Horizon: Science under attack

[xoggoth]

It has always been the case that some science has been anything but scientific, that some with a vested interest distort it and some have a dogmatic view about their pet theories. Still better than religion as a guide for life and society, some facts are better than none.

PS CHURCHILL, I HATE YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

PPS No actually, I don't hate you, it's just your name.

[Mich the Tester]

Bet it's not as good as my book about the Black Death.

Or should that be "The really really dark grey Death" in these PC times?

'Really really dark purple death' would be better, seeing as the haemorrhages on people's skin were purple.

[xoggoth]

They should train diseases to fight other diseases. Like leprosy that makes buboes or cancerous bits fall off.

Or lice that attack fleas or liver flukes that eat malaria parasites.

[SueEllen]

. But in the mean time, lots of kids were turned off science because they thought it was 'boring', and I can understand why. It was presented as dry, boring and of little meaning to everyday life.

One of the reasons that they are banned on doing certain experiments that you could do 10 years ago for "Health and Safety" reasons.

This mainly due to the fact they can't exclude kids who are a danger to themselves and f***wits from the classroom.

One of my mate's when he had resigned from his Science teaching post spent the entire half-term he had left doing now banned experiments in his lessons. He knew the school couldn't sack him or give him a bad reference that was relevant. The kids were very happy the Head of Science wasn't as he made one or two of the f***wit kids stand outside the classroom door.

.
The question 'why', which is surely an opportunity for a science teacher to expand and tell a fascinating story was met with 'that's not in the syllabus'.

Not if you teach at a school where the only thing the Head teacher and Head of Science are interested in are exam results, where they stand in the league table and getting more money for themselves coupled with dealing with parents and pupils.

Most of the people I know who taught Science at secondary schools have left because of the politics. Even when they have taught in sh*t schools with horrid pupils and parents who threatened them, the politics was final thing that drove them out. After all if you have a scientific degree in this country there are a range of careers you can go into.

[Churchill]

It has always been the case that some science has been anything but scientific, that some with a vested interest distort it and some have a dogmatic view about their pet theories. Still better than religion as a guide for life and society, some facts are better than none.

PS CHURCHILL, I HATE YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

PPS No actually, I don't hate you, it's just your name.

Why's that? I thought it was Maggie Thatcher you had a bee in yer pocket about...

[xoggoth]

Not that Churchill. See Wilmslow's car insurance thread.

PS I HATE YOU.

[Churchill]

Not that Churchill. See Wilmslow's car insurance thread.

PS I HATE YOU.

Oh yes. Now I understand.

Btw, is there any way that you can avoid car insurance? Like if you've got a couple of million quid in the bank to cover any claim?

[Old Greg]

Oh yes. Now I understand.

Btw, is there any way that you can avoid car insurance? Like if you've got a couple of million quid in the bank to cover any claim?

Oh no. You'd be driving uninsured.

[Churchill]

Oh no. You'd be driving uninsured.

Not according to this...

United KingdomIn 1930, the UK government introduced a law that required every person who used a vehicle on the road to have at least third party personal injury insurance. Today UK law is defined by the Road Traffic Act 1988, which was last modified in 1991. The Act requires that motorists either be insured, have a security, or have made a specified deposit (£500,000 as of 1991) with the Accountant General of the Supreme Court, against their liability for injuries to others (including passengers) and for damage to other persons' property resulting from use of a vehicle on a public road or in other public places.

It is an offence to use a car, or allow others to use it, without the insurance that satisfies the act whilst on the public highway (or public place Section 143(1)(a) RTA 1988 as amended 1991); however, no such legislation applies on private land.

Road Traffic Act Only Insurance differs from Third Party Only Insurance (detailed below) and is not often sold. It provides the very minimum cover to satisfy the requirements of the Act. For example Road Traffic Act Only Insurance has a limit of £1,000,000 for damage to third party property - third party only insurance typically has a greater limit for third party property damage.

The minimum level of insurance cover commonly available and which satisfies the requirement of the Act is called third party only insurance. The level of cover provided by Third party only insurance is basic but does exceed the requirements of the act. This insurance covers any liability to third parties but does not cover any other risks.

More commonly purchased is third party, fire and theft. This covers all third party liabilities and also covers the vehicle owner against the destruction of the vehicle by fire (whether malicious or due to a vehicle fault) and theft of the vehicle itself. It may or may not cover vandalism. This kind of insurance and the two preceding types do not cover damage to the vehicle caused by the driver or other hazards.

Comprehensive insurance covers all of the above and damage to the vehicle caused by the driver themselves, as well as vandalism and other risks. This is usually the most expensive type of insurance.

Vehicles which are exempted by the act, from the requirement to be covered, include those owned by certain councils and local authorities, national park authorities, education authorities, police authorities, fire authorities, health service bodies and security services.

The insurance certificate or cover note issued by the insurance company constitutes legal evidence that the vehicle specified on the document is insured. The law says that an authorised person, such as the police, may require a driver to produce an insurance certificate for inspection. If the driver cannot show the document immediately on request, and proof of insurance cannot be found by other means such as the Police National Computer, drivers are no longer issued a HORT/1. This was an order with seven days, as of midnight of the date of issue, to take a valid insurance certificate (and usually other driving documents as well) to a police station of the driver's choice. Failure to produce an insurance certificate is an offence. The HORT/1 was commonly known - even by the issuing authorities when dealing with the public - as a "Producer".

Insurance is more expensive in Northern Ireland than in other parts of the UK.[vague][citation needed]

Most motorists in the UK are required to prominently display a vehicle licence (tax disc) on their vehicle when it is kept or driven on public roads. This helps to ensure that most people have adequate insurance on their vehicles because an insurance certificate must be produced when a disc is purchased.[10]

The Motor Insurers' Bureau compensates the victims of road accidents caused by uninsured and untraced motorists. It also operates the Motor Insurance Database, which contains details of every insured vehicle in the country.

[Sysman]

Oh yes. Now I understand.

Btw, is there any way that you can avoid car insurance? Like if you've got a couple of million quid in the bank to cover any claim?

Yep. You lodge the dosh with a solicitor in a special fund for the purpose. If I remember correctly this was the method used by Mick Jagger in the sixties when nobody would insure him for a Ferrari (might not have been a Ferrari, but it was in that class). It was "only" a hundred grand back then.

British Gas and possibly the Post Office* didn't insure their vehicles back in the day, on the ground that they had so many vehicles it was cheaper to pay out for claims themselves. Apparently it was a bugger to actually extract a payment out of them.

* I seem to remember something about the Royal Mail vans being "Queen's vehicles", but could be mistaken; I'm not sure where the telephone engineers' vans came in.