Seven local council byelections last week:
Eden DC - Tory hold, which means they maintain a majority on this rural authority. This ward was an unopposed Tory return at every election between 1999 and 2011, when electoral competition finally arrived here in 2015 they saw off an Independent candidate by a bit over 55-45. This time round the Tory share was slightly down on then, but the Independent saw a double figure drop as a Green intervention netted them a respectable 17% plus. There was again no Labour candidate, despite them unexpectedly picking up the Cumbria CC division containing this area last year.
South Staffs DC/Staffordshire CC - this "double header" saw two very safe Tory holds in what is true heartland territory for them. The district seat was uncontested in the most recent 2015 elections, and though that doesn't always equate to super safeness it did in this case as they won with a share approaching 80%, up around 15 points since the most recent contest in 2011 when UKIP took a clear second place (as they also did, interestingly, back in 2007 - 2003 again saw 2 unopposed Con returns) Labour took a very distant second in this contest, ahead of the Greens on 8%. The county division was also an easy Tory win with over two thirds of the vote, though this was down on the 75% share they got last year when the Tories again took advantage of UKIP's absence in a seat where they had taken second in both 2013 and 2009. However the main beneficiary of this modest Tory slippage were the Greens who advanced 7 points to take second place, ahead of Labour who were barely changed on last year.
Brighton and Hove - Labour hold with over two thirds of the vote, up close to 20 points since the last regular elections here in 2015 and more modestly (but still significantly) since a previous 2016 byelection in this ward. This has long been one of Labour's safest areas locally returning three councillors for them without fail, though the Tories were relatively close in 2003 and 2007 before the Greens took over runners up spot come their 2011 high point locally (still some way behind though) Tories retook second in yet another byelection in 2012 and have retained it since, but Labour were well entrenched by then and this performance was their strongest yet. Tories best of the rest on 17%, ahead of the Greens who at least held onto their share in the most recent by-election. LibDems last on 4%, halved from the last scheduled polls here.
East Staffordshire DC - Tory hold, though they were run quite close by an Independent candidate who took second place in a previous by-election only last autumn - the Tory share dropped to the low forties in a ward that has safely returned three councillors for them at every election since 2003. The swing from the last by-election was over 5% towards the Independent candidate as they approached 35% of the vote - Labour remained third little changed on either then or the last regular elections in 2015. UKIP came second then, but crashed at the last byelection and now dropped to under 3%. That was still ahead of the LibDems, who polled all of 14 votes - or 0.8%.
Weymouth and Portland DC - two contests here in neighbouring wards, and somewhat contrasting outcomes even if the winning party was the same. The first was in a ward which returned three Independents in the 2004 all-out elections and has been won by them ever since; though quite often narrowly - notably over the Tories on GE day in 2010 and over UKIP come their high point in 2014, the only recent occasion before now that the Tories did not finish second here. This time around the Independents absented the field entirely (nobody seems quite sure why) and given the previous history the result - a Tory gain with a 17 point increase, might not seem massively surprising, maybe more so is that Labour finished just eight votes behind after an even bigger jump in their share for a 4% swing in their favour overall. Greens had the only other candidate, who finished on 7% which was clearly down on last year. This performance would have won the other vacancy for Labour, a ward which has evenly split its allegiances in recent years - after an early strong showing by Independents in 2004 and 2006 the Tories won every election from 2007 to 2011 before Labour started to dominate, wins in 2012 2014 and 2016 (beating the Tories by 60-40 in a straight fight) only interspersed by a Tory hold on GE day in 2015, and it was this seat that was up for grabs now. In the event the Tories won easily with over half the vote, a swing of 7% since their more recent win here (and of course, even bigger compared to more recent years) Greens again the only other ones to stand, their 8% plus slightly up on their previous showing 3 years ago.
Next week is a positive bonanza - 14 (!!) contests. Got my work cut out there, no question - but I will do my best
Login
Register
FAQ
Search
) that the subject isn't about rote learning what someone else tells you about it (knowledge) it's about having the ability to infer new things from source materials for yourself (transferable skills). Our knowledge of history is changing all the time, there's even a term for it - "the historical debate". GCSE's were brilliant for history, at least they were when I took them the year they were introduced, as they introduced the use of source materials, an important skill for historians and something I was using throughout my degree. I don't know what history GCSE's are like currently, but children learn about history throughout primary and key stage 3 so there's plenty of time to map out a basic framework of events, a knowledge base, before they get to GCSE level, so I really don't see why you wouldn't want to start introducing the skills needed to be an historian, rather than just know about history, at GCSE level. I'm sure the early start helped me get a better degree and it certainly helped me get a lot more out of studying history than I might have otherwise.
