I believe I want my country back

Jay-Jay_4

Police high performance vehicles are driven by traffic police and are completely different from 'panda cars' which are driven by your friendly local bobby.

Your average police officer who's going around in urban areas to domestics, burglaries, breach of the peace doesn't need an extremely fast Volvo. Your traffic police who are chasing joy-riders and speeding motorists around the countryside don't want a diesel astra.

Wig

peterbaker wrote:

still do a 280 mile round trip every fortnight which crosses through five different constabularies!

And no doubt you know your route very well and have noted the position of all fixed cameras and likely positions for mobiles. Hardly the same as driving unknown routes everyday.

A lot of us hate cameras me included, I for one don't like the hypocrisy of it all, we have the technology to make speeding impossible (GPS) but the government doesn't want to invest in it and develop it. Instead the government is happy to sit back and watch the cash roll in, whilst all the drivers are constantly panicking about what speed zone they are in and "should I be doing 30 here or 40?".

peterbaker

Jay-Jay wrote:

Police high performance vehicles are driven by traffic police and are completely different from 'panda cars' which are driven by your friendly local bobby.

Oh. That would perhaps explain why two fat coppers in a BMW didn't get out of it when they were trying to find the mobile phone mugger on Shank's Pony that I witnessed in deepest Bermondsey a year or so ago, and also it probably explains why diesel Astras are capable of 120 mph plus, especially after they've been tweaked down at the police garage?

BTW You got me going a bit there, but I think that's probably enuff police anecdotes in my "I believe I want my country back" thread now please:)

peterbaker

Jay-Jay wrote:

ahem!....We take these rules for granted but it's difficult for a 5 year old to understand if they aren't taught these simple rules......Jollyphonics teaches them these rules but in a fun and easy to learn way.

... yeah right! Why is it important to teach a 5 year old to read? I know a European country where they do not start to teach kids how to read and write until age 7. Then they learn rapidly and soon also learn not only their own language but better English than most of us. Meanwhile they have had at least two solid years learning social skills i.e. how to behave, which we don't seem to teach at school in the UK anymore.

Instead of toying with yet another in vogue idea because our 3Rs are in a mess, why don't we take a long hard look at what other Europeans do that works so well?

Jay-Jay_4

peterbaker wrote:

... yeah right! Why is it important to teach a 5 year old to read? I know a European country where they do not start to teach kids how to read and write until age 7.

Peter, I can only speak from experience here about my daughter who turned 4 in July 2003 and started school in August of the same year. She was absolutely ready to learn how to read, she gazed at books and 'wanted' know what the words were. As soon as she got her teeth into Jollyphonics she was off, reading anything she could lay her hands on.

Now at 'almost six', she reads fantastically well but she also plays well, listens well, loves to draw, stick and get mucky.

At five years of age the majority of children are desperate to learn and they're like little sponges. I think that my daughter would've been really fed up if she couldn't wander around Waterstones on a Saturday afternoon and choose herself a nice book.

Plasticman

raeble wrote:

Well this is supposed to be a Christian country whether you believe in it or not.

Who says so? If you want to be a Christian that's fine, but don't expect everybody else to join your religion just because they live in this country.

peterbaker

Jay-Jay wrote:

Now at 'almost six', she reads fantastically well but she also plays well, listens well, loves to draw, stick and get mucky.

Yep mine did too but they weren't taught synthetic phonics AFAIK at least not at home ... question is, is "plays well listens well gets mucky" a true indicator of things that might actually be more important at that age? In ten years time it might be more important whom she chooses to play well with, listens to, or tells to "stick it", and what muck she avoids, but by then it'll be a bit late to correct any basic rules of behaviour. I don't doubt in your house JJ that it'll all be fine, or that with Jollyphonics or any other method your daughter would have learned well and early in any event, but surely we don't need to impose yet another sea-change in our schools if they aren't already aligned to this fashion stuff?

Queenie

peterbaker wrote:

Whilst I disagree with Queenie on this,

Really? Which bit peter?

M.E.2-2

Jay-Jay wrote:

Peter, I can only speak from experience here about my daughter who turned 4 in July 2003 and started school in August of the same year. She was absolutely ready to learn how to read, she gazed at books and 'wanted' know what the words were. As soon as she got her teeth into Jollyphonics she was off, reading anything she could lay her hands on.

Now at 'almost six', she reads fantastically well but she also plays well, listens well, loves to draw, stick and get mucky.

At five years of age the majority of children are desperate to learn and they're like little sponges. I think that my daughter would've been really fed up if she couldn't wander around Waterstones on a Saturday afternoon and choose herself a nice book.

I think that is probably more down to you though Jay-Jay. How many parents put their children in front of a games machine or TV as it's easier.

juno

peterbaker wrote:

... yeah right! Why is it important to teach a 5 year old to read? I know a European country where they do not start to teach kids how to read and write until age 7. Then they learn rapidly and soon also learn not only their own language but better English than most of us. Meanwhile they have had at least two solid years learning social skills i.e. how to behave, which we don't seem to teach at school in the UK anymore.

Apparently I learnt to read when I was two. I've always loved reading, and I remember in infant school all my friends wanted to be able to read as well as me! I even helped a few of them learn.