Housing Benefit changes

The current Government are seeking to cut the benefits budget by cutting the amount of money that people are paid via Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit.  In places where it is expensive to live, rents are correspondingly high.  Before today's change, people would merely offset their high level of rent against Housing Benefit, and the money would be paid direct to the landlord.  This represents a transfer of Government money direct to landlords who could charge what they liked and the government would cough up the cash.  I do not have the figures, but I would imagine that Housing Benefit payments started to spiral out of control once rents were deregulated back in the years of the Iron Lady.
Part of Ian Duncan Smiths rhetoric is to deprive people of Housing Benefit to 'force them' into work.  What planet does he live on?  'Ere in 'Ull there are 50 to 60 people chasing every job.  This is just further proof the the Government are out of touch.

Nurse! Nurse! I'm getting worse!

Because of the disaster at the Mid-Staffordshire N.H.S. Trust, there are a number of suggestions on how to 'fix' the problem.  On the Beeb this morning there was an 'ex-nurse', a gentleman who had lost his son as the result of a medical accident, and someone from an organisation called A.M.A. The 'M.A.' stood for 'medical accidents', but I can't remember what the first 'A' stood for.  They were calling for the creation of a duty of 'honesty' i.e. when you made a mistake you confessed rather than try and sweep it under the carpet.  Good luck with that one unless you do something about the countless firms that will help you get the compensation 'you deserve' after medical negligence.  What has happened that 'accidents' no longer happen?

The point that I wish to make is one that is not mine, but I think that it has enough merit for it to be repeated.  Since I trained as a nurse, nurse training has undergone several changes, and still things happen that make people want to change nurse training again.  The latest is to make people work in hospital wards for a year before they can apply for training, a kind of internship.  But the idea I want to put forward is to have nurses licensed.  The license will be awarded as long as nurses can carry out 'basic nursing care' to an acceptable standard.  This is not as easy as it sounds.  The license will also cover them to administer medication safely (you only need to get five things right: the right patient; the right time; the right drug; the right dose; and the right route of administration.).  To get a job in Cardio-Thoracic Care, for example, you would have to complete a conversion course, where the specifics of cardio-thoacic care are dealt with.  Years ago the English National Board ran loads of these courses, and I think that they should be extended into the normal pattern of nursing qualifications.  The result of this is that when your relative is admitted to the Heart Unit after having a 'Heart Attack' there will be nurses there who are licensed to care for your relative, and have been trained in the specific needs that their condition presents.  Like I say, not my idea, but I think that it has merit.

Job Hunt

Rather brazenly, I applied for a para-legal job with a firm in Hull.  I have no qualifications in Law so I really had to pull the finger out to even get them to look at my C.V.  this is the cover letter that I wrote:

"Please accept this letter as my application for the post as Legal Assistant/Para-legal at your firm. There is no doubt, from looking at my C.V., that my chances of getting an interview are very slim. (That ticks the 'sense of humour' box, I think.) However, in the next few sentences, I have to persuade you to give me a chance. Yes, I am on the wrong side of 50, but that brings life experience that people with “no snow on the roof” will not have. Unusually, for my age, I have quite good computer skills, and run web sites, one for a community group that I am a member of. I am well educated, I have a degree from the University of Aberdeen, and I have trained as a nurse, and I can explain to anyone that will listen how fridges and air-conditioners work. I have a thirst for new knowledge that is, sadly, not being exploited to the full, and I would like that to change before I become old and decrepit.

So, how have I done? Will I get the chance to further persuade you of my suitability for the post, or are my documents shredded and sent off with the re-cycling? I will, no doubt, find out in the fullness of time."

I enclosed a copy of my C.V., obviously, and waited, expecting to hear not a peep.  However, a reply did come, and here it is........

 "Thank you for your application for our paralegal post.  I am sorry to have to tell you that on this occasion your application has been unsuccessful.  We did very much enjoy your covering letter and for the record I shall myself very shortly be radically altering my own opinion as to which side of fifty is the right side to be.  We were also very impressed by your CV and the range of life experience you have had.

Unfortunately, however we received nearly fifty applications and many of those people had very relevant HR experience which really was the sort of background we were looking for.  we had toyed with the idea of inviting you to an interview merely on the basis that it would probably be quite interesting to meet you but that in reality would probably not be fair!"

If I come across anyone who is interested in Employment Law, I would, in the strongest terms possible, advise them to work for the author of the reply.  In my search for work, it is the norm. not to receive even an acknowledgement that my application has been received, but the author here has not only replied, but has taken the time to think about what to write in reply to my frankly outrageous application.

The firm?  GOSSCHALKS

Sexual Politics & Education.

Although this situation has probably existed for millenia, it was brought into sharp focus recently.  I was 'on supply' at a school, covering a Year 7 English class.  Their regular teacher was there at the start, and he explained that he was letting them watch a film as it had relevance to some work they were doing in the next half term.  He then left to attend a meeting.  The film started and some of the students were not interested and decided to get some paper and draw, which I allowed.  I then noticed that all the tables were either all male or all female, except one.  On this table, a lone boy sat with, and I don't mean to sound lecherous here, with some of the prettiest girls in the class.  He started 'playing up' so I told him off.  He continued to 'play up' so I went over to give him a stern talking to.  He complained that this happened in every class.  He pointed to a girl sitting opposite and said that 'she threw something at me.'  I said that was unfortunate, but if I saw her misbehaving, I would deal with it, appropriately.  'But Sir!  This happens in every lesson!' was the boys complaint.  'Then you have to be careful of who and where you sit' I said trying to be helpful.
The next time I looked in the direction, he was on his feet, trying to squash his tormentrix between the table and chair.  'Right! Come here!'  I was ready to throw the book at him, but as there was only 10 minutes left of the lesson, I could not have him standing outside, so I made him sit an another, all male, table.
This has certainly happened to me in Junior school, and is probably the reason that some schools teach boys and girls separately.  There are some people that do not possess a 'Y' Chromosome that can make a possessor of a 'Y' Chromosome do some things that he may not want to, which leads to the owner of the 'Y' get into trouble.

Being unemployed..........................

One word that I could use to fill in the gap is 'Sucks'!  I took Voluntary Redundancy from my last place of work and have been unable to find work since.  I have a casual job at a local Secondary  School invigilating. I have joined a teaching agency, but the amount of work coming my way is not very much.  I have been unemployed for six months and my J.S.A. stops in a few days.
I am an educated man, I have 10 'O' Levels (Yes, I am that old), 3 'A' Levels, and a University degree.  I have trained as a Psychiatric Nurse.
Sorry that last bit was a bit muddled.
Anyway, I have a choice.  Do I carry on with the path that I am travelling, or do I choose another path?
I could return to nursing but I have to work in a care environment for 6 months and then do a 'return to nursing' course, but there have been redundancies in the N.H.S. and will working in a 'care environment' be a step back?
I have a mad plan, which involves returning to College.  My choice would be accounts.  I am going to put this plan into motion early next week.  Watch this space!

The halcyon days of my youth.

Walking around today started me thinking about my youth, when I would have enjoyed rather than endured the recent fall of snow.  Growing up in the London Borough of Barking things were very different to how they are now.  Every street had a street-sweeper, a man that pushed a trolley that had two bins on it, various brushes and a shovel, and picked up the detritus and carted it away in the trolley. In the winter, particularly when there was show and ice on the ground, the bins for rubbish were replaced of bins with grit, which would be spread on the pavements.  Now, I am not saying that everything in the garden of the past is rosy, life expectancy was lower than it is today, cigarette smoking was tolerated, and long distance communications were very poor.
Today, the council has a legal responsibility to put ramps for wheelchairs which now act like mini ski-slopes for anyone a bit 'wobbly' on their pins.  So not every advance made in modern days is advantageous, and not everything in the past was brilliant, but I have to tell you that my Mum did  make the best apple crumble and baked rice pudding, in the world.

More Reflections on Education.

Education has certainly changed since my day, no longer is corporal punishment allowed, which is a good thing, and education remains a political football, which is a bad thing.
Primary teachers are now allowed to leave their class in the hands of an 'untrained person' for a few hours a week to allow for Planning and Preparation.  These 'untrained persons' are usually experienced Teacher's Assistants, who have received extra training.  So, on balance, I think that is a good thing.
Recently, while on supply at a Secondary School in Hull, I met an 'Intervention Teacher' in a Maths class.  The role involved taking kids from class that were struggling and give them extra help.  Not a bad thing?  "So, you are a Maths teacher then?" I asked.  "No" came the reply.  "You have a Maths degree then?"  "No, I am just good at Maths" and the conversation ended.
I applied for a job at a different Secondary School as a Cover Supervisor.  I did not get the job.  The job went to somebody who had been working in the role, and was not qualified.  A second post, available until the end of the academic year, was also not a job that I got.  That went to a spotty youth who had been a teaching assistant at the school, and 'ran a football team'.
The question that bothers me is, with all these untrained individuals working in education, what is the point of a degree and a P.G.C.E? Answers on a Post Card please.