Slow news day? The real deal? End of the world? 
 

They’re saying it probably came from an animal, has Somebody been shagging monkeys again? 

If any of you have young kids and want to give them something new to learn, Aguero is starting to teach Spanish lessons starting this week on BBC

38 minutes ago, Roger_Dubuis said:

There are enough people in New Zealand for them to consistently have better rugby teams than England and their Test cricket team seems similar to England standard in recent times.There was a one hour show on channel 5 last night covering the train journey from Auckland to Wellington and the country did seem sparsely populated as you say.They have some top viaducts and volcanos mind

I think its around 5-10% larger than the Uk physically, with a population about 50% of that of London.

27 minutes ago, Roger_Dubuis said:

The Govt have scrapped their plans for all primary school pupils to be back in school before September, the problem being the govt's own guidelines on social distancing were impossible to meet. There are some large exhibition centres not being used can they not be converted into temporary class rooms for some?

 

 

Just had my son's return to school schedule through, he's yr 10.

They want him in for 4 days over the 6 weeks before summer, and the 1st day is an induction with only his form in school all day (apart from the key worker kids).  

Theres not much learning time for the kids, 2 -3  hrs in total  for most subjects, and it's described as "going over the virtual  learning, no new resource us needed".  School shut on weds for cleaning.

 It reads to me like it's more for the schools to practice how they're going to run in September than for the benefit of the kids learning, or to enable folk with kids to go back to work. They dont want anyone on public transport either.

I imagine in Sept kids will be going to school sporadically, maybe some less than once a week, for how long anyone can guess.

41 minutes ago, ZiggyStardust said:

I think its around 5-10% larger than the Uk physically, with a population about 50% of that of London.

Auckland is the big city, but it's quite spread out as is Wellington. 

The south island in particular is very spread out, Christchurch is the closest it gets to urban life and that's picture postcard stuff in the main.

They acted very decisively and deserve credit, but they have massive advantages in their location and demographics. Comparisons with the uk are somewhat unfair, aside from issues around when to lockdown. 

 

1 hour ago, Rudy said:

If any of you have young kids and want to give them something new to learn, Aguero is starting to teach Spanish lessons starting this week on BBC

Not sure if this is serious or Alan Partridge 

Are the deaths down to the lowest since it all kicked off then?

1 hour ago, peelyfeet said:

Just had my son's return to school schedule through, he's yr 10.

They want him in for 4 days over the 6 weeks before summer, and the 1st day is an induction with only his form in school all day (apart from the key worker kids).  

Theres not much learning time for the kids, 2 -3  hrs in total  for most subjects, and it's described as "going over the virtual  learning, no new resource us needed".  School shut on weds for cleaning.

 It reads to me like it's more for the schools to practice how they're going to run in September than for the benefit of the kids learning, or to enable folk with kids to go back to work. They dont want anyone on public transport either.

I imagine in Sept kids will be going to school sporadically, maybe some less than once a week, for how long anyone can guess.

Schools want the kids back in, but it's just really not safe.

Barrier 1) A classroom that holds 34 kids, will hold about 12/14 socially distanced 

Barrier 2) A kid/adult/teacher shows signs of Covid, the whole school needs a deep clean and any who have been near need to isolate for 14 days.. Most schools would be shut within a day

Barrier 3) Not everyone will send kids in, some are not even accessing the work online, huge gaps in knowledge will start to appear so lessons have to be recall or practice/revision.. You try telling a teenager he has to go to school, sit on his own, not allowed to be with mates and has to do the exact same work that is being set online, whilst at the same time risking getting ill and bringing the virus home...... Not many will go for that

Barrier 4) Strict rules on toilet breaks, hand washing, come in, sit down and do your work style (Back the the 40's and 50's) will not work with modern kids. It's been a few weeks without school/college and thousands have jumped on the first chance to disrupt a protest and cause mayhem. They simply won't follow the rules.. Schools normal behavioral managements systems are out of the window atm. 

 

I'm just hoping we can reopen in September, I want to work

Why can't the schools just call it quits now, and say they'll re-open 4 weeks earlier than normal assuming we're clear (or almost clear) of CV?

Tell everyone the school holidays are June & July and work towards a full August opening?

Or would the unions claim it infringes their human rights? It's a totally unique year, lets face it, and very few of us will be going on much of a holiday. Shit, but not exactly the end of the world.

Why can they not just think outside the box for once?

7 minutes ago, Spider said:

Why can't the schools just call it quits now, and say they'll re-open 4 weeks earlier than normal assuming we're clear (or almost clear) of CV?

Tell everyone the school holidays are June & July and work towards a full August opening?

Or would the unions claim it infringes their human rights? It's a totally unique year, lets face it, and very few of us will be going on much of a holiday. Shit, but not exactly the end of the world.

Why can they not just think outside the box for once?

Exactly what’s been done up here. They go back 2 weeks earlier than scheduled 11th August. Kids have been given timetabled for what days they are likely to be attending and what days at home in some areas already. Seems to be a step ahead of the game does wee jimmy 

7 minutes ago, Spider said:

Why can't the schools just call it quits now, and say they'll re-open 4 weeks earlier than normal assuming we're clear (or almost clear) of CV?

Tell everyone the school holidays are June & July and work towards a full August opening?

Or would the unions claim it infringes their human rights? It's a totally unique year, lets face it, and very few of us will be going on much of a holiday. Shit, but not exactly the end of the world.

Why can they not just think outside the box for once?

1 reason is Holidays. How many families And teachers will have holidays booked in August. How many teachers will say they’re owed holidays. 

4 minutes ago, royal white said:

1 reason is Holidays. How many families And teachers will have holidays booked in August. How many teachers will say they’re owed holidays. 

Correct 

and if folk are to go away this summer they will leave it late possible 

9 minutes ago, royal white said:

1 reason is Holidays. How many families And teachers will have holidays booked in August. How many teachers will say they’re owed holidays. 

Most of those holidays won't happen. We all know that.

These are exceptional, unprecedented circumstances. The education of our kids is more important than one holiday.

That Blitz spirit seems to have deserted us.

Just now, Spider said:

Most of those holidays won't happen. We all know that.

These are exceptional, unprecedented circumstances. The education of our kids is more important than one holiday.

That Blitz spirit seems to have deserted us.

I’m still confident my holiday will go ahead in August, if it doesn’t and the majority of others are cancelled then yes I’m all for it.

1 minute ago, Spider said:

Most of those holidays won't happen. We all know that.

These are exceptional, unprecedented circumstances. The education of our kids is more important than one holiday.

That Blitz spirit seems to have deserted us.

Rubbish 

many still have holidays booked and it’s looking very hopeful for a get away especially come August 

1 hour ago, ProfessorWoland said:

Auckland is the big city, but it's quite spread out as is Wellington. 

The south island in particular is very spread out, Christchurch is the closest it gets to urban life and that's picture postcard stuff in the main.

They acted very decisively and deserve credit, but they have massive advantages in their location and demographics. Comparisons with the uk are somewhat unfair, aside from issues around when to lockdown. 

 

 

What is interesting (as a baseline) is that it took 17 days of zero cases for them to allow large gatherings and declare social distancing is over. And that's in a sparsely populated country.

I can't see many other countries showing that amount of patience.

No one will be having a jolly in August - fact!!

1 minute ago, jeep said:

No one will be having a jolly in August - fact!!

Thats where im at

I was due to go this week and felt it touch and go

As it is, we are fucking miles off

Absolutely miles

Id nit put money on wales letting me in in september, let alone greece

Unless we turn up ringing a bell

 

As for schools not being 'safe' many workplaces arent 'safe'

But folk are having to get back to create some money to fund schools

5 minutes ago, Casino said:

Thats where im at

I was due to go this week and felt it touch and go

As it is, we are fucking miles off

Absolutely miles

Id nit put money on wales letting me in in september, let alone greece

Unless we turn up ringing a bell

 

As for schools not being 'safe' many workplaces arent 'safe'

But folk are having to get back to create some money to fund schools

my mate in Dubai says he's having to cancel his summer trip home as the UAE don't want to let people from the UK back in

Yeah, shes had the same message

Go home if you want but you wont be getting paid if you cant get back

As it happens shes coming home anyway - flight permitting - as shes not going back

I know she looks on from afar and thinks we are a shambles

 

Plus holidays in this country are very much on 

1 hour ago, jules_darby said:

Not sure if this is serious or Alan Partridge 

Youth Hosteling with Claudio Bravo

Just now, radcliffewhite1 said:

Plus holidays in this country are very much on 

Yep, have a couple of mates who have already booked holiday parks down south for August 

4 minutes ago, Casino said:

Yeah, shes had the same message

Go home if you want but you wont be getting paid if you cant get back

As it happens shes coming home anyway - flight permitting - as shes not going back

I know she looks on from afar and thinks we are a shambles

 

Wanderers or the country?

Both

Just now, Casino said:

 

I know she looks on from afar and thinks we are a shambles

 

I was talking earlier this morning to one of my colleagues in Taiwan, she was saying that they show the UK quite often on their news at the minute, and pretty much all of them cannot believe how badly the UK is handling things, especially as we were pretty much given advance warning of the situation. Although, she did say that Sweden to them seems to be the most ridiculous of the lot, as from what they could see, Sweden was almost boasting about not locking down and saying it makes no difference, even though the rest of the world said it did.....and now Sweden have a massive death rate.

 

As an aside, she was saying that they've heard that Brazil is getting really bad (as they do a lot of business with Brazil) - apparently the figures are that bad, that Brazil have stopped releasing the numbers (I'm not sure if that's true or not though to be honest)