[johnm]

Its Parkinson's Law, and if the answer is "the council should do it" it's probably the wrong question.

I’m not convinced. As we’ve noted before, in the 1950s councils successfully ran....

Libraries
Art galleries
Concert venues
Parks and sports facilities
Buses
Education
Highways
Council estates
Waste disposal
Cemeteries
Planning
Social care

I’m suspicious that poor outsourcing may be part of the problem. I’ve also noticed a massive increase in well paid office based staff whose jobs are not entirely clear too.

[eltonioni]

Successfully? That's quite a claim, but I'm not that old They are not very good at doing the things I come into contact with.

[johnm]

Successfully? That's quite a claim, but I'm not that old They are not very good at doing the things I come into contact with.

I think that the rot started in 1974 when a major local government reorganisation took place. It all worked when I was younger...

Whichever way we cut it, if we can’t give kids art and music we can’t claim to be civilised and we need to do something about it..

[Bill Haddow]

I’m not convinced. As we’ve noted before, in the 1950s councils successfully ran....

Libraries Art galleries Concert venues Parks and sports facilities Buses
Education Highways Council estates Waste disposal Cemeteries Planning
Social care

I’m suspicious that poor outsourcing may be part of the problem. I’ve also noticed a massive increase in well paid office based staff whose jobs are not entirely clear too.

John, I can only speak as I find, and I'm no fan of the current administration in George Square, nor it's predecessors, but I would say that Glasgow City Council make a fair fist of the above.

The Passenger Transport Executive now runs the subway and subsidises the buses; between those and suburban rail the passenger transport system runs reasonably. (We were never daft enough to ape Edinburgh's ineptitude with trams, we got rid of ours in 1962 never to return)

Art galleries and concert venues have improved dramatically since 60 odd years ago, highways have deteriorated.

Comparing waste disposal now with 60 years ago is really apples and oranges territory. As a society we generate a lot more waste / rubbish than before, environmental and H&S legislation makes collecting and treating it an entirely different ball game.

I would say that over the piece the council does not too badly.

Bill H

[johnm]

Point well taken @Bill Haddow but I think Scotland may have escaped some of the changes in England.

[eltonioni]

Point well taken @Bill Haddow but I think Scotland may have escaped some of the changes in England.

This is probably way wide of the mark (it could be worse) but isn't it something like half of Arts Council money spent in London, and half of that on opera & ballet?

The last time I looked, the HMG gave money to the Arts Council as an independent body that makes its own decisions, albeit with sanction from Sir Humphrey.

Between 2018 and 2022, we will invest £1.45 billion of public money from government and an estimated £860 million from the National Lottery to help create these experiences for as many people as possible across the country.

How is this Gove's problem? You're making me defend Gove. Stop it!!!

[johnm]

Once you understand that local govt not the Arts Council has responsibility for education and that the national curriculum is written by people who nothing about education, you can go back to poking Gove in the eye like the rest of us

The Arts Council might legitimately put some jam on the education bread, but local govt and the education dept have to do some baking first.

[Bill McCarthy]

I wouldn’t go overboard on the subject of music on a school’s curriculum - before you know it there will be degrees on David Bowie, The Jam etc....
Fund university degrees on science, medicine, engineering - other “non essential” degrees ought to be self funded.

[PaulB]

Who decides what’s non-essential..... I’d hate to live in a culturally barren society.

[cockney steve]

I have an old- fashioned device called "a wireless" aka "a radio" Iplug it into a power-point (that's a socket-outlet, not a computer program.) operate the "on" switch and turn the "tuning" knob.....Lo and behold, a world of Music, "music" education and entertainment can be browsed at will. I don't think that a lack of formal music lessons willstop those with an interest from pursuing that hobby.

Daughter became interested in stargazing. was gifted an Astral telescope .....went to Uni. (The only family- member to-date to do so) Took Physics with Astrophysics to Master's..... She is also artistic and musical....had private violin lessons ,extra-curricular, at school (lunchtime) taught herself to play keyboard /piano and left-hand guitar. The interest and ability are innate. all kids are exposed to music...

I was deprived. no lessons on car-mechanics, steam engines /locomotives aircraft/flying boats/ships/ sailing. I had to bike Glacton to St. Osyth to a boating-lake and taught myself to row, but i couldn't afford to hire a sailing dinghy and they wouldn't let me, anyway . water was about 3 foot deep!
History and physics -lessons in secondary- school gave a little insight into some of my interests, public and school- libraries supplied the resources for home study. I bought a small booklet from Woolworths for 6d (or may have been 1/- (2 - 1/2 or 5p for the kids) "how to wire electricity" (or somesuch.
The knowledge has served me well- I still live!

Music and "the arts" are practiced by thousands....a tiny minority will ever earn a living from their ability.
one only has to see talent shows (Potts, Boyle for example) Who's schooldays were much better spent equipping them to earn a living in the Commercial- society in which we live.......unfortunately for many, laying on a caribbean beach , playing reggae and puffing Ganja is just a pipe-dream (see what I did there!) there's always a way to pursue an interest...if I can't afford to fly, I can yatter on Flyer - forum and debate the theory! "gimme Gimme- I'm entitled " gets up my nose. I had to follow the PYOC* route and so, largely have my kids...Independent and able to survive in a commercial society.

*Paddle Your Own Canoe.....nothing to do with Flinty's aspirations

[johnm]

ANY society that starts to classify knowledge as essential or not ceases to be able to claim to be civilised, the U.K. is teetering on the edge of things worse than Brexit.....

[Bill McCarthy]

Here re some examples of duff university degrees - no good to man nor beast.

Golf Management
Professional golf
Sport management
Game keeping
David Beckham
Hospitality management.
Basket weaving

How many more ?

[PaulB]

I fancy a degree in basket weaving.... where can that be done?

[johnm]

Here re some examples of duff university degrees - no good to man nor beast.

Golf Management
Professional golf
Sport management
Game keeping
David Beckham
Hospitality management.
Basket weaving

How many more ?

Lots and many of the teaching universities have been placed in the situation where they compete for bums on seats. Oddly enough this goes back to govt pushing youngsters into university courses (and associated debt) in order to pretend that we didn’t have a youth unemployment problem.

Much the same strategy has been employed using zero hours contracts to reduce unemployment figures and boost food banks.

[Jim Jones]

A proper Higher Education qualification is evidence of the ability to analyse information, evaluate it and synthesize new ideas. The subject matter is almost irrelevant, it's the skills that count.

Lots of successful people work in areas completely unrelated to their original degree. Studying classics at Oxbridge for instance. If employers want new staff to actually do things that are relevant to them, they need to train them, not moan about how they were educated.