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@Jazzy G I don't want to write an essay on this but the academy trust corporate sponsorship thing was a fear when academies were first established, it didn't actually happen. It was just bullshit drummed up by the media. I've worked for a number of Acadamy's across the country, none of them had pressure applied by the Trusts. The pressure to get good results is due to league tables and standing which is a government thing. Money is not allocated by results, it's allocated by things like deprivation index and pupil premium along with a set amount per student that attends. Plus, arguably, almost all schools in England are oversubscribed and don't really have to worry about getting bums on seats. I followed the Ruth Perry story closely. The school were failed on non-educational grounds, OFSTED are brutal when handing out the results and she felt she had let the community she serves down. The school isn't even part of an Academy Trust, it's a community school. Too much pressure is put on staff in schools but it's rarely coming from the Trust, it's the government regulations, Ofsted and honestly, parents that are a bigger issue.

Respectfully, in the UK, this is not a thing. Unless you are talking specifically about private schools? In which case most of the parents (not all) can afford to take them on holiday all year round.

That's really interesting @Chest Rockwell, so as I understand what you've said, the schools issues the fine themselves? As you've pointed it negatively effects the school and teachers massively, so I'm not against them getting the money from it. I know it's not much better it helps with things like resources rather than teachers/staff spending their own wages which is something we have all done even though we are told not to.

Travel agents won't change, they have no real need to, people are still booking and it will piss off people who travel outside of peak times - if they are childless they are arguably likely to be more frequent flyers.

Whilst you are correct that a holiday is not a right, all parents do have the right to withdraw their children from school despite what everyone makes you believe. Holiday fines really confuse me. As someone who worked in schools alongside attendance and looked at putting a case together to fine parents of serial non-attenders it's a really difficult process from a schools point of view and attendance has to fall below a certain percentage for the local authority to even consider it. In fact, when I left we were told not even bother applying for anyone unless there attendance was under 50% due to backlogs (I left at the beginning of 2022). I can only assume these kids have historically poor attendance or that rules vary wildly by local authority (though I am pretty sure thresholds etc are laid out by the government and not down to local authorities).

It amazing what can happen when the UKFF goes down for a few days and we are all forced to socialise with others. Congratulations @Slapnut

I loved Oasis as a teen but kind of grew out of them I suppose. I still love and listen to a lot of music I liked as a teen but I now find Liam's vocals really grate on me. I preferred Oasis over Blur growing up but prefer would Blur now. The modern cult of Oasis, I just don't get. Both Liam and Noel (Liam more so) come across as completely unlikeable and as they have disappeared up their own arses, the music has got worse.

What @King Coconutsaid. I totally understand it being headline news but not rolling news. Cultural stuff is important. Football matches are an on-going thing - there are goals scored, people given red cards etc it is worthy of the rolling news format. A finite story with no actual updates is not.

No one seems to care about anyone but Liam and Noel. Was it Tuesday they reformed? It was live breaking news on the BBC, they were doing rolling live updates. It was the most ridiculous thing I've ever seen. It's not like a massive incident were breaking news of survivors, injured etc is happening. John from Saddleworth giving his opinion on Oasis reforming is not news.

A fiver is still a lot of money for a paperback kids book

That's not really Indian food, so that's fine. Sausage away

I'm sorry, a what now?

Add a little soy sauce too, I bet it's delicious

There is a pizza place by me who do a white base pizza (bechamel type sauce rather than tomato) with little roast potatoes on it, it's actually quite nice

Coke milk. I thought this was something all Indians drank but discovered as I grew up that this is not the case, just people from my side of Punjab (there is a river that splits Punjab and people on either side of the river have a bit of rivalry - think North/South divide). Half a glass of Coca Cola, half a glass of milk plus ice, better if it's all whizzed up in a blender. Not something I have very often any more but we would drink copious amounts growing up. I wonder if it was a money saving ploy because Coca Cola was expensive? My side of Punjab is the working class/farmer side, people from the other side are often disgusted at the drink.