Today’s headlines .........

[MyNameIsTerry]

Our Old China Plates?...

‘Priti Patel said the UK had “other adversaries” who would “look to interfere or come into our country in some shape and way.”’

https://www.itv.com/news/2022-01-14/...ese-ambassador

Or collar and ties….

Jeremy Corbyn's mate? Surely Not!

Perhaps not such a voluntary worker as Theresa May thought?

[Lencoboy]

A Topsy-Turvy World Gone Mad!...

‘Some 14 viewers complained that the advert condoned or encouraged unsafe behaviour that could be dangerous for children to emulate.’

https://www.independent.co.uk/busine...-b1996041.html

Blimey! no wonder ‘anxiety’ has been voted Children’s Word Of The Year for 2021 (yes, really!).

I often ate stuff while hanging around upside down – usually in trees – when I was a child, and like most things then which are now considered to be absolutely unthinkably life-threatening to the children of today, it never did me any harm… It’s all a bit batty.

I never attempted such things as a kid, so can't really comment.

If it did you no harm, perhaps you were simply lucky in that sense.

As for 'anxiety' being 'Children's Word of the Year' in 2021, haven't children pretty much always had anxieties, but were often ignored in previous decades and simply told to 'man up'?

However, I do agree that many people today often tend to disproportionately overestimate potential dangers and risks children could be faced with.

[MyNameIsTerry]

Better get and ban all those climbing frames, water slides, etc. Encouraging risk taking behaviour...

School sports will need scrapping too.

With it being the Indy, I can't read it, so is it hanging upside that's dangerous or eating cheese triangles. Just wondering if the complainant was lactose intolerant

[MyNameIsTerry]

In Case You Missed It…(I did)…

‘Anti-Brexit activist Gina Miller has launched a new political party aimed at opposing what she calls the “elective dictatorship” in Westminster.’

https://www.gbnews.uk/news/anti-brex...isogyny/205247

Apparently, at the launch of Ms Miller’s newest venture – The True And Fair Party – at least thirteen folks turned up, mainly idly curious hacks. On the strength of a straw poll suggesting 66% of voters would be in favour of a new political party, she took this bold and novel first step towards being involved in democracy after previously appearing to eschew the notion of democratic process (such as the outcome of the democratically-decided EU Referendum).

Time for yet another new political party, eh? After the earlier failure of my Cross Party, perhaps a more user-friendly tag would improve matters… The Truly Mad And Deeply Angry Party…?

True & Fair...but only when votes go her way?

The irony was her legal complaining, on behalf of her paymasters, only forced Brexit along making terrified MPs declare where they stood. Many no longer stand there

[pulisa]

A Topsy-Turvy World Gone Mad!...

‘Some 14 viewers complained that the advert condoned or encouraged unsafe behaviour that could be dangerous for children to emulate.’

https://www.independent.co.uk/busine...-b1996041.html

Blimey! no wonder ‘anxiety’ has been voted Children’s Word Of The Year for 2021 (yes, really!).

I often ate stuff while hanging around upside down – usually in trees – when I was a child, and like most things then which are now considered to be absolutely unthinkably life-threatening to the children of today, it never did me any harm… It’s all a bit batty.

Of course anxiety is a new thing in children.....and in the past it was a doddle and you didn't need mental health services for children with autism/OCD/anxiety and depression because nothing has been as bad as the devastation and trauma caused by children having time away from school as a result of covid.

[Lencoboy]

Of course anxiety is a new thing in children.....and in the past it was a doddle and you didn't need mental health services for children with autism/OCD/anxiety and depression because nothing has been as bad as the devastation and trauma caused by children having time away from school as a result of covid.

Whilst not trivialising the pandemic in any way, surely there were already reports about increases in childrens' anxieties well before the onset of the pandemic, going back well over 15 years or so.

In fact, wasn't there a report from UNICEF back in early 2007 revealing that UK children were the unhappiest and worst off in Europe (or something along those lines IIRC)?

Perhaps (as I already pointed out upthread) childrens' anxieties and feelings in general weren't taken as seriously in previous decades as maybe now, as historically they were expected to just 'put up and shut up', plus many adults often refused to believe many concerns of children (and still do sadly), especially as they're often perceived as pestilent and should be 'seen and not heard'.

But you're not wrong in the sense that this pandemic has caused untold damage to the MH of many kids. And not just the fear of catching Covid and inadvertently ending up in hospital and/or dying of it, but also the constant upheaval and disruptions to their usual routines, e.g, being unable to go to school as normal.

[pulisa]

Sorry..I was being sarcastic about the missing school bit.

[MyNameIsTerry]

Sorry..I was being sarcastic about the missing school bit.

That's the part that would improved my mental health. Woo hoo footie all day.

[pulisa]

Do they still have truant officers or have they all been furloughed? They are probably all redundant now anyway.

[Lencoboy]

Do they still have truant officers or have they all been furloughed? They are probably all redundant now anyway.

Good god, I haven't heard of truant officers for donkeys years now, often nicknamed 'wagmen'.

Are they still even a thing in this country?