Ian Sharp

I just love the sound of our dog snoring soundly under my desk while I work.... She is clearly ready to spring into action at any moment :-)

-5°C this morning and forecast to be a cold week. Can't help but wonder if this will be the week when the UK runs out of gas.... 3 days storage. Boilers on full.

@Nicolascole77 You could write a book about that outline..... (J) - I've read it, it's great, thanks for taking the time to write it.

Writers: Stick these 19 powerful tips to above your writing desk: 1. Volume wins 2. Prep the Page 3. Delete adverbs 4. Redraft from zero 5. Ignore word count 6. Don't use semicolons 7. Use "The Tequila Test" 8. Delete the word "that" 9. Use the 1/3/1 sequence 10. Cut all tiny word chunks 11. Delete opening "i" phrases 12. Match language to the audience 13. Write to change the reader's mind 14. Write (and edit) in different interfaces 15. Compress what you're saying into bullets 16. Make the last word the most important word 17. Before you start, do some unintentional writing 18. Increase engagement with the Rate of Revelation 19. Make your first sentence short, strong, & declarative

@jk_rowling @Acts17David Would that be trans recovery?

@Acts17David I wouldn't say 'never', but with time, therapy and the support of my family, I anticipate that I'll be able to hear the words 'Vancouver Parks and Recreations' without suffering a serious breakdown within two to three years.

To be honest, I didn't even know Vancouver Parks and Recreations had avowed me, so the disavowal hasn't been much of a blow. Next time, send me a certificate of avowal, wait until I've proudly framed it, hung it over my PC and taken a selfie with it, THEN revoke it.

@Miss_Snuffy A direct hit on families striving to do better for their kids..... Well done. Ideology wins again while the UK decline accelerates its pace 😞

Like this wasn’t predictable… 🙄

@Miss_Snuffy Absolutely correct. Society runs on structure, formality and rules. We've been breaking them all down for the last 30 years (at least). Sometimes it's progress, most of the time it's just erosion of social cohesion. Skin colour makes no difference. Structure and adherence do

This is a lie the Right likes to spread: ‘Black and brown kids need discipline more than white kids.’ Not true. I advocate for strict schools for ALL kids. ALL kids need rules! The idea that only brown kids need rules is just racist. Kids are kids, whatever their colour.🙄

@Mouhssin_Ismail Observations from friends who work in schools suggest strongly that it's an excuse for several things. Lack of parenting, lack of responsibility for self, lack of discipline, and lack of respect for self and others. And, of course accentuated by very poor diet.

Bridget Phillipson wants to boast teacher numbers are up, even though teacher numbers are down, so she now says the loss of 2,900 primary school teachers doesn't count. I made a tool so you can look up what happened to primary school teachers in your constituency. (Link below)

@Miss_Snuffy I think you are an inspirational human... I think petty division is a way of detracting from the real issues. And there are enough real issues to go around. Division of humanity is enabled by our sport, politics, religion, and any time things are distilled down to "us and them"

I don’t have a problem with white people mentioning their race. White followers: Am I demoralising you? I celebrate Michaela because my staff and kids are fantastic and work their socks off! We hold hands across racial divides. You seem to resent that we like each other 🤪

@Nicolascole77 It always has been. Lack of ability and clarity in thinking has held society back for a long time. Using AI just brings that into sharp relief. Maybe chat GPT will eventually be able to realise the skills gap and offer some education to improve 🤔

The irony of ChatGPT: You can't use it effectively if you don't know what to ask for. The bottleneck isn't the technology anymore. It's clarity of thinking.

@MrDavidScales Aspiration. Work ethic. Build a better life for self and family. Immigrants get this when presented with better opportunity. They had no social support (generally) before moving to places with abundant opportunity. Anyone can succeed. But not without the right values

The problem isn’t the exams… some cultures value education more than others. In general, white working class male cultures in Britain are not valuing it, and the hard work that underpins success. The exam is exposing that. observer.co.uk/news/national/…

@Miss_Snuffy Fantastic feedback. And totally brilliant that she came of her own volition. That alone speaks volumes.

How incredibly humbling to receive this email from this American woman who came to London just to see Michaela! How amazing - She is a school social worker. You can sign up on our website for a visit: Michaela.education

@MouthSouth13 @Miss_Snuffy To be completely fair, Michaela is a stand out exceptional school and we need much more of the same leadership, attitude, direction, teamwork and professionalism that is missing from many of our schools. Strong leaders are in such short supply. We have a few but it's not the norm

@Miss_Snuffy I love what you’re doing. We need this so much in the US.

@Miss_Snuffy I'm sure you've seen this. It backs up what you say about banning kids under 16 from having smart phones open.substack.com/pub/tedgioia/p…

@Miss_Snuffy Too late for the 22 schools that have already closed or announced closure ☹️

Human rights laws may yet reverse Labour’s private school VAT raid telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/03/2…

@Nicolascole77 But “just the way I am” has a sad resignation that there is no desire to “improve” or to aspire to be “better” in any way. Perhaps, “thats the way I am” should the realisation that “you” need to have some aspiration and become, “that’s what I aim to become”?

"That's just the way I am" is a cop out. Except for changing your biology (and even that, soon, will be changeable with technology), you can change anything you want about yourself. You can become patient. You can become disciplined. You can become less angry. You can become optimistic, self-confident, and relentlessly hard-working. It just takes time and conscious effort. Much easier to say, "That's just the way I am" and not have to do the work. Which is why so few people change!

@elliot633297 @Miss_Snuffy Indeed. Oppressed vs oppressor is spot on… looking for division where none exists. It seems to be largely driven by jealousy. Surely it would be better to try to improve things rather than to try to undermine history, capability and achievement? Progress rather than regression

Beyond the naked stupidity of it, it's also just very sad. Every single human interaction is reduced to power dynamics for these people. There is no nuance, nor beauty in their conception of the world. Just oppressed vs oppressor. An endless, half-imagined fight with no measurable end.

Decolonising Shakespeare’s birthplace.🙄 A note from one of my teachers on this: Shakespeare not only perfectly captured the human condition, but was a revolutionary in so many ways. Not that the bard should need defending, but you'd expect the woke-left to be celebrating him for any number of reasons: - The presentation of an ethnically-mixed romance in Othello (something that wouldn't be presented on televisions until at least the mid-60s). - Some very open-ended discussions on sexuality out of his sonnet collections. - For a man whom we have no evidence ever left the country, he presents the struggles of characters from an incredible range of backgrounds outside of what his real-life experience could provide. - The idea that it needs to be "decolonised" is so stupid - the British Empire was in its infancy when Shakespeare died! I visited Stratford-upon-Avon in the Christmas break and it's such a wonderful place jam-packed with culture and history. Why are do-gooders trying to bastardise it? telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/03/1…

@elliot633297 @Miss_Snuffy Or worse. They join the civil service and/or become politicians. Its not difficult to see why “opinion” rules and real progress is stifled. “cultural superiority” made my eyes role. Every nation has a culture. Ours is obvious and far reaching. We celebrate it, that all….

Because the Humanities - in a striking lack of creativity - has resorted to an endless remix of post-modernist theories because it's too difficult for PhD candidates outside STEM fields to actually add to the sum of human knowledge in any way. So they just regurgitate things like this critical theory slop from one generation to the next now, and then indoctrinate students in it. Those students then go to work at these kinds of organisations. Where they recite this dogma slop. Over and over.

@alexarmstrong Hope #rachelfromconplaints is ready for the chaos....

This would be an UNMITIGATED disaster. Cutting ISA’s tax limits to £4k from £20k will be the final straw not only for the wealthy who are fleeing the UK, but also for “working people” they bang on about This would be incredibly stupid and further expand the damage they’ve caused to the economy.