CUT IT OUT!

CUT 1

THE FIRST CUT IS THE DEEPEST?

No doubt there are those who will be quietly pleased that some workers in the public sector are going to be losing their jobs in the Big Cut Massacre. There is a perception held by some that those who work in the public sector are lazy jobsworths who will end up with big fat pensions and would never have had the ability, talent or work ethic to hold down a job in the private sector. Public sector workers have had a pay freeze which is, in real terms, a pay cut as the cost of living is steadily rising while the money they earn stays the same. Those with mortgages may not feel the squeeze just yet, with interest rates so low, but those who pay rent see the cost of keeping a roof over their head rising at an alarming rate while the money in their pay packet stays the same and has to be stretched ever further and further. Public sector workers are not all the well paid fat cats the Daily Mail would have us believe. Many of them are part time workers, men and women doing excellent work for relatively low pay. Finding out this afternoon that 10 jobs in the small team I work in are to be lost over the coming months is not the worst of it. Not knowing who will be the ones to go is not even the worst of it. It is the realisation that vital services are being cut and, as ever, it will be the poorest and most needy in society that will suffer the most. After school clubs -  cut. Breakfast Clubs - cut. Nursery provision - cut. Thousands of parents who rely on these services so they can go out to work are going to find themselves without affordable childcare. They will be forced to cut their hours or even give up their jobs altogether. Then what? They will claim benefits and in doing so will become a further drain on the public purse. The scene played out today when we were told the news is a scene being played out up and down the country. Primary Health Care Trusts will be shedding Health Visitors, Speech Therapists, Occupational Therapists and School Nurses. Brand new Children's Centres, already build, will not be opened and some of those already in operation will be closed. Nurseries in the private and voluntary sector will close, particularly those in the poorest areas serving the most vulnerable families. Children's Services will make cuts across all departments. Housing, Parks and Environment, Environmental Health, Leisure facilities, Libraries, Old People Homes, Meals on Wheels, Transport for the disabled - these are all the things that will be cut to the bone. And if you aren't feeling the cuts in your bank balance yet you will soon feel it in the reduction of services you will receive in the future from your public servants.

CUT 2
CUTTING REMARKS

Some time ago I accidentally sent an email to the wrong person. The email went to my boss and although it didn't contain anything outrageous it was something I would have preferred her not to read so I have some sympathy for Andy Gray even if he isn't a very nice man, eh I mean person. I have had conversations with my work colleagues in the past that haven't been entirely complimentary about men - the hairy guy with halitosis, the medallion man who thinks he is every woman's dream, the odd sarcastic comment about 'man flu'. Were these sexist comments? Maybe. They were certainly unkind and the 'man flu' comment has sexist connotations. This banter usually takes place in the pub after work but if it was overheard and recorded I would be not be very comfortable hearing it played back. I know nothing about this man Gray, except what I've heard on the news - yes the terrible sexist comments Gray and his pal made have been headline news - ALL WEEK - and from what my son tells me - that Gray is a good commentator and knows about football. I feel sorry for all concerned. The men who made the silly remarks, the woman they made them about and the rest of us who aren't perfect and sometimes say the wrong thing at the wrong time.

CUT 3

DUBIOUS CUTS

If I was a Gypsy I would be very angry with Channel Four and its portrayal of Gypsy life in their series 'My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding'.http://www.channel4.com/programmes/my-big-fat-gypsy-wedding

Are these people really so awful or have the producers cut the footage in a way that portrays them as such?

The series focuses on Irish Travellers who, according to a spokesman for the Romany Gypsy community, are not gypsies at all - they are Travellers. Therefore huge 14 stone wedding dresses, slutty clothes on very young girls, spray tans for 6 year olds and 'grabbing' are not elements of Gypsy culture but rather the uncouth behaviour of some Irish traveller families. Grabbing is the term used to describe a rough, bullying version of courtship apparently accepted as normal by these young travellers. It is interesting to read what this Gypsy, writing for the 'Travellers Times', has to say about the programme and 'grabbing' in particular.

I was on a train at the time My Big Fat Gypsy Weddings was aired, but by the time it was over my phone was in meltdown at the rage and the fury. We’ve never heard of “grabbing”, yet apparently it’s a time honoured tradition of ours to allow young men to sexually assault young Gypsy women in car parks. Most of us aren’t catholic at all, yet apparently all Gypsy girls prepare for their wedding day with a holy communion. Oh and apparently we often allow toddlers to go to church alone in a limo pretending to be drunk. For most Gypsies, the Channel Four series has simply given the old myths about Gypsies being immoral, flashy thieves a glitzy TV make-over. We’ve become trailer trash versions of the Flintstones there for your TV entertainment.
http://www.travellerstimes.org.uk/blog.aspx?n=c6e13428-2329-462b-a0f8-f6ccab22ced7&h=False&c=f1b1c82c-0f3c-4edf-98cd-502ea80ed8fa

There was a segment in the programme where huge bulldozers demolished a Traveller site that had been in existence for several years, devastating the people who lived there, tearing down their homes and fragmenting communities. It made very uncomfortable viewing and the young boy watching the destruction spoke with an acceptance, sorrow and calmness that was heartbreaking.

CUT 4

FOR CUTS SAKE!

Today I went along to do some work with a group of 3 and 4 year olds in a Nursery. The children had drawn lovely masks on some card. 'Can the children have some scissors please so they can cut out their masks?' I asked one of the nursery nurses. 'Um, I think we have some in this drawer' she said before handing me a tiny pair of small red scissors that had a previous life in a toy doctors kit. 'They don't work for cutting paper and card' I told her. ' Well, no. They're are not real' she said.' 'Can I have some real scissors please?' I asked. Further rummaging turned up a tiny silver pair of nail scissors. 'No. I need several pairs of scissors. And Alisha needs some left handed ones' I told her. It transpired the Nursery doesn't allow scissors. All cutting out is done with a huge pair by the adults. Health and Safety. 'But these children will be given scissors when they start school in a few months' I said  'they need to know how to use scissors and how to use them safely'. As long as children are taught how to use scissors and supervised when they are using them they should be available to them. 'Order some scissors, including left handed ones, and plan activities which will allow the children be creative, experimental and that will develop their fine motor skills when it comes to cutting' I advised the Nursery. Sometimes cutting is a good thing!