 4th.

Wankers like you have the snark but no fucking clue.

 

[View From The Top]

13 minutes ago, AlexLaw76 said:

Ah right, schools are closed, so even if the staff wanted to do something (I am sure you want to be part of the solution), it would be impossible.  I get that!

 

We put man on the moon, yet can't peel a public sector worker away from their holiday.  

I'll also add than no teaching staff are paid for their holidays. They are paid for 267 (IIRC) days which is split, for ease, over 12 months.

So again, go fuck yourself.

[View From The Top]

46 minutes ago, Tamesaint said:

It is sad but perhaps inevitable that the Government's handling of the pandemic gets seen through a political prism. I have no love for Johnson and believe this current Government  to be incompetent . I am just grateful however that he and not Corbyn won the last election. I dread to think how a Corbyn led government  would have handled things.

I shudder to think how Corbyn's misfits would have coped even compared to the current shower of shit.

[badgerx16]

26 minutes ago, AlexLaw76 said:

Ah right, schools are closed, so even if the staff wanted to do something (I am sure you want to be part of the solution), it would be impossible.  I get that!

 

We put man on the moon, yet can't peel a public sector worker away from their holiday.  

So, why don't you locate your nearest secondary school / FE college, and tell them you are giving up your Christmas to volunteer to help them set up and then take the training to help them with their testing.

[Lord Duckhunter]

2 hours ago, View From The Top said:

 

So again, go fuck yourself.

Is this how modern teachers debate now? 

[LGTL]

I can't wait to see this army of volunteers coming into covid-ridden secondary schools to help out with mass testing. I'm sure they'll be lining the streets! 

Maybe those on furlough could help out and earn their wages for the month?

[whelk]

16 minutes ago, LGTL said:

I can't wait to see this army of volunteers coming into covid-ridden secondary schools to help out with mass testing. I'm sure they'll be lining the streets! 

Maybe those on furlough could help out and earn their wages for the month?

Yeah us tax payers subsidised Duckhunter’s company. He’ll forget that soon enough when knocking one out to Toby Young Podcast screaming about paying taxes

[sadoldgit]

3 hours ago, badgerx16 said:

I agree. But it is only in comparison to the Corbyn administration alternative that Boris' mob appear faintly capable.

Like everyone else here I have no idea how a Labour government would have handled the pandemic so far, but given that they put social principles first I would imagine that the care homes fiasco would not have happened. I also don’t believe that contracts would have been passed out to mates and that the money would have been better spent on PPE etc. The point is moot however. We have what we have and to say that someone else could not have done better is letting this shower off the hook. I am tempted to say that Labour could not have done any worse.

[whelk]

5 hours ago, RedArmy said:

“The government aren’t doing enough” 

The government do more. 

“Wahhhhh we can’t handle that much” 

They’ll never win in the eyes of tribalistic Tory haters. 
 

 

Many know what strong leadership look like. The mugs are those who swallow it cos its your tribe. It isn’t about getting it right all the time eithe

[View From The Top]

21 minutes ago, LGTL said:

I can't wait to see this army of volunteers coming into covid-ridden secondary schools to help out with mass testing. I'm sure they'll be lining the streets! 

Maybe those on furlough could help out and earn their wages for the month?

21 secondary schools where I am plus a city wide 6th form and 2 very big FE colleges.

6th Form & FE is around 7000 students between them, say 1000 students per secondary and that's 28,000 students a week what need testing. That's a hell of a lot of volunteers. 

And they spring it on us as everyone closes for the holidays.

My own kids school have just sent this "Unfortunately, we do not have any details yet regarding when the roll out of the Covid-19 rapid
testing may be available in school. Once we have further information we will contact you, as we would need to gain consent before any tests can be performed on site."

My wife's Head has just emailed all staff and parents to say that nothing will be in place for the return as he doesn't expect his staff to sacrifice their holiday due to such poor planning by the DfE.

I've not even brought home my work laptop, just 150 GCSE mocks to mark but I know we'll have nothing in place for testing when we go back.

[View From The Top]

18 minutes ago, whelk said:

Yeah us tax payers subsidised Duckhunter’s company. He’ll forget that soon enough when knocking one out to Toby Young Podcast screaming about paying taxes

He'll be blaming the EU and immigrants.

The Farage types like that always do.

[Turkish]

1 hour ago, sadoldgit said:

Like everyone else here I have no idea how a Labour government would have handled the pandemic so far, but given that they put social principles first I would imagine that the care homes fiasco would not have happened. I also don’t believe that contracts would have been passed out to mates and that the money would have been better spent on PPE etc. The point is moot however. We have what we have and to say that someone else could not have done better is letting this shower off the hook. I am tempted to say that Labour could not have done any worse.

They could and they would have.

[View From The Top]

9 minutes ago, Turkish said:

They could and they would have.

Corbyn and his morons would have been worse and I say that as Labour supporter although the point about awarding PPE contracts on merit and not on donations or contacts seems fair.

[Millbrook Saint]

2 hours ago, Lord Duckhunter said:

Is this how modern teachers debate now? 

Debate, don't make me laugh, there is no such thing as debate, anyone who doesn't hold the correct opinion is just not given a platform, easy debate won.

[Millbrook Saint]

26 minutes ago, View From The Top said:

Corbyn and his morons would have been worse and I say that as Labour supporter although the point about awarding PPE contracts on merit and not on donations or contacts seems fair.

I do agree with the PPE contracts, though playing devils advocate I'm not sure if they'd of had time to go through the whole procurement procedure, I'd say when you're desperate for something you tend to go to your contacts first as you know they'll react quickest, bit like if you've got a leak at home, you'd call your mate before going through Chekatrade getting a load of quotes, meanwhile your house is flooding.

 

[aintforever]

3 hours ago, whelk said:

Yeah us tax payers subsidised Duckhunter’s company. He’ll forget that soon enough when knocking one out to Toby Young Podcast screaming about paying taxes

Yeah, it's amazing how my Tory supporting mates are now so in favour of state handouts now they can rip the arse out of the furlough scheme for their benefit.

Expect the usual crying like babies when taxes rise though.

Edited 18 December, 2020 by aintforever

[badgerx16]

1 hour ago, Millbrook Saint said:

I do agree with the PPE contracts, though playing devils advocate I'm not sure if they'd of had time to go through the whole procurement procedure, I'd say when you're desperate for something you tend to go to your contacts first as you know they'll react quickest, bit like if you've got a leak at home, you'd call your mate before going through Chekatrade getting a load of quotes, meanwhile your house is flooding.

 

That would be fine if the contacts had some experience of manufacturing and/or supplying garments, let alone medical ones.

[View From The Top]

1 hour ago, Millbrook Saint said:

I do agree with the PPE contracts, though playing devils advocate I'm not sure if they'd of had time to go through the whole procurement procedure, I'd say when you're desperate for something you tend to go to your contacts first as you know they'll react quickest, bit like if you've got a leak at home, you'd call your mate before going through Chekatrade getting a load of quotes, meanwhile your house is flooding.

 

I get that but when the husband of and aide to a British politician sets up an £100 company and weeks later is awarded a £200m PPE contract it's pretty obvious that corruption and cronyism is front and centre.

[View From The Top]

49 minutes ago, aintforever said:

Yeah, it's amazing how my Tory supporting mates are now so in favour of state handouts now they can rip the arse out of the furlough scheme for their benefit.

Expect the usual crying like babies when taxes rise though.

Plenty seem very happy sat on the arses taking a state handout whilst the key workers deal with the pandemic.

They'll be back to screaming about benefit scroungers soon enough. Typical non-job types.

[View From The Top]

1 hour ago, Millbrook Saint said:

Debate, don't make me laugh, there is no such thing as debate, anyone who doesn't hold the correct opinion is just not given a platform, easy debate won.

Debate involves a two way exchange of ideas based on knowledge of the subject.

Opinion is unimportant if you don't have the knowledge. Facts and experience don't care about opinions.

If anyone wishes to explain to me how any secondary school or tertiary organisation is to have a mass testing system in place, from scratch, over Xmas and NY, when the DfE say they are publishing guidance next week, I'm all ears.

An explanation based on experience of rolling out mass testing in HE or in Liverpool for example. Not an opinion that teachers should just give up their unpaid holiday and get on with it, whatever "it" is.

[Winnersaint]

6 hours ago, View From The Top said:

I'll also add than no teaching staff are paid for their holidays. They are paid for 267 (IIRC) days which is split, for ease, over 12 months.

So again, go fuck yourself.

That was my impression, then I came across this which kind of debunks the myth. Not sure if its different in FE though.

 https://michaelt1979.wordpress.com/2020/06/12/are-teachers-paid-for-the-holidays/

 

Edited 18 December, 2020 by Winnersaint

[View From The Top]

13 minutes ago, Winnersaint said:

That was my impression, then I came across this which kind of debunks the myth. Not sure if its different in FE though.

 https://michaelt1979.wordpress.com/2020/06/12/are-teachers-paid-for-the-holidays/

 

Interesting read. 

1st time I've seen it explained like that.

[AlexLaw76]

Incorrect thread.

Edited 18 December, 2020 by AlexLaw76

[Lord Duckhunter]

1 hour ago, View From The Top said:

Plenty seem very happy sat on the arses taking a state handout whilst the key workers deal with the pandemic.

They'll be back to screaming about benefit scroungers soon enough. Typical non-job types.

What are non jobs?  Jobs you don’t consider worthy, let me guess all these “non jobs” are in the private sector. 

I actually volunteered to work & therefore never took a penny from furlough. Can I criticise people who abuse the benefit system? 

 

 

[Fan The Flames]

22 hours ago, AlexLaw76 said:

Ah right, schools are closed, so even if the staff wanted to do something (I am sure you want to be part of the solution), it would be impossible.  I get that!

 

We put man on the moon, yet can't peel a public sector worker away from their holiday.  

Stop blaming public sector workers, any worker asked to deliver something outside their skill set, at this time, in this timescale a day before they break up would be pissed off.

[Fan The Flames]

On 18/12/2020 at 07:39, RedArmy said:

“The government aren’t doing enough” 

The government do more. 

“Wahhhhh we can’t handle that much” 

They’ll never win in the eyes of tribalistic Tory haters. 
 

 

It's about scrutinising the government not the political party in government.

[Fan The Flames]

22 hours ago, View From The Top said:

I'll also add than no teaching staff are paid for their holidays. They are paid for 267 (IIRC) days which is split, for ease, over 12 months.

So again, go fuck yourself.

That is just semantics, you legally accrue holiday for time worked under employment law. Everyone could say they are paid for x amount of days spilt over 12 months.

[Fan The Flames]

22 hours ago, badgerx16 said:

So, why don't you locate your nearest secondary school / FE college, and tell them you are giving up your Christmas to volunteer to help them set up and then take the training to help them with their testing.

Of course he won't, he's too busy slagging off public sector workers.

[LGTL]

Christmas cancelled for London and the South East with a new tier 4 then.

 

[whelk]

9 minutes ago, LGTL said:

Christmas cancelled for London and the South East with a new tier 4 then.

 

Yeah and sure Boris will blame the ‘new strain’

[Turkish]

31 minutes ago, LGTL said:

Christmas cancelled for London and the South East with a new tier 4 then.

 

It’s all a big sham, they just didn’t want to extend the November lockdown over Christmas as they didn’t want a “Boris cancels Christmas” narrative in the media. I wouldn’t be surprised if there are further areas put in lockdown this week. 

[whelk]

Christmas cancelled and a no deal Brexit. The low information voters will think there was no alternative. Go Boris

[View From The Top]

Government goes ballistic when Labour controlled London Boroughs want to close schools 2 days early, nothing said about the tory councils doing the same, due to the big spike in cases.

4 days later it cancels Xmas.

Fucking clueless.

[badgerx16]

Bollocks to that !!!

[badgerx16]

2 hours ago, LGTL said:

Christmas cancelled for London and the South East with a new tier 4 then.

 

Christmas cancelled everywhere if your family don't live close to.

[badgerx16]

1) New sweepstake; which Cabinet minister breaks the new rules first ? I'm going for Hancock.

2) Has Boris just pissed all over peoples' Brexit parties ?

 

 

[Jimmy_D]

Can’t say as I’m surprised about the new measures, as more data comes in about the new variant... it’s not good. Quite frankly they probably don’t go far enough.

[S-Clarke]

26 minutes ago, Jimmy_D said:

Can’t say as I’m surprised about the new measures, as more data comes in about the new variant... it’s not good. Quite frankly they probably don’t go far enough.

What is the new data? Can't say I've seen anything apart from the fact that it spreads faster. Certainly nothing about it being more potent or anything like that.

At the end of the day, viruses mutate - this is just a mutation. If we react like this to every mutation then we might as well accept lockdown for the rest of our lives.

[Jimmy_D]

3 minutes ago, S-Clarke said:

What is the new data? Can't say I've seen anything apart from the fact that it spreads faster. Certainly nothing about it being more potent or anything like that.

At the end of the day, viruses mutate - this is just a mutation. If we react like this to every mutation then we might as well accept lockdown for the rest of our lives.

Spreading faster IS the problem. A very very significant one. The biggest issue with COVID is that it spreads so fast, and our only effective weapon against that has been lockdown measures. This mutation directly makes those measures less effective.

As I’ve said before, there are thousands of mutations, most of them haven’t caused a significant reaction in what we need to do, but this one has unfortunately.

Because it’s spreading faster (around 70% estimated), the measures that are in place to reduce spread aren’t enough, the number of people getting sick is leaping up despite them.  If we don’t want the NHS to be overwhelmed we don’t have a choice but to tighten it up. Another factor is that we have a vaccine now. That gives us a way out of lockdown and means that there’s a good reason to stop as many people getting sick as possible until it’s rolled out.