FlyTheNest

Mira Bar-Hillel @mirabarhillel · 6h 6 hours ago
.@pollytoynbee @AndyCavster Nick Robinson owes us all a huge apology. He should do what @cathynewman did over a much lesser offence.

ohsocynical wrote:Britain Elects ‏@britainelects 3 hrs3 hours ago
Comres/ITV - 40th most marginal seats (31st Jan - 10th Feb):
CON - 31% (-)
LAB - 40% (+1)
UKIP - 15% (-3)
LDEM - 8% (+1)
GRN - 5% (+1)

letsskiptotheleft wrote:Progressive politics, SNP style, there must be a reason why Labour declined to vote though, but I am too knackered to see it.

http://www.thecourier.co.uk/news/local/ ... e-1.838278" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

HindleA wrote:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-he ... r-31463879

Alexandra Hospital in Redditch sees all A&E consultants quit

the context of significant pressure to fill leadership posts particularly with the Trust taking over Enfield Heights – which opened in September 2012.

Tubby Isaacs wrote:From Cuckoo Hall-

25 teachers started before they got their safeguarding clearing.

Nepotism and conflicts of interest. With this fabulous excuse:

the context of significant pressure to fill leadership posts particularly with the Trust taking over Enfield Heights – which opened in September 2012.

So took over another school and not being able to get senior staff. Pathetic.

Anyone but the LA.

Parents are pulling their children out of a Braintree school after an academy trust withdrew from running it a fortnight after it was placed in special measures.

Lilac Sky Schools has announced it would stop running Tabor Academy from Easter, just two years after taking over the secondary school with a pledge to make it “outstanding”.

Headteacher Matthew Slater, who was only appointed last September, has left with immediate effect. Vice-principal Mark Bowman is now acting headteacher.

The announcement was made in a letter to staff and parents last Wednesday, which pledged a new academies trust would take over soon.

refitman wrote:Here's Anatoly's round up:

AnatoilyKasparov wrote: Shropshire - Tory hold of a ward which split 1Tory/1Independent in 2013 (the latter coming out on top) with Labour narrowly missing out; they held it easily this time with a double figure swing. This is partly explainable by their being no Indy candidate this time and the sitting member throwing their weight behind the Tory, but also due to the fact both the Greens and - rather unusually - the LibDems stood on this occasion having not bothered to do so in either last time or in 2009 (when the Tories took both seats here) Not just that but they took over a third of the poll between them, the Green candidate narrowly coming out on top (and, indeed, not finishing far behind Labour) One of the more quixotic results that we have seen recently, all told.

Just one (Welsh) contest next week.

RogerOThornhill wrote:And another one...

'You have failed Braintree': Parents' fury as Lilac Sky decides to pull out of running Tabor Academy

http://www.braintreeandwithamtimes.co.u ... r_Academy/

Parents are pulling their children out of a Braintree school after an academy trust withdrew from running it a fortnight after it was placed in special measures.

Lilac Sky Schools has announced it would stop running Tabor Academy from Easter, just two years after taking over the secondary school with a pledge to make it “outstanding”.

Headteacher Matthew Slater, who was only appointed last September, has left with immediate effect. Vice-principal Mark Bowman is now acting headteacher.

The announcement was made in a letter to staff and parents last Wednesday, which pledged a new academies trust would take over soon.

Hunt's got his work cut out getting this lot sorted.

Labour says it can boost spending on schools by £230m per year, through a clampdown on the nearly £2.5bn of surpluses held by academies, and by recycling cash saved from cuts in the Conservative’s free school and academy conversion programmes.

The cuts would include ending payments to “academy brokers” who find sponsors for local authority-maintained schools targeted for conversion to academy status, and by ending funding for the New Schools Network, a Department for Education-funded charity that helps groups bidding to open new free schools.

Tubby Isaacs wrote:Wahey!!!!

Now for the academy chancers on the DfE Board.

"The idea of guaranteeing universal free school meals for primary children came out of the Conservative-commissioned school food plan and was first suggested to Liberal Democrat ministers by Conservatives," he said.

He highlighted Lib Dem opposition to Tory proposals for private schools to do more to help poorer students, ensuring the poorest received the most in school funding, and prioritising money for participation in sport and music.

Tubby Isaacs wrote:I think lots of non-academies have big cash reserves too, don't they?

TechnicalEphemera wrote:You have to hand it to Miliband, when he goes for it he really goes for it.

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/201 ... -avoidance

(Note to OGRFPG - Check out the picture fat boy)

The thing is, if you have any Labour MP with creative tax accounting their front bench career is over. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but it is going to bite. Suddenly some of those Blairites look a little dubious, and nationally the rich are going to absolutely scream.

The Tory party are going to be the richest party in history to lose an election.

Has Cameron got anywhere to go - don't think so. The BBC is a bit stuffed as well, any Labour candidate being given a hard time will throw the BBC trust thing in their face. Are those presenters clean with their large salaries and crucially appearance money (which isn't PAYE)?

But this needs to be done, for too long the rich have avoided tax. An immediate first step will be to change the law to give tax evasion powers real teeth and to mandate they are pursued over international boundaries.

Anyone who thinks the Labour party under Miliband are the same as the gang of shallow spineless Etonian pissweasels in Downing street are just plain nuts!

pk1 wrote:

TechnicalEphemera wrote:You have to hand it to Miliband, when he goes for it he really goes for it.

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/201 ... -avoidance

(Note to OGRFPG - Check out the picture fat boy)

The thing is, if you have any Labour MP with creative tax accounting their front bench career is over. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but it is going to bite. Suddenly some of those Blairites look a little dubious, and nationally the rich are going to absolutely scream.

The Tory party are going to be the richest party in history to lose an election.

Has Cameron got anywhere to go - don't think so. The BBC is a bit stuffed as well, any Labour candidate being given a hard time will throw the BBC trust thing in their face. Are those presenters clean with their large salaries and crucially appearance money (which isn't PAYE)?

But this needs to be done, for too long the rich have avoided tax. An immediate first step will be to change the law to give tax evasion powers real teeth and to mandate they are pursued over international boundaries.

I like this comment by somebody calling themselves You Kip:

Anyone who thinks the Labour party under Miliband are the same as the gang of shallow spineless Etonian pissweasels in Downing street are just plain nuts!

I agree with You Kip - it is very unlikely those words will ever pass my lips again !