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Schools will have to sack teachers, increase class sizes and drop subjects from the curriculum in the new year because of a squeeze on budgets, head teachers are warning. They predict a "perfect storm", not of their making.
Apologies if Tubby or Roger have already posted these.
I've seen something similar. It was only a matter of time before this happened - the "protected area" covers up a whole range of issues like the crazy amounts spent on academization and on small-scale free schools.
Looking at some academies, there's a whole tier of senior management that needs pruning - who do all these deputy heads and assistant heads do all day?
They've made a total mess of education as far as I can see (much as they've made a mess of everything else).
It concerns me, as I have an eleven year old son who started at secondary school in September. I feel his education has potentially been damaged, or at the very least he and thousands of others used as guinea pigs in this governments ideological wrecking ball. He's now attending a school in special measures (recent Ofsted), that has recently been taken over by an Academy Trust (Outwood Grange), who I know little about, so can only hope *fingers crossed* that they can turn the school around.
It makes me angry that they are 'playing' with a whole generation's education and future like this, and I have been following your own and Tubby's post on this topic. So thanks for all the info you have posted. It is appreciated.
Consumers who feel ripped off by energy firms, high-street stores and mobile phone companies would be able to direct their complaints at a single, all-powerful watchdog – rather than battle with as many as 17 different ombudsmen as they do now – under a manifesto pledge by the Co-operative Party.
Eric_WLothian wrote:
Individual registration doesn't necessarily mean no annual reminders. Presumably it will still be up to local authorities to ensure that the register is up to date - but they'll have to contact every voter, rather than every household.
Still, lets look on the bright side - look at all the public funds that will move to Royal Mail in the process!
If you are already registered I'm sure there will be the normal reminders to re-register, but previously if a household (ie an address) wasn't registered, a letter would be sent to that address to "the occupier" inviting them to register for the whole address. Now think about a house of multiple residency where perhaps one student has registered as an individual. Other occupiers won't be registered by that individual and there will be no way for the council to know that others are living at that address. It seems to me there will be no reminder for them.
I'm not particularly bothered one way or another about individual registration, just the slapdash way it has been introduced and the fact that the opportunity to test it out on less important European and local elections earlier this year was overlooked in favour of bringing it in specifically to be trialled for the general election. Those moving house could fall through the cracks in greater numbers than usual as councils are still perfecting their new reminder procedures.
"Fall seven times, get up eight" - Japanese proverb
Anyone who'd like a good Christmas Osborne laugh .... nip over to Natalie Rowe's twitter timeline ... it's a corker. I won't post over here - to stop any corrupting influence!
There is an article in the Independent today that has shocked me - and I'm not easily shocked.
In Redbridge, police have been confiscating tents, sleeping bags, and food (often donated by the public) from homeless people.
This is, apparently, a "crackdown" on homelessness. How does that work, I wonder? Does homelessness stop because the police "crack down" on it, and do the homeless suddenly become housed by having their food and blankets taken away during very cold weather?
Clearly, we can't have all those homeless people cluttering up the suburbs, can we?
"Poverty is the worst form of violence" - Mahatma Gandhi
Eric_WLothian wrote:
Individual registration doesn't necessarily mean no annual reminders. Presumably it will still be up to local authorities to ensure that the register is up to date - but they'll have to contact every voter, rather than every household.
Still, lets look on the bright side - look at all the public funds that will move to Royal Mail in the process!
If you are already registered I'm sure there will be the normal reminders to re-register, but previously if a household (ie an address) wasn't registered, a letter would be sent to that address to "the occupier" inviting them to register for the whole address. Now think about a house of multiple residency where perhaps one student has registered as an individual. Other occupiers won't be registered by that individual and there will be no way for the council to know that others are living at that address. It seems to me there will be no reminder for them.
I'm not particularly bothered one way or another about individual registration, just the slapdash way it has been introduced and the fact that the opportunity to test it out on less important European and local elections earlier this year was overlooked in favour of bringing it in specifically to be trialled for the general election. Those moving house could fall through the cracks in greater numbers than usual as councils are still perfecting their new reminder procedures.
I suspect it's a cynical ploy to aid the Tory vote. Labour voters do have a reputation for being - lethargic? And Labour student voters are likely to be in multiple occupation.
In the US the Republicans have worked tirelessly and sailed very close to the wind excluding the class who will mainly vote Democrat.
Preventing voter fraud is the excuse. Yeah. And I've just met Elvis.
We hang the petty thieves and appoint the great ones to public office. – Aesop
ephemerid wrote:There is an article in the Independent today that has shocked me - and I'm not easily shocked.
In Redbridge, police have been confiscating tents, sleeping bags, and food (often donated by the public) from homeless people.
This is, apparently, a "crackdown" on homelessness. How does that work, I wonder? Does homelessness stop because the police "crack down" on it, and do the homeless suddenly become housed by having their food and blankets taken away during very cold weather?
Clearly, we can't have all those homeless people cluttering up the suburbs, can we?
In the States they round them up and dump them at city limits. The homeless either move back in gradually, end up in tent cities or living in large groups under motorway arches. Whatever. They don't go away.
We'll never have quite the problem California does. The homeless gravitate there because the weather is better for sleeping rough.
We hang the petty thieves and appoint the great ones to public office. – Aesop
Eric_WLothian wrote:
Individual registration doesn't necessarily mean no annual reminders. Presumably it will still be up to local authorities to ensure that the register is up to date - but they'll have to contact every voter, rather than every household.
Still, lets look on the bright side - look at all the public funds that will move to Royal Mail in the process!
If you are already registered I'm sure there will be the normal reminders to re-register, but previously if a household (ie an address) wasn't registered, a letter would be sent to that address to "the occupier" inviting them to register for the whole address. Now think about a house of multiple residency where perhaps one student has registered as an individual. Other occupiers won't be registered by that individual and there will be no way for the council to know that others are living at that address. It seems to me there will be no reminder for them.
I'm not particularly bothered one way or another about individual registration, just the slapdash way it has been introduced and the fact that the opportunity to test it out on less important European and local elections earlier this year was overlooked in favour of bringing it in specifically to be trialled for the general election. Those moving house could fall through the cracks in greater numbers than usual as councils are still perfecting their new reminder procedures.
Agreed - the procedure will be much more difficult under individual registration. I would expect it to involve a positive response from the voter when they receive a reminder, otherwise there would be no check on people who have moved.
It's obviously more reliable to send a letter to "the occupier" rather than individuals - and maybe this is what councils will continue to do. As far as I'm aware, there would be nothing to stop them sending a letter listing the voters at an address and saying that they, and any newcomers, must (individually) respond to confirm that they're there.
To go with my Rhubarb growing in Yorkshire and climate change post yesterday.
The dramatic decline of one of Britain’s butterflies may be because climate change is creating a “lost generation” according to research by Belgian scientists.
An old article, but a reminder as we head into the 2015 general election how little has changed as a result of the banking scandal. Reform of the City of London is needed more than ever. As the right distracts with its immigrant scapegoat, let's hope that Ed Miliband remembers who the real enemy is and sticks to his promise to stand up to corporate vested interests:
Willow904 wrote:An old article, but a reminder as we head into the 2015 general election how little has changed as a result of the banking scandal. Reform of the City of London is needed more than ever. As the right distracts with its immigrant scapegoat, let's hope that Ed Miliband remembers who the real enemy is and sticks to his promise to stand up to corporate vested interests:
In the mid-1970s a socialist bloc at the heart of the government proposed a radical response to economic and environmental crises, elements of which are now back in vogue.
The budget restraints Labour has imposed on itself would make Green New Deal style investment impossible, but there has been much talk of smart restructuring, and, in Miliband’s words, the reshaping of the ‘rules of the game under which capitalism operates’ through ‘reforms to corporate governance, regulation to create new markets, and improvements in the way government procures goods within its existing budget.’
This thinking surfaced most visibly in the energy price freeze, but Labour has an opening to go much further and capitalise on strong popular support for economic interventionism, with polls finding large majorities in favour of the renationalisation of utilities, extensive reconstruction of the banking sector and the introduction of a statutory living wage. And many of the new movements in British politics go further, including a growing Green Party.
Last edited by daydreamer on Sun 28 Dec, 2014 12:54 pm, edited 1 time in total.
George Osborne is obsessed with the deficit – pity it’s the wrong deficit http://www.theguardian.com/business/201 ... -wrong-one" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Afternoon all from a cold frosty - but sunny - Manch.
Did anyone else hear Norman Baker's interview on the TV news yesterday in relation to the rail chaos - the one where he shoe-horned in an "it's all the fault of the last Labour government" comment? It actually made me laugh out loud.
My internet connection has been down here. It's been like living in North Korea. Well, all right. I exaggerate . . .
" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Anyone know any more about this Sandra Lambert ? If this is true has she been sacked or disciplined?
The poster has blocked me for some (totally unknown to me) reason so I cant drop a line to ask her. I have never had a row or dispute with her so am a bit bemused by being blocked.
Will that affect my account?
Did anyone else hear Norman Baker's interview on the TV news yesterday in relation to the rail chaos - the one where he shoe-horned in an "it's all the fault of the last Labour government" comment? It actually made me laugh out loud.
My internet connection has been down here. It's been like living in North Korea. Well, all right. I exaggerate . . .
I've got a very unwelcome vision of you (someone I imagine is you) walking about your house and Portsmouth in a dark grey over buttoned suit uniform now .... hope you're actually in something very bright and floaty.
AngryAsWell wrote:George Osborne is obsessed with the deficit – pity it’s the wrong deficit http://www.theguardian.com/business/201 ... -wrong-one" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Afternoon all from a cold frosty - but sunny - Manch.
I rather like this wonderful piece of understatement:
However, in effect, the May election campaign has begun, and relations between the Tories and Lib Dems are likely to become increasingly fractious.
The Libdems currently hold a lot of Southern seats that the Tories desperately need to regain if they are ever to form a majority again. Likewise if the Libdems lose certain seats to the Tories they'll be over as a party (I'm thinking of early Libdem gains over the Tories such as Bath, North Cornwall and North Devon). It'll be interesting to see how far they'll go (to Labour's advantage) in attacking each other!
"Fall seven times, get up eight" - Japanese proverb
Union officials are holding crunch talks with administrators for City Link in an attempt to save thousands of jobs following the parcel delivery firm’s collapse.
Mike Gapes MP retweeted
Iain @Iain_33 5h5 hours ago
UKIP rising star and right-wing fanatic who helped Nigel Farage rake in £1MILLION - Mirror Online http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/uk ... ar_twitter" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; …
Otto English retweeted
Rees-Mogg @JakeReesMogg · 5h 5 hours ago
Intrigued to read that the UKIP PPC for Tooting is called Przemek Skwirczynski. One of the Dorset or Sussex Skwirczynskis I presume.
Mike Gapes MP retweeted
Iain @Iain_33 5h5 hours ago
UKIP rising star and right-wing fanatic who helped Nigel Farage rake in £1MILLION - Mirror Online http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/uk ... ar_twitter" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; …
Otto English retweeted
Rees-Mogg @JakeReesMogg · 5h 5 hours ago
Intrigued to read that the UKIP PPC for Tooting is called Przemek Skwirczynski. One of the Dorset or Sussex Skwirczynskis I presume.
We hang the petty thieves and appoint the great ones to public office. – Aesop
AngryAsWell wrote:
Anyone know any more about this Sandra Lambert ? If this is true has she been sacked or disciplined?
The poster has blocked me for some (totally unknown to me) reason so I cant drop a line to ask her. I have never had a row or dispute with her so am a bit bemused by being blocked.
Will that affect my account?
More info on the Johnnyvoid blog, always a good place to look for info on this sort of thing. The "Pauline Got Promoted" post is also worth a read, for background.
Mike Gapes MP retweeted
Iain @Iain_33 5h5 hours ago
UKIP rising star and right-wing fanatic who helped Nigel Farage rake in £1MILLION - Mirror Online http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/uk ... ar_twitter" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; …
Otto English retweeted
Rees-Mogg @JakeReesMogg · 5h 5 hours ago
Intrigued to read that the UKIP PPC for Tooting is called Przemek Skwirczynski. One of the Dorset or Sussex Skwirczynskis I presume.
Hopefully Jacob's mama will have a word with him - any blue blood who knows his Debretts knows that the Dorset & Sussex Skwirczynskis are arrivistes - the old established branch is the Wiltshire Skwirczynskis
On reading the comments written in 1797 by Eden, one could easily substitute IDS 2014.
Funnily enough, a set of paternal great great grandparents died there in 1900 within months of each other. It became a war hospital where a maternal grandfather was treated when he lost his left leg in France in WW1. Later on it became a hospital and my daughter was born there in 1962. My mother died there in 1995.
We hang the petty thieves and appoint the great ones to public office. – Aesop
So David Laws says that the Tories spending plans are "A very extreme and very rightwing suicide note"
David Laws voted strongly against the policy for 'More Generous Benefits for Ill & Disabled' including ESA for cancer patients & disabled children http://www.publicwhip.org.uk/mp.php?mpid=40680&dmp=6673" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Note to expenses cheat David Laws - Go back to your constituency, and prepare to lose your deposit you hypocritical, shallow two faced guttersnipe.
AngryAsWell wrote:
Anyone know any more about this Sandra Lambert ? If this is true has she been sacked or disciplined?
The poster has blocked me for some (totally unknown to me) reason so I cant drop a line to ask her. I have never had a row or dispute with her so am a bit bemused by being blocked.
Will that affect my account?
More info on the Johnnyvoid blog, always a good place to look for info on this sort of thing. The "Pauline Got Promoted" post is also worth a read, for background.
Toby Latimer wrote:So David Laws says that the Tories spending plans are "A very extreme and very rightwing suicide note"
David Laws voted strongly against the policy for 'More Generous Benefits for Ill & Disabled' including ESA for cancer patients & disabled children http://www.publicwhip.org.uk/mp.php?mpid=40680&dmp=6673" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Note to expenses cheat David Laws - Go back to your constituency, and prepare to lose your deposit you hypocritical, shallow two faced guttersnipe.
I'll second, third, fourth, fifth and sixth that.
We hang the petty thieves and appoint the great ones to public office. – Aesop
AngryAsWell wrote:
Anyone know any more about this Sandra Lambert ? If this is true has she been sacked or disciplined?
The poster has blocked me for some (totally unknown to me) reason so I cant drop a line to ask her. I have never had a row or dispute with her so am a bit bemused by being blocked.
Will that affect my account?
More info on the Johnnyvoid blog, always a good place to look for info on this sort of thing. The "Pauline Got Promoted" post is also worth a read, for background.
Toby Latimer wrote:So David Laws says that the Tories spending plans are "A very extreme and very rightwing suicide note"
David Laws voted strongly against the policy for 'More Generous Benefits for Ill & Disabled' including ESA for cancer patients & disabled children http://www.publicwhip.org.uk/mp.php?mpid=40680&dmp=6673" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Note to expenses cheat David Laws - Go back to your constituency, and prepare to lose your deposit you hypocritical, shallow two faced guttersnipe.
I'll second, third, fourth, fifth and sixth that.
I really don't know what is wrong with these people, they must think we are all ignorant and unaware of their part in the last five years. I forgot to link the original article, some good comments btl http://www.theguardian.com/politics/201 ... david-laws" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Elizabeth Warren: can this scourge of Wall Street make it to the White House?
The Democrats’ new darling is, like Barack Obama, a former law professor and a gifted orator whose speeches address America’s ‘rigged’ economy. Hopes are rising that the senator will run for president
I know nothing about this woman apart from what I have read in the article (linked below). But she sounds ok to me. A positive "commie" by American standards - but, interestingly and hearteningly, a lot of Americans seem to like her. The article has one glaring omission, though: no insight into her Miliband brother preference (unlike Hilary Clinton who is said to find David Miliband appealing).
Toby Latimer wrote:So David Laws says that the Tories spending plans are "A very extreme and very rightwing suicide note"
David Laws voted strongly against the policy for 'More Generous Benefits for Ill & Disabled' including ESA for cancer patients & disabled children http://www.publicwhip.org.uk/mp.php?mpid=40680&dmp=6673" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Note to expenses cheat David Laws - Go back to your constituency, and prepare to lose your deposit you hypocritical, shallow two faced guttersnipe.
I'll second, third, fourth, fifth and sixth that.
I really don't know what is wrong with these people, they must think we are all ignorant and unaware of their part in the last five years. I forgot to link the original article, some good comments btl http://www.theguardian.com/politics/201 ... david-laws" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Each of our necks was simply a rung in the ladder to power. Not a thought or care for the faith we were putting in them, but they failed to take into account our long memories.
We hang the petty thieves and appoint the great ones to public office. – Aesop
ohsocynical wrote:
I'll second, third, fourth, fifth and sixth that.
I really don't know what is wrong with these people, they must think we are all ignorant and unaware of their part in the last five years. I forgot to link the original article, some good comments btl http://www.theguardian.com/politics/201 ... david-laws" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Each of our necks was simply a rung in the ladder to power. Not a thought or care for the faith we were putting in them, but they failed to take into account our long memories.
Nor are long memories required. Their votes and their affiliations have been a weekly refresher in how little they cared for anything beyond the desperation of a figleaf of power.
Mike Smithson
@MSmithsonPB
New post
LAB has a better than 36% chance of winning most votes on May 7th http://bit.ly/16Y0ezz" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Mike Smithson
@MSmithsonPB
New post
LAB has a better than 36% chance of winning most votes on May 7th http://bit.ly/16Y0ezz" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
And yet there's some Olympic standard straw clutching over at the Telegraph:
SIR – Philip Johnston notes that only in 1959 and 1983 has a party increased its support having been in power for more than two years. In both these elections, the Conservative share of the vote actually declined, yet the party gained more seats, due mainly to a divided opposition.
It is possible for the Conservatives to lose votes next May but to gain enough additional seats to secure a slim overall majority with only 35 per cent of the vote, if Labour similarly loses support from its position in 2010.
This scenario may seem unlikely four months before the election campaign commences, but four months before the 1992 election, most pundits and pollsters forecast a Labour victory, similarly overlooking the leadership’s shortcomings and lack of credibility on the economy.
There are also early indications that thousands of potential Ukip supporters will return to their natural Conservative home when faced with the prospect of Ed Balls as Chancellor and Yvette Cooper running the Home Office.
jonronson @jonronson · Dec 26
Also, if you're going to get two dogs, do walking speed tests on them first. My two walk at very different speeds and its blighting my life.
jonronson @jonronson · Dec 26
Seriously - my two dogs walk at such different speeds and directions. I'm like the girl in The Hitcher or Jesus on the Cross.
The private equity dealmaker who failed to turn round City Link has been forced on the defensive as it emerged taxpayers will pick up the redundancy bill for the 2,760 workers who are expected to lose their jobs at the parcel delivery business.
Jon Moulton, who founded City Link’s owner Better Capital, told the FT he had explored “every possible way” to save the company before its collapse into administration on Christmas Eve and that he had lost “several million pounds” of his own money.
While making clear he had every sympathy with employees, he added: “I don’t feel any need to apologise for the process that we’ve followed. That doesn’t make it a pleasant process — or a nice outcome.”...
And he goes on to cite competitors like Amazon using zero hours contracts as part of the problem leading to the firm's collapse ... coming from a company that made most of its delivery staff become self employed - and pay for their own uniforms and vans - that's pretty breathtaking. He seems to think he's a model employer ... well he's some kind of model but it's not the one this country should be aspiring to.
The private equity dealmaker who failed to turn round City Link has been forced on the defensive as it emerged taxpayers will pick up the redundancy bill for the 2,760 workers who are expected to lose their jobs at the parcel delivery business.
Jon Moulton, who founded City Link’s owner Better Capital, told the FT he had explored “every possible way” to save the company before its collapse into administration on Christmas Eve and that he had lost “several million pounds” of his own money.
While making clear he had every sympathy with employees, he added: “I don’t feel any need to apologise for the process that we’ve followed. That doesn’t make it a pleasant process — or a nice outcome.”...
And he goes on to cite competitors like Amazon using zero hours contracts as part of the problem leading to the firm's collapse ... coming from a company that made most of its delivery staff become self employed - and pay for their own uniforms and vans - that's pretty breathtaking. He seems to think he's a model employer ... well he's some kind of model but it's not the one this country should be aspiring to.
I hate Amazon, but was forced to go to them for books I couldn't find elsewhere. Seventeen all came by Royal Mail. So someone, somewhere is making money via Amazon.
We hang the petty thieves and appoint the great ones to public office. – Aesop
Moulton, whose Better Capital fund specialises in buying and restructuring failing UK firms, was named among a handful of a handful of donors who provided funds, shortly after the general election, to a research project at Fox's request. Money was channelled through a not-for-profit company called Pargav, run by Adam Werritty, a close friend and self-appointed adviser to the newly appointed defence secretary.
Well, I never...
Apparently he's now a UKIP supporter.
If I'm not here, then I'll be in the library. Or the other library.
Moulton, whose Better Capital fund specialises in buying and restructuring failing UK firms, was named among a handful of a handful of donors who provided funds, shortly after the general election, to a research project at Fox's request. Money was channelled through a not-for-profit company called Pargav, run by Adam Werritty, a close friend and self-appointed adviser to the newly appointed defence secretary.
Well, I never...
Apparently he's now a UKIP supporter.
Yes - he's a pretty nasty piece of work going by previous quotes from him on employment matters. But what makes my blood boil afresh is that yet again the taxpayer / state is going to pick up the responsibility and bill for the workers dues. Seems to be getting quite common for the public purse to be picking up the tab for private mess ups and failures.
Mark Ferguson retweeted
Christopher Hope @christopherhope · 8h 8 hours ago
Interesting how Labour appears to have a political story grid for the quiet Christmas/New Year period and the Conservatives, er, don't...
tom_watson @tom_watson 1h1 hour ago
Nick Clegg even gets a "spokesman" to brief his local paper. Prompted me to visit @olivercoppard again. http://m.thestar.co.uk/news/local/clegg ... -1-7023237" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; …
Jonathan Ashworth MP @JonAshworth 40m40 minutes ago
@tom_watson @olivercoppard when you heading up? Think I'll join you?
Toby Perkins MP @tobyperkinsmp 25m25 minutes ago
RT “@JonAshworth: @tom_watson @olivercoppard when you heading up? Think I'll join you?” Count me in.
Well if there wasn't a full on move to decapitate Nick Clegg before - it looks like they've got one now.
all came by Royal Mail. So someone, somewhere is making money via Amazon.