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A Poor Player @apoorplayer.bsky.social · 19h

Caught sight of this and genuinely thought it was something to do with Gerry Adams and Ulster.

Davey Jones @daveyjones.bsky.social · 21h

At last! Now they've finally realised what AI is for, perhaps they'll stop trying to foist it on every other aspect of our lives

Panel of an old Roger Mellie cartoon - from about 30-odd years ago - in which he is presenting a 'wanking machine' which he has invented for Tomorrow's World. Drawn by Chris Donald.

A Poor Player @apoorplayer.bsky.social · 1d

This also my mum's experience this year.

(And hospitals keep sending letters to her GP... despite said GP retiring 8 years ago!)

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Reposted by A Poor Player

Alison @finger-post.blog · 9d

My favourite Jilly Cooper story is recounted in Graham Hoyland's 2013 book Last Hours on Everest. What a trooper.

"We lay in a tent for three days in a blizzard. After the first morning we had each told our life stories, and we lay there gazing at the roof of the tent, wondering what to do next.

Luckily Mark had brought a copy of Jilly Cooper's Rivals, a breathily written romance, and Brice had a penknife. We carefully cut it up into three parts. Mark, as owner, was allowed to read it in sequence: A, B, then C. Brice got B, C, then A, but I - as the youngest - was lumbered with C, A, then B, and struggled to comprehend both the plot and the characters.

On our return Mark contacted Jilly Cooper and told her the story. She was delighted to have been able to satisfy three large men at once with only one book."

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A Poor Player @apoorplayer.bsky.social · 2d

Gotta resist the prescriptivist and get with the descriptivist approach to language!

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A Poor Player @apoorplayer.bsky.social · 2d

The NC that academies and free schools (aka most secondaries, nearly half primaries) don't even have to follow!

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A Poor Player @apoorplayer.bsky.social · 2d

Teaching really invites these kinds of responses.

Eg holidays, finish at 3 blah blah blah.

"Oh, why didn't you become a teacher then? Why do you think we've got a shortage of teachers?"

A Poor Player @apoorplayer.bsky.social · 2d

Very informative - not least for learning about scallops!

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A Poor Player @apoorplayer.bsky.social · 4d

My partner often says I should write a sitcom about schools*. And if I ever did, I think I'd need a Jeff and Elaine style subplot for my beleaguered teacher.

*not a compliment about my writing ability, more a reflection on the inherent comedy in mass education

AR @psalisbury.bsky.social · 4d

The traffic here was awful, says Jeff.
Fridays, I say.
There was a sheep tractor towing some sheep in front of us, says Elaine.
What, I say, were the sheep driving?
She scowls at me. No, they were in the trailer, she says.
Who was driving the tractor, I ask.
The man, she shouts.

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A Poor Player @apoorplayer.bsky.social · 4d

Very much 'enjoyed' this.

You also hit on a point that putting children in competition with one another doesn't want to acknowledge - some children will get 3s and 4s, without SEND, and with working hard. I think that is increasingly difficult for parents to acknowledge and schools to say.

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Reposted by A Poor Player

Juno Rylee Schultz @junoryleejournalism.com · 6d

David Simon, creator of ‘The Wire’, being interviewed by Ari Shapiro (NPR)

SHAPIRO: OK, so you've spent your career creating television without Al, and I could imagine today you thinking, boy, I wish I had had that tool to solve those thorny problems...
SIMON: What?
SHAPIRO: ...Or saying...
SIMON: You imagine that?
SHAPIRO: ...Boy, if that had existed, it would have screwed me over.
SIMON: I don't think Al can remotely challenge what writers do at a fundamentally creative level.
SHAPIRO: But if you're trying to transition from scene five to scene six, and you're stuck with that transition, you could imagine plugging that portion of the script into an Al and say, give me 10 ideas for how to transition this.
SIMON: I'd rather put a gun in my mouth.

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A Poor Player @apoorplayer.bsky.social · 6d

Slaithwaite (SLA-wit)

A Poor Player @apoorplayer.bsky.social · 6d

I'm not watching #TheTraitors but I am enjoying my timeline.

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A Poor Player @apoorplayer.bsky.social · 6d

For info - it was a commenter Esther Walker's substack and is absolutely the best anecdote I've read.

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A Poor Player @apoorplayer.bsky.social · 6d

Substack comment - "I grew up next to Putney Common and Jilly Cooper was a neighbour. [...] I interviewed her for my school magazine. She answered the door with her two enormous dogs who I think were called Fortnum and Mason, and said "Darling, would you like a Gin and Tonic?" I was about 12."

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A Poor Player @apoorplayer.bsky.social · 6d

Yeah there's a reason I try to go to stuff on Tuesday mornings in the hols and generally avoid installations.

(I'm still baffled by her coming up to you - the normal response is seethe quietly!)

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A Poor Player @apoorplayer.bsky.social · 6d

A) this is actuall bullshit Ben. I am sorry it happened to you all.

B) I genuinely don't understand what other people in the valley would be 'uncomfortable' about in this scenario??

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A Poor Player @apoorplayer.bsky.social · 7d

The very religious (and quite odd) RE teacher had a Prince Albert piercing.

The Fence @thefence.bsky.social · 8d

Fence #26 will be a special on all things print, and in tribute to the storied history of the UK gutter press, our letters page wants your GOSSIP & SCANDAL.

So, we're asking you all: what was the most scandalous (true or false) bit of gossip that dominated your school or neighbourhood growing up?

A photo of assembled paparazzi waiting to snap your shame for the scandal sheets.

A Poor Player @apoorplayer.bsky.social · 7d

I think pink a bit bright for English so Music/Drama.

(Or PE teacher promoted to SLT in charge of the new House system and personal development)

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A Poor Player @apoorplayer.bsky.social · 8d

My boyfriend says...

A Poor Player @apoorplayer.bsky.social · 8d

"In the 90s"

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A Poor Player @apoorplayer.bsky.social · 8d

Unrelated but the picture looks like a scene from a knock-off James Graham play.

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A Poor Player @apoorplayer.bsky.social · 9d

There is very little in Mad Men that makes me think 'the past did it better' but air travel is def it.

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A Poor Player @apoorplayer.bsky.social · 9d

Ah the polari perhaps partly explains why it feels gendered to me. I can't imagine my 70 yr old Dad using it but definitely my Mum.

(Though my Dad def knows some Polari because he was a big fan of Jules and Sandy)

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A Poor Player @apoorplayer.bsky.social · 10d

The rule in our house was, one cuts, the other chooses the piece.

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A Poor Player @apoorplayer.bsky.social · 10d

Those hops look beautiful!

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