GboroRam

I see this thread approaching closing down. Can I recommend people ignore or block people instead of reacting? 

I think everyone who reads this thread knows your point of view at this stage. If people don't agree with you, it's not because they don't know what you mean.
I know you see yourself as a balanced voice trying to reason with extremists and alarmists of all varieties.  But we all see our own arguments as balanced and reasonable. So don't be so sure that you are the balanced and moderate one. 
Naturally I see my own views on this subject as moderate and from my perspective you are the outlier. We are all biased in favour of ourselves. We'll just have to agree to disagree as usual. 

My chief issue with his rantings are that apparently, being a man makes you understand the men's game better than being a woman. Based on the widely accepted MCHI (Mean Chest Hair Index) a barely professional non-league player who has never played in front of a crowd bigger than the queue at the chippy is (according to Barton) better qualified to talk about top flight men's football football and pressures that come with situations than a woman who has played in front of 80,000 crowds in major tournament finals and all the additional pressure and psychology that goes with that situation. Actually, by Barton's logic, some bloke called Dave who works on the burger van outside the ground knows better than said highly decorated women's international.
The thing is also that his original comment was "Any man who listens to Women commentary or co-comms needs their heads testing…". So he's not even just talking about the supposedly 'expert' technical punditry with detailed analysis of the key events, no, he is seemingly objecting to the idea that women in media are anywhere near the men's game at all in any capacity. In light of this revelation by Mr Barton, perhaps someone could write to DCFC and ask for a discount for our female fans as bless them, they are clearly not properly appreciating what they are watching as their MCHI count is too low and they are probably just thinking about makeup tutorials and what to make for tea for the man in their life and trying to remember where they put his slippers because they are such a silly little scatter brain.
As for his comment about keeping women out of roles in football in case there is some inappropriate interaction. Why does that apply to footballers and not men and women in other workplaces then Joey ? Oh that's right, footballers are special and aren't responsible for their own actions and can't help themselves. Perhaps I should have a word with my bosses and demand that they keep women out of my department in case any of them are overwhelmed with desire on account of me being so attractive and all ? I'm a line manager don't you know !

It’s weird, it’s like you’re arguing against me, but proving my point at the same time.
a white kid, or a white male kid from a happy family, is statistically more likely to find it easier to find well paid jobs and have a happy successful life.
have you never seen that exercise where they give kids a head start on a race if they meet certain criteria and there’s some poor kids still sat on the start line when some others get a 50m head start.
thats the advantage your kids have. I don’t know you or your kids, maybe there are other reasons that they are disadvantaged, but even if a white kid has dyslexia, for example, they’ll still find life easier than a black kid with dyslexia. There are just generally a lot less barriers in the way for white kids. Maybe it’s not about having an advantage, it’s about not having hurdles to jump over. So a better analogy is two people running 100m, but one has hurdles on his track. It’s no fault of the other person, but it’s clearly not fair.
yes, if your white male kid goes for a job as a football pundit, and they’re up against a black female candidate, and they’re equal in every way, but the company needs to tick a box, your kid might miss out. That’s just a fact of redressing the balance. As I explained with the scales, there has to be some disproportionate representation to enable minorities to catch up. As with many things, past generations have screwed it up for our kids. It’s not a perfect situation. But if you were a black family, or if one of your kids comes out as transgender in the future, wouldn’t you fight tooth and nail to allow them to have the same opportunities as anyone else?
There doesn’t need to be campaigns for representation down coal mines, the point is to enable kids to aspire to anything they want to be. Imagine if there was a campaign that said ‘if you work really hard, maybe you can aspire to be a dust man’ (no offence to dust men). Lower paid jobs and manual labour are already open to all, ahead of their time really. Probably over represented by minorities. That’s specifically the imbalance that needs to be redressed. 

What’s wrong with a box ticking exercise though? It’s about representation. It would be nice to say ‘let it happen organically’, but you have to force the issue sometimes and force representation to kick start it. In a generations time, hopefully it will be organic. The backlash these days is because it’s forced. But that’s necessary to make things happen and break the cycle.
I've got daughters, and there is so much more positive representation for them these days than when my sisters were kids. And I’m very happy about that.
i wonder if joey Barton has daughters or nieces, and if he expects them to shut up and cook his dinner, or if he hopes for something better for them.
its just very sad that as much as he may truly believe these things, what he’s really doing is putting on a character, like a heel in wrestling, because that panders to a certain audience, and that gets more likes and shares. And far from representing those that need the leg up, he gives a voice and representation to the bigots and small minded people who have ruled the world for thousands of years. Those that really need to fade away and make way for the kids.

You say this as if football punditry had previously been a meritocracy.

He’s obviously decided that he no longer wants a job in football. No club would touch this toxic twit (using my own personal swear filter) now.  
I suspect, like many, he’s latched on to the fact there’s money to be made in being a ‘anti-woke’ (whatever that means) right wing, misogynist (at some point probably moving on to xenophobia and casual racism) bigot who will claim ‘free speech’ (just as an excuse to talk absolute drivel and be obnoxious about it while doing so).  The likes of Lawrence Fox have paved a way for a lucrative grift.  

Yep
 

This guy will help.
 

DM @angieram she will spill the beans

I think there's a lucrative future in appealing to bigotry. He may just be calculating that he can make money this way. If he's naturally a bit of a bigot anyway, it's even easier. 

I do feel bad for their fans though. Especially the ones who tried to start a fight with me and my 70 year old dad at Derby station, while we were minding our own business eating our chips.
Wait. No I don't.

Was pretty hacked off with the way he conducted himself under Cocu, but he did redeem himself with me after that being an absolute rock for the club through some very dark times. As such, I bear the man no ill will really, far from it. That said, watching Brum implode has been hilarious, which on reflection, only serves to make me appreciate Wazza even more.
On a serious note, management clearly does not suit him in any shape or fashion, he looks terrible and is aging rapidly. High time he stepped back, minded himself a bit and spent some time with the family, I reckon.

Keys to the city is back on. Great job well done Wayne. 

Is this the finish to his career in football? I reckon he will only be able to find work in the USA after this. 
Oh dear. How sad. 

There's a lot of truth in this. It may be that everything is going fine and there's no issues, but maybe you will hit problems. Maybe the local authority will respond to your needs, maybe you'll feel unsupported. 
If you feel like the children aren't getting the support they deserve, look into requesting an advocate for them. Someone independent who will only focus on their best interests. If the advocate is on your side, the local authority will be hard pressed to ignore them. 

@David Not much I can add in here by way of advice more than already has been given, but talking as a Dad first and a Lawyer second, stick with it. 
 
The process in this country is difficult and at times (being generous there) you will think the local authorities and the Court’s processes will seem outdated and excessive. Best advice I can give as a layperson is speak up if something doesn’t seem right or you have questions. You will find they are all helpful and have plenty of support resources but they very often will not utilise these unless prompted. 
 
It’s a strange concept, having the same care and emotion for a child when they are not your own but it’s obvious from where you are with it there is never a reason to doubt yourself. A child remembers a single kindness shown to them and can shape their future far beyond what any person would expect.

Hi David, sorry I'm late to the party with this one.
When we took our three Grandkids on in early 2022 our social worker was very much pushing us in the direction of fostering them. Due to our personal circumstances at the time (my cancer treatment including major surgery) this was impossible. 
If my memory serves me correct we had to write a letter to the local authority declining fostering. The social worker told us there was another way whereby the kids could remain with us. We had to attend court and an interim Child Arrangement Order was granted, allowing us time to apply for a Special Gardianship Order, which we were granted by the court in February 2023.
My wife gave up her full-time employment in May as, in our mid-fifties, looking after the kids and the household (and occasionally me) while working full-time was too much for her. 
We receive a weekly means-tested special gardianship allowance from the local authority, together with a monthly Universal Credit payment (in addition to my salary).
I doff my cap to anyone fostering or otherwise caring for others' children, it's not always beer and skittles, but it is highly rewarding.

It does in Notts who I used to work for. I was in a specialist salaried section, so didn't go into it in too much detail.  
Another area of society where people are undervalued and underpaid.  

We get £156 per child each 

Couldn’t imagine it. You go into it knowing they are not yours, yet you treat them like your own as that’s the least they deserve, 2 months in they already feel like ours with the bond we’ve made with them.
To hear the eldest say he doesn’t want me to go to work, recognising where I work, where they live, calling it home, my Jax is no their Jax.
And to think this could be either till they are 18 or temporary, it’s just something I’m trying not to think a great deal about and will face that day whatever comes our way.
To take a baby on, see them grow to taking their first steps then leave. Brutal. Feel for you guys.

I'm not sure about taking on an additional child, unless they are siblings of course.
All children come to you with trauma, subconscious trauma for younger ones. It's very easy for one child to take on the trauma of another..
Not aimed at you @GboroRamI always get cross when I see a foster carer celebrated for having 400 foster children, as if that's a great thing. I understand that some temporary care is essential, but celebrating the quantity of children coming in and out of a home is perverse to me. It should be the quality of care, the scale of the impact on people's lives. 

The 'I'm going to be a new Dad' thread is much easier to contribute to. For most people there are universal feelings/emotions.  
Fostering brings with it a lot of different emotions and situations that people will deal with very differently. There is a lack of 'absoluteness' and certainty that is harder to deal with.

My son is now 40 and living in NZ with  a lovely family and he came 'home' this year to see his dear old mum and Dad.
 
I say this not to gloat but to show that there are incredible outcomes from Fostering and Adoption, as I married his Mum when he was 3 and I had to go through some gruelling stuff before I was allowed to adopt him, despite the fact that we had been together 2 years by then.
Curiously my wife also had to adopt him as well (go figure)
Despite all the issues of an abusive father etc he has grown into a fine family man and I am so proud of him. 
I am and always will be his Dad,
Keep going Dave and well done for giving these kids a chance