If we have learned one thing over the last three years, it’s that schools are as critical a part of our national infrastructure as any blue-light service.
I have been a firm supporter of UsforThem during the mad Covid years and will continue to support them on similar policies.
However I am concerned that it is changing its mission and losing that rationale. I disagree with the campaign to force Govt to limit smartphones for children. I agree that smartphones can be very 'bad' for children, and adults, but this is a matter for parents. And certainly not for the Govt; I would have thought the last few years would have shown us all how the Govt cannot be trusted to look after our kids and giving them more power and weakening parental control is a VERY BAD idea.
And now with strikes etc. Clearly I don't want schools to close but the problem is not something for UsforThem to get involved in. One solution for this is to break up schooling so that schools don't all have the same salary, employer etc. If they had a local employer and the chance of national strikes was therefore massively reduced then there would be more chance for real local negotiation and pay that better reflects the job, the area and the school.
Keep focused UsforThem and don't just become a political campaigning organisation!
Thank you for this feedback Rob. We won't become 'another political campaigning org' - but we are also conscious that these issues impact children heavily. We share your conflict on strikes - difficult multifactorial problem with long term (and shorter term) causes. We don't agree on the smartphones - will be writing a substack about this in a few weeks, though, as you do make a valid point about parental responsibility. It's almost impossible for parents to now police smartphone use given the ubiquity of the devices (91% of 11 year olds own one) and the social pressure on kids to get one - but we do appreciate that isn't a view that will be shared by all.
Jan 24, 2023·edited Jan 24, 2023Liked by UsForThem
The whole smartphone and social media thing is indeed a distraction from the group's mission. Having said that:
What are your thoughts about this recent hypothetical idea of mine? Declare a state of emergency, on the grounds that Big Tech and their antisocial media is an existential threat to civilization itself. Impose a "quarantine" on them for "just two weeks" (right!) wherein all antisocial media are frozen and archived during that time, so they cannot be used, and everyone is logged out simultaneously and cannot log back in during that time. During that time, We the People can then re-evaluate our often unexamined and unquestioned relationship to Big Tech, and in conjunction with our elected representatives in government, decide what the next steps (if any) will be.
I guarantee you, that would have saved FAR more lives than the Covid lockdowns, as the latter saved statistically zilch in the long run in terms of all-cause deaths.
And a (voluntary) smartphone buyback for all ages would save FAR more lives than a gun buyback as well. Something to think about.
Another idea: Nationalize as public utilities all tech companies larger than a certain size, while banning any ones that are already nationalized (in theory or in practice) by hostile nations (TikTok and the CCP, I'm looking at you!). Just like we should do with the "too big to fail" banks.
There's the rub, of course. And yet, they are already currently run by a "shadow government" oligarchy of the billionaires, with no checks and balances.
Jan 24, 2023·edited Jan 24, 2023Liked by UsForThem
Voters no longer consider education a priority because it no longer means what it once did.
Shifting policies have made it more about implementing warped social ideologies such as transgenderism whilst the “everyone can go to University” agenda started by Blair has meant that a degree or masters it is no longer prized in the way it once was.
Many young people today know their best chance lies in their entrepreneurial skills which they have more chance learning themselves from YouTube than by getting 35k or whatever in debt. This is the route I will be encouraging my own son to take, certainly.
And “since the Victorians introduced compulsory schooling” suggests school is compulsory. Just to point out, it is not. Education is, but not school.
Everyone has the right to an education but everyone equally must have a right to withdraw their labour should they feel that necessary. Otherwise we are educating people to take whatever poor conditions are doled out to them.
Yes - we do understand that point, too. As we say above given how core teachers are to many children's lives, like many of you, we feel very conflicted on the strikes.
I agree with all the points you have made. The push for tech seeks to make these occupations redundant and yet we all know how hard it is to find a decent plumber/electrician etc when we need it. Spot on about the climate change dogma. They are always feeding it to my son via Newround (the “I depend on the BBC” starter pack🙄)
If you look at the entire education system, much like the health system, it is incredibly top heavy. Digging through national, regional and local authority structures, government-funded ‘charities’ and other hangers on the public teat, it’s not hard to find additional funding for the service providers, without raising the ire of the taxpayer. The issue is that much of that sector is also protected by unions.
As to recruitment, it can’t help that education seems to attract only one political persuasion.
I started digging into the charity commission, but didn’t get very deep. I don’t know where I would look into grants and ROI on those projects. The way the charity commission’s site is structured, it’s as if they’re being opaquely transparent, if that makes sense? Basically, it would be interesting to understand grants & ROI on those funds - pull back on under-performers and black list them for x years. Dig into the private charities, again ROI and cull. Then start digging into the civil service, restructure and centralise. Just like the private sector. Musk the whole thing.
.And sadly the evidence was there right from the start. I am a retired Headteacher with 50 years experience in education. For two and a half years I have been writing about this---what we get is a shrug of the shoulders---"it just had to be "----NO ,it didn't -schools were not centres of transmission, children do not transmit, school closures had no effect on transmission AND immeasurable harms were done to our children---as I have been pointing out to our decision makers and will do so again this week when I meet a former Minister of Justice and current (MP ( called MLAs here) this Friday. I have also asked our CMO to confirm the above and that he will not advise school closures again. Do plz click on some of the links below for the evidence.
These are great pieces Hugh - thank you for sharing. Naturally, we agree with them wholeheartedly - painful reading though they make. Do you have a Twitter handle by any chance? - would like to folllow.
I have been a firm supporter of UsforThem during the mad Covid years and will continue to support them on similar policies.
However I am concerned that it is changing its mission and losing that rationale. I disagree with the campaign to force Govt to limit smartphones for children. I agree that smartphones can be very 'bad' for children, and adults, but this is a matter for parents. And certainly not for the Govt; I would have thought the last few years would have shown us all how the Govt cannot be trusted to look after our kids and giving them more power and weakening parental control is a VERY BAD idea.
And now with strikes etc. Clearly I don't want schools to close but the problem is not something for UsforThem to get involved in. One solution for this is to break up schooling so that schools don't all have the same salary, employer etc. If they had a local employer and the chance of national strikes was therefore massively reduced then there would be more chance for real local negotiation and pay that better reflects the job, the area and the school.
Keep focused UsforThem and don't just become a political campaigning organisation!
Thank you for this feedback Rob. We won't become 'another political campaigning org' - but we are also conscious that these issues impact children heavily. We share your conflict on strikes - difficult multifactorial problem with long term (and shorter term) causes. We don't agree on the smartphones - will be writing a substack about this in a few weeks, though, as you do make a valid point about parental responsibility. It's almost impossible for parents to now police smartphone use given the ubiquity of the devices (91% of 11 year olds own one) and the social pressure on kids to get one - but we do appreciate that isn't a view that will be shared by all.
The whole smartphone and social media thing is indeed a distraction from the group's mission. Having said that:
What are your thoughts about this recent hypothetical idea of mine? Declare a state of emergency, on the grounds that Big Tech and their antisocial media is an existential threat to civilization itself. Impose a "quarantine" on them for "just two weeks" (right!) wherein all antisocial media are frozen and archived during that time, so they cannot be used, and everyone is logged out simultaneously and cannot log back in during that time. During that time, We the People can then re-evaluate our often unexamined and unquestioned relationship to Big Tech, and in conjunction with our elected representatives in government, decide what the next steps (if any) will be.
I guarantee you, that would have saved FAR more lives than the Covid lockdowns, as the latter saved statistically zilch in the long run in terms of all-cause deaths.
And a (voluntary) smartphone buyback for all ages would save FAR more lives than a gun buyback as well. Something to think about.
Interesting ideas...not sure how we'd go about nationalising an industry from a campaign perspective, however. Love the buy back idea lol.
Thanks
Another idea: Nationalize as public utilities all tech companies larger than a certain size, while banning any ones that are already nationalized (in theory or in practice) by hostile nations (TikTok and the CCP, I'm looking at you!). Just like we should do with the "too big to fail" banks.
And trust government to run them?!
There's the rub, of course. And yet, they are already currently run by a "shadow government" oligarchy of the billionaires, with no checks and balances.
Amen to that!
So true, the children have suffered enough. It’s almost as if they want the next generation unable to think for themselves.....
Voters no longer consider education a priority because it no longer means what it once did.
Shifting policies have made it more about implementing warped social ideologies such as transgenderism whilst the “everyone can go to University” agenda started by Blair has meant that a degree or masters it is no longer prized in the way it once was.
Many young people today know their best chance lies in their entrepreneurial skills which they have more chance learning themselves from YouTube than by getting 35k or whatever in debt. This is the route I will be encouraging my own son to take, certainly.
And “since the Victorians introduced compulsory schooling” suggests school is compulsory. Just to point out, it is not. Education is, but not school.
Everyone has the right to an education but everyone equally must have a right to withdraw their labour should they feel that necessary. Otherwise we are educating people to take whatever poor conditions are doled out to them.
Yes - we do understand that point, too. As we say above given how core teachers are to many children's lives, like many of you, we feel very conflicted on the strikes.
Absolutely Jane
I agree with all the points you have made. The push for tech seeks to make these occupations redundant and yet we all know how hard it is to find a decent plumber/electrician etc when we need it. Spot on about the climate change dogma. They are always feeding it to my son via Newround (the “I depend on the BBC” starter pack🙄)
If you look at the entire education system, much like the health system, it is incredibly top heavy. Digging through national, regional and local authority structures, government-funded ‘charities’ and other hangers on the public teat, it’s not hard to find additional funding for the service providers, without raising the ire of the taxpayer. The issue is that much of that sector is also protected by unions.
As to recruitment, it can’t help that education seems to attract only one political persuasion.
Yes - very good point. You don't happen to have any stats on the top heavy point do you? If not we can do some digging.
I started digging into the charity commission, but didn’t get very deep. I don’t know where I would look into grants and ROI on those projects. The way the charity commission’s site is structured, it’s as if they’re being opaquely transparent, if that makes sense? Basically, it would be interesting to understand grants & ROI on those funds - pull back on under-performers and black list them for x years. Dig into the private charities, again ROI and cull. Then start digging into the civil service, restructure and centralise. Just like the private sector. Musk the whole thing.
.And sadly the evidence was there right from the start. I am a retired Headteacher with 50 years experience in education. For two and a half years I have been writing about this---what we get is a shrug of the shoulders---"it just had to be "----NO ,it didn't -schools were not centres of transmission, children do not transmit, school closures had no effect on transmission AND immeasurable harms were done to our children---as I have been pointing out to our decision makers and will do so again this week when I meet a former Minister of Justice and current (MP ( called MLAs here) this Friday. I have also asked our CMO to confirm the above and that he will not advise school closures again. Do plz click on some of the links below for the evidence.
https://www.ukcolumn.org/article/what-are-we-doing-to-our-children-part-i
https://dailysceptic.org/2022/04/16/what-are-we-doing-to-our-children/.
https://www.conservativewoman.co.uk/there-was-no-need-for-school-closures-and-they-knew-it-all-along/
https://dailysceptic.org/2022/05/19/we-know-the-damage-lockdowns-did-to-our-children-so-never-again/
These are great pieces Hugh - thank you for sharing. Naturally, we agree with them wholeheartedly - painful reading though they make. Do you have a Twitter handle by any chance? - would like to folllow.
No, I don't use twitter or Facebook, just
https://hughmccarthy.substack.com/
I do now
@HughMcC17126125
Hugh Mccarthy
We agree - depressing and needs to change.