Friday 22nd May 2015
Posted: Fri 22 May, 2015 7:14 am
Morning all.
David Cameron thanks fox hunters for helping him win election in celebratory text message
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/da ... rs-5730704" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
David Cameron sent fox hunters a text thanking them for their crucial election backing within minutes of realising he had snatched victory.
The Prime Minister went out of his way to pay tribute to bloodsports enthusiasts who had swooped on key battlegrounds to help boost the Tory vote.
And he is set to reward them in the Queen’s Speech by paving the way for MPs to scrap the 10-year-old hunting ban.
The PM’s text was revealed in a celebratory online message by the Ledbury Hunt in Gloucestershire.
It quoted an email sent at 11.19am on May 8 by Charles Mann, of pro-hunt group Vote-OK.
He boasted: “The Prime Minister sent this text to us early this morning ‘Please thank Vote-OK for all their amazing work’.”
Vote-OK was set-up the day after the Hunting Act was signed into law in November 2004. It is chaired by Mr Cameron’s father-in-law Viscount Astor, stepdad to the PM’s wife Samantha...
I haven't heard a clear set of points re the reforms wanted yet ... and I don't think we'll get that either. Cameron won't tell us in advance what he wants because it would provide an inconvenient baseline we could compare the eventual reform package he 'achieves' against it. I think it will be a lot of fudging like it was when he refused to pay that 'preposterous' EU bill and claimed he had had it substantially reduced when all he did was fiddle around with the figures and years certain payments and reimbursements fell in. He will be bargaining on the electorate being fools - and the media's able assistance in selling the rubbish - yet again.LadyCentauria wrote:Has Cameron (or anyone in the Cabinet) actually laid out what reforms the UK 'wants' from the EU? Or is he just going to keep saying 'reforms' or what? Will he state it plainly and does he want us to judge him on his success or failure, like he did on the guff he promised in the run-up to the 2010 General Election?
There's been such a plethora of articles picking over the issues and problems for both Labour and the Lib Dems - and Conservatives actually - following the election but this is about the only thing I've seen on the Greens. It's a bit of a one-sided tack to say the least. Has anyone seen any other coverage / analysis re the Greens and their election?Would Britain be better off without the Greens?
The much-hyped Green surge has been petering out because the party has been putting left-wing concerns above environmental ones
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/general ... gn=DM19733" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
This just sounds like an almighty mess ... found myself having to read and reread this article to try and understand what is going on.Michael Gove’s maths exams are too hard and must be rewritten, regulator says
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/educa ... 68264.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
... Ofqual, which has accredited new maths courses, announced plans to investigate the sample GCSE maths papers after concerns were raised last year by exam boards that those of their rival board AQA were too easy.
However, the investigation found that it was the papers of the other three boards that were too difficult.
Sample papers were sat by 4,000 students as part of the study. Even the most high-performing schools, including one in which 100 per cent of students normally achieved at least a grade C, did badly in the new papers...
rebeccariots2 wrote:I haven't heard a clear set of points re the reforms wanted yet ... and I don't think we'll get that either. Cameron won't tell us in advance what he wants because it would provide an inconvenient baseline we could compare the eventual reform package he 'achieves' against it. I think it will be a lot of fudging like it was when he refused to pay that 'preposterous' EU bill and claimed he had had it substantially reduced when all he did was fiddle around with the figures and years certain payments and reimbursements fell in. He will be bargaining on the electorate being fools - and the media's able assistance in selling the rubbish - yet again.LadyCentauria wrote:Has Cameron (or anyone in the Cabinet) actually laid out what reforms the UK 'wants' from the EU? Or is he just going to keep saying 'reforms' or what? Will he state it plainly and does he want us to judge him on his success or failure, like he did on the guff he promised in the run-up to the 2010 General Election?
The politician from Lithuania (I think ... apols if I'm wrong on the country) was totally unbending on the principle of free movement when asked by Radio 4 this morning ... and clearly sceptical about so called 'benefit tourism' and therefore the impact of any further restrictions on benefits.
The Lilico article I linked to yesterday set out a number of areas where Cameron could get some concessions that might look OK on the surface but actually mean diddly squat - mainly because the other EU countries know that any such concessions will become meaningless when further countries join the Eurozone in a few years time and existing clauses in the treaty come into play and will negate them.
http://www.theguardian.com/politics/201 ... ian-summitA document leaked to the Times revealed that UK officials were suggesting that the EU should stop defining itself as a single-currency area, given that countries such as Britain and Denmark have kept their own. A Whitehall source said this was not the main thing on the UK’s wishlist, but that the government was on the lookout for anything that could be interpreted as discrimination against non-eurozone countries. (Guardian - my emphasis)
With everyone spouting aspiration, what’s in it for the 20 million in poverty?
http://www.michaelmeacher.info/weblog/2 ... n-poverty/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
... Aspiration for the bottom third means at least a Living Wage, ending zero hours contracts, stopping the aggressive sanctioning of the jobless, repealing the bedroom tax, removing the assessment of work capability for disabled people away from private multinationals and restoring it to the NHS, building houses for social renting at 50% of market rates, providing apprenticeships or in-work training for all young people, and a lot more. Who eulogising aspiration for all will promise all of these?
It's the problem that you end up with by trying to change both curriculum and exams at one and the same time.rebeccariots2 wrote:This just sounds like an almighty mess ... found myself having to read and reread this article to try and understand what is going on.Michael Gove’s maths exams are too hard and must be rewritten, regulator says
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/educa ... 68264.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
... Ofqual, which has accredited new maths courses, announced plans to investigate the sample GCSE maths papers after concerns were raised last year by exam boards that those of their rival board AQA were too easy.
However, the investigation found that it was the papers of the other three boards that were too difficult.
Sample papers were sat by 4,000 students as part of the study. Even the most high-performing schools, including one in which 100 per cent of students normally achieved at least a grade C, did badly in the new papers...
In 2008 Cavendish won the Paul Foot award for campaigning journalism for her investigation into the practices of family courts dealing with child protection issues. She is a former trustee of Policy Exchange and a board member of the Care Quality Commission.
Morning all. Ramsgate earthquake, was that the UKIP one Farage was promising?LadyCentauria wrote:MorningHope the Ramsgate earthquake didn't cause anyone shock, damage or breakages?
I've said before Christian Wolmar would be my first choice, if for no other reason than the fact he really gets London's transport issues; but he is well versed on housing and local governmental issues generally which, in my eyes, should make him a serious candidate - the fact it doesn't shows how badly the role has become distorted by Boris (at least Ken cared about London and Londoners).LadyCentauria wrote:Here's the list of people who've applied to become Labour's candidate for the London Mayoral Election next year: Diane Abbott, Tessa Jowell, Keran Kerai, Sadiq Khan, David Lammy, Neeraj Patil, Gareth Thomas, and Christian Wolmar. The next stage is for them to gain the nominations of Constituency Labour Parties and Affiliates, who are arranging dates for all-member nomination meetings before the closing date of June 10th. Don't know yet when ours will be and am not yet sure who I'll support because there are a couple of names I'm not yet familiar with.
rebeccariots2 wrote:Good morning. Wanted to keep my good morning separate from my previous post so it didn't get contaminated by Cameron nastiness. Grrrr.
It is a better morning than yesterday here - despite the rain - as we have just succeeded in getting the wormer tablet down our cat with serious attitude. It was our third try ... attempted on three consecutive mornings ... and took 2 people with 2 towels in a stealth exercise on a sleeping cat - just the one finger puncture in the effort.
But as the twitter-er known as SchoolDuggery pointed out the Tory manifesto has this...Speaking exclusively to Schools Week on Monday, education secretary Nicky Morgan said that everyone had a role to play in ensuring children were not overly stressed.
“I think that a lot of this comes from the parents, and the schools and the language we use. When it is a test, it is a test, and not an exam.”
Oops.If children do not reach the required standards in their exams at the end of primary school, they will resit them at the start of secondary school, to make sure no pupil is left behind.
At least you don't support Leedsfrightful_oik wrote:Morning all. I haven't done any politics yet today; a bit preoccupied with the manager situation at DCFC. What a saga!![]()
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Or Orient.AnatolyKasparov wrote:At least you don't support Leedsfrightful_oik wrote:Morning all. I haven't done any politics yet today; a bit preoccupied with the manager situation at DCFC. What a saga!![]()
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Oh, don't get me wrong, both Lammy and Gareth Thomas would do an excellent job as Mayor (in the way that Diane wouldn't); my comment was not about their ability, both are decent politicians who understand the needs of their own areas (and London in general) very well, I was simply showing my view of them in the fish/pond stakes.RobertSnozers wrote:I read Lammy's book on the 2012 riots and feel like he really gets the social issues affecting the poorer parts of London as well as having some good ideas about what to do about them. It seems as though he has more of a grip on this than Boris does, don't know why really, it's just a sense I get.TheGrimSqueaker wrote:Morning all. Ramsgate earthquake, was that the UKIP one Farage was promising?LadyCentauria wrote:MorningHope the Ramsgate earthquake didn't cause anyone shock, damage or breakages?
I've said before Christian Wolmar would be my first choice, if for no other reason than the fact he really gets London's transport issues; but he is well versed on housing and local governmental issues generally which, in my eyes, should make him a serious candidate - the fact it doesn't shows how badly the role has become distorted by Boris (at least Ken cared about London and Londoners).LadyCentauria wrote:Here's the list of people who've applied to become Labour's candidate for the London Mayoral Election next year: Diane Abbott, Tessa Jowell, Keran Kerai, Sadiq Khan, David Lammy, Neeraj Patil, Gareth Thomas, and Christian Wolmar. The next stage is for them to gain the nominations of Constituency Labour Parties and Affiliates, who are arranging dates for all-member nomination meetings before the closing date of June 10th. Don't know yet when ours will be and am not yet sure who I'll support because there are a couple of names I'm not yet familiar with.
Diane is hoping to emulate Ken I guess, become the biggest fish in the smaller pond, but frankly she doesn't have his ability or savvy; Lammy and Thomas, to an extent, ditto. Neeraj Patil is a consultant in A & E medicine and was Mayor of Lambeth a year or so back, so obviously has a focus on medicine, heard him speak a couple of times, mildly impressed but he doesn't set the world alight; I confess to knowing nothing about Keran Kerai but nobody else does either, so also ran I suspect.
Realistically, as I said yesterday, this is a two horse race with two exceptionally strong candidates in the form of Sadiq and Tessa; to be honest I still don't understand why Sadiq is so set on this course when he has the ability to be a big fish (even the biggest fish) in the Westminster pond, but hey ho. Either of them will do a much better job for London and its inhabitants than the current part-time incumbent.
The other two were easy peasy - pill down the gullet almost before they knew anything was happening. But when you've got a 'characterful' cat ... it's a whole other game as you so well know. Indus - our current cat with serious attitude - has not yet achieved the infamy of my previous old cat though. He had BAD CAT written in large black felt tip capitals across the top of his veterinary records.ohsocynical wrote:rebeccariots2 wrote:Good morning. Wanted to keep my good morning separate from my previous post so it didn't get contaminated by Cameron nastiness. Grrrr.
It is a better morning than yesterday here - despite the rain - as we have just succeeded in getting the wormer tablet down our cat with serious attitude. It was our third try ... attempted on three consecutive mornings ... and took 2 people with 2 towels in a stealth exercise on a sleeping cat - just the one finger puncture in the effort.
Ouch!!! That evoked memories. My sister said of the one cat, 'you're doing it all wrong, here let me.' He bit through to the bone...
When will the selection of candidates and subsequent election for Mayor be held? I hope the selection process is going to be over pretty quickly. If Khan doesn't get through then at least he can be around to be a more forceful voice in national Labour.AnatolyKasparov wrote:I don't share Tessa's position on the Labour spectrum in many respects, but IMO (from far away Cumbria FWIW) London Mayor is a job she was born to do.
Agree that Khan would be better off staying in the national Labour scene.
George Eaton @georgeeaton · 33s 33 seconds ago
Kezia Dugdale announces she will stand for Scottish Labour leadership: "We’ve been insurgent force before ... We will be that force again".
They're still making up the story.frightful_oik wrote:There's a small article in the Torygraph today, (that's what the pub where I have my breakfast offers along with the Scum), about Ed also blaming 'lazy labour voters'. Can't find it online yet.
He was quoting pollsters such as MORI who also used that very same term. Complete non-story.frightful_oik wrote:There's a small article in the Torygraph today, (that's what the pub where I have my breakfast offers along with the Scum), about Ed also blaming 'lazy labour voters'. Can't find it online yet.
Not convinced that she has the experience to turn the party round. Up to Sturgeon's coronation, all Holyrood FMs have had Westminster experience - from Dewar to Salmond.AnatolyKasparov wrote:I rate Kez, though I am aware not everybody does. It will at least be hard for her to generate the sheer amount of blind CyberNat hate that Jim Murphy did, which is something......
I think the plan is that the votes for Leader, Deputy and Mayoral candidate will all be held at the same time; AK, please correct me if I'm wrong.rebeccariots2 wrote:When will the selection of candidates and subsequent election for Mayor be held? I hope the selection process is going to be over pretty quickly. If Khan doesn't get through then at least he can be around to be a more forceful voice in national Labour.AnatolyKasparov wrote:I don't share Tessa's position on the Labour spectrum in many respects, but IMO (from far away Cumbria FWIW) London Mayor is a job she was born to do.
Agree that Khan would be better off staying in the national Labour scene.
For a moment, I thought you'd been hacking voicemails I hadn't received yet.StephenDolan wrote:Words fail me. Again.
Sir Eric.
http://huff.to/1KozoRV" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
"Arise, Sir Eric. Oh. Can someone help him to arise?"StephenDolan wrote:Words fail me. Again.
Sir Eric.
http://huff.to/1KozoRV" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
StephenDolan wrote:Words fail me. Again.
Sir Eric.
http://huff.to/1KozoRV" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
For those unaware of the phenomenon: http://www.buzzfeed.com/jamieross/he-wa ... de-lanyard" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;AnatolyKasparov wrote:Genuinely don't know about the Mayoral vote, tbh. It was held at a different time to the main leadership contest in 2010 IIRC......
Anyhow, for those uninspired by the current leadership contenders there is only one option. Forget Jarvis, Creasy, Nandy or Starmer - draft BALUSTRADE LANYARD!
Eric Pickles receiving a knighthood.refitman wrote:What the actual...????
Ex-Conservative Cabinet minister Eric Pickles is to be given a knighthood.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-32844276" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
citizenJA wrote:Eric Pickles receiving a knighthood.refitman wrote:What the actual...????
Ex-Conservative Cabinet minister Eric Pickles is to be given a knighthood.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-32844276" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
The title of the BBC story gave me some little hope 'Ex-Conservative Cabinet Minister...'.
Alas, he's still Tory MP for Brentwood & Ongar.
Irrational, unjust & wrong.
The former leader of Bradford Council has taken on a new role as anti-corruption tsar.
Report finally out from the inspection in March and...it's horrid.Student numbers, financial challenges, staffing capacity and a second consecutive Ofsted inspection blow were said to be behind plans to shut the Black Country University Technical College (UTC) — one of the first UTCs to open.
http://www.walsalladvertiser.co.uk/Damn ... story.htmlIneffective leadership, badly behaved students, poor attendance and inadequate achievement have all been noted by education watchdogs following their inspection of Black Country University Technical College (BCUTC).
Ofsted rated the school's overall effectiveness as inadequate and said it required special measures because it is failing to give its pupils an acceptable standard of education – with the persons responsible for leading, managing or governing the school "not demonstrating the capacity to secure the necessary improvement in the school."
Leadership and management, behaviour and safety of pupils, quality of teaching, achievement of pupils and sixth form provision were all given the lowest possible rating by Ofsted.
The entire speech is a good surprise."It was not until I went to study at the University of Chicago in the mid-1990s that I 'got' politics.
Whilst Milton Friedman, George Stigler and Gary Becker preached the virtues of monetarism, trickle-down and public choice theory, outside of the Ivory Tower stretched a waste-land of crack-houses, boarded-up projects, shoot outs, and deep, deep poverty.
I felt then and I feel now a sense of outrage about allowing this staggering inequity.
...the blindingly obvious fact that without shelter, food, warmth, people are not free; that in the so-called land of freedom and opportunity the rights that I had taken for granted when growing up were being denied to people on an epic scale.
I do not regard a stronger commitment to tackling inequality as a component in Labour's recent electoral failure."
- Tristram Hunt MP for Stoke-on-Trent Central
Lib Dem supporter has tantrum. I think we underachieved in Bristol, but thats more to do with the candidate imo. Elsewhere were in a good position to build for the next GE.rebeccariots2 wrote:There's been such a plethora of articles picking over the issues and problems for both Labour and the Lib Dems - and Conservatives actually - following the election but this is about the only thing I've seen on the Greens. It's a bit of a one-sided tack to say the least. Has anyone seen any other coverage / analysis re the Greens and their election?Would Britain be better off without the Greens?
The much-hyped Green surge has been petering out because the party has been putting left-wing concerns above environmental ones
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/general ... gn=DM19733" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Shurely your big underperformance was in Norwich S (one of a literal handful of seats where the Green share was down on 2010)?Temulkar wrote:Lib Dem supporter has tantrum. I think we underachieved in Bristol, but thats more to do with the candidate imo. Elsewhere were in a good position to build for the next GE.rebeccariots2 wrote:There's been such a plethora of articles picking over the issues and problems for both Labour and the Lib Dems - and Conservatives actually - following the election but this is about the only thing I've seen on the Greens. It's a bit of a one-sided tack to say the least. Has anyone seen any other coverage / analysis re the Greens and their election?Would Britain be better off without the Greens?
The much-hyped Green surge has been petering out because the party has been putting left-wing concerns above environmental ones
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/general ... gn=DM19733" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Ed had a lot of answers to jobs, wages, immigration (which Dave is now busily poaching) and public finances. People have actually moved left, as exemplified by the success of the SNP with a (supposed) anti-austerity platform and the growth of the Greens - Labour beat the Conservatives in every age group except 65+, who were simply frightened and bullied into voting Tory by the MSM.She said: “We decided the British public had shifted to the left because we wished it to be so. We rarely said what was good about our last government and never dealt with the central case of our opponents about where we really fell short.
“We didn’t have answers to the big questions that people were asking about jobs, immigration and public finances. Lots of people told me they couldn’t see Ed as prime minister. But we didn’t lose because of his personality. We lost because of our politics.”
"Environmentalist has tantrum" would be more apt. Lean was writing about 'green' issues when Lucas was still at Malvern Girls' College, so I suspect you may have missed his point; he seems to be suggesting that the Green Party has abandoned its environmental roots in an attempt to assume the mantle of the Real Left, and there is some truth in that - not that they are "the Real Left" (much of the manifesto was indistinguishable from Labour, largely because the two parties have been 'borrowing' each others polices for years), but more that environmental issues seemed to be way down on Natalie's list of priorities. Still, as with a lot of his pieces, there is a lot more heat than light (somewhat ironically).Temulkar wrote:Lib Dem supporter has tantrum. I think we underachieved in Bristol, but thats more to do with the candidate imo. Elsewhere were in a good position to build for the next GE.rebeccariots2 wrote:There's been such a plethora of articles picking over the issues and problems for both Labour and the Lib Dems - and Conservatives actually - following the election but this is about the only thing I've seen on the Greens. It's a bit of a one-sided tack to say the least. Has anyone seen any other coverage / analysis re the Greens and their election?Would Britain be better off without the Greens?
The much-hyped Green surge has been petering out because the party has been putting left-wing concerns above environmental ones
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/general ... gn=DM19733" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;