I might just give up reading the Telegraph.
 

Stick to real broadsheets, like the Times, or the Mail.

About as unbalanced report as it is possible to imagine. Expected better of the DT. But then I read the Times rather than DT

Well it's true I guess so why do you want to give up reading the paper....................

I doubt £ 270,000 goes very far at Eton mind you...................

Of course most people that read the DT have only been to a couple of schools and then University. They didn't have to go to eight different schools at primary level like I did. The shortest time was one day when I was sent to a school at Solva in Wales where they only spoke Welsh.

When I went to senior school in England I had just come out of a different system because of my age I went into the third form and had to do fives years study in three.

It's one thing I've never heard anyone outside the forces ever complain about - they appreciate the issues of changing schools and most of them still think it's tough as your kids are boarding and you don't see them.......

Take heart...
 

Just read the comments. I got quite a long way down the list and didn’t find a single person who agreed with the article.

As an aside, if there is a holder of purse strings out there who thinks this would be a great way to save money they won’t need to hang around long to be the last one out who’s job it is to turn the lights off. There would be a stampede out of the military. At least in certain areas anyway.

BV

I might just give up reading the Telegraph.
 

Why?

Because they tell the truth?

It really is true that the taxpayers fund the perpetuation of 'the Officer Class' and its ethos. Why not?

We've served the empire/country rather well over the past century or two and we recreate to procreate to perpetuate.

Per Ardua ad nauseam etc (or Yeehah, as the West Point imitators of authenticity might say).

FED:

Is that common in the modern RAF these days?

CG

Interestingly my father was a pretty handy boxer and he taught me at a very early age. One found going from one school to the other that the school bully would pick on a new arrival.

Only once with me.

Excellent!

I used to really enjoy the Telegraph. It had some good journalists and they wrote considered pieces of work. Unfortunately, in recent years their journalists have been fired and replaced by reporters, some illiterate, most who can’t tell their arse from their elbow and a desire to pump out column inches for the sake of it. And don’t get me started on their comments section - most give the Daily Mail a run for its money in the angry bitter and twisted stakes, although playing spot the Russian troll is now an amusing past time.

I have to say I have in recent months found the Times to be a far better read. Less focus on churning out reporting and more considered journalism. That said, the Matt and Alex cartoons are still very much worth a read.

Used by all ranks.

Although I do recall an interview with Prescott on TV where he complained that it was "for officers' children only!"

Prat.

TTN,

Alas, I fear such ignorance is the way of the world these days, made considerably worse by the internet and social media which serves so much information up on a plate that people effectively abrogate all responsibility for thinking even though much of what’s out there is nonsense.

It was a thought than ran through my own tiny brain over the weekend reading the nonsense people were spouting over the strikes in Syria. Then I suddenly realised these people also had the vote and to quote Fraser from Dad’s Army, I figured we’re all doomed!

Now I have no idea of they benefited from BSA or CEA, but it is true that a lot of children follow father's foot steps.

It is more obvious where the names are slightly unusual , I could cite a fair number but will just use one. Our AEO, (John?) Bassett said to our skipper, Malcolm Rough, "I was checking my logbook the other day, your father was a gunner on our crew" . He decided it was time to call it a day.

"Used by all ranks."

Indeed - i know several OR's who say its the only thing that has given their kids on a decentstart

1) it is hardly news is it? 2) The forces are under enough pressure as it is and this article isn't doing anything to alleviate that. 3) The journalism recently in my opinion has gone downhill somewhat.

I’d just like to state that I pay for my kids to go to private school - no allowance from the military whatsoever. The reason? I didn’t want to have ‘boarding school handcuffs’ placed on me by the military - I wanted to be able to live where I liked and ‘bean steal’ if I wanted to.

I agree with BV, it is one of the best retention measures we have left!

We might be brothers ...

Rolling20

It may be news to some people.
This is an easily justifiable expense so should not put the forces under any pressure.
'Standard of journalism' is quite subjective, if you mean that you are now seeing printed pieces that make you uncomfortable then that is probably a good thing. As we age we tend to ossify our opinions, it is good to have them stirred and to step outside our comfort zone. Staying with one source of news will only reinforce your bias, try reading round the same topic in different publications.

I would suggest that, like so many of their media brethren (and sisteren) the reporters in this case took a fact and didn't bother to think "now I wonder why that is...?" and leapt straight to a sensational headline.

My kids attended a number of schools, and in most cases they were accepted in because the majority of the kids also had parents in the mob. It was understood that this "transient" population moved around, in fact I think when I went to enrol my kids at a new school the first question was "What was your previous posting".

The only problem they had was when I got out of the mob and moved to a small town. In this case the class of kids had been born at the same time, grew up together, been in the same class as each other every year and didn't like the concept of newcomers, especially newcomers who originally came from outside their county.

Not just we grumpy oldies.
I happened to ask S2 why so many young people had such stupid ****(*) Wing opinions and he said "Oh it's because they only read stuff which supports their existing views."

My son had 5 schools in 4 years! Clearly the "journalists" have not thought this through or made suitable enquiries. I can't access the full article at the moment but did they also pick on the FCO, which employs a similar (I am told more attractive) scheme, or has Defence-bashing becoming a prime-time sport?

Ogre. My daughters had the same problem when I left and moved to Herts. They weren’t local and didn’t speak with any accent. The local kids also thought it amazing that two of them had been born in foreign countries!

D2, although born in Scotland, moved, in the year of her birth, with us, to the SE.
A few years later, on visits to relatives, cousins and their friends stood around the wee lass, asking her to demonstrate this RP thing which, I may say, she had not received from her parents. ;)

D1, who was about 8yo when moved, took about a week to transition from Ayrshire to Bucks speak.

Flexible little monkeys.

I always say that I had a good education. It should have been, I went to eight different schools in three different countries!

Most of my schooling was in Australia, where I was bullied for being a "pom". After the family came back to UK, my two younger siblings (Australian born) were bullied for being "Oz". You can't win. (Seven schools for me,I think.)

7 schools for me in 3 countries - until finally put in the boarding house of King's School in Grantham to do my O and A levels as the family went out to get shot at in Aden. Over half the boarding house were in the same boat - travelling overseas for the summer holidays..

Yes! 6 moves in 8.5 yrs for me....

Interesting, that most of the comments about how many schools they went to are from the older generation! The RAF offered a greater choice of postings both at home and overseas in the fifties and sixties and a settled education for children was difficult. Most spouses now have settled careers and no longer want to move, and where are the places to be posted to? I remember a pilot with four children in boarding school who was not posted during their education!
So is BSA now relevant?

8 schools for me in ten years. Got fed up with it all and signed on the dotted line for an apprenticeship at Halton.

Fair dos, HG. Your moniker suggests rotary, and to be honest, I was thinking about FJ. And there are the moves between training bases to consider too, I guess.

CG

Whether BSA is ‘relevant’ depends on your career situation. If you’re going places then moving every couple of years can still be the norm unless you’re prepared to leave the family & commute. More stable careers are possible but you can’t guarantee that You won’t get posted ‘for service need’ if required.
I’d moved every couple of years and with the expectation of continuing to do so put my kids into boarding schools. As it turned out I remained stable for the remainder of their educations so with hindsight did I actually need it? No, but going back to the start had I asked the poster for a guarantee of stability would he have given me one? No again.

It’s an easy allowance to paint as ‘allowing nobby officers to send their kids to posh schools’ but it’s equally used by NCOs and the cost in lost retention would likely exceed the cost to the taxpayer. I have a friend in the army who has moved every posting of his career, including overseas multiple times. His kids would be massively affected by this but for BSA.

It seems to me that it’s a small price to pay to retain experienced people who would be lost otherwise. I don’t expect this kind of article from the DT, it’s more typical of the Sun/ Daily Mail.

This tripe sums up why I abandoned the DT for The Times some years ago.

Kudos to those who are trying to give their children the best possible (and stable) education. My civvy son is bleeding money to put my 2 grandchildren through (boarding) Public School.

I have long ago stopped buying or reading any newspaper. They have become propaganda media who's owners seek to persuade the brainless reader to believe whatever rubbish, now called 'fake news' they choose to print. They are also extremely expensive. As a result I am much better off both financially and morally.

The DT’s Cryptic Crossword is still good - alone worth the £100 pa I pay for th e on-line version of the newspaper.

Yes, the Cryptic Crossword is by far the best of the broadsheets :) However, their pro-Brexit Editorial stance that forced me to cancel my subscription of many years.

If it's pro-Brexit you're after there are a number of options -Independent, Grauniad - as rabidly anti-Brexit as the DT is pro, so you can choose a Daily to satisfy your own prejudices!

Sadly though, The Telegraph was always a balanced newspaper for an intelligent readership.

"Was" being the key word ;)

I did like the DT Crossword, though. The OH and I used to do it together on the Underground on our way to our respective MoD offices ... and I mean the crossword, before someone chips in with a smutty comment! :cool: