Mel Courtney-Holt

@BBCr4today, why would we want to hear from @Nigel_Farage, a gob with only 4 other MPs in his party, about whether we should align with the EU or US? Greens have 4 MPs, LibDems have 72 and there's even an Opposition party. Media representing Democracy? Have switched off

@RoryStewartUK Didn't know until today that Jesus' basic teaching "Love thy neighbour" (i.e. other people) was such niche knowledge. Of course we love our own kids best; the teaching challenges people to hold others in the same regard. Nothing new there.

Good to see the Telegraph and Spectator taking JD Vance’s side in our debate. Who knew the election of Trump would make our right wing media embrace the fringe idea that Christian love is about putting yourself and your own people first? telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/01/3…

@anon_opin Well, l'd pay theirs too - if they had a product worth offering

There is no cuntier line than people who say 'I pay your wages' to public sector workers.

@krassenstein When you've got the President, the VP and a bunch of the top politicians in your cathedral and your brief is to preach so that the Christian message is made relevant to their lives, it's going to be political! I'd say the bishop did her job that day.

BREAKING: Trump wants Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde to apologize for merely asking, as a Christian, for him to "have mercy on the people in our country who are scared.” I get the feeling he doesn't understand the values and ideals of Christianity...

@JamesAFurey I agree (as an English teacher with a German degree) that English teachers should know how grammar works annd teach how it shapes meaning, but if the students don't know/remember something, you can just... teach it to them. Word classes are a quick fix.

Many such cases! English teachers everywhere: I plead with you to learn more about your discipline and to transmit that to your students. Part of this is going to require that you teach grammar.

@LauraLolder orwellfoundation.com/the-orwell-you… This prize is a fab initiative too!

Does anyone have some (free) full language paper 2 they have made which have all the questions? Just need some to offer to students - we use all past papers in lessons. Thanks in advance if you have anything you can share ♥️

Four years ago I wrote my inaugural poem The Hill We Climb. Both when I wrote it and performed it, I did so while continuously reflecting on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr and Coretta Scott King’s legacy. I was (and am) blown away by how my words reverberated around the world; if anything, it proved to me that we honor King’s dream, by daring to dream big, and by, most importantly, daring to dream together. Only then will the loving fantasies of our better nature transform into reality. The work and fight for the dream persists, and what’s more, it is not just a fight, but fate—that perhaps we are as destined for this time as it is destined for us. What a worthwhile, powerful calling only we can answer. Here with you in the hill and the climb, and whatever light lies beyond, whatever light lies within. -Amanda

Calling the chancellor 'Rachel from accounts' is misogyny not humour.

@ChloeELHarrison @EnglishAston @mmgiovanelli @meganmansworth @HassanAdj @Eng_MrWalker Thanks so much for this fab session! Having a banging Friday night with the readings you gave us and looking forward to sharing Text World Theory, Cognitive Grammar and reading and the emotions with the English team at Cirencester College next week.

We're here bright and early for our cognitive stylistics teacher workshops! We're spending the day thinking about Text World Theory, Cognitive Grammar and the relationship between reading and the emotions @EnglishAston @mmgiovanelli @meganmansworth @HassanAdj @Eng_MrWalker

@PeteOlusoga They'll be telling us next that Jesus was born in the Middle East next. When all right thinking people know that Our Lord was born in Barnstaple.

@missjillyp @RetirementTales True. My mum worked full time as a social worker but took a few years out when my little brother was born, so l got to go home. No real parental leave in the early 1980s - not everything was better then.

Do you remember when it was quite normal for children to go home from school for their lunch? (Some teachers would go home too!) A short walk or bike ride, lunch with a parent or two and maybe even a bit of TV before the afternoon session. I think the respite was very healthy.

@RetirementTales Sometimes l went home for lunch. Cheese sandwich and The Sullivans. One winter's morning l'd chosen to be "sandwiches". It snowed and the "home dinners" children were allowed to stay at home for the afternoon. Nearly forty years on, l'm still gutted at my choice that day!

@MrBruffEnglish The "other" hasn't aged too well. Nevertheless, a banging collection, even if l too taught them iffily as an NQT!

Who has been teaching long enough to remember when the GCSE English question could be EITHER 'fact and opinion' or 'presentational features'? Also, the poetry from other cultures anthology with 'Limbo', 'Nothing's Changed' and more! Feels like a lifetime ago.

For me there’s only one contender for Person of the Year. Gisele Pelicot. The woman who has recalibrated how we think about rape by refusing to feel shame. “It’s time we change the way we look at rape”, she said outside the court today. And…more than anyone I can think of… she’s done that. “Shame must change sides”, she said, and perhaps – perhaps – that is a little more true today than it’s ever been. But there’s something else that I want to talk about. Something that’s much more difficult to confront than the inspiration and dignity of Gisele Pelicot. 51 men. 51 men who are not all men… but who are also quite a lot of men. 51 of them in fact. And if you read about them… their backgrounds… their jobs… their families or lack of family… they’re all quite different. A firefighter…a nurse… an unemployed alcoholic. Some were abused as children. Some had comfortable upbringings with kids of their own. Six had domestic violence convictions. 45 didn’t. One was 27. Another was 74. There’s no pattern here. Nothing we can point to. Other than the fact there is no profile of a rapist. Which is perhaps the most frightening thing of all.

@vickygrayson_ I'm talking about state colleges (FE/sixth form) rather than private ones.

@Gunderrode I think maybe you are confusing things? Private schools have always paid taxes including VAT? It is now the fees paid by parent that carries VAT from 1 January 2024 but only for children between 5-19.

And today on Crazy Island, we have the Education Secretary celebrating the taxation of education. Not a single country in the EU has the mindless gall to tax education. Yet here she is heralding a massive own goal. She will go down in history as the worst Ed Secretary ever.

@CF_Farrow Taxing education is not new. Colleges have been subject to tax for some time, thus taking away money which could be spent on students, yet creates minimal controversy. Are some children more deserving than others?

Private schools did not "enjoy a tax break" Education has never previously been subject to tax. You've thrust struggling families like mine, into penury and personally targeted our children with prejudice and discrimination. It's a shameful "achievement".

@LoppyRae Awful. I managed 6 wks with 1st and 6ths with 2nd, prioritising it over everything. (Worth it? both chn are healthy.) It's the first thing we can do for our children, so it's devastating when it doesn't work. There are soooo many further meaningful ways to care for them.

I spent the majority of my kid’s infancy feeling like a failure and contemplating suicide because of people like you who told me that I was just making excuses, that if I just tried a little harder, I would have been able to continue BFing. FED is best. Fuck you.

I breastfed my kid for 5 mos. His weight started dropping. I did everything the doctors told me to do. Bought supplements. Was pumping every damn second of the day. Ended up with more blood in the bottles than milk. I was barely sleeping-

UK textile artist Rachel Wright, machine embroidered on calico with various fabrics #WomensArt #StormDarragh

@manwhohasitall Don't fret, Claire. It's just a handful of middle class men of a certain age who make a fuss.

Poor Claire, CEO. She's in a bad head space at the moment. She's confused and has no idea what is allowed anymore. Does anyone on here have any idea what the rules are now regarding men??