Nice people thread part 4 - sugar and spice and all things

neverdespairgirl

GDB2222 wrote: »

That's an extraordinary story. I knew that there are far, far more trainee barristers being churned out than there are places for, but I hadn't realised that people keep on applying for years. What did he do during the 4 years, and how did that affect his chances of being selected?

It was 3 years in total - 1 lot of applications is done during bar school year, while you're otherwise engaged anyway.

It's really not that uncommon, now. Although theoretically you can start pupillage at the age of 22 (A levels, then degree, then bar school) in practice it's very rare to come across pupils that young. I was the youngest at my set when I did it, and I was 24.

Also, now, it's normal not to get a tenancy decision when you finish pupillage (which is 12 months) but to have to do a third sixth pupillage, and carry on being a skivvy.

OH worked for a quango for 6 months (which he loathed, but which put food on the table), then he worked at a law centre for 2 years, doing employment law & social security. You don't need rights of audience to represent at an employment tribunal, if you're not getting paid.

Employment law was what he wanted to do, and that certainly helped him get pupillage at the set where he's now a tenant.

sss555s

vivatifosi wrote: »

I really like Malta too. I wouldn't want to go there for any length of time, but it is an ideal destination for a short break. I've been there a couple of times and the locals were great, really enjoyed travelling around and there are still things left for me to do in future visits. It isn't an ideal location for the 18-30 or only want to lay on a beach and party in the night set; nor am I convinced it is a great family destination, but for people who like history and city breaks its a really interesting place to go. Shame they've replaced the old buses though.

I first went over 10 years ago and to be honest, i wasn't expecting much. I loved it though and i loved it this time too. Driving is a must to get the best out of Malta IMO.

There was a lot of bad press about the new buses which by strange coincidence are run by aviva now. :spooky:

vivatifosi wrote: »

Oi you! Are you saying that because Sue and I like F1 we aren't all woman:p? That's rather concerning because you are one of the few people that know what we both look like!

Teasin viva :A I actually thought NDG made an excellent attempt at the sound of a F1 car. :rotfl:

neverdespairgirl

lostinrates wrote: »

Its a REALLY stressful time, but FC's ds has a good cv, and DH assures me the potential. So it really is just hanging in there, making applying a ''job'' and going through and applying to verything in his interest area AND IMO the interest areas around or complimenting that thinking of a move after qualifying back into interest area.

Please don't think I was putting FC's son down - I wasn't. It's a nightmare time for the best and brightest, as well as everyone else!

With pupillage, you can't do the getting it before bar school thing, sadly. So you have to stump up and hope.

neverdespairgirl

vivatifosi wrote: »

That interview sounds dreadful lir. Fir sounds better off out of there. If they didn't think he was from an honourable family, why did they make an offer? Strange people....

There's a lot of punchbag stuff in the law, sadly.

I didn't tell anyone when i was applying that I was related to my Dad - who is wonderful, well-known, and controversial.

I got the reserve offer at one set, and they later told my Dad that if they'd known who I was, I'd have got the actual offer. I didn't want that, though.

I didn't tell anyone where I did get pupillage, and then the head of the pupillage committee found out and was a total !!!! about it. For the whole year.

misskool

it's 11:15am and i haven't done anything except have breakfast and watch crap tv.

need to do shopping, sort the house, get into the garden and start tidying, my tomatoes are a proper jungle and blight is due anytime soon. need a chainsaw too or need to mark some spots.

I'm tired and i have no idea how academics manage to do anything resembling having a life or family time. But i just scored some comp tickets for a chilli fest next week. woop

neverdespairgirl

No TV here, but all we've done is have breakfast and build a lego fire station. OH and Isaac have now gone to play Octonaughts in the swimming pool.

lostinrates

neverdespairgirl wrote: »

Please don't think I was putting FC's son down - I wasn't. It's a nightmare time for the best and brightest, as well as everyone else!

With pupillage, you can't do the getting it before bar school thing, sadly. So you have to stump up and hope.

Not at all, just portraying the situation as I saw it from when dh went through it from the solicitor POV. Also dh has seen fc123's ds's cv and met with him for a pep talk some time ago so has an insight the rest of us can't have.:D

sss555s

vivatifosi wrote: »

The big issue for me is that the BBC had negotiated the deal from 2009-2014 and have gone back on it. By the time they pay all the get out clauses on contracts will they be much better off? If they were to do this as a clean break in 2014 that would have been a reasonable commercial decision, but they didn't. So now they have to still pay people to work half as hard (or lose the team) while 6m people don't get to see half the races. It is a messy decision taken by a corporation that has shown time after time that they are really good at creative works but very poor at commercial decisions.

Are you sure of all that viva?

As the "non" live races are to be shown a few hours later, i expect the BBC will have a full team there anyway.

The presenters won't be on long contracts if they do decide to ditch some.

I just think the BBC seen this as a good chance to get some money back as Sky would offer a lot for the F1 deal.

lostinrates

misskool wrote: »

it's 11:15am and i haven't done anything except have breakfast and watch crap tv.

need to do shopping, sort the house, get into the garden and start tidying, my tomatoes are a proper jungle and blight is due anytime soon. need a chainsaw too or need to mark some spots.

I'm tired and i have no idea how academics manage to do anything resembling having a life or family time. But i just scored some comp tickets for a chilli fest next week. woop

we got up, let animals oiut, fed them and went back to bed. Feels incredibly decadent. Were later home than cinderella afterall. I'm feeling really strung out and shattered atm. I have only just got dressed into rags suitable for some minor tree attack...really what I'm going to do is keep dh company but If I have a pruning saw it makes me feel a bit more useful.

There is so much more we should be doing but instead we are going to attack brambles and trees around the Cake.

LydiaJ

misskool wrote: »

there are far more phd's being trained for than places in academia. so much so that there is now damage limitation on expectations.

GDB2222 wrote: »

That's an extraordinary story. I knew that there are far, far more trainee barristers being churned out than there are places for, but I hadn't realised that people keep on applying for years.

neverdespairgirl wrote: »

There's a lot of punchbag stuff in the law, sadly.

I didn't tell anyone when i was applying that I was related to my Dad - who is wonderful, well-known, and controversial.

I got the reserve offer at one set, and they later told my Dad that if they'd known who I was, I'd have got the actual offer. I didn't want that, though.

I didn't tell anyone where I did get pupillage, and then the head of the pupillage committee found out and was a total !!!! about it. For the whole year.

I was one of the PhD students who definitely didn't want a post-doc place or an academic career. At least, I thought that was what I wanted when I began the PhD, but by the time I'd finished it I'd realised that research was definitely not the right career for me. Teaching suits me much better.

But I have a few friends that have followed the academic path right through a seeminly endless series of short term post-doc jobs to a permanent job at the end, and it was awful for them. It was awful for their wives too, having to move around the country every two years over and over again. But the one thing that does seem to be different is that I've never met a scientist who would treat it as more than a matter of passing interest who your family were. My dad's reasonably distingtuished (although not exactly famous) scientific career certainly didn't make any difference to any of the scientists I came across when I was in research.

I did once get a teaching job, though, where it turned out at interview that the headmaster had taught my brothers when they were at school. When he found out who I was he said "Hmmm, very clever family" in an approving sort of way. There's no way of knowing whether it actually helped me get the job, but I'm sure it didn't do any harm.