General Chat

Things you wish you hadn't said?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/5163798.stm

"In a speech on social justice, Mr Cameron claimed teenagers who hide under hooded tops are trying to "blend in" rather than appear threatening.

Hooded tops - known as hoodies - have come to be viewed by some as a symbol of social disorder.

Earlier Mr Cameron told BBC Breakfast he was still tough on crime. "Of course people who commit crime should be held responsible.


" Adult society's response to the hoodie shows how far we are from finding the long-term answers to put things right

David Cameron"


"But I think people want their politicians to ask the question: 'What is it that brought that young person to commit that crime at that time? What's the background to it, what are the long-term causes of crime?'

"If you're ill, it's no good putting a sticking plaster on it. You've got to get to the bottom of the illness.

"Let's try and understand what's gone wrong in these children's lives and we'll find it's about family breakdown, it's about drugs, it's about alcohol abuse, often it's young people who are brought up in care when they should be in loving homes. "

There's an interesting bit further down:
'But hoodies are more defensive than offensive. They're a way to stay invisible in the street. In a dangerous environment the best thing to do is keep your head down, blend in." (my comment:: And hope you're not caught on CCTV!)

McNulty's response:
'People have rights, of course, and we need to do all we can for them in that regard, but they also have responsibilities," he told the BBC.

My comment: As I said before - the responsibility bit was conveniently forgotten!!

That's not to say some children/families need help, but it's hard to help a foul mouthed swaggering numpty who thinks that. because he/she has 'rights' the world owes him everything on a plate!!!!

The saddest cases must surely be the ones we don't hear about - those too frightened/young to say anything.

Here's an insightful article on the riots, written by a reporter who was there. I found it excellent and says what I've been saying all along, it's a fashionable trend to fight police. It's basic disrespect for the structures within our society. Anyway enough said, read for yourselves...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/aug/12/uk-riots-paul-lewis-five-day-journey?CMP=twt_gu

Its all very well for Cameron to "Talk The Talk" but can he Walk The Walk?" in my opinion NO.any challenge to him and he backs down.not what we need or want. :-S.**M**.

Merlin, you obviously don't watch Prime Minister's Questions

hi hayley.
you have not answerd my question. what are your cold hard facts that im wrong?x

Pamela, you are absolutely right, If I want to listen to a load of tripe,I,ll go to the Local Butchers,at least its fresh. How many times has he spoken out on things and then backed down because little Cleggy does,nt like it? many times,and until he asserts his authority and tells him to put up or shut up,nothing will happen because he is afraid.**M**

Not so very long ago Cameron was asking us all to "Hug a Hoodie"....

watched the sky interview with the three looters,and i have to say that i was embarrassed for them, embarrassed because they were so thick.
A shop keeper wont let them off with 1p so they rob his shop,
CVs regected (probably because they dont have the brain power to have a job) so they rob the shop as payback?.when my son started work 6yrs ago he had 97 CVs rejected in three months and he has 11GSEs,did he go on the rob because he had been rejected ?of course not,he just done the normal thing and carried on and in the end he got a job.its hard for everyone in britain today.x

dont want to kill your thread either.nudge. :-D

I'll kill it instead Suzanne I dont mind lol

I agree..that interview showed them up for exactly what they were.

In fact...as i was watching it i couldn't help thinking it was a put up job it was so unbelievable x

ha. thanks suzanne.ive got this terrible habbit of killing peoples threads,i know im not alone,but when it happensall the time you start to get worried.x :-D

hi muffy.
trust you to agree with me,as always,its nice to have support on these threads ..thanks.x :-D
alwaysseem to be defending my opinions,even though the posts are supposed to be debates/.x

Have to agree with both of you.
I remember when a Jamie Oliver asked a group of (admitedly American) 18year olds, where certain foods came from - some thought cheese grew on trees etc.
I'd tried this once, at a school I worked at .True it was the 'lowest' set, but fittingly was in a food technology lesson - some had no idea where a pork chop came from, where the meat in a beefburger originatedor even what meat a beefburger was made from!!
Initially, I thought they were having a laugh. Unfortunately, they weren't.

Yesterday, I looked after my grandsons, aged 16 months and 3 and a half.
The elder one and I were eating salami. I asked him if he knew where it came from - 'pigs' was his answer.
Ham?- Pigs
Then he told me that pork sausages came from pigs too|!
HIs dad may be a chef - but grandson doesn't HAVE to know these things!!!
When asked if he'd like cheese, he's likely to ask for a 'soft' one please, without blue veins in it!-and he didn't mean a Kraft slice!

I think this sort of information is gleaned by parents talking to their chldren!!! :-)

maggie.you are always spot on.i have a 2yr old grandson who als knows where bacon and sausages come from,he also knows that hens lay eggs.
several yrs ago i worked for barnardos,they had a creche for 3 to 4 yr olds,not one of the children could speak in a sentance and every child was still in nappies,when i asked why this was, i was told that "parents can no longer be bothered to teach their children even the basic needs,they know that they are going to go to school and somebody else will do it for them.x

When I started at school (insert large number here) years ago all of us could use a knife and fork; dress and undress ourselves for PE (including buttons, buckles and laces); count up to 10 or more and sit still and listen. Our parents made sure of that.

When I started teaching in the 70s a few children didn't have some of those basic skills, so started off quite a way behind the others.

A friend's daughter started teaching last September and some children in her class expected to use a spoon to eat school dinners; couldn't even put a coat on, let alone do it up; had a very limited vocabulary; wandered around the classroom when they felt like it and one was still in nappies. The head teacher spoke to this child's mother in case there was a medical reason and was told that's what he'd been sent to school for. It was the teacher's job to teach him.

Some parents are taking less and less responsibility for their children and I'm not sure what the answer is.

Gwynne

Gobsmacking isn't it!!
Adding my twopenn'erth to the last few posts of this very interesting thread - I was appalled to learn recently that something like 1 in 5 families/households in the UK do NOT have a dining table.

A basic need I would have thought - to teach children table manners, to teach children how to use a knife & fork, for the family to TALK to each other, while at the same time, teaching how to eat properly!!!
Strange, aren't they, these old fashioned ideas :-)

K

When I was growing up we didn't have a dining table either because there was no room for one. However, I was taught how to use a knife and fork and basic table manners. I was in the same position when my two were little and I did the same. I can't remember how my mum taught me but with my two I sat them on the settee with a cushion on their knees. There plates were put on the cushion and they were expected to sit there until they'd finished. They were never allowed to run around with food.

When we ate out they were expected to sit still while we ordered and waited for the food to be brought. Then they were expected to use the cutlery provided, just forks when very young, progressing to using knives to cut as they got older. They were never allowed to run around when they'd finished but had to sit still until everybody was finished.

It's not the lack of a dining table that causes problems but the lack of being taught how to behave.

Just to echo a bit of what Cat has said, when D was little I used to take him in the cafe when I was out shopping, just for a cup of tea when he was in his pushchair, when he was a bit older we would have something to eat there as a treat.

But he never ran around like many kids do, or fidget lol, and we saw a lot that did! but he just liked to use the time to talk about things ... recently I've watched parents just walk out leaving the floor and table littered like a bomb's hit it without making any effort to clear up a bit...presumably 'because it's someone else's job' to clear up?

That really annoys me Rose, the leaving a mess for somebody else to clear up. I was quite impressed the other day, there was a group of about four very young Mums and I lost count of the number of toddlers and babies running around and screeching. When they all got up to leave the restaurant they left the tables justa s they had pushed them all together and the food was everywhere, nothing tidied on the table. Then I saw one of the young women, her child seemed to have attached itself to another Mum, she stacked all the crockery on trays, tidies the table, picked up as much as she could of the litter on the floor. Then looked at us and said something like, 'somebody has to do it' sigh! She had obviously been out with them before!