Boomer54

Fairly sure this lady ate iron filings for breakfast. KoKo Taylor https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=rqbisd3Qm48&si=Zdbnr91Hs4hwxHsG

Listening to this sometimes makes me wonder will they ever make singers like this again. You have to think you were privileged to be born at the right time . https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=TT2WF64U5ao&si=kqzhQXSI3Ww9VP37

Really , a timeless classic from the Staple Singers https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=Vxs_X3u7C-M&si=GbiJNXoXZk997GoI So good let's double shot it. Think I was just a little in love with Mavis. Nobody ever did this mix of gospel/soul better than her. https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=Jx_Vq6t-3vI&si=pSFWuuZrkgC146XS

First politicians are accountable in the sense they get 'judged' every time they stand for election. The very real problem is that they get elected primarily on what they promise in the here and now. There is an inherent conflict between that and long term goals that may require delayed gratification where same is the optimum policy to pursue. This pretty much hinges upon the concept of something called temporal discounting and I am fairly confident that most political advisors if not their candidates are aware of this concept and advise accordingly.

Imprinted on my brain '06 + equals top rate road tax for big cc

"is a benevolent dictatorship"..well I am honoured to be considered, but may I get back to you on the position?

Laughing, yes, lack of choiceS, but still I did have one more choice than most people would perhaps clarify my former statement.

Nothing to say other than that was seriously good.

Precisely, that is why some of us dug down and paid for it, twice ! 😃 And yes, it would have been lovely not to have forked out a couple of hundred thousand, but a lack of choice leaves little alternative. If you finished reading that link it should be apparent the original ideas never actually came to fruition. Those were pretty much what ED was writing about above. You see the fundamental error of thinking came about because they didn't know what a successful education system might look like. They were ideologically blinded and they made mistakes because of it. A successful system does not lead to 'advancement' ,or one child winning over another. It leads to children being assessed to the degree you can see where their strengths and weaknesses are and in doing so can then direct them into areas of learning that are appropriate to them. That may be academic ,but in many cases will not be. The former is certainly not somehow superior to the latter, but of course society seems to have come to that belief. Until of course they need a brick layer 😉Contrast that with an higher education system that just sucks in kids and throws them out with a piece of paper of dubious value. Our system unfortunately is highly flawed.

You are right of course, but sometimes it's just 'fun' and stimulating to take an issue that raises it's head and run with it. I mean I cannot imagine a more boring world than one in which we all agree with each other.

No, but god it looks a right beast. Stick a couple of wings on that engine and you don't need to go the airport. I mean surely that's got to be tempting.

"Out of season for a SC430" Exactly ,keep the powder dry. I am capped at 3,000 on my current Insurance policy. I know that isn't going to work too well so I am thinking I just need to times it all by two ...2 x SC430 ; 2 x policies and 2 x 3,000 miles et voila a solution.

Actually Malc ,my niece has been a teacher in state schools for quite sometime. All of your comments apply there plus a lot more regarding violent and anti social behaviour (that's just the parents) and the kids are even worse 😀. She no longer teaches in state schools now being self employed teaching special needs having decided that she didn't sign on to raise the kids as well as teach them. The stories she told. All I can say is if even half of it was true then sending mine private was one of the best decisions I ever made.

I actually thought this was interesting. I liked the colour combo. Mileage not excessive. History looks good. Not stated ,but I know the MOT was just done. Appears to have been someone's 2nd car and not used for probably 12mths prior to ending up at the dealership, hence MOT had elapsed. Of course you don't know until you get there what the overall state of play will be. May well be a couple of thousand to spend ,or more ,but on the face of it again I would say it's priced for some of that, in my view. 2003 Bronze Lexus SC 430 4.3 2dr for sale for £4,995 in Birmingham, West Midlands (autotrader.co.uk)

My regards to your Ex been a moment.😉

Stew, That is much appreciated mate. You have given me a great starting point with this. Frankly, I am not at all sure I have a 'current ' problem at all ,but now I have a way to check so thanks again. Just loving this car. By the way I would not be without those mudflaps !

Could I ask you to read this... Tripartite System of education in England, Wales and Northern Ireland - Wikipedia It's not bad as a summary of how we got here. You see once upon a time we had a system that tried to identify the 'smart kids' and let them progress based upon merit. Labour didn't see it that way. Indeed, I could argue they were guilty of 'perfect solution ' idiocy. Instead of focusing on how that system did lead to greater social mobility they turned it on it's head and basically said the system is no good because it 'traps' too many people from advancing not quite understanding that not advancing academically is not the same as failing. So, they resolved that by removing anything that streams people according to their abilities at least until higher education levels. In effect they removed "choice". That is a word I keep coming back to. The thing is though for every action there is a reaction, but not always equal of course. Not just a law of Physics ,but equally applicable to psychologically motivated behaviour. In this case people took back their choice the only way they could and private education went from being a relatively niche issue to becoming more widely available to people who wished to choose to pay for it. In time of course govts made a similar error by encouraging University inclusiveness. Today we churn out people with degrees that really tell us very little about them. The merit system you advocate for we once had at least to some degree. perfect?. No, but better than what we now have. In conclusion, private education exists in the main because there is a raison d'etre for it that was mostly created because government took away the very thing you are advocating for educational advancement by merit. I am genuinely sorry to say the secondary and higher education system that we now have really is just an apology for a system that channels people by merit into a career that is best suited to their strengths. Larger scale Private education exists only because of the above. For full disclosure I am living proof that social mobility and Grammar schools worked ,not perfectly, but better than what existed before.

A new day , fuelled for the 'fight'. So, to summarise, you think a better option for Education is to intervene in people's ability to make a choice on the issue. For example, you probably have no issue with paying for classes in self defence for the child who goes on to be a boxer , tennis lessons for you know what, private tuition for you know what. You don't though want people to be able to choose to pay for their childs education. Let's extend the argument to show the fallacy at it's heart. As I tried to point out at the very beginning there is nothing special about a right to an education. If you believe in that right why would you not believe in the right to healthcare for example to further people's right to longevity. However, if you do then presumably you wouldn't support people being able to pay for private healthcare? We could of course find many ways to extend this argument based upon 'rights', but they all lead back to the same basic issue. Do we have a right to make personal choices? On your side of the argument you want to see a reduction in those choices. You wish to advocate for an intrusion into peoples personal liberties. Surely you do, because the moment you start taking away personal choice that is what you are doing. I am going to write something separately so as not to muddy the above.

Hauntingly beautiful and tragic. Alison Krauss https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=pj1p22kW5Xs&si=So0j9za3Ow0ZJ9Cv

Just a very good song writer/singer Amos Lee https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=QpSCaNI9Ras&si=f0XvULBi3iiuKezg

Got you. " gives undue influence from parents to the child's future". Lord forbid any of us care enough about our children that we wish to try to 'influence' their future. I really am proving nothing at this point other than it is perfectly natural for a parent to try and raise their child to the best of their ability. You seem to have a problem with that which I really don't wish to get into. I will leave the issue here ...bon voyage.

For goodness sake can we please stop with the stereotypes that lead you up the wrong path from the very start. You say you know little about the private education system and I can tell you that is very true. You appear to have this idea that private schools are wall to wall with rich kids from born into wealth families. You could not be further from the truth. They are a minority. Most of the kids there come from working families who choose to use their income to improve their childrens education and future prospects. You could call it an investment into the future. Many of them do without things, forego the pleasures of that new car, those holidays ,because doing so funds their childrens education. That is a much better description of those children and their families than the one you are carrying around. It's unfortunate that the minority get all the attention when it comes to the media .because that is I suspect what fosters these stereotypes.

"I don't know what the answer to achieving that is, but I do know that we're a long way from it." You would be a shoo in for the Nobel if you did. Almost needless to say the issue of inequality is not a simple one. Should be needless to say if it were it probably would have already been resolved more than it has been. What is clear is this. Taxing the rich more will not do it. It is the default solution for almost everybody of a socialist slant, but it ignores the fact that capturing that wealth is an impossible task for any government. Basically, the wealth flees for pastures new. There are a number of high profile names who have done that in just the last couple of years as they found that no party in this country was a safe harbour for them. So, take their taxes out of the pot and the target zone moves gradually further down the wealth scale at the targets less likely to flee. Enter the 'wealthy' middle classes. Not 'rich' just well off and probably so not through being born into wealth per se. See where this is going? You start with some idealistic target and then come slap bang up against reality. As a general rule it's safe to say that the measures to capture more tax to fund public ideals ends up capturing less ,because it fails to encompass behavioural changes that take place as a reaction to the action taken. You don't have to take my word for it. I think there is already enough research out there. Frankly, I think there is a lot more mileage to resolving this issue to be had by first of all cutting the huge amount of fat from public waste and inefficiency.

I also really like that colour combination.

Strange, I see an MOT expiry for next September 24th, but I don't see any details about the MOT at all. How did you know 'sailed' ? Moreover, would you say an MOT is any indicator of the issues you might find with some parts of the vehicle? I know it's a 'safety' signal ,but anymore than that? I think I stand by my first statement. However, if in the event this really required very little then in my view it really would be good value.