Monday 1st December 2014

[Spacedone]

Gov overturns Lords defeat on #judicialreview 319 to 203 Means public authority can escape legal challenge even when they behave improperly.

This makes me furious and sick. One more for Labour to do something about if they get into government .... how many of these awful things that need undoing are there now.

Did any Lib Dems turn up? Last tweet I saw said that only one Lib Dem was in the chamber to debate it. I hate them with a passion I didn't think possible.

Government vote themselves the equivalent of a Get Out Of Jail Free Card. IDS must be relieved.

[Tubby Isaacs]

http://www.lawgazette.co.uk/law/mps-bac ... 49.article" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Conservative MP Geoffrey Cox said he opposed the government amendment and warned permission hearings will turn into a ‘detailed and cumbersome process’.

Cox was one of two Conservative MPs, along with Zac Goldsmith, to vote against the government. Andrew Turner also abstained.

Sarah Teather was the only Liberal Democrat MP to vote against the government, while newly-elected UKIP MPs Douglas Carswell and Mark Reckless also joined the opposition.

[Tubby Isaacs]

The only Lib Dem rebel (Teather) is retiring.

Pitiful.

[AngryAsWell]

Here are 46 more reasons why Miliband is an excellent leader, with a sound foundation of effective and much-needed costed and evidence-based policy proposals:

http://linkis.com/wp.me/5Ur2G" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Tubby Isaacs]

I know "affordable" in London can mean lots of things, but worthwhile chart.



One reason why I get a bit defensive of Tower Hamlets. We're right up there.

Some of the crap performing Tory boroughs have gone Labour since then.

[PaulfromYorkshire]

Huffington Post UK - ‎26 minutes ago‎
Poland's deputy foreign minister has warned David Cameron that any change to EU rules regarding migrants would represent “an absolute red line” for the Warsaw government.

[TheGrimSqueaker]

Well, that was fun!! Wollaston did herself no favours with that tweet, things have just gone crazy over there; still, at least she can rest easy in the knowledge that, unlike Thornberry's, her little faux pas will go unnoticed.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Osborne now getting kicked up the arse by CityAM.

http://www.cityam.com/1417463850/pork-b ... ement-2014" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Wonder if a few in the City are thinking of changing sides?

[TheGrimSqueaker]

Osborne now getting kicked up the arse by CityAM.

http://www.cityam.com/1417463850/pork-b ... ement-2014" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Wonder if a few in the City are thinking of changing sides?

Those damn lefties at the IEA, what do they know? That is a very damning piece, will make for uncomfortable reading at the Number 11 breakfast table tomorrow morning.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Some of those hard rightists are genuine in what they say about the deficit, to be fair.

[RogerOThornhill]

Interesting looking story in The Times tomorrow about Farage's 'cabal' fixing the candidate list.

[TheGrimSqueaker]

Some of those hard rightists are genuine in what they say about the deficit, to be fair.

And the fact they are no longer afraid to say it is of no little significance. They are losing the argument on all sides, and they know it; maybe I'm just on the upward swing of my cycle * but I'm beginning to feel a little more hopeful - despite all the rhetoric, and despite the 'interesting' opinion polls their house of cards looks distinctly precarious, maybe things are really about to turn.


*Really should talk to a doctor about that properly. Possibly not Dr Wollaston though.

[Hobiejoe]

Grabbed a quick look at The Agenda on my way to bed, and although she didn't say much when I saw it, the looks of utter disdain Stephanie Flanders gave to Amanda Platell and most especial the ginger rodent were magnificent.

[mbc1955]

Some of those hard rightists are genuine in what they say about the deficit, to be fair.

And the fact they are no longer afraid to say it is of no little significance. They are losing the argument on all sides, and they know it; maybe I'm just on the upward swing of my cycle * but I'm beginning to feel a little more hopeful - despite all the rhetoric, and despite the 'interesting' opinion polls their house of cards looks distinctly precarious, maybe things are really about to turn.


*Really should talk to a doctor about that properly. Possibly not Dr Wollaston though.

It's turning into an interesting time. There was all the hideous screeching at Milliband, Thornberry and Labour after Rochester & Strood and yet it's meant nothing to the opinion polls. UKIP, for all the publicity they're still getting, and the simple-mindedness of their support, are already showing signs of busting now they've got two authentic politiciams on board. Everything Cameron does crumbles at his touch, so much so that even the concerted efforts of the MSM can't conceal it, and Osborne's excuse for economics is being roundly criticised on all sides.

Maybe the whole crapshoot has gotten just too bloated and rotten for anybody to be able to ignore it any more. Maybe the sheer disintegration of the country is getting too obvious to too many people. Maybe I should book the Friday off work the day after the Election, in case we are in for a version of 97?

[TheGrimSqueaker]

Some of those hard rightists are genuine in what they say about the deficit, to be fair.

And the fact they are no longer afraid to say it is of no little significance. They are losing the argument on all sides, and they know it; maybe I'm just on the upward swing of my cycle * but I'm beginning to feel a little more hopeful - despite all the rhetoric, and despite the 'interesting' opinion polls their house of cards looks distinctly precarious, maybe things are really about to turn.


*Really should talk to a doctor about that properly. Possibly not Dr Wollaston though.

It's turning into an interesting time. There was all the hideous screeching at Milliband, Thornberry and Labour after Rochester & Strood and yet it's meant nothing to the opinion polls. UKIP, for all the publicity they're still getting, and the simple-mindedness of their support, are already showing signs of busting now they've got two authentic politiciams on board. Everything Cameron does crumbles at his touch, so much so that even the concerted efforts of the MSM can't conceal it, and Osborne's excuse for economics is being roundly criticised on all sides.

Maybe the whole crapshoot has gotten just too bloated and rotten for anybody to be able to ignore it any more. Maybe the sheer disintegration of the country is getting too obvious to too many people. Maybe I should book the Friday off work the day after the Election, in case we are in for a version of 97?

I've just checked The Levellers website and, sadly, they don't appear to be playing that day; their gig at the Brixton Academy back in '97 was like a victory party - shame that Blair let us down so badly. Hopefully Miliband is a different kettle of fish.

Night all, Catch you on the morrow.

[Hobiejoe]

Some of those hard rightists are genuine in what they say about the deficit, to be fair.

And the fact they are no longer afraid to say it is of no little significance. They are losing the argument on all sides, and they know it; maybe I'm just on the upward swing of my cycle * but I'm beginning to feel a little more hopeful - despite all the rhetoric, and despite the 'interesting' opinion polls their house of cards looks distinctly precarious, maybe things are really about to turn.


*Really should talk to a doctor about that properly. Possibly not Dr Wollaston though.

It's turning into an interesting time. There was all the hideous screeching at Milliband, Thornberry and Labour after Rochester & Strood and yet it's meant nothing to the opinion polls. UKIP, for all the publicity they're still getting, and the simple-mindedness of their support, are already showing signs of busting now they've got two authentic politiciams on board. Everything Cameron does crumbles at his touch, so much so that even the concerted efforts of the MSM can't conceal it, and Osborne's excuse for economics is being roundly criticised on all sides.

Maybe the whole crapshoot has gotten just too bloated and rotten for anybody to be able to ignore it any more. Maybe the sheer disintegration of the country is getting too obvious to too many people. Maybe I should book the Friday off work the day after the Election, in case we are in for a version of 97?

I'm feeling confident. You may know that I'm a publican in a town that's a rich persons playground, lots of second homes, and quite a conservative local population, but I'm picking up, well, if not revolution then a lot of disquiet and discomfort over the last 12 months.

Nothing quantifiable, purely subjective. But if I'm hearing this kind of talk here, then I reckon the mood is changing.

[citizenJA]

Oh dear. Tory MP claims she is being misrepresented and bullied, and then tweets this .....

Sarah Wollaston MP ‏@drwollastonmp · 5m5 minutes ago
@MargoJMilne @wsjaeboo @AndyLucia @LabourLeft please do keep it coming, shows Labour's vacuous hashtag campaign for what it really is

You gotta love it when they switch to the patronising approach, always a sure sign f somebody confident about their position.

Very small, Sarah Wollaston, a rude, spiteful, name-calling missive.

On the upside, I checked out what's going on on LabourLeft & found this -

http://labourlist.org/2014/12/miliband- ... e-returns/

Speaking in Nottingham today, Ed Miliband:
“Their broken promises, their abject failure, are not an accident. They are the direct result of an outdated ideology which says all a Government has to do is look after a privileged few at the top and everyone else will follow...Britain will only succeed and prosper for the long term by tackling the cost-of-living crisis and building a recovery which works for the many, not just for a few. Or whether they will just offer more of the same old ideas that have failed them, failed everyday working people, and failed Britain over the past four years.”

Someone mentioned here recently LabourList isn't coherent below the line due to people who not only don't want to support Labour but never want to. They use Dr. Wolloston-like commentary; the last post I read wondered why those detesting Labour below the line haven't addressed what current government have done to help people.

[RogerOThornhill]

Osborne now getting kicked up the arse by CityAM.

http://www.cityam.com/1417463850/pork-b ... ement-2014" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Wonder if a few in the City are thinking of changing sides?

The other parties say they would tax more, but given no UK government has ever raised over 38 per cent of GDP in revenues (and we’re currently at 37 per cent), it’s not obvious whether this is even feasible.

That claim is bollocks for a start - it was over 40% for all of the Thatcher years to 1988/89!

In fact, the average for the 18 years is exactly 40.0%.

[citizenJA]

Ready for sleep myself, everyone. Many thanks for your kindnesses today, my friends. Thank you.

Love,
JA

[rebeccariots2]

Thousands of ‘fake’ students at new higher education colleges
National Audit Office warns that students at unmonitored alternative providers could have accessed over £50m in funding
http://www.theguardian.com/education/20 ... -nao-loans

The auditor found that another group of 5,500 undergraduates from the EU have been unable to prove they were either living in the UK or entitled to public funding.

A separate internal government inquiry found that 1,000 of these students, most of whom come from Bulgaria and Romania, were definitely fraudulent and had already claimed £5.4m in student loans before being found out. The government has been able to recover just 7% of that money so far, the NAO said.

I think we have a good idea what Farage will make of this ... gift from the coalition to him. These new colleges are the ones that the coalition under David Willetts set up as '“alternative providers” – organisations which the government was hoping would lead ground-breaking market reforms in the higher education sector '.

Sounds like they've certainly been ground breaking ... in the level of fraud and drop outs.

More money wasted by this bloody government.

[Spacedone]

Thousands of ‘fake’ students at new higher education colleges
National Audit Office warns that students at unmonitored alternative providers could have accessed over £50m in funding
http://www.theguardian.com/education/20 ... -nao-loans

The auditor found that another group of 5,500 undergraduates from the EU have been unable to prove they were either living in the UK or entitled to public funding.

A separate internal government inquiry found that 1,000 of these students, most of whom come from Bulgaria and Romania, were definitely fraudulent and had already claimed £5.4m in student loans before being found out. The government has been able to recover just 7% of that money so far, the NAO said.

I think we have a good idea what Farage will make of this ... gift from the coalition to him. These new colleges are the ones that the coalition under David Willetts set up as '“alternative providers” – organisations which the government was hoping would lead ground-breaking market reforms in the higher education sector '.

Sounds like they've certainly been ground breaking ... in the level of fraud and drop outs.

More money wasted by this bloody government.

The first paragraph of that article doesn't seem right to me.

Thousands of students enrolled with a new breed of private higher education colleges are not registered to take recognised exams, the government’s spending watchdog revealed on Tuesday, raising fears that huge numbers of undergraduates have been benefiting from taxpayer subsidy without undertaking meaningful study.

The emphasis is being placed upon the undergraduates, that they are benefiting from taxpayer subsidy, but it seems to me that it's the private colleges that are at fault. They are charging these kids £5000 each to take courses that do not have any recognised qualification at the end.

I saw something on a US news show just over a week ago about something very similar to this, where US private colleges have been set up to basically exploit the poor and/or former military people who get a government subsidy by attracting them via glossy advertising and then offering low quality courses in return that have no actual value to the student. They showed the example of a woman who thought she was on a nursing course but for the unit on psychiatry they were taken to the Scientology museum called "Psychiatry: An Industry Of Death".

[Tubby Isaacs]

The emphasis is being placed upon the undergraduates, that they are benefiting from taxpayer subsidy, but it seems to me that it's the private colleges that are at fault. They are charging these kids £5000 each to take courses that do not have any recognised qualification at the end.

I saw something on a US news show just over a week ago about something very similar to this, where US private colleges have been set up to basically exploit the poor and/or former military people who get a government subsidy by attracting them via glossy advertising and then offering low quality courses in return that have no actual value to the student. They showed the example of a woman who thought she was on a nursing course but for the unit on psychiatry they were taken to the Scientology museum called "Psychiatry: An Industry Of Death".

It might be both non-existent students and non-existent courses.

Looks like another farce arising from cutting "running costs" of departments.

[Tubby Isaacs]

I remember people from BPP being on the news when these alternative providers were discussed. I did some accounting exams with them and thought there were basically OK, though I had no idea how much my firm were paying them. Salaries would have been quite expensive for them because they had chartered accountants teaching, and it was hard work for them.

But didn't the government itself find problems with vocational qualifications generally? Or was the Wolf Report something different? If they did then it looks like they "poured money into unreformed services" (as they used to say about Labour, while simultaneously saying they wouldn't reorganize the NHS). And made it worse by having a whole load of new cowboys delivering the qualifications.