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A Poor Player @apoorplayer.bsky.social · 58m

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 · 2h

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.

A Poor Player @apoorplayer.bsky.social · 15h

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 · 2d

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 · 2d

Slaithwaite (SLA-wit)

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

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

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

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 · 2d

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 · 2d

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 · 2d

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 · 3d

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

The Fence @thefence.bsky.social · 3d

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 · 3d

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 · 3d

My boyfriend says...

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

"In the 90s"

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

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 · 4d

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 · 5d

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 · 5d

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

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A Poor Player @apoorplayer.bsky.social · 5d

Those hops look beautiful!

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A Poor Player @apoorplayer.bsky.social · 5d

I am so glad schools have moved on from the obsession with 10,000 hours.

A Poor Player @apoorplayer.bsky.social · 5d

...but but this all seems sensible and helpful and potentially achievable* and pretty much at odds with all the bonkers things she says now?

*funding dependent obv

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A Poor Player @apoorplayer.bsky.social · 5d

Out of interest, what did she do/say?

I feel like I hardly knew who she was then.

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A Poor Player @apoorplayer.bsky.social · 5d

I'm ashamed to admit it but it does make it look worse doesn't it?

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A Poor Player @apoorplayer.bsky.social · 5d

Once again @manchestermill.bsky.social gets to the heart of a thing. I found this moving but also thought @ophiraophira.bsky.social 's honesty about her response to another community's fear important too.

Joshi Herrmann @joshiherrmann.bsky.social · 5d

Jews and Muslims in North Manchester: A personal story.

Fantastic piece by @ophiraophira.bsky.social, who has covered the attack for @manchestermill.bsky.social like no other journalist. Read this alongside the other news coverage.

manchestermill.co.uk/jews-and-mus...

Jews and Muslims in North Manchester: A personal story

‘We thought we were the luckiest people in the world to be born in Manchester’

manchestermill.co.uk

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A Poor Player @apoorplayer.bsky.social · 5d

The Courtauld and the exhibitions on the top floor space of the RA would be instantly fucked. Absolute worst offenders for this.

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

This is a delightful Sunday morning read.

Lydia Massiah @lydiamassiah.bsky.social · 6d

This could be a long and rambling thread. Be patient with me.

I bought an old mahogany bureau on Ebay. I didn't really want a bureau as we're meant to be downsizing, but it was a beautiful piece & obviously very old. Google lens suggests the brass chased handles are Queen Anne. That's 1702-1714 😯

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