latedaytraveler

FLPAB,

"Why did my reply get triangled after latedaytravler's asking us about Cameron's speech. I said nothing bad and just mentioned Tony Blair and someone else posted they like Tony until he got involved with GWB. Very strange."

Actually, it was my comment about Blair and W that got scrubbed - too controversial I guess.

flpab

ok, latedaytraveler, I didn't think it was that bad. Yikes. Fl is the abbreviation for Florida. Our dear Gov slashed the school budget. The problem with this one school is bad, they had to air lift one student this week after a fight which happens often. A lot of violence. They tried moving her to two other schools but the school system has stopped people from doing that now. Some can afford private so they do that instead but they can't afford. Some will lie about physical address to get their kids in a better school or move to do it here in Fl. There is such a difference in many of the districts.

Barbara

"Perhaps it is the tendency of the private schools to use distinctive uniforms that gave you the wrong impression"

Were you addressing this to me? I lived there for more than "several years", and I am not mistaken. Of course not all parents send their children to private schools. Many of them are just not accepted for one thing, and some parents just don't agree with the whole private school concept. There are some very good state schools in Edinburgh.

PatrickLondon, agree.

PatrickLondon

>>Some will lie about physical address to get their kids in a better school or move to do it here in Fl. <<

Oh, the fun and games some parents are said to get up to in the UK in order to get their child into the school of their choice - bankrupting themselves to buy a house in the right catchment areas, ostentatiously turning up at church, breaking Mrs Thing's ankle so they can get themselves on the church flower rota - it's a real soap opera, by repute.

MissPrism

On your knees, avoid the fees.

dotheboyshall

<i>but in Edinburgh it is important to send your children to the best school you can afford </i>

Still haven't explained why it is important

PatrickLondon

>>Still haven't explained why it is important<<

Status.

Keeping your end up in all the right circles, so that nobody could possibly think you're "Not Quaite Our Sort".

Making sure they make the right contacts.

Making sure they don't mix with the wrong sort.

thursdaysd

I thought it was the English who were supposed to go in for that stuff, not the Scots.

latedaytraveler

FlPAB,

"FL," of course, FLORIDA. Somehow, I thought you were from the other side of the pond and referring to some section of Edinburgh.

"The problem with this one school is bad, they had to air lift one student this week after a fight which happens often. A lot of violence." Wow, that's too bad. The schools in my area (Boston and surrounds) are not that bad. I do sympathize with these parents.

PATRICK LONDON,

" Oh, the fun and games some parents are said to get up to in the UK in order to get their child into the school of their choice - bankrupting themselves to buy a house in the right catchment areas..."

The same is done here. I live in a town with a great school system and parents will do anything to move here for that reason (I have one of the smallest, oldest, least pretentious paid for houses in town, by the way.)

Patrick, do you have children? If so, you could probably sympathize.

PatrickLondon

>>I thought it was the English who were supposed to go in for that stuff, not the Scots.<<

Class consciousness may work differently there, but of course it exists.

>>Patrick, do you have children? <<

No, but I was one. And heaven knows I hear enough about it all.

Dickie_Gr

I think people maybe missing the fact that Scotland is as culturally diverse as any country, due to history probably more so.

One reason why Alex Trout bombed out was because many of us didn't see the point in replacing the power crazed, centralised machine that is Westminster with the similar machine based in Edinburgh.

To many of us, Edinburgh is a world apart from us, a world which spends most of its time in its own dark orafice.

annhig

I thought it was the English who were supposed to go in for that stuff, not the Scots.>>

obviously for these purposes England includes Edinburgh.

<<it's something that is peculiar to Edinburgh.
Anyone who lives there, or who has lived there, with children of school age will understand. Anyone who went to school there will know exactly what I mean. If you read Alexander McCall Smith's Scotland Street series you'll get the idea.>>

I think we get the picture, Barbara, without living there or reading Mr McCall Smith.

latedaytraveler

Hi PATRICKLONDON,

>>Patrick, do you have children? <<

"No, but I was one." Touche!

DICKIE_G

"To many of us, Edinburgh is a world apart from us, a world which spends most of its time in its own dark orafice."

From what I have read and heard, that is what many Brits outside the capital think of London I guess, what with its astronomical real estate values and concentration of wealth and investment.

Then on this side of the pond, we have Washington and New York...

flanneruk

>>I thought it was the English who were supposed to go in for that stuff, not the Scots.<<

No-one who's ever read The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie would cling onto such a preposterous idea for a millisecond. Nor would anyone who's ever canvassed for votes in Glasgow's Easterhouse delude themselves that class obsession is unknown in Scotland.

Having canvassed both in Glasgow's housing estates and the UKIP SE England heartland, I'm in no doubt which is the more egalitarian and tolerant. Nigel Farage would be shocked at the bigotry and intolerance much of Scotland accepts as quaint local idiosyncrasy.

MissPrism

Ah, Dickie, I always call him Tammy Troot. You are obviously far too young to remember Tammy and his formidable granny

MissPrism

My son and daughter live in London. Neither could afford their own homes if they bought them now.

latedaytraveler

Hi MISSPRISM,

"My son and daughter live in London. Neither could afford their own homes if they bought them now."

Wow, are they lucky. Last June I went to hear London's mayor Boris Johnson (I get a kick out of that guy!) speak in a public forum about the city's concerns. Of course, property values came up - off the roof. The audience heckled him when he talked about new "affordable housing" in London.

One thing he said was that local councils should levy outrageous taxes on absentee landlords, especially on foreign owners. Just one part of the problem but I thought interesting.