Martin Lewis: 100 things to make the country better…

Absolutely agree Doodledog. Also, the road markings definitely need attention, but as has been said, this is the responsibility of Local Authorities, who will need more cash from the Government. That would probably apply to waste collection too. It would be so much more convenient if boroughs throughout the country could adopt the same system. I think that the universities, which had previously been polytechnics, should go back to being polys, focusing on less academic subjects and more on practical skills, eg electricians, plumbers, carpenters, gardeners, builders, carers and so many more.

FE colleges can do that, though (teach practical skills). If the new universities are taken out of commission as HE institutions it would mean denying degrees to about 50% of students who are currently studying.

I am very much in favour of giving equal status to trades, but not by putting them in separate (and implicitly inferior) universities. Either make them university-based subjects or teach them in special departments colleges.

Doodledog

FE colleges can do that, though (teach practical skills). If the new universities are taken out of commission as HE institutions it would mean denying degrees to about 50% of students who are currently studying.

I am very much in favour of giving equal status to trades, but not by putting them in separate (and implicitly inferior) universities. Either make them university-based subjects or teach them in special departments colleges.

FE colleges can do that, though (teach practical skills)
Yes, they can and do. Perhaps they need more funding to enable them to expand.

Polytechnics offered a wide range of subjects, many vocational, technical, engineering and other practical subject to HND, degree and post-graduate level, often in collaboration with industry ie sandwich courses.

Many degrees were awarded by the Council for Academic Awards. Many students I knew who took engineering or similar degrees or Higher National Diplomas went on to achieve and succeed in their chosen careers. The courses were rigorous and not inferior or second-best because they were vocational or practical.

Those ideas really are not conducive to the future success of the UK.

I agree with posters asking for an expansion of FE. It seems very wrong to me that if young person wants to study Classicscfor example at university they can get a student loan. However a young person who for whatever reason decides they’d like to train as a plumber, plasterer or whatever and needs to give up what may be minimum wage jobs to do so full time, cannot get much financial support and makes it impossible without family help. I suppose there are apprenticeships but I imagine they’re hard to get.

Allira

Many degrees were awarded by the Council for Academic Awards. Many students I knew who took engineering or similar degrees or Higher National Diplomas went on to achieve and succeed in their chosen careers. The courses were rigorous and not inferior or second-best because they were vocational or practical.

Those ideas really are not conducive to the future success of the UK.

I know😃. I have taught in FE and both old and newer universities. My point was that expanding vocational education shouldn’t be done separately from non-vocational if they are to have equal status, and also that expansion of vocational education should not be at the expense of existing provision but additional to it.

I get membership of my local gym for @ £23 a month and for that I can use the gym, swimming pool, sauna steam room and showers. I’m sure not many people know about it.

I think the single thing that would make the biggest difference to the UK is if we were all able to stop moaning about everything. We are such a nation of moaners, from the weather, to taxes, to other generations, to dogs, to noise, politics, the royal family - to virtually everything when it boils down to it. We are a lucky bunch in this country, and we shouldn’t forget that.

Thinking of areas which could be improved is not moaning.

Seeing rubbish dumped in AONB is depressing; I know people who used to go on voluntary litter picks, not without risk to themselves but sadly no longer able to continue due to various reasons.

Wondering why others do not care might bs seen as old people moaning but why do so many not give a sh*t about the world we live in? 🤬

You misunderstood what I meant Allira, I’m not talking about the thread, I mean the general moaning that we as a nation excel at. I’m as guilty as the majority, it’s a national pastime. I just think if we could change the narrative, we would collectively be a happier country.

Mine is utterly selfish and probably not minor. As a car driver I would like to be able to drive around my nearest city without the feeling that I had entered some sort of Krypton Factor exercise designed to make moving around the city by car as difficult as possible.
In terms of other minor issues, Jenrick wasn't popular but his suggested crack down on fare dodging was a really easy way to make people feel better.

Casdon

You misunderstood what I meant Allira, I’m not talking about the thread, I mean the general moaning that we as a nation excel at. I’m as guilty as the majority, it’s a national pastime. I just think if we could change the narrative, we would collectively be a happier country.

Do you think that politicians tap into that British mentality of liking a good moan ( something that has never occurred to me before)? I guess our moaniness does stem from the weather and there’s not much we can do about that.

Skydancer

Allira

A ban on artificial lawns!

Definitely! Bad for wildlife. Don’t biodegrade. Tacky.

Absolutely agree.

Along the same line of thought as Casdon I would like the government to stop describing systems as ‘broken’. I feel as though I hear about the broken health service, roadways, social care system etc ad nauseam.
Some more positive patterns of speech would begin to change people’s mindset.
For example - ‘It is difficult to make a GP appointment at the moment. We are putting online appointments in place to help with that.’
‘We know people are concerned about pot holes. We have given local authorities a ring fenced amount of money to fix them’
or even
‘We know we should have moved more gently in removing the Winter Fuel Allowance. We are sorry for that and are reinstating it for many people this year’

I agree, lixy. It's almost as though the media and politicians are using NLP to persuade us all that things are terrible, and so many buy into the cliches that drag us all down.

You've mentioned 'broken Britain', but there is also 'on its knees', 'under a bus', 'off a cliff' 'rabbit in the headlights' and more. The problem with most of them is that nobody knows what they mean, or they mean different things to different people, so there is no chance of a proper discussion.

Put some power back into localism to get communities thriving. Support for town centres and high streets to be places where people want to go and meet each other. Good local transport, even in small towns.

Agreed, sunami. Public transport is a lifeline for a lot of people, and investment in it would boost local economies, help people to get into work, improve health if people could get to medical appointments, gyms etc. Mental health could well cost less too (both in prescriptions and in people's happiness) if people could get to see friends and families more often. Tourism would be helped in many areas, too, and there would be obvious benefits to the environment.

It's really a 'no brainer' in so many ways, and I don't see how it could be unpopular with anyone, so it would be a good move politically.

Like @Doodledog I worked in further education in the late 1980s when I was self funding the first year of my masters.

I taught word processing and computer skills to adult students, many of whom had never used a computer. Teaching was extremely useful to me bacause it led me to become interested in human-computer interaction, the subject of both my masters and doctorate. I hope my teaching was of some use to the students as well!

I can remember when there were evening classes of all kinds and levels at local colleges and most of them were free. As a young woman I polished up my French and learned German and Spanish in night school. I also took classes in subjects like
embroidery and creative writing.

Where are all these classes now?

Providing services like better transport, adult education, libraries, theatres, museums, safe pavements, clean/safe parks, community healthcare, etc improves people's lives as individuals and helps foster a sense of community. People are less likely to trash their own community if they feel they are part of it.

Public services don't provide tangible products for the export market, but they do contribute to GNP. They provide jobs, so people can spend in their communities and they are taxed, so most of the money returns to the Treasury anyway.

Well said Doodledog 👏👏👏

Dee1012

I'd like to see some sort of Life Skills courses compulsory in Education i.e Household bills, tax, mortgages, basic household maintenance, basic cooking and first aid etc

Absolutely. A brilliant idea!

Stopping stupid and selfish parking.

Better and accessible GP services and short wating times to see an NHS specialist and for NHS treatment. If that can't be managed remove VAT on private medical subscriptions because we are paying twice.

M0nica

Absolutely agree with road markings. I have been driivng around the country a bit recently and went into the wrong lane several times because the road msrkings were also invisible.

Another one is road ssigns obscured by greenery. This again is getting much worse. I do not use sat nav for every journey, and again, sat nav does not cover every thing you meet on route.

Totally agree and would add that the removal of out of date signs showing roads closed and diversions be removed asap. Signs near me show several which have been out of date for months.

I think councils are underfunded. Council taxes are high but those funds are used for so many services, roads, housing, children’s services, and care for local people with illness or disability ( at least those without savings). I don’t know what the answer is- as more central funding would increase taxation.