[Tubby Isaacs]

This seems a bit of an overreaction.

Devolution doesn't mean the absence of national policies. As someone BTL says, LAs have to follow national accessibility standards. Should they be removed?

[Tubby Isaacs]

Can serious commentators please provide more analysis than schoolyard mythology about bullies really being cowards? If Trump was bluffing about NHS drug prices, how do we know he's not bluffing about the Digital Service Tax?

[davidjay]

I wish people would stop saying bullies back down if you stand up to them. At our school the bullies enjoyed battering anyone who did that.

[Boiler]

I wish people would stop saying bullies back down if you stand up to them. At our school the bullies enjoyed battering anyone who did that.

They did at my school too. Sadly, the concept of punching a bully on the nose and they back off is a myth.

[Oboogie]

I wish people would stop saying bullies back down if you stand up to them. At our school the bullies enjoyed battering anyone who did that.

Yeah, standing up to bullies only works if you can convince them you might win, or at least be hard work, not always easy when there's three of them towering over you.

[Samanfur]

And at my school, you probably got into more trouble with the teachers than the bully.

[Boiler]

And at my school, you probably got into more trouble with the teachers than the bully.

I don't know if your school was anything like my mid-70s comp but in some cases the teachers were as bad as the bullies. They lived up to the image of the teacher in Floyd's The Wall.

Sadly, they weren't all like one in particular who stood out - a maths and PE teacher who was an absolute gentleman and always, always looked after the ones that were struggling a bit. Sadly, he's no longer with us.

[Tubby Isaacs]

I wish people would stop saying bullies back down if you stand up to them. At our school the bullies enjoyed battering anyone who did that.

Yep. Rather a lot of people get bullied at school. I doubt all that many of them are sitting there now thinking "Christ, if I'd only landed a right hook on him, he'd have collapsed and never bothered me again"

[Tubby Isaacs]

I don't know if your school was anything like my mid-70s comp but in some cases the teachers were as bad as the bullies. They lived up to the image of the teacher in Floyd's The Wall.

One of the advantages of private school even in the 80s was that most teachers knew parents wouldn't have put up with that sort of shit. We had good, humane teachers overall.

[Oboogie]

And at my school, you probably got into more trouble with the teachers than the bully.

At my school there was no attempt to ascertain cause and blame, both kids were fighting therefore perpetrator and victim received the same punishment. Ah, the good old days.