Friday 20th November 2015

Tubby Isaacs · Post by **Tubby Isaacs** » Fri 20 Nov, 2015 1:51 pm

RogerOThornhill wrote:Good to see that target-driven culture isn't around now eh?

60 free schools ‘must be found’ for every area

http://schoolsweek.co.uk/sixty-free-sch ... -near-you/

Regional schools commissioners have been told to grant more than 60 new free schools each as the Department for Education formalises plans to meet David Cameron’s “challenging” pledge of 500 new schools by 2020.
Academy chain chief executive Alan Yellup (pictured above), who is also on the headteacher board for West Yorkshire and Lancashire, revealed his region’s target at the Westminster Education Forum last week.

Schools Week understands the directive was sent to all eight regional school commissioner regions as efforts are stepped up to meet Mr Cameron’s pre-election pledge of 500 new free schools.

It was also revealed at the forum on Thursday that the DfE plans to involve local authorities in its free schools programme, a significant shift from the past five years where councils were generally bypassed.
Never mind whether those schools are actually needed in the area or now as Robert Hill says further down.

Had the pleasure of talking to him last week at a meeting - nice guy and very clued in as to what's going on and the direction of travel.

Do they actually have these powers? I thought they were about converting schools to academies and overseeing existing academies?

RogerOThornhill · Post by **RogerOThornhill** » Fri 20 Nov, 2015 1:56 pm

Tubby Isaacs wrote:
RogerOThornhill wrote:Good to see that target-driven culture isn't around now eh?

60 free schools ‘must be found’ for every area

http://schoolsweek.co.uk/sixty-free-sch ... -near-you/

Regional schools commissioners have been told to grant more than 60 new free schools each as the Department for Education formalises plans to meet David Cameron’s “challenging” pledge of 500 new schools by 2020.
Academy chain chief executive Alan Yellup (pictured above), who is also on the headteacher board for West Yorkshire and Lancashire, revealed his region’s target at the Westminster Education Forum last week.

Schools Week understands the directive was sent to all eight regional school commissioner regions as efforts are stepped up to meet Mr Cameron’s pre-election pledge of 500 new free schools.

It was also revealed at the forum on Thursday that the DfE plans to involve local authorities in its free schools programme, a significant shift from the past five years where councils were generally bypassed.
Never mind whether those schools are actually needed in the area or now as Robert Hill says further down.

Had the pleasure of talking to him last week at a meeting - nice guy and very clued in as to what's going on and the direction of travel.
Do they actually have these powers? I thought they were about converting schools to academies and overseeing existing academies?

Think those powers will shortly be coming to them...even while the Select Committee is taking evidence as to their role.

I do find it ironic that one of the leading RSCs used to be Director of Education for Essex CC - he has more power now than when he was with Essex.

Willow904 · Post by **Willow904** » Fri 20 Nov, 2015 2:09 pm

http://uk.businessinsider.com/this-is-w ... hem-2015-6" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

There's a good graph in this article which compares how Osborne has fared against his targets for spending cuts and for tax receipts. It shows clearly that while he is achieving his cuts targets, his tax receipts are well below target. The result, obviously, is that the deficit is reduced much more slowly, if at all. Which is why it is staggering that he can propose to deliberately reduce tax receipts even further with tax cuts for the better off without a single query from the press about the rather obvious negative effect such measures will have on the oh so important deficit reduction plan.

Tubby Isaacs · Post by **Tubby Isaacs** » Fri 20 Nov, 2015 2:14 pm

Those Clegg-inspired cuts to the personal allowance might not be helping.

A nice idea, Nick, but we can't afford it- D Cameron, in 2010 Prime Minister debates.

HindleA · Post by **HindleA** » Fri 20 Nov, 2015 2:20 pm

http://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/ ... nsfer-work" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Economists tested 7 welfare programs to see if they made people lazy. They didn't.

Exactly zero of the seven programs saw a statistically significant change in either employment levels or hours worked per week:

tinybgoat · Post by **tinybgoat** » Fri 20 Nov, 2015 2:20 pm

howsillyofme1 wrote:Good afternoon everyone

I see a self-delusional twat has been spraying shit on our site again......it really must take some effort to be so ignorant

I see that the great British media is managing to avoid talking about the crisis about to explode in our public services

But I only said I didn't like Duran Duran.

TheGrimSqueaker · Post by **TheGrimSqueaker** » Fri 20 Nov, 2015 2:27 pm

seeingclearly wrote:
TheGrimSqueaker wrote:
RobertSnozers wrote: I turned the radio off as soon as I realised who the guest was.

The thing about 80s music, as it seems to me anyway, is that the stuff that is widely remembered now is the commercial dross rather than the less popular but musically more interesting tunes. A bit like if the 60s were chiefly thought of today as the decade that brought us Herman's Hermits.
Tru dat. I was also into Genesis, Kate Bush & the Police back then, all of which still gets radio play, but you rarely hear the likes of The Selecter or The Beat on the oldie stations now (apart from when Pauline Black has done the odd show on 6 Music); bit of Madness is their token nod to that particular genre.
Love that early eighties stuff, it just got worse as time went on. some of the reggae/ska/punk people are still around for live music, and internet radio stations give them airtime, I should know, until my youngest got the hang of understanding I didn't want my ears blasted off all day that was the stuff he listened to. The Beat of course cloned itself, both still perform, Wakeling in the US, Roger over here.
Pauline is around too.

Still a lively ska scene in and around Brixton (the Hootenanny pub especially), and a few of the old crowd pop up at mini music festivals in Brockwell Park every now & then.

howsillyofme1 · Post by **howsillyofme1** » Fri 20 Nov, 2015 2:57 pm

tinybgoat wrote:
howsillyofme1 wrote:Good afternoon everyone

I see a self-delusional twat has been spraying shit on our site again......it really must take some effort to be so ignorant

I see that the great British media is managing to avoid talking about the crisis about to explode in our public services
But I only said I didn't like Duran Duran.

That would've been justification enough....but it wasn't directed at you

StephenDolan · Post by **StephenDolan** » Fri 20 Nov, 2015 2:59 pm

Robert Webb announces he has left Labour and cites election of Corbyn

http://gu.com/p/4ecqj" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

'Maybe I'll vote for them, maybe I won't.'
Marvellous, way to go. That'll show them. Them being Labour, the Tories or whoever.

rebeccariots2 · Post by **rebeccariots2** » Fri 20 Nov, 2015 3:03 pm

StephenDolan wrote:Robert Webb announces he has left Labour and cites election of Corbyn

http://gu.com/p/4ecqj" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

'Maybe I'll vote for them, maybe I won't.'
Marvellous, way to go. That'll show them. Them being Labour, the Tories or whoever.

Was he previously a big, vocal supporter? I ask because the report / interview I read in politicshome re this made me think ... so what. It came across as a very flat story.

citizenJA · Post by **citizenJA** » Fri 20 Nov, 2015 3:04 pm

StephenDolan wrote:Robert Webb announces he has left Labour and cites election of Corbyn

http://gu.com/p/4ecqj" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

'Maybe I'll vote for them, maybe I won't.'
Marvellous, way to go. That'll show them. Them being Labour, the Tories or whoever.

Who?

AnatolyKasparov · Post by **AnatolyKasparov** » Fri 20 Nov, 2015 3:04 pm

StephenDolan wrote:Robert Webb announces he has left Labour and cites election of Corbyn

http://gu.com/p/4ecqj" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

'Maybe I'll vote for them, maybe I won't.'
Marvellous, way to go. That'll show them. Them being Labour, the Tories or whoever.

He sounds a real loss based on that

StephenDolan · Post by **StephenDolan** » Fri 20 Nov, 2015 3:11 pm

AnatolyKasparov wrote:
StephenDolan wrote:Robert Webb announces he has left Labour and cites election of Corbyn

http://gu.com/p/4ecqj" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

'Maybe I'll vote for them, maybe I won't.'
Marvellous, way to go. That'll show them. Them being Labour, the Tories or whoever.
He sounds a real loss based on that

But ZOMG he's like a celebrity so that's A Really Big Deal. Hence it being the top story on the politics section. Below that we have

Spending review puts brunt of cuts on five departments, says thinktank

IFS study warns fair system for funding Scotland 'impossible'

Junior doctors' strike 'puts 60,000 operations a day at risk'

All trifling stories...

PorFavor · Post by **PorFavor** » Fri 20 Nov, 2015 3:38 pm

Newport considers fining people who sleep rough

33 minutes ago

Homeless charities have criticised plans to ban people from sleeping rough in city centres as Newport is the latest place to consider imposing fines of up to £1,000. (BBC News website)

Aside from the distress this will cause, I can't really see it being a money-spinner. Prison presumably beckons for those who can't pay (just about all of them I'd guess) so there's another saving.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-34876984

TR'sGhost · Post by **TR'sGhost** » Fri 20 Nov, 2015 3:43 pm

RogerOThornhill wrote:Morning all. Just popped by to stick this on record...wonder who might do this?

Well, I'm not a lawyer, but it's my understanding that pretending to be someone else and making forged statements that others might reasonably believe actually came from the person looks very much like defamation.

If identity copying happens again it might be worth reminding the Guardian that as owners and operators of their website forum they are the ones publishing the defamation and once warned about what is going on they can be held liable if they don't do something to prevent it.

The easiest way to "do something" being to block the offender and handle them with extreme prejudice every time they pop their head over the parapet....

rebeccariots2 · Post by **rebeccariots2** » Fri 20 Nov, 2015 3:46 pm

With the government still running deficits each month, the UK’s total debt pile is still increasing, according to the ONS. In total, the UK now owes more than £1.5tn, equivalent to 80.5% of GDP. That compares with 69% in 2010/11, Osborne’s first year as chancellor under the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government.

http://www.theguardian.com/business/201 ... ge-osborne" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Osborne's inheritance from the previous Labour chancellor looks considerably better than the one he is going to leave his successor.

Why aren't we hearing Tory and Lib Dem MPs screaming that we're as bad as Greece and self-flagellating in recompense for their dreadful management of the economy? Come on George ... it's like good housekeeping you know, counting the pennies in your purse, making a shopping list in advance and only buying the things on the list and what you can afford, it's as simple as that (or have you just found out that this analogy is utter bollocks?). We seem to have given you the car keys and - what do you know - you're proceeding to crash the car in horrible, drawn out slow-mo.

Willow904 · Post by **Willow904** » Fri 20 Nov, 2015 3:47 pm

PorFavor wrote:
Newport considers fining people who sleep rough

33 minutes ago

Homeless charities have criticised plans to ban people from sleeping rough in city centres as Newport is the latest place to consider imposing fines of up to £1,000. (BBC News website)

Aside from the distress this will cause, I can't really see it being a money-spinner. Prison presumably beckons for those who can't pay (just about all of them I'd guess) so there's another saving.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-34876984

Has anyone actually seen an explanation from anyone behind these fines being imposed on homeless people of why it is being done and what it is expected to achieve? The linked article says that some people have criticised the plans, but there is no attempt to explain the purpose of the policy at all. Isn't that a bit odd?

rebeccariots2 · Post by **rebeccariots2** » Fri 20 Nov, 2015 3:49 pm

Andy Slaughter MP Retweeted
Times Law ‏@TimesLaw 7m7 minutes ago
‘Perverse’ courts charge must be scrapped, say MPs http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/law/article4619332.ece" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; …

Another story - evidence of failed Tory policy and incompetence - that hasn't had as much focus as it could have.

rebeccariots2 · Post by **rebeccariots2** » Fri 20 Nov, 2015 3:56 pm

How could I not post this ... despite it being very very off topic?

: Baby Koala Clings To Mum During Surgery.jpg (45.43 KiB) Viewed 6277 times

rebeccariots2 · Post by **rebeccariots2** » Fri 20 Nov, 2015 3:59 pm

Joe Murphy ‏@JoeMurphyLondon 23m23 minutes ago
George Osborne's ratings dip to 2013 levels, find @IpsosMORI. Everyone I speak to says "that's tax credits". http://www.standard.co.uk/news/politics ... 19676.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; …

AnatolyKasparov · Post by **AnatolyKasparov** » Fri 20 Nov, 2015 4:00 pm

RobertSnozers wrote:
rebeccariots2 wrote:
StephenDolan wrote:Robert Webb announces he has left Labour and cites election of Corbyn

http://gu.com/p/4ecqj" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

'Maybe I'll vote for them, maybe I won't.'
Marvellous, way to go. That'll show them. Them being Labour, the Tories or whoever.
Was he previously a big, vocal supporter? I ask because the report / interview I read in politicshome re this made me think ... so what. It came across as a very flat story.
He came on board shortly (apparently he had been a member previously) just before the election largely in protest at Russell Brand telling people not to vote.

http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/20 ... sell-brand" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Oh god, just remembered that. I was actually on Webb's "side" then, but his manner was so supercillious it put loads of people off.

He seems very much like one of those "decent leftists" who do little else but solipistic "virtue signalling" whilst noisily accusing their critics of just that.

Bye then, and don't bother informing us of whether you have condescended to vote Labour in the end or not

PorFavor · Post by **PorFavor** » Fri 20 Nov, 2015 4:02 pm

Willow904 wrote:
PorFavor wrote:
Newport considers fining people who sleep rough

33 minutes ago

Homeless charities have criticised plans to ban people from sleeping rough in city centres as Newport is the latest place to consider imposing fines of up to £1,000. (BBC News website)

Aside from the distress this will cause, I can't really see it being a money-spinner. Prison presumably beckons for those who can't pay (just about all of them I'd guess) so there's another saving.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-34876984
Has anyone actually seen an explanation from anyone behind these fines being imposed on homeless people of why it is being done and what it is expected to achieve? The linked article says that some people have criticised the plans, but there is no attempt to explain the purpose of the policy at all. Isn't that a bit odd?

Presumably, it's to discourage all those japesters who sleep rough in the winter just for a laugh. Obvious, really.

ohsocynical · Post by **ohsocynical** » Fri 20 Nov, 2015 4:03 pm

Elizabeth Retweeted

George Osborne ‏@George_Osborne Nov 18

Great news that pay rose 5.4% in N Ireland in 12 months to April, while West Mids and East of England led the way across rest of UK

N.Ireland? Is this what they call clutching at straws?

ohsocynical · Post by **ohsocynical** » Fri 20 Nov, 2015 4:06 pm

Willow904 wrote:
PorFavor wrote:
Newport considers fining people who sleep rough

33 minutes ago

Homeless charities have criticised plans to ban people from sleeping rough in city centres as Newport is the latest place to consider imposing fines of up to £1,000. (BBC News website)

Aside from the distress this will cause, I can't really see it being a money-spinner. Prison presumably beckons for those who can't pay (just about all of them I'd guess) so there's another saving.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-34876984
Has anyone actually seen an explanation from anyone behind these fines being imposed on homeless people of why it is being done and what it is expected to achieve? The linked article says that some people have criticised the plans, but there is no attempt to explain the purpose of the policy at all. Isn't that a bit odd?

Sadly it's because there will shortly be so many they'll be camping out all over the place and put shoppers and visitors off. People complain when they start tripping over them.

Tubby Isaacs · Post by **Tubby Isaacs** » Fri 20 Nov, 2015 4:08 pm

I presume the fines on people sleeping rough apply only in certain places- they did when Hackney considered them. There might be some logic behind that, I don't know.

PorFavor · Post by **PorFavor** » Fri 20 Nov, 2015 4:15 pm

I remember the reports of rough sleepers having their belongings - sleeping bags and the like - confiscated. Was that last year or longer ago?

Edited to remove a completely unnecessary "being".

rebeccariots2 · Post by **rebeccariots2** » Fri 20 Nov, 2015 4:21 pm

Tory MP Philip Davies says more women should be sent to prison to achieve equality with men
Mr Davies says men are discriminated against because they are locked up more frequently
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/po ... 41556.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The electorate of Shipley in Yorkshire has a lot to answer for ...

Tubby Isaacs · Post by **Tubby Isaacs** » Fri 20 Nov, 2015 4:21 pm

Labour, they're on the wrong side of public opinion all the time!

http://press.labour.org.uk/post/1335907 ... -on-police" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Silly Labour. The British people don't want police spending protected.

rebeccariots2 · Post by **rebeccariots2** » Fri 20 Nov, 2015 4:32 pm

Paul Waugh ‏@paulwaugh 7m7 minutes ago
Labour's OldhamW byelxn candidate @CllrJimMcMahon tells @HuffPostUK why UKP wrong on patriotism + local knowledge http://huff.to/218qizI" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

ohsocynical · Post by **ohsocynical** » Fri 20 Nov, 2015 4:32 pm

Hospital cuts...King Edward Hospital Windsor:

2014 5-6 week wait for cataract operation
2015: 18 weeks.

rebeccariots2 · Post by **rebeccariots2** » Fri 20 Nov, 2015 4:33 pm

Sorry - but I thought I should warn you that he's got a new self publicising outlet.

Simon Danczuk ‏@SimonDanczuk 4m4 minutes ago
Watch my new weekly video update "Simon says" where I discuss all the latest issues in Parliament and in Rochdale " onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; …

Tubby Isaacs · Post by **Tubby Isaacs** » Fri 20 Nov, 2015 4:39 pm

http://www.theguardian.com/business/201 ... port-finds" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

PAC steam into Network Rail, but say that the promised outputs were never deliverable at the costs quoted.

I'm pretty sure the government knew about Network Rail problems before the election, even if Network Rail kept very quiet. That suited the government very well. Stupidly, they stuck loads of stuff in their manifesto and they're going to have problems delivering those, specifying actual projects.

Tubby Isaacs · Post by **Tubby Isaacs** » Fri 20 Nov, 2015 4:48 pm

The Brains Trust on the Guardian think it's all HS2's fault.

rebeccariots2 · Post by **rebeccariots2** » Fri 20 Nov, 2015 4:49 pm

As well commenting on the lack of balance in reporting terrorism worldwide, Simpson seems to be saying similar things to Nick Robinson in this interview - good on him. He seems to think the sorry state of journalism - both broadcast and print - is irrevocable though.

John Simpson: British Media Is 'Grotesquely Selective' In Reporting Terror Attacks
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2015/11 ... _hp_ref=uk" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

... "Journalism has changed out of all recognition from when I started," he continues, although he admits that was around 50 years ago.

"But it stayed the same until about 10 or 15 years ago. I suppose it's the dawn of the new century, but I'm really very kind of depressed about the way that newspapers and television has developed.

"The jobs are fewer, the pay is much much less. I'm afraid we're back to where we used to be a century or more ago, in the late Victorian or early Edwardian period, when journalists were pretty much self-financed.

"So all those courses in media studies which were producing really high qualified and able people have suddenly kind of hatched up in the sands because the money to employ them is not there any more."

Nor, according to Simpson, is the high quality reporting on government policies, which has instead been replaced with politician's slanging matches.

"It's perfectly reasonable to cover the accusations and name-calling, politics has always had that element. But the policy elements in this are what don't get reported so much now.

"If you don't do serious articles about policy, it is a bit, you know," he pauses, searching for the right word, "empty"...

ohsocynical · Post by **ohsocynical** » Fri 20 Nov, 2015 4:49 pm

STEVE MOSS
‏@frankobserver@demindblower

Gideon sets up fund to help 'poor' MPs. This isn't a joke,it's the real thing.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/ch ... =49%20p$10

It's no good. Block your ears. I have to scream....

rebeccariots2 · Post by **rebeccariots2** » Fri 20 Nov, 2015 4:55 pm

Andy Slaughter MP ‏@hammersmithandy 13m13 minutes ago
Jeremy Hunt's refusal to come to Parliament to deal with doctors' strike branded 'absolute disgrace' by @CliveEfford http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/po ... 41931.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; …

So he wouldn't even turn up to answer the urgent questions in the HoC ... what a piece of work he is.

Tubby Isaacs · Post by **Tubby Isaacs** » Fri 20 Nov, 2015 5:08 pm

More brilliant corporate managment by Wilshaw.

http://schoolsweek.co.uk/ofsted-to-let- ... nce-forms/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Ofsted has told parliament that inspectors’ evidence forms will be released to people who request them under information laws.

But one former inspector warned that “large numbers” of heads could rush to get the notes in the hope of challenging an outcome and overload Ofsted with freedom of information (FoI) requests, while information expert Tim Turner described the documents as “interesting, immediate and potentially a bit inconvenient”.

In the final section of a letter to parliament in September, Chief Inspector Michael Wilshaw wrote that the watchdog had “for some time, been providing inspection ‘evidence bases’ to the public on request”

That's every school that's ever had a disappointing Ofsted sticking in a FOIA. That's loads of stuff to be released that was never intended, and which will look awful. Or hurried rewrites, which the schools will challenge because they want the original material others have seen.

Wilshaw should have made inspectors get the material into reasonable shape when they were doing their reports if it was going to be released. But hey, he was off talking about pupils standing up, and problem families having neighbours wake their kids.

Tubby Isaacs · Post by **Tubby Isaacs** » Fri 20 Nov, 2015 5:18 pm

I wonder if Sheriff Mike's going to start refusing FOIAs, just to bump the cost up a bit more?

RogerOThornhill · Post by **RogerOThornhill** » Fri 20 Nov, 2015 5:32 pm

Ooh, another post on Conservative Teachers...oh, it's someone that posted last month. Having trouble finding any more?

http://conservativeteachers.com/2015/11 ... -are-many/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

There is another reason this will endure as a success, which I was only reminded of by a friend today: it is the only way of ensuring a conservative legacy. Remember Robert Conquest’s second law: Any organization not explicitly right-wing sooner or later becomes left-wing. It may take a while but there will one day be another Labour government. Any institution that we set up to ensure traditional education can be taken over. Personnel can be replaced. You only have to think of the National Curriculum and Ofsted, both creations of the last Conservative government, to see what can happen to institutions and organisations when they are left to the education establishment. Now think of that with Ofqual, Ofsted (again), the proposed College of Teaching (if they raise the cash to start). Anything we can centralise, they can turn into a weapon against us.

Er....what? What do you think is happening Tim?

Autonomy should be our watchword going forward. While the traditional view is in the ascendancy – albeit seemingly tarred with the absurd oxymoron “neo-traditional” – we must make sure we create no more institutions and decentralise as far as possible. If there are no powerful institutions as our influence declines, how will the left control us? Let them try to control hundreds of individual schools. Let them try to create their own institutions dedicated to lowering standards and we can decry them.

Heh.

Maybe he ought to look at the power that the Regional Commissioner for his area has now over his school.

And by a sheer coincidence, it just happens to be the ex-Director of Education at his old county council!

Is it me, or do some people not realise what's going on in their own backyard or are they simply awful liars?

yahyah · Post by **yahyah** » Fri 20 Nov, 2015 5:32 pm

citizenJA wrote:
StephenDolan wrote:Robert Webb announces he has left Labour and cites election of Corbyn

http://gu.com/p/4ecqj" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

'Maybe I'll vote for them, maybe I won't.'
Marvellous, way to go. That'll show them. Them being Labour, the Tories or whoever.
Who?

A not very talented, over paid comedian.

ohsocynical · Post by **ohsocynical** » Fri 20 Nov, 2015 5:43 pm

: ghj.png (133.35 KiB) Viewed 6132 times

Tubby Isaacs · Post by **Tubby Isaacs** » Fri 20 Nov, 2015 5:44 pm

the absurd oxymoron “neo-traditional”

Like the similarly (not at all) absurd "neo-classical"?

citizenJA · Post by **citizenJA** » Fri 20 Nov, 2015 5:47 pm

Treasury spokeswoman, transport department spokesman, government spokesperson(s)...read this a lot in articles.
The Tory ministers in government are named and the front bench of failures will take responsibility for the wrongs done on their watch.

yahyah · Post by **yahyah** » Fri 20 Nov, 2015 6:08 pm

Have been busy all day, so may be missing something obvious here but why would a Tory MP say
''The point I am trying to make is that I do not agree with the principle of compulsory first aid education in schools.''

What would be wrong in training children to understand the principles of first aid ?
St John's Ambulance and The British Red Cross are in support of it.

''Tory MPs block bill to give first aid training to children by talking non-stop until debate ends''
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/po ... 42251.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

ohsocynical · Post by **ohsocynical** » Fri 20 Nov, 2015 6:19 pm

George Aylett ‏@GeorgeAylett 16 mins16 minutes ago

For every 3 members that join Labour 1 leaves.
Shame to see people leaving. Socialists and Social Democrats must unite to defeat the Tories.

yahyah · Post by **yahyah** » Fri 20 Nov, 2015 6:23 pm

ohsocynical wrote:George Aylett ‏@GeorgeAylett 16 mins16 minutes ago

For every 3 members that join Labour 1 leaves.
Shame to see people leaving. Socialists and Social Democrats must unite to defeat the Tories.

Are those figures confirmed I wonder ?
If correct, does the Labour party ask people why they have left ?
If they don't, how does Aylett know who/why people are leaving ?

& did people not leave the party before Corbyn joined

rebeccariots2 · Post by **rebeccariots2** » Fri 20 Nov, 2015 6:26 pm

Carwyn Jones ‏@fmwales 2h2 hours ago
Today we've moved to block the UK Government’s controversial Trade Union Bill http://ow.ly/UTfrn" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Stephen Doughty ‏@SDoughtyMP 3m3 minutes ago
Excellent news and just what I warned UK Minister would happen on #TUBill http://gov.wales/newsroom/firstminister ... um=twitter" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; …

RogerOThornhill · Post by **RogerOThornhill** » Fri 20 Nov, 2015 6:34 pm

Jeez...these people...

https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/ ... ofessional" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

‘The age of the school business manager’ report published this year highlights that 90% of secondary schools have access to a school business manager, making them an integral part of the system. You are enabling schools to be more innovative and autonomous in freeing themselves from local authority control and being responsible for their own decisions and strategy. And I have great expectations that your role will become even more fundamental to schools across the country.

And this is one of the many areas where your work as school business managers is so vital. Now is the time for you to have a huge impact on schools. Ten years ago, schools were reliant on local authorities without the autonomy to act independently.

Now, though the academies programme, more and more schools are more autonomous than ever, giving frontline professionals the freedom to think innovatively and creatively about how to make the best use of funding for your pupils.

Oh just fuck off with that.

Fed up with this crap that they keep churning out. LAs bad, academies good.

And the "more autonomous than ever" - for schools in a multi-academy trust?

No, less. far, far less.

rebeccariots2 · Post by **rebeccariots2** » Fri 20 Nov, 2015 6:56 pm

Well good for them - the Now Show on Radio 4 are doing a sketch on the appalling report on the impact of WCA on the mental health of claimants. Yes, it's a comedy sketch but it's taking apart the DWP judgements / rulings on things such as how incontinent you have to be to be not able to work .... and they are actually saying how 'nasty' the DWP is. They are making all the serious points that need to be made about this vile system.

Bloody hooray.

HindleA · Post by **HindleA** » Fri 20 Nov, 2015 7:04 pm

Here or repeat tomorrow.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b06pdjhc" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;