FlyTheNest

Morning all.

utopiandreams wrote: RogerOThornhill wrote:
Gove apparently doesn't like the word "However" at the start of a sentence.
I check the Schools White Paper from 2010.
9 sentences starting with However.
Gove's own department too...
Ha, ha, ha, Roger. I checked the King James' Bible. There were no instances
whatsoever at the beginning of a sentence or otherwise.

Whereas (by powers of google)
New International Version, seems happy to start sentences with 'However'.
Umm, think I need a coffee.
will make pot.

I followed some links to telegraph articles,
now feel I need more than just caffeine.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politic ... e-off.html

Five ways David Cameron can cut tax credits without making workers
worse off
David Cameron wants to cut in-work tax credits, and wants companies to pay staff more. How
can he do it?

3. Use the Prime Ministerial pulpit
Mr Cameron could always use his public position to badger businesses into paying
more to their staff. Naming and shaming those who could pay more and wagging his
finger at scrooge-ish employers could help foster a change of culture. This won't
require legislation, but may take time.

Is it the Oliver Twist approach?
Doff your cap & ask for more.
I suspect he thinks that people are just too secure making ends almost meet and with a bit more pressure they'll just demand better jobs.
Employers will see there's an increase in demand
& create jobs to fill the demand.
It makes sense to me, it makes sense to Dave, it must be sensible.

However...



Good morning.

Oops, Good Morning.

Morning all.

Feel I ought to be able to summon up a post on senior female politicians and their foreign grooms ... but - nah - I can't.

In Labour’s leadership race, Yvette Cooper is the one to beat
Though the debate remains leaden, the former shadow home secretary is beginning to impress against her main rival, Andy Burnham
Polly Toynbee
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfre ... dy-burnham" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

This seems a pretty fair analysis of how it is panning out so far.

If anyone needs cheering up. This brought a smile to me.

Emily Ashton ‏@elashton 3m3 minutes ago
Andy Burnham: The Boy Fighting To Get Out Of The Bubble http://www.buzzfeed.com/emilyashton/and ... .jdqGk5OPK" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; …

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2015/06 ... _hp_ref=uk" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

David Cameron has signalled the end of the current child poverty target, claiming that it distorts what the Government is doing to help those in need.

In a significant shift in his position on the issue, the Prime Minister made clear in his speech on welfare reform that it was time to end the system of measuring youngsters' 'relative poverty'.

If you can't meet the target then change the damn target. If that doesn't work then change how it's calulated.

Goebbels would be proud of this man.

Off to mow.

Catch you later.

Good God! I'm Minister of State.

Where's my foreign bride?

When asked if she felt bullied on Twitter, J K Rowling replied:

No, I don't feel bullied. In the looking-glass world of Twitter, vitriol is so often the tribute inadequacy pays to articulacy.

As someone said the other day, she's really good at this Twitter stuff isn't she.

Morning all.

Just seen an Ofsted report which demonstrates the mess that we now have. A converter academy:

Converted in Jan 2011 when they were rated Good
Inspected in April 2012 - Requires Improvement
Inspected May 2015 - Requires Improvement

So what does it say?

The school accesses support from the local authority, which works regularly with the school. The local authority has an over-generous view of the school’s provision. It is aware of improvements that need to be made in achievement and teaching but accepts the school’s view around behaviour and leadership, which is too optimistic. Because of this, the local authority is not challenging the school strongly enough.

There you go - 4 years after conversion...and it's still the fault of the LA.

Anyone in government listening? I doubt it.

Sir Chris Woodhead, former head of Ofsted, has died

The Press Association has just snapped this.

Former chief inspector of schools Sir Chris Woodhead, who had motor neurone disease, has died, friends said.

No doubt there will be many glowing tributes paid him...especially from the schools that were inspected under his regime and the 15,000 failing teachers he said there were from no evidence whatsoever.

http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/a-b8 ... k-benefits" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

So, the unemployment count fell as tens of thousands were forced onto tax credits and fake self-employment...And many of them are now going to return to the JSA count as their tax credits are removed. That Osborne is a genius, isn't he?

Laura McInerney ‏@miss_mcinerney 52m52 minutes ago
Discussed Woodhead recently with Blunkett. Was struck by the parallels with Nick Gibb's current views.

That does not surprise me in the least.

Neither does this.

Toby Young ‏@toadmeister 4m4 minutes ago
Very sorry to hear about the death of Chris Woodhead. A great education reformer who paved the way for free schools and academies

Hmmm, wonder if more will now come out about Woodhead's slightly sleazy past.....

Not a monster, actually (he had some fairly interesting ideas amongst the dross) but certainly a strange man.

Andy Burnham retweeted
Michael Warhurst ‏@mwarhurst 2h2 hours ago
Peter Lilley wasn't happy when @andyburnhammp tweeted about our #fracking report.

Our response to his claims:
http://www.chemtrust.org.uk/fracking-po ... -industry/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; …

I thought this would be the response from the pro fracking Tories - to rubbish the commissioners / authors of this report as having vested interests and not being robust - and so it has been.

... However, the trade association for the UK Fracking industry, UKOOG, released a response that was very critical of CHEM Trust’s work. The Daily Telegraph has published a story based on this response, with additional quotes from the UK Conservative Member of Parliament Peter Lilley. His comments, and the UKOOG response, contain major inaccuracies and vague claims, and so we thought that it was important that we reply to it....

Glad they've issued a robust response. But they will already have been given a black mark by Gove for starting that sentence with 'However'.

AnatolyKasparov wrote:Hmmm, wonder if more will now come out about Woodhead's slightly sleazy past.....

Not a monster, actually (he had some fairly interesting ideas amongst the dross) but certainly a strange man.

Think he was awful.

15,000 bad teachers based on those who delivered a bad lesson in front of inspectors?

Tubby Isaacs wrote:

AnatolyKasparov wrote:Hmmm, wonder if more will now come out about Woodhead's slightly sleazy past.....

Not a monster, actually (he had some fairly interesting ideas amongst the dross) but certainly a strange man.

Think he was awful.

15,000 bad teachers based on those who delivered a bad lesson in front of inspectors?

I remember Toby Young using that one a couple of years back and not saying that it was at least 15 years old...

Was that one post in about 6 hours earlier today??

As was said by Pink Floyd once "is there anybody out there"?

If people want some interesting and intelligent talk on what policy should look like in the UK, this is interesting on the UK

http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/0 ... =auto&_r=0

Stick with it and watch David Hendry, the most interesting of the three.

I have a problem at the moment so am not posting as much...Reading the posts though....

ohsocynical wrote:I have a problem at the moment so am not posting as much...Reading the posts though....

Hope you are back to your regular rhythm soon

Suggest you take a deep deep breath before reading the review that is linked to here ...

Conor Pope ‏@Conorpope 49m49 minutes ago
'“Scottish Labour could start a fight in an empty house”. That’s a theory they’ll be able to test now.' http://news.stv.tv/scotland-decides/ana ... of-labour/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; …

Review: Watching Scottish Labour fade away made for awkward viewing
http://news.stv.tv/scotland-decides/ana ... of-labour/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Evening folks,

Been busy with helping the inlaws sort out a house next to us - they are moving to be nearer as they are ancient and everyone they know is dead (not us, obvs). Yesterday, the builder went bust and the fallout has been catastrophic. They are a big firm, who took our job on as a small work project. Their collapse has caused the closure of a groundworks firm, the electrical contractor and heating engineer. There are a crowd of small businesses in the building trades who are either going tits up as well, or about to. I've spent two days consoling blokes who've been made redundant, small business owners who will have to shut up shop, and dealing with threats of violence from a couple of subcontractors who are unpaid.

One of them, can't remember which, mentioned that the government is always spouting about the recovery. He said the only way he can win a contract now is to put in a tender so low that he barely breaks even, and to do the work/supply materials on tick, and pray that the bills are honoured within a month or two of when they were due. One job goes bad, and the knock on effect is that a whole domino row of tradesmen & suppliers collapse.

The construction industry is living from hand to mouth, its like a Ponzi scheme, where the slightest interruption in payment results in the whole house of cards to come down.

Been a bad couple of days, and I think its symptomatic of the reality of our 'recovery'. i would love some of the right wing cocks who drone on about benefit scroungers to have sat with me listening to lads getting sacked and firms going under.

Which Labour Leadership Candidate Are You?
http://www.buzzfeed.com/emilyashton/whi ... .jk0xjVnGd" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

(I got Yvette Cooper)

I have realised that the reason why I am unable to join in and post as I used to is that, since the Great Disaster, I am living in the wrong leg of the Trousers of Time.

rebeccariots2 wrote:Suggest you take a deep deep breath before reading the review that is linked to here ...

Conor Pope ‏@Conorpope 49m49 minutes ago
'“Scottish Labour could start a fight in an empty house”. That’s a theory they’ll be able to test now.' http://news.stv.tv/scotland-decides/ana ... of-labour/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; …

Review: Watching Scottish Labour fade away made for awkward viewing
http://news.stv.tv/scotland-decides/ana ... of-labour/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

As has already been pointed out, the unmourned Douglas Alexander stabbing his sister in the back for what was basically a £200 accounting error was a particular low point

http://www.theguardian.com/society/2015 ... s#comments" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Disabled workers forced to take unfit jobs

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfre ... n#comments" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

People on benefits are dying. It’s time for some transparency

http://www.theguardian.com/society/2015 ... e#comments" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Child poverty definition may change as figures set to show first rise in a decade

AngryAsWell wrote:Which Labour Leadership Candidate Are You?
http://www.buzzfeed.com/emilyashton/whi ... .jk0xjVnGd" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

(I got Yvette Cooper)

I was Jeremy Corbyn. Good!

Chris Cook's obit of Chris Woodhead is receiving some Twitter approval. Interesting to note the feud with Tim Brighouse...and one bit is startling if true.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-33244072

For example, look at Sir Chris's feud with Sir Tim Brighouse, then the head of Birmingham's school system. It was almost poetic, in that the two men were opposites: Mr Woodhead liked to wield a stick to push teachers on. Prof Brighouse preferred the carrot. So it was intensely irritating to the Ofsted chief that Birmingham schools improved markedly under Prof Brighouse's leadership. The relationship became poisonous enough that inspectors have told me that Mr Woodhead sought to amend Birmingham inspection reports to make them look worse (the chief inspector always insisted this was just "quality assurance").

Although it shouldn't surprise me given that the Guardian found Woodhead's amendment of one school report to make it failing even though inspectors said it wasn't.

http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2005/feb/ ... nformation

SpinningHugo wrote:If people want some interesting and intelligent talk on what policy should look like in the UK, this is interesting on the UK

http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/0 ... =auto&_r=0

Stick with it and watch David Hendry, the most interesting of the three.

Thank you for posting this SH. I haven't managed to get to David Hendry yet - a seriously lame dog, 3 phone calls and supper meant I only got through Paul Krugman and Martin Wolf. But they were pretty riveting watching. I will return to it tomorrow for Hendry.

Love the comments by Wolf on what an intelligent and sane government would do in these circumstances but sadly we have neither. Both he and Krugman are utterly damning on the 'long term plan' and the claimed economic 'success'. Krugman built up a pretty compelling case re the necessity of adopting a policy of borrowing to carry out a large scale programme of public investment. Osborne is quite literally running us into the ground. Their predictions of the state of the UK economy by 2020 if Osborne continues with his programme are terrifying. Should be essential viewing.

Kay Burley ‏@KayBurley · 2h2 hours ago
Just seen @Ed_Miliband looking fabulous, relaxed and in control of his life after all the madness. A genuinely good man.

What a bloody hypocrite !!

https://twitter.com/KayBurley" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

55DegreesNorth wrote:Evening folks,

Been busy with helping the inlaws sort out a house next to us - they are moving to be nearer as they are ancient and everyone they know is dead (not us, obvs). Yesterday, the builder went bust and the fallout has been catastrophic. They are a big firm, who took our job on as a small work project. Their collapse has caused the closure of a groundworks firm, the electrical contractor and heating engineer. There are a crowd of small businesses in the building trades who are either going tits up as well, or about to. I've spent two days consoling blokes who've been made redundant, small business owners who will have to shut up shop, and dealing with threats of violence from a couple of subcontractors who are unpaid.

One of them, can't remember which, mentioned that the government is always spouting about the recovery. He said the only way he can win a contract now is to put in a tender so low that he barely breaks even, and to do the work/supply materials on tick, and pray that the bills are honoured within a month or two of when they were due. One job goes bad, and the knock on effect is that a whole domino row of tradesmen & suppliers collapse.

The construction industry is living from hand to mouth, its like a Ponzi scheme, where the slightest interruption in payment results in the whole house of cards to come down.

Been a bad couple of days, and I think its symptomatic of the reality of our 'recovery'. i would love some of the right wing cocks who drone on about benefit scroungers to have sat with me listening to lads getting sacked and firms going under.

At the end of last year the building firm who had been working on a largish social housing project in Cardigan folded - leaving loads of local suppliers out of pocket, local people out of work and the development unfinished. Your story resonates here. We are still seeing construction limping along - very little getting built - housing prices being reduced.

Re the 'recovery'. Watch the video Spinning Hugo linked to for a real exposee of what's really going on.

BBC PoliticsVerified account
‏@BBCPolitics The UK government's stake in Lloyds Banking Group has fallen to below 17% after more shares were sold to private... http://bbc.in/1LyCD6V" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

AngryAsWell wrote:Kay Burley ‏@KayBurley · 2h2 hours ago
Just seen @Ed_Miliband looking fabulous, relaxed and in control of his life after all the madness. A genuinely good man.

What a bloody hypocrite !!

https://twitter.com/KayBurley" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Yes, I remember that snide remark she made about Miliband's mum.

Funny how only now they come out and say "Oh, he's a really decent chap" when before it was "Stabbed his brother in the back", "he's weak", "can't eat a bacon sarnie properly".

However (deliberate Gove irritant) I still cannot make my mind up on leader.
I like the things Andy is saying on things like fracking - but can't really "feel" any honesty emitting from him (yet)
I like the way Yvette Cooper is conducting herself - no digs at other candidates and totally dissing the "scroungers" rhetoric.
I like JC coz he's a nice bloke - but that not good enough to be PM (and - for me - he is too old, which may lead to another contest before or just after the election if he feels the urge to retire )
As for the other one - no comment
Any ideas?

Scott Nelson ‏@TheMockneyRebel · 32 mins32 minutes ago  Aveley, England
Welfare cuts lead to surge in number of children on child protection registers http://www.welfareweekly.com/number-of- ... sive-year/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; …

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/si ... ign=buffer" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Sick kids denied chance to spend final days at home due to lack of nurses


Better half living longer than first thought,barring a week in a hospice we have managed at home with a daily visit from district nurses to "top up" the surgical driver (called Cyril)(24hr on call team as back up).No illusions that this may well change.

HindleA wrote:http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/si ... ign=buffer

Sick kids denied chance to spend final days at home due to lack of nurses


Better half living longer than first thought,barring a week in a hospice we have managed at home with a daily visit from district nurses to "top up" the surgical driver (called Cyril)(24hr on call team as back up).No illusions that this may well change.

Thinking of you both with love
Virtual hugs xx

HindleA wrote:http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/si ... ign=buffer

Sick kids denied chance to spend final days at home due to lack of nurses


Better half living longer than first thought,barring a week in a hospice we have managed at home with a daily visit from district nurses to "top up" the surgical driver (called Cyril)(24hr on call team as back up).No illusions that this may well change.

I've struggled to know what to say to you in response to your direct, honest and touching post HindleA. Thank you for being you. I'm sending out good thoughts for both of you.

However, we are keeping your donation......
Michael Gove Becomes The Latest 'Tory For Corbyn', But Labour Pockets Their Cash

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2015/06 ... mg00000067" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Night all

rebeccariots2 wrote:

HindleA wrote:http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/si ... ign=buffer

Sick kids denied chance to spend final days at home due to lack of nurses


Better half living longer than first thought,barring a week in a hospice we have managed at home with a daily visit from district nurses to "top up" the surgical driver (called Cyril)(24hr on call team as back up).No illusions that this may well change.

I've struggled to know what to say to you in response to your direct, honest and touching post HindleA. Thank you for being you. I'm sending out good thoughts for both of you.

What she said so well.

You, your better half, and the care team are in my thoughts too. Best wishes.

Very reticent to relay such personal information but it was linked to a news item in my defence.Thanks for responses.

HindleA wrote:Very reticent to relay such personal information but it was linked to a news item in my defence.Thanks for responses.

No need at all to be defensive. In fact personally I'm humbled that you'd choose to share such difficult thoughts, as I would think all of us here are. I reckon you're amongst friends here.

Cheers Hobiejoe

Learnt something new in the process.There is a 28 day rule for DLA and therefore CA for hospital stays after which they are suspended,this does not apply for charitable hospices.In the words of the nurse that told me -do not tell them,if they happen to find out quote the charity number and tell them to stick the rule up their ###e.We got on.

HindleA wrote:Cheers Hobiejoe

Learnt something new in the process.There is a 28 day rule for DLA and therefore CA for hospital stays after which they are suspended,this does not apply for charitable hospices.In the words of the nurse that told me -do not tell them,if they happen to find out quote the charity number and tell them to stick the rule up their ###e.We got on.

One step at a time. One day at a time. One chance to get one over the bastards at a time.

Good night one and all and A.