Monday 1st June 2015

Post by **refitman** » Mon 01 Jun, 2015 7:01 am

Morning all.

citizenJA · Post by **citizenJA** » Mon 01 Jun, 2015 8:04 am

Good-morning, everyone.

LadyCentauria · Post by **LadyCentauria** » Mon 01 Jun, 2015 8:15 am

Mornin' all

Not politics but the bad weather in mid-Pacific means that the solar-powered plane is turning back to land at Nagoya, 24-or-so hours after setting off from China on what would have been a six-day flight to Hawaii

Better safe than sorry, though...

yahyah · Post by **yahyah** » Mon 01 Jun, 2015 8:20 am

Humphreys giving a Tory a hard time about their extended free child care for people earning up to £150,000.

I'm sure social media will be full of people like Happy Chickie barking about tax payer money being wasted on people who should be paying for their own child rearing. Or maybe not.

yahyah · Post by **yahyah** » Mon 01 Jun, 2015 8:30 am

Peter Hain spoke about Labour's problems at the Hay Festival.

Am not normally that much of a fan but he makes some good points about investment for growth and warns the leadership contenders not to move to the right.

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales ... te-9362039" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

rebeccariots2 · Post by **rebeccariots2** » Mon 01 Jun, 2015 8:33 am

Morning.

Tom Newton Dunn ‏@tnewtondunn 5m5 minutes ago
EXCL: Amber Rudd demands Big Six slash energy bills now Labour price freeze threat has gone http://sunpl.us/6013hnY1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

So what is different / better about demanding a price cut - or having a price freeze for 18 months while the markets are sorted out?

Both are state intervention surely? Both are an admission that prices are too high - unfairly high. One has more of a long term solution within it ... wanting to ensure a fairer deal for the consumer continues after the intervention though so has the Sun and other Tory media squealing communism.

The Tories and Murdoch really do rely on people being stupid.

rebeccariots2 · Post by **rebeccariots2** » Mon 01 Jun, 2015 8:38 am

yahyah wrote:Peter Hain spoke about Labour's problems at the Hay Festival.

Am not normally that much of a fan but he makes some good points about investment for growth and warns the leadership contenders not to move to the right.

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales ... te-9362039" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

He's talking a lot of sense.

rebeccariots2 · Post by **rebeccariots2** » Mon 01 Jun, 2015 8:42 am

James O'Brien ‏@mrjamesob 6m6 minutes ago London, England
Carswell will face calls from the cultists for his expulsion soon. Poor sod doesn't realise that without the lies & hatred there is no Ukip.

? Has something happened in Ukip this morning?

yahyah · Post by **yahyah** » Mon 01 Jun, 2015 8:44 am

rebeccariots2 wrote:
yahyah wrote:Peter Hain spoke about Labour's problems at the Hay Festival.

Am not normally that much of a fan but he makes some good points about investment for growth and warns the leadership contenders not to move to the right.

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales ... te-9362039" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
He's talking a lot of sense.

Also, we can read what he actually said. Or a report of what he said.
Not one of those 'Peter Hain will say today that Andy Burnham smells & Liz Kendall will say she thinks benefit claimants should starve'.

That Zelo St piece linked yesterday really made me think just who it serves to go off the deep end at every word a Labour politician is alleged to have said, even when they haven't.
Unless you see the source, and it was actually said - ignore it.

RogerOThornhill · Post by **RogerOThornhill** » Mon 01 Jun, 2015 8:47 am

yahyah wrote:Humphreys giving a Tory a hard time about their extended free child care for people earning up to £150,000.

I'm sure social media will be full of people like Happy Chickie barking about tax payer money being wasted on people who should be paying for their own child rearing. Or maybe not.

That wasn't just any Tory - that was Pritti Patel!

Bit of a car-crash - kept repeating that it was "the right thing to do" but couldn't say why a couple earning up to a £150k should get it. I thought it was meant to help disadvantaged families - unless disadvantaged means all but 5% of families these days.

Housing association RTB
Free childcare for almost everyone
The row over the ECHR

Going well for the government then? Normally takes a couple of years for these kinds of problems - this seems to be a few weeks...

rebeccariots2 · Post by **rebeccariots2** » Mon 01 Jun, 2015 8:48 am

Free childcare: Nurseries warn Cameron's pledge may cost parents more
Pre-school Learning Alliance suggests policy could create £350m funding gap because hours paid for by the government are underfunded
http://www.theguardian.com/money/2015/j ... dge-double" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

... The study found that private nurseries would lose £660 a year for each child taking up the extended entitlement, if government funding remained at current levels.

The total cost to private providers after the extension to 30 hours is estimated to be £1.95bn each year – but government funding only covers £1.7bn, leaving a shortfall of £250m. Private daycares also face a shortfall of more than £100m on the government’s existing offer of free childcare to some two-year-olds.

The research also suggests the Conservatives underestimated the potential costs of the new policy. Instead of the £350m extra spending that the party claimed during the election campaign, the researchers estimate that at current rates the policy would cost £1.5bn if each eligible child took their extra 15 hours.

“While we recognise that the Conservatives have promised to review local funding rates, the fact that they chose to estimate the cost of extending funded childcare before finding out how much funding rates will need to increase raises serious questions as to how meaningful such a review would be,” Leitch said.

“Simply raising rates by a few pence per hour will do little to address the current situation.”

The research was backed by a separate report from the Professional Association for Childcare and Early Years (Pacey), which found many providers “are being forced to cross-subsidise their free places through higher fees or retracting the number of funded places, both undermining government’s aims to increase the affordability, accessibility and quality of early years education”...

rebeccariots2 · Post by **rebeccariots2** » Mon 01 Jun, 2015 8:53 am

RogerOThornhill wrote:
yahyah wrote:Humphreys giving a Tory a hard time about their extended free child care for people earning up to £150,000.

I'm sure social media will be full of people like Happy Chickie barking about tax payer money being wasted on people who should be paying for their own child rearing. Or maybe not.
That wasn't just any Tory - that was Pritti Patel!

Bit of a car-crash - kept repeating that it was "the right thing to do" but couldn't say why a couple earning up to a £150k should get it. I thought it was meant to help disadvantaged families - unless disadvantaged means all but 5% of families these days.

Housing association RTB
Free childcare for almost everyone
The row over the ECHR

Going well for the government then? Normally takes a couple of years for these kinds of problems - this seems to be a few weeks...

Yes. But unfortunately it's probably only a very few noticing the problems and 'chaos' (I'm going to use that word at every opportunity folks). I've had to avert my eyes from the tweet from the Sun telling us that the first post election polls show the Tories with an 11 point lead over Labour. Gnashes teeth.

frightful_oik · Post by **frightful_oik** » Mon 01 Jun, 2015 8:58 am

There's no letter 'g' in Priti's alphabet. 'Workin' people'. Odd little speech tic she has.

rebeccariots2 · Post by **rebeccariots2** » Mon 01 Jun, 2015 9:00 am

Luciana Berger ‏@lucianaberger 6m6 minutes ago
NHS spend on temporary workers has reached record £3.3 bn; “catastrophic” levels of debt blamed on agency bills rise http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/health/ ... S-dry.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; …

Who is going to point out to the interviewers and media that if the previous government had actually honoured the independent pay review's award of the measly 1% to nurses - they might not choose to leave their salaried positions and go and work for these agencies in such large numbers?

What a ludicrous, wasteful and disastrous situation when we / the public purse are bearing all the costs of training many nurses and then because we won't pay them decently we end up losing their resource and reliability to the private agencies and paying way over the odds for essential work.

And how many of these agency nurse positions counted as new jobs created?

rebeccariots2 · Post by **rebeccariots2** » Mon 01 Jun, 2015 9:02 am

frightful_oik wrote:There's no letter 'g' in Priti's alphabet. 'Workin' people'. Odd little speech tic she has.

It drives me round the bend when I hear it.

Used to work with (well with is being polite) someone who did the same in a very affected manner - and she drove me round the bend as well. Completely useless and arrogant with it. So yes, I'm very pre biased.

yahyah · Post by **yahyah** » Mon 01 Jun, 2015 9:02 am

frightful_oik wrote:There's no letter 'g' in Priti's alphabet. 'Workin' people'. Odd little speech tic she has.

Osborne does the same.
It must be the expensive media coach they've been using, they've copied that way of speaking.
The delivery of their spin seems to have the same cadence, even Clegg & Alexander spoke the same when giving soundbites in the last few years.

yahyah · Post by **yahyah** » Mon 01 Jun, 2015 9:05 am

rebeccariots2 wrote:
Luciana Berger ‏@lucianaberger 6m6 minutes ago
NHS spend on temporary workers has reached record £3.3 bn; “catastrophic” levels of debt blamed on agency bills rise http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/health/ ... S-dry.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; …
Who is going to point out to the interviewers and media that if the previous government had actually honoured the independent pay review's award of the measly 1% to nurses - they might not choose to leave their salaried positions and go and work for these agencies in such large numbers?

What a ludicrous, wasteful and disastrous situation when we / the public purse are bearing all the costs of training many nurses and then because we won't pay them decently we end up losing their resource and reliability to the private agencies and paying way over the odds for essential work.

And how many of these agency nurse positions counted as new jobs created?

The Telegraph have an expose today:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/health/ ... S-dry.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Edited to add ...read the flipping posts properly YahYah, the link is already there

rebeccariots2 · Post by **rebeccariots2** » Mon 01 Jun, 2015 9:11 am

yahyah wrote:
rebeccariots2 wrote:
Luciana Berger ‏@lucianaberger 6m6 minutes ago
NHS spend on temporary workers has reached record £3.3 bn; “catastrophic” levels of debt blamed on agency bills rise http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/health/ ... S-dry.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; …
Who is going to point out to the interviewers and media that if the previous government had actually honoured the independent pay review's award of the measly 1% to nurses - they might not choose to leave their salaried positions and go and work for these agencies in such large numbers?

What a ludicrous, wasteful and disastrous situation when we / the public purse are bearing all the costs of training many nurses and then because we won't pay them decently we end up losing their resource and reliability to the private agencies and paying way over the odds for essential work.

And how many of these agency nurse positions counted as new jobs created?

The Telegraph have an expose today:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/health/ ... S-dry.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Edited to add ...read the flipping posts properly YahYah, the link is already there

And yet they still won't condemn privatisation of services. This is literally bleeding the NHS dry - Sarah Wollaston Tory MP nails it - but they won't recognise that this needs state intervention to stop the rot.

rebeccariots2 · Post by **rebeccariots2** » Mon 01 Jun, 2015 9:14 am

Sam Coates Times ‏@SamCoatesTimes 3m3 minutes ago
DfE to look at national funding formula for nursery places rather than sending via councils: who allegedly take a cut http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/public/sh ... dd9fc86f2b" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; …

Sam Coates Times ‏@SamCoatesTimes 3m3 minutes ago
Government to overhaul public funding for nurseries via "free hours" scheme - could cut local authorities out http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/public/sh ... dd9fc86f2b" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; …

More centralisation - less oversight - and has ripe for scams and poor returns written all over it. Not to mention - even less money for local authorities who will still, no doubt, be blamed when things don't work as they should.

RogerOThornhill · Post by **RogerOThornhill** » Mon 01 Jun, 2015 9:20 am

rebeccariots2 wrote:
Sam Coates Times ‏@SamCoatesTimes 3m3 minutes ago
DfE to look at national funding formula for nursery places rather than sending via councils: who allegedly take a cut http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/public/sh ... dd9fc86f2b" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; …

Sam Coates Times ‏@SamCoatesTimes 3m3 minutes ago
Government to overhaul public funding for nurseries via "free hours" scheme - could cut local authorities out http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/public/sh ... dd9fc86f2b" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; …
More centralisation - less oversight - and has ripe for scams and poor returns written all over it. Not to mention - even less money for local authorities who will still, no doubt, be blamed when things don't work as they should.

Well that would work when a nursery is attached to a school when it's an academy but for LA nurseries or those attached to LA schools it doesn't.

We're going to end up with the same mess that we have with school funding - which they still haven't sorted.

Willow904 · Post by **Willow904** » Mon 01 Jun, 2015 9:31 am

rebeccariots2 wrote:
Luciana Berger ‏@lucianaberger 6m6 minutes ago
NHS spend on temporary workers has reached record £3.3 bn; “catastrophic” levels of debt blamed on agency bills rise http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/health/ ... S-dry.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; …
Who is going to point out to the interviewers and media that if the previous government had actually honoured the independent pay review's award of the measly 1% to nurses - they might not choose to leave their salaried positions and go and work for these agencies in such large numbers?

What a ludicrous, wasteful and disastrous situation when we / the public purse are bearing all the costs of training many nurses and then because we won't pay them decently we end up losing their resource and reliability to the private agencies and paying way over the odds for essential work.

And how many of these agency nurse positions counted as new jobs created?

There was someone on the news this morning saying we need to increase the number of student nurse places, without any mention at all of the 3,000+ places cut by the coalition government. When is the media going to start holding these Tories to account for their own policies?

Eric_WLothian · Post by **Eric_WLothian** » Mon 01 Jun, 2015 9:32 am

Following on from Mike Smithson's article (last night), there's a similar one from Michelle Mone:

BUSINESSWOMAN Michelle Mone has told of how she left Scotland as she no longer felt safe in country “consumed by hatred and ill-will”.
In a critique of the SNP and its supporters, the lingerie tycoon said the way she became the target of a “vitriolic social media hate campaign” in the wake of the independence referendum forced her to move away from the country of her birth against her wishes.
http://www.scotsman.com/news/celebrity/ ... -1-3788862

Reading the comments under the article (not really recommended) backs up her observations.

Eric_WLothian · Post by **Eric_WLothian** » Mon 01 Jun, 2015 9:46 am

Looks like the Nats are ditching one of their main manifesto policies already:

THE SNP is expected to ditch plans to push for full economic powers for Holyrood in the Scotland Bill and will instead concentrate on strengthening the package offered by the UK government.
A senior SNP source has indicated the nationalists are not ready to fight for their flagship manifesto pledge of full fiscal autonomy to be included in the Scotland Bill when it is debated in the Commons over the coming weeks
http://www.scotsman.com/news/uk/snp-pos ... -1-3788372

Easy to demand something when there's somebody (a minority Labour Party government) to blame when you don't get it. When the Tories are in a position to deliver, time to back off in case they do!
Imo FFA would kill off the SNP as the electorate became aware of the inevitable tax rises and/or service cuts which would follow.

rebeccariots2 · Post by **rebeccariots2** » Mon 01 Jun, 2015 9:56 am

Eric_WLothian wrote:Looks like the Nats are ditching one of their main manifesto policies already:

THE SNP is expected to ditch plans to push for full economic powers for Holyrood in the Scotland Bill and will instead concentrate on strengthening the package offered by the UK government.
A senior SNP source has indicated the nationalists are not ready to fight for their flagship manifesto pledge of full fiscal autonomy to be included in the Scotland Bill when it is debated in the Commons over the coming weeks
http://www.scotsman.com/news/uk/snp-pos ... -1-3788372
Easy to demand something when there's somebody (a minority Labour Party government) to blame when you don't get it. When the Tories are in a position to deliver, time to back off in case they do!
Imo FFA would kill off the SNP as the electorate became aware of the inevitable tax rises and/or service cuts which would follow.

The one heartening bit of last week's Question Time was when a man in the audience told the SNP MP on the panel that he had voted SNP but was already fed up with their antics in parliament and wanted them to start working for the people who voted them in. He got a round of applause. They risk alienating their voters if their mini rebellions against Westminster traditions become the focus of their activities and press coverage ... they need to be seen to be taking their role seriously.

rebeccariots2 · Post by **rebeccariots2** » Mon 01 Jun, 2015 10:10 am

: The National Arrives.jpg (42.32 KiB) Viewed 9825 times

The National ‏@ScotNational 3h3 hours ago
In the lair of the enemy: The National arrives at the House of Commons http://ebx.sh/1KGX6sS" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Otto English @Otto_English
The "enemy" being who exactly? @ScotNational

There's a longish thread discussing this underneath Otto English's tweet - includes tweets from LightACandle who also thinks this is not a good look for Scotland.

Eric_WLothian · Post by **Eric_WLothian** » Mon 01 Jun, 2015 10:10 am

rebeccariots2 wrote:
Eric_WLothian wrote:Looks like the Nats are ditching one of their main manifesto policies already:

THE SNP is expected to ditch plans to push for full economic powers for Holyrood in the Scotland Bill and will instead concentrate on strengthening the package offered by the UK government.
A senior SNP source has indicated the nationalists are not ready to fight for their flagship manifesto pledge of full fiscal autonomy to be included in the Scotland Bill when it is debated in the Commons over the coming weeks
http://www.scotsman.com/news/uk/snp-pos ... -1-3788372
Easy to demand something when there's somebody (a minority Labour Party government) to blame when you don't get it. When the Tories are in a position to deliver, time to back off in case they do!
Imo FFA would kill off the SNP as the electorate became aware of the inevitable tax rises and/or service cuts which would follow.
The one heartening bit of last week's Question Time was when a man in the audience told the SNP MP on the panel that he had voted SNP but was already fed up with their antics in parliament and wanted them to start working for the people who voted them in. He got a round of applause. They risk alienating their voters if their mini rebellions against Westminster traditions become the focus of their activities and press coverage ... they need to be seen to be taking their role seriously.

Yes - the SNP MP on QT was John Nicolson, an ex-BBC reporter who seemed strangely ill at ease, given his TV experience. I suspect that when constituents turn to their MPs to resolve problems, they may regret who they voted for. (Although John Nicolson will probably be one of the best, given his background on Watchdog etc).

rebeccariots2 · Post by **rebeccariots2** » Mon 01 Jun, 2015 10:18 am

[youtube]ZiH3L3XpJHY[/youtube]

Otto English ‏@Otto_English 11h11 hours ago
They're laughing at us in Europe. We're a laughing stock. Even the Germans are taking the piss.
" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Via @j_stafford88

Published on May 17, 2015
I subtitled a great segment of the german political Comedy Show "Heute Show" about Britain's role in the European Union. Broadcast Date on ZDF: 15 May 2015

Editing to add. This actually cheered me up ... weirdly reassuring to know the Germans can see and smell the hypocrisy and cant and aren't afraid to mock it mercilessly.

citizenJA · Post by **citizenJA** » Mon 01 Jun, 2015 10:19 am

rebeccariots2 wrote:
The National Arrives.jpg

The National ‏@ScotNational 3h3 hours ago
In the lair of the enemy: The National arrives at the House of Commons http://ebx.sh/1KGX6sS" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Otto English @Otto_English
The "enemy" being who exactly? @ScotNational
There's a longish thread discussing this underneath Otto English's tweet - includes tweets from LightACandle who also thinks this is not a good look for Scotland.

Any reply clarifying who the "enemy" is?

citizenJA · Post by **citizenJA** » Mon 01 Jun, 2015 10:25 am

Oh, my!
That German skit is a hoot.

Eric_WLothian · Post by **Eric_WLothian** » Mon 01 Jun, 2015 10:27 am

rebeccariots2 wrote:
The National ‏@ScotNational 3h3 hours ago
In the lair of the enemy: The National arrives at the House of Commons http://ebx.sh/1KGX6sS" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Otto English @Otto_English
The "enemy" being who exactly? @ScotNational
There's a longish thread discussing this underneath Otto English's tweet - includes tweets from LightACandle who also thinks this is not a good look for Scotland.

And it was that committed SNP MP Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh who asked for it.
She was a Labour Party member who became a (failed) Tory candidate in the 1999 SE then joined the SNP to become a failed MEP candidate in 2014.

You've got to admire her determination though.

Edited to add - She's got principles... but if you don't like those, she's got others. (adapted from Groucho Marx).

Eric_WLothian · Post by **Eric_WLothian** » Mon 01 Jun, 2015 10:33 am

citizenJA wrote:
rebeccariots2 wrote:
The National Arrives.jpg

The National ‏@ScotNational 3h3 hours ago
In the lair of the enemy: The National arrives at the House of Commons http://ebx.sh/1KGX6sS" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Otto English @Otto_English
The "enemy" being who exactly? @ScotNational
There's a longish thread discussing this underneath Otto English's tweet - includes tweets from LightACandle who also thinks this is not a good look for Scotland.
Any reply clarifying who the "enemy" is?

Anybody with views that differ from the SNP's.

citizenJA · Post by **citizenJA** » Mon 01 Jun, 2015 10:38 am

yahyah wrote:Peter Hain spoke about Labour's problems at the Hay Festival.

Am not normally that much of a fan but he makes some good points about investment for growth and warns the leadership contenders not to move to the right.

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales ... te-9362039" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Excellent article, yahyah, thank you for flagging it.
Hain's constructive opinion is welcome.
His observations are positive, spoken as a man in the Labour party & proud to be there.

citizenJA · Post by **citizenJA** » Mon 01 Jun, 2015 10:41 am

Eric_WLothian wrote:
citizenJA wrote:
rebeccariots2 wrote:
The National Arrives.jpg
There's a longish thread discussing this underneath Otto English's tweet - includes tweets from LightACandle who also thinks this is not a good look for Scotland.
Any reply clarifying who the "enemy" is?
Anybody with views that differ from the SNP's.

Hey, lookit, they ain' gonna' dig all us peoples declaring ourselves SNPs - what they gonna' do then? Thas a lot a folks descending for tea & biscuits.

rebeccariots2 · Post by **rebeccariots2** » Mon 01 Jun, 2015 10:44 am

The National ‏@ScotNational 14m14 minutes ago
re: 'In the lair of the enemy' ... We think we've made it pretty clear we don't like Westminster. Did this come as a surprise to anyone?

citizenJA · Post by **citizenJA** » Mon 01 Jun, 2015 10:47 am

Eric_WLothian wrote:
rebeccariots2 wrote:
The National ‏@ScotNational 3h3 hours ago
In the lair of the enemy: The National arrives at the House of Commons http://ebx.sh/1KGX6sS" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Otto English @Otto_English
The "enemy" being who exactly? @ScotNational
There's a longish thread discussing this underneath Otto English's tweet - includes tweets from LightACandle who also thinks this is not a good look for Scotland.
And it was that committed SNP MP Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh who asked for it.
She was a Labour Party member who became a (failed) Tory candidate in the 1999 SE then joined the SNP to become a failed MEP candidate in 2014.

You've got to admire her determination though.

Edited to add - She's got principles... but if you don't like those, she's got others. (adapted from Groucho Marx).

"I am not an opportunist, I have changed political parties - so what?
I want to work with whoever will deliver for Scotland."

- Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/792414.stm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

citizenJA · Post by **citizenJA** » Mon 01 Jun, 2015 10:54 am

rebeccariots2 wrote:
The National ‏@ScotNational 14m14 minutes ago
re: 'In the lair of the enemy' ... We think we've made it pretty clear we don't like Westminster. Did this come as a surprise to anyone?

'not liking Westminster' means what, exactly?
I'm alarmed because every Westminster MP is elected to work on behalf of every single constituent in the UK, their own constituents, all of them, not just the ones who voted for them.
What are SNP MPs doing? What are SNPs MPs intentions? Who do SNP MPs work for if not those people depending upon democratic representation in the UK?

ohsocynical · Post by **ohsocynical** » Mon 01 Jun, 2015 11:02 am

rebeccariots2 wrote:
Free childcare: Nurseries warn Cameron's pledge may cost parents more
Pre-school Learning Alliance suggests policy could create £350m funding gap because hours paid for by the government are underfunded
http://www.theguardian.com/money/2015/j ... dge-double" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

... The study found that private nurseries would lose £660 a year for each child taking up the extended entitlement, if government funding remained at current levels.

The total cost to private providers after the extension to 30 hours is estimated to be £1.95bn each year – but government funding only covers £1.7bn, leaving a shortfall of £250m. Private daycares also face a shortfall of more than £100m on the government’s existing offer of free childcare to some two-year-olds.

The research also suggests the Conservatives underestimated the potential costs of the new policy. Instead of the £350m extra spending that the party claimed during the election campaign, the researchers estimate that at current rates the policy would cost £1.5bn if each eligible child took their extra 15 hours.

“While we recognise that the Conservatives have promised to review local funding rates, the fact that they chose to estimate the cost of extending funded childcare before finding out how much funding rates will need to increase raises serious questions as to how meaningful such a review would be,” Leitch said.

“Simply raising rates by a few pence per hour will do little to address the current situation.”

The research was backed by a separate report from the Professional Association for Childcare and Early Years (Pacey), which found many providers “are being forced to cross-subsidise their free places through higher fees or retracting the number of funded places, both undermining government’s aims to increase the affordability, accessibility and quality of early years education”...

When have the Tories ever costed anything in depth and correctly?

AnatolyKasparov · Post by **AnatolyKasparov** » Mon 01 Jun, 2015 11:03 am

rebeccariots2 wrote:
RogerOThornhill wrote:
yahyah wrote:Humphreys giving a Tory a hard time about their extended free child care for people earning up to £150,000.

I'm sure social media will be full of people like Happy Chickie barking about tax payer money being wasted on people who should be paying for their own child rearing. Or maybe not.
That wasn't just any Tory - that was Pritti Patel!

Bit of a car-crash - kept repeating that it was "the right thing to do" but couldn't say why a couple earning up to a £150k should get it. I thought it was meant to help disadvantaged families - unless disadvantaged means all but 5% of families these days.

Housing association RTB
Free childcare for almost everyone
The row over the ECHR

Going well for the government then? Normally takes a couple of years for these kinds of problems - this seems to be a few weeks...
Yes. But unfortunately it's probably only a very few noticing the problems and 'chaos' (I'm going to use that word at every opportunity folks). I've had to avert my eyes from the tweet from the Sun telling us that the first post election polls show the Tories with an 11 point lead over Labour. Gnashes teeth.

Most people won't notice these things this soon after an election, and it is normal for newly elected governments to get a bit of a poll boost.

Oh, and any methodology changes?

seeingclearly · Post by **seeingclearly** » Mon 01 Jun, 2015 11:10 am

rebeccariots2 wrote:
The National ‏@ScotNational 14m14 minutes ago
re: 'In the lair of the enemy' ... We think we've made it pretty clear we don't like Westminster. Did this come as a surprise to anyone?

This reminds me so much of the UKIP MEPs, but with more vitriol.

justinbessou · Post by **justinbessou** » Mon 01 Jun, 2015 11:15 am

Hello everyone, long time no see (he said shamefacedly..)

Taking up AngryAsWell and Willow904's post from yesterday, the odious slimeball Royston Smith is my MP. He originally stood as an independent councillor with his mate Peter Baillie in the council elections, and they both promptly defected to the Tories once elected.

A friend of mine put in a lot of miles and hours on the doorstep for Rowenna, and all the activists were surprised by the complete absence of Tories on the knocker. An assumption was made that they had given the seat up as a bad job but we all know better now.

I'm resigned to the fact that he'll get away with it but hopeful that he will shaft himself at some point. I also have him down as an early defector to UKIP.
Smith is a nasty nasty piece of work and nothing surprises me about his dirty dealings.

He was also crap at his real job of mending pushbikes.

edited to change attribution of previous comments and again to undo the typos caused by my fat fingers, especially the one reading "my friend putin..."

seeingclearly · Post by **seeingclearly** » Mon 01 Jun, 2015 11:18 am

AnatolyKasparov wrote:
rebeccariots2 wrote:
RogerOThornhill wrote: That wasn't just any Tory - that was Pritti Patel!

Bit of a car-crash - kept repeating that it was "the right thing to do" but couldn't say why a couple earning up to a £150k should get it. I thought it was meant to help disadvantaged families - unless disadvantaged means all but 5% of families these days.

Housing association RTB
Free childcare for almost everyone
The row over the ECHR

Going well for the government then? Normally takes a couple of years for these kinds of problems - this seems to be a few weeks...
Yes. But unfortunately it's probably only a very few noticing the problems and 'chaos' (I'm going to use that word at every opportunity folks). I've had to avert my eyes from the tweet from the Sun telling us that the first post election polls show the Tories with an 11 point lead over Labour. Gnashes teeth.
Most people won't notice these things this soon after an election, and it is normal for newly elected governments to get a bit of a poll boost.

Oh, and any methodology changes?

With childcare, I'm not so sure, many will have been pleased with this 'promise' women in particular, and if it doesn't materialise it will hit right into the heart of households which may have been planning ahead believing it would happen, as it is they'll now be wondering whether or not they'll be winners in yet another Tory lottery.

rebeccariots2 · Post by **rebeccariots2** » Mon 01 Jun, 2015 11:21 am

justinbessou wrote:Hello everyone, long time no see (he said shamefacedly..)

Taking up Willow904's post from yesterday, the odious slimeball Royston Smith is my MP. He originally stood as an independent councillor with his mate Peter Baillie in the council elections, and they both promptly defected to the Tories once elected.

A friend of mine putin a lot of miles and hours on the doorstep for Rowenna, and all the activists were surprised by the complete absence of Tories on the knocker. An assumption was made that they had given the seat up as a bad job but we all know better now.

I'm resigned to the fact that he'll get away with it but hopeful that he will shaft himself at some point. I also have him down as an earlt defector to UKIP.
Smith is a nasty nasty piece of work and nothing surprises me about his dirty dealings.

He was also crap at his real job of mending pushbikes.

I know it's puerile - but I can't help thinking Royston Vasey - somehow the leap is there.

Willow904 · Post by **Willow904** » Mon 01 Jun, 2015 11:23 am

http://chokkablog.blogspot.co.uk/2015/0 ... rcles.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

A different Scottish perspective, well worth reading to restore the balance that is currently a bit skewed by recent nationalist braying. Whenever I get annoyed at the SNP, I remind myself that there are lots of Scottish people who are no more responsible for the SNP surge than I am for Jacob Rees-Mogg. There are lots of people on these islands unhappy at the election result - we need to stick together.

rebeccariots2 · Post by **rebeccariots2** » Mon 01 Jun, 2015 11:30 am

@ FTN contingent living in Wales - well south and west Wales - anyone thinking of going to the Swansea Labour leadership hustings on 5th July?

RogerOThornhill · Post by **RogerOThornhill** » Mon 01 Jun, 2015 11:31 am

More issues with UTCs.

UTCs take eight spaces in list of 50 worst for absence

http://schoolsweek.co.uk/utcs-take-eigh ... r-absence/

Eight University Technical Colleges (UTCs) have been listed among England’s worst providers for overall absence.
The Department for Education statistics, for last autumn, show how Elutec, in Essex, is the worst of the UTCs with a figure that put it at eighth in the list of shame among providers which recruit pupils aged five to 15.

Its 14.5 per cent is based on the total number of days missed as a proportion of the total number of days it was possible for pupils to attend during the term.

The figures come just days after the doomed Black Country UTC was hit with an Ofsted inadequate result with a report that outlined poor attendance and behaviour, as reported on feweek.co.uk.

Badly implemented and badly managed as to their oversight.

Tory education policy writ large - assume everything will work - sees that it doesn't - pretends nothing's wrong.

justinbessou · Post by **justinbessou** » Mon 01 Jun, 2015 11:31 am

I know it's puerile - but I can't help thinking Royston Vasey - somehow the leap is there.

Funny you should mention that...
http://roystonsmith.co.uk/royston-smith/

Eric_WLothian · Post by **Eric_WLothian** » Mon 01 Jun, 2015 11:36 am

citizenJA wrote:
rebeccariots2 wrote:
The National ‏@ScotNational 14m14 minutes ago
re: 'In the lair of the enemy' ... We think we've made it pretty clear we don't like Westminster. Did this come as a surprise to anyone?
'not liking Westminster' means what, exactly?
I'm alarmed because every Westminster MP is elected to work on behalf of every single constituent in the UK, their own constituents, all of them, not just the ones who voted for them.
What are SNP MPs doing? What are SNPs MPs intentions? Who do SNP MPs work for if not those people depending upon democratic representation in the UK?

And there lies the problem. The Nats see Scotland as being different to, if not separate from, the rest of the UK. Neither is true to any great extent - the only real difference is the geography, which does give rise to some specific problems which are recognised by the Barnett formula. The SNP simply don't see the UK as an entity or understand (or care) that more for Scotland means less for somewhere else.
If the SNP MPs were distributed throughout the UK, they would have no more clout than any other minority party.
What are their intentions? To cause as much disruption to the UK as they can, in their sole objective, power - and the ultimate power, independence.
Who do they work for? The party. Certainly not Scotland or the UK.
While all parties have their "my party, right or wrong" adherents, only the SNP seem to have such thuggish, fanatical supporters.

Post by **letsskiptotheleft** » Mon 01 Jun, 2015 11:37 am

rebeccariots2 wrote:@ FTN contingent living in Wales - well south and west Wales - anyone thinking of going to the Swansea Labour leadership hustings on 5th July?

I could be up for that Rebecca, in London at the moment, pm you when I get back to Wales tomorrow.

AngryAsWell · Post by **AngryAsWell** » Mon 01 Jun, 2015 11:39 am

From the Mail....... and they are surprised by this ?

NHS charges patients £14,000 to jump queue for crucial ops: Hospitals are letting those in need of knee and hip replacement surgery pay to skip the queue
Knee and hip surgery is being rationed across England, forcing some patients to wait in pain for more than a year to get to theatre
More than 40 trusts telling patients they can have ops in as little as a week
Campaigners accuse hospitals of profiting from elderly patients

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/artic ... z3bnz2KXHM" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

seeingclearly · Post by **seeingclearly** » Mon 01 Jun, 2015 11:40 am

Was just watching Victoria show on TV, discussing a crisis in fostering, not enough foster carers coming through. The issues were skirted round a fair bit, it was more about encouraging people to come forward to foster children, but it was clear that there are increasing numbers of children going into care, that poverty is playing a big part, and that far fewer people are coming forward. Sadly also highlighted the devastating damage that can happen to children pushed from one carer to another. Just another way these austerity policies are impacting on people's lives.