FlyTheNest

Morning.

'Hot july brings cooling showers,
Apricots and gillyflowers.'

rebeccariots2 wrote:Morning.

'Hot july brings cooling showers,
Apricots and gillyflowers.'

I don't accept that . . . .

Good morfternoon, everyone.

PorFavor wrote:

rebeccariots2 wrote:Morning.

'Hot july brings cooling showers,
Apricots and gillyflowers.'

I don't accept that . . . .

Good morfternoon, everyone.

Are you starting your day in fine pedant and contrary form PF?

Sch'mae,

So Nick Robinson looks like he is moving on (rumoured to the Today programme)

Replacement options are seen to be Spectator wife Allegra Stratton, Old Etonian James Landale and professional interrupter Laura Kuenssberg.

So that should make the BBC less establishment centric then!

ScarletGas wrote:Sch'mae,

So Nick Robinson looks like he is moving on (rumoured to the Today programme)

Replacement options are seen to be Spectator wife Allegra Stratton, Old Etonian James Landale and professional interrupter Laura Kuenssberg.

So that should make the BBC less establishment centric then!

What a deeply depressing 'choice'.

Cheers Tubby! (Referring to yesterday).

The BBC used to "think outside the box" more with these appointments, for sure.

I suspected Robinson going public with Dave "threatening to shut the BBC down" was a sign he was about to move on - I would like to think it was a bit much even for him.

rebeccariots2 wrote:

ScarletGas wrote:Sch'mae,

So Nick Robinson looks like he is moving on (rumoured to the Today programme)

Replacement options are seen to be Spectator wife Allegra Stratton, Old Etonian James Landale and professional interrupter Laura Kuenssberg.

So that should make the BBC less establishment centric then!

What a deeply depressing 'choice'.

Quite. Kuenssberg is particularly objectionable - frankly quite hostile to any Labour people she interviews. And of course she was the obvious choice to chair the recent Labour leadership debate, where she constantly interrupted and put her own spin on the answers. It looked as if she wanted to undermine and belittle all of them, although being especially sneery to Corbyn.

She reminds me a bit of Liz Truss. Both women have left wing academic fathers - Professor Nick Kuennsberg has apparently donated to Labour in the past, and Truss described hers (who lectures in Maths at Leeds) as 'left of Labour'. Bit of teen rebellion going on into middle age?

I suspect both women have a thing about emulating Margaret Thatcher. I reckon even La Thatch herself wouldn't have liked them much. If Truss had been around in her time she'd have kept her very much at a distance. Thatcher is seen by young Tory women as a feminist. She was anything but. She was keen to talk about 'thrifty housewives' and that was as far as it went. Her father treated her as a kind of honorary son - she'd attend council and charity events with him where she'd be the sole female - and she carried on that attitude of being a politician first and a woman a very distant second.

AnatolyKasparov wrote:The BBC used to "think outside the box" more with these appointments, for sure.

I suspected Robinson going public with Dave "threatening to shut the BBC down" was a sign he was about to move on - I would like to think it was a bit much even for him.

I think my problem here is that there seems to be no place in todays BBC for an alternative voice. Even on shows like the Daily/Sunday Politics the "opinion" pieces are dominated by right of centre (wherever that is!) hacks such as Nick Watt,Janan Ganesh or the very smug Isobel Oakeshott who rely on good relationships with the elected political class and will do nothing to jeopardise their own gravy train.

These people, along with the political correspondents are very "samey" and seem to voice their own approving,opinions of the establishment (which they are an integral part of by the way) narrative rather than questioning it.That way opinion very soon becomes perceived fact.

If my memory does not play tricks there was always a place for a questioning alternative in the Corporation. Oh for a Paul Mason these days.

Incidentally it is alleged that La Kuenssberg "earns" around £200k per annum. I wonder how that goes down with the BBC personnel currently threatened with the sack or our poor, hard done by MPs

Morning all.
Papers full of Osborne's give away for the rich today.

ScarletGas wrote:

AnatolyKasparov wrote:The BBC used to "think outside the box" more with these appointments, for sure.

I suspected Robinson going public with Dave "threatening to shut the BBC down" was a sign he was about to move on - I would like to think it was a bit much even for him.

I think my problem here is that there seems to be no place in todays BBC for an alternative voice. Even on shows like the Daily/Sunday Politics the "opinion" pieces are dominated by right of centre (wherever that is!) hacks such as Nick Watt,Janan Ganesh or the very smug Isobel Oakeshott who rely on good relationships with the elected political class and will do nothing to jeopardise their own gravy train.

These people, along with the political correspondents are very "samey" and seem to voice their own approving,opinions of the establishment (which they are an integral part of by the way) narrative rather than questioning it.That way opinion very soon becomes perceived fact.

If my memory does not play tricks there was always a place for a questioning alternative in the Corporation. Oh for a Paul Mason these days.

Incidentally it is alleged that La Kuenssberg "earns" around £200k per annum. I wonder how that goes down with the BBC personnel currently threatened with the sack or our poor, hard done by MPs

They occasionally allow Owen Jones some air time. However, it may be that they calculate that his boyish appearance detracts from what he's saying - righties like to make the same dim witted remarks about him being up too late for his paper round etc. He was also critical of Labour from the left, which neutralised the potential threat he posed to Tory hegemony.

Polly Toynbee is also sometimes allowed an appearance. She is the Right's Aunt Sally, the woman they love to hate - their received opinion is that her former ownership of a holiday home in Tuscany means anything she has to say can be safely disregarded. That's the cartoon level that political discourse on the BBC has descended to.

ScarletGas wrote:

AnatolyKasparov wrote:The BBC used to "think outside the box" more with these appointments, for sure.

I suspected Robinson going public with Dave "threatening to shut the BBC down" was a sign he was about to move on - I would like to think it was a bit much even for him.

I think my problem here is that there seems to be no place in todays BBC for an alternative voice. Even on shows like the Daily/Sunday Politics the "opinion" pieces are dominated by right of centre (wherever that is!) hacks such as Nick Watt,Janan Ganesh or the very smug Isobel Oakeshott who rely on good relationships with the elected political class and will do nothing to jeopardise their own gravy train.

What is arguably worse is when they do have a token "pro-Labour" voice on these panels, it is almost always of the "neo-Blairite" variety (Newsnight is notorious for that these days as well)

AnatolyKasparov wrote:

ScarletGas wrote:

AnatolyKasparov wrote:The BBC used to "think outside the box" more with these appointments, for sure.

I suspected Robinson going public with Dave "threatening to shut the BBC down" was a sign he was about to move on - I would like to think it was a bit much even for him.

I think my problem here is that there seems to be no place in todays BBC for an alternative voice. Even on shows like the Daily/Sunday Politics the "opinion" pieces are dominated by right of centre (wherever that is!) hacks such as Nick Watt,Janan Ganesh or the very smug Isobel Oakeshott who rely on good relationships with the elected political class and will do nothing to jeopardise their own gravy train.

What is arguably worse is when they do have a token "pro-Labour" voice on these panels, it is almost always of the "neo-Blairite" variety (Newsnight is notorious for that these days as well)

That berk Phil Collins springs to mind. They might as well invite the real Phil Collins - he's a right winger as well, but at least he'd have some anecdotes about his time in Genesis ...

It's not just the interpreters of news who lack balance, the entire news and current affairs is biased to the status quo, business and the right. That's what the Cardiff University study found and research going back decades highlights the same bias and conformity.

But no one is willing to talk about it and if anyone does it is not long before the old adage about right and left complaining means it is balanced is trotted out. But it is biased to the right and the left's complaints are justified, while the right's are all part of a continuing campaign to drive the BBC further to the right, and become a mere echo-chamber for Murdoch and Dacre, which it more or less is now.

A big part of the problem is the Newspaper Review on both BBC and Sky. That sets the tabloid agenda which the news programs then follow. BBC in particular simply don't seem to have journalists or reporters any more, just presenters who build their program around right wing paper's headlines without a thought to challenge or verify the facts.
We now have tabloid TV.

#Labourhustings in Swindon

https://twitter.com/hashtag/Labourhustings?src=hash" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The Sunday People ‏@thesundaypeople · Jul 2
Hang on - Corbyn doesn't seem to actually be a snarling, left wing, Marxist lunatic after all. We may have been misinformed. #bbcqt

Coverage of yesterdays hustings in Manchester.
http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/ ... ar_twitter" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I'm liking AB's replies, and also YC's "We don't need to give into Tory myths,"

AnatolyKasparov wrote:The BBC used to "think outside the box" more with these appointments, for sure.

I suspected Robinson going public with Dave "threatening to shut the BBC down" was a sign he was about to move on - I would like to think it was a bit much even for him.

Looking up Robin Oakley. From Tory print journalism. I recall him being very good, with his presumably Tory leanings not on show. Very professional.

good-afternoon, everyone

AngryAsWell wrote:A big part of the problem is the Newspaper Review on both BBC and Sky. That sets the tabloid agenda which the news programs then follow. BBC in particular simply don't seem to have journalists or reporters any more, just presenters who build their program around right wing paper's headlines without a thought to challenge or verify the facts.
We now have tabloid TV.

its pretty fashionable these days to deny the influence of the print media.Although it certainly has diminished with the advent of social media it still plays an important role in the dissemination of information to the mass of the public. Its pretty well known that John Humphries develops his questioning using the Daily Mail agenda,seemingly accepting its validity, so who is to say the average "non political" reader does not do the same.

Reverting back to the BBC/Sky paper reviews. I do wish both companies would inform their viewers more comprehensively when captioning names overlaid on the screen. Telling us Tim Collins is chairman of Bell Pottinger political (when praising everything this government is or has done) means nothing to a casual viewer if not also informed that in a previous life he was a pretty right wing tory MP. The BBC did start a little while ago the label representatives of think tanks as right/left wing but seemed to have dropped this recently.

Useful idiot alert!

http://www.theguardian.com/money/blog/2 ... ax-credits" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

On Wednesday, tax credits are widely predicted to fall under the chancellor’s axe when he reveals his budget welfare cuts. David Cameron says he wants to end the “merry-go-round” of welfare payments that mean low wages are topped up by the state. He has a point, even if his delivery is meretricious.

No he doesn't.

Silly aside at Gordon Brown and Ed Balls for creating a "£30bn monster" with tax credits. I always find it surprising that Brown chose to create this very complicated and politically difficult system when there was this easy solution of raising the minimum wage. (I do believe the minimum wage should be raised, but you'd still need tax credits.

There's no reason for companies to raise their wages because tax credits fall.

Complete with the "here's one report which says what I thought anyway".

Clive Lewis MP retweeted
Bridget Chapman 4 VP ‏@BridgeeCee · 21h21 hours ago
Delighted to announce that Clive Lewis MP is the new patron of the Anti-Academies Alliance http://antiacademies.org.uk/2015/07/cli ... -alliance/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; … @labourlewis

Don't know much about Clive Lewis but he seems a good MP from his twitter feed

Clive Lewis MP ‏@labourlewis · 20h20 hours ago
@BridgeeCee I'm also delighted to announce that I've secured a place on the Public Accounts Committee. Keen to haul academy chains before us

More power to his elbow

AngryAsWell wrote:Clive Lewis MP retweeted
Bridget Chapman 4 VP ‏@BridgeeCee · 21h21 hours ago
Delighted to announce that Clive Lewis MP is the new patron of the Anti-Academies Alliance http://antiacademies.org.uk/2015/07/cli ... -alliance/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; … @labourlewis

Don't know much about Clive Lewis but he seems a good MP from his twitter feed

Clive Lewis MP ‏@labourlewis · 20h20 hours ago
@BridgeeCee I'm also delighted to announce that I've secured a place on the Public Accounts Committee. Keen to haul academy chains before us

More power to his elbow

Excellent - comes across well in the Commons and made a good speech in the debate about the Education Bill.

Like his taste in shirt/tie/jacket combos too...

AnatolyKasparov wrote:The BBC used to "think outside the box" more with these appointments, for sure.

I suspected Robinson going public with Dave "threatening to shut the BBC down" was a sign he was about to move on - I would like to think it was a bit much even for him.

I would imagine Robinson's thoughts ran along the line of --- And after all we/I've done for him....

While I'm multi-tasking (thesis, music, tennis) I was wondering what approach Harman should take in response to the Budget speech on Wednesday.

How about:
1. Why are we even having a budget given that we had one less than 4 months ago?
2. Point out the failure on the deficit to meet his own plans
3. Ask whether he's clearing up the mess left by the last government i.e. the Coalition
4. If that leak about inheritance tax is correct ask whether the deficit is not important now given it has no impact on the economy.

Presumably she'll have people beavering away looking through the documents which IIRC they only get given just before the speech.

I'd have Miliband on this and get him to ignore what Osborne is saying and focus on the document - they may well do this already but he's got the mind that will pick up the important stuff.

I've been told on another board that schools are now individually responsible for anti-radicalization.

Talking of which, it was an academy (and a standalone one) whence 3 girls left to marry ISIL men. A very important letter was never received by the parents because the school gave it to the girls to take home. Whoever made that decision must feel awful, and I have every sympathy with them. They ought not to have been dealing with something so important off their own bat.

Paul Waugh ‏@paulwaugh 9m9 minutes ago
Watch the funniest political video in ages. Cabinet minister @sajidjavid stands up for Britain in EU condom row. http://huff.to/1TciHLm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Blimey - he's human.

But there's something just a bit naaaah about Javid alongside condom jokes.

RogerOThornhill wrote:While I'm multi-tasking (thesis, music, tennis) I was wondering what approach Harman should take in response to the Budget speech on Wednesday.

How about:
1. Why are we even having a budget given that we had one less than 4 months ago?
2. Point out the failure on the deficit to meet his own plans
3. Ask whether he's clearing up the mess left by the last government i.e. the Coalition
4. If that leak about inheritance tax is correct ask whether the deficit is not important now given it has no impact on the economy.

Presumably she'll have people beavering away looking through the documents which IIRC they only get given just before the speech.

I'd have Miliband on this and get him to ignore what Osborne is saying and focus on the document - they may well do this already but he's got the mind that will pick up the important stuff.

Special vote coming on any benefit cuts, no doubt.

danesclose wrote:Morning all.
Papers full of Osborne's give away for the rich today.

I was a bit puzzled by the Times headline, something like 'budget tax break to save homeowners thousands'.
Seems to miss the essential point that it relates to dead, former homeowners.

Personally I'd be quite happy for my estate to pay tax after I've snuffed it, if I was that well off.
You might say, easy for someone with no kids to say that, but if they needed my money I'd have already given them it and wouldn't have enough left to tax.

It is useful idiot day at the Guardian. Apparently "Gove is right" about the court system.

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfre ... gy-america" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

It's said BTL that Heather Brooke doesn't know what she's talking about re sentencing, court records, IT systems. Has a point about some of the inefficiency to be fair, but Gove won't care about investment in systems.

Boys from the Blackstuff - and a Tory MP's face - set Andy Burnham on his political path

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

Worth a read, but I do wish Andy would stop the "Look how normal I am" theme, its just not needed.

Wow, look. One of those silly legal people in the "cloisters" Brooke moans about have already produced a report for the government about reducing inefficiencies.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-30945505" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

His name? Lord Justice Leveson. I bet he enjoyed Gove being made Justice Secretary. I don't think "resolve" is the first word that comes to his mind when hears about Gove.

Tubby Isaacs wrote:Wow, look. One of those silly legal people in the "cloisters" Brooke moans about have already produced a report for the government about reducing inefficiencies.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-30945505" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

His name? Lord Justice Leveson. I bet he enjoyed Gove being made Justice Secretary. I don't think "resolve" is the first word that comes to his mind when hears about Gove.

What's the betting that when the changes come they'll be attributed to Policy Exchange who also did a report on the same issue of being starved of cash?

RogerOThornhill wrote:

Tubby Isaacs wrote:Wow, look. One of those silly legal people in the "cloisters" Brooke moans about have already produced a report for the government about reducing inefficiencies.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-30945505" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

His name? Lord Justice Leveson. I bet he enjoyed Gove being made Justice Secretary. I don't think "resolve" is the first word that comes to his mind when hears about Gove.

What's the betting that when the changes come they'll be attributed to Policy Exchange who also did a report on the same issue of being starved of cash?

Good point.

They did a good line in "wind already blowing this way" with Ofsted.

There's a book to be written about them. When's you thesis done?

Tubby Isaacs wrote: Good point.

They did a good line in "wind already blowing this way" with Ofsted.

There's a book to be written about them. When's you thesis done?

October. Supervisor 2 thought September was pushing it a bit. Mind you they haven't actually agreed to October - that was my concession...

tom_watson ‏@tom_watson · now
Heading to the City Arms in Cardiff. Will be there by 10pm. Labour members feel free to join me me and my team. http://www.thecityarmscardiff.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

OK, I think Andy is swaying me over...

Dr Éoin Clarke retweeted
Andy For Leader ‏@LabourAndy · 9 hrs9 hours ago
Just now, Andy Burnham pledged again to bring back Comprehensive Education & halt Free Market experiment in Education

RogerOThornhill wrote:While I'm multi-tasking (thesis, music, tennis)

Hmm. Had always thought there was a Y chromosome behind the "Roger".

hilaryosborne ‏@hilaryosborne · 30 mins30 minutes ago
ITV news saying social housing tenants earning more than £30k (£40k in London) will have to pay market rents in Budget change

AngryAsWell wrote:hilaryosborne ‏@hilaryosborne · 30 mins30 minutes ago
ITV news saying social housing tenants earning more than £30k (£40k in London) will have to pay market rents in Budget change

That should push them into applying to buy their homes at massive discounts, eh? Even if they had some principles and would have liked to stay renting.

@AAW

From Guardian

He will say that, from 2017-18, those on incomes above £40,000 in London and £30,000 in the rest of England who live in housing association and local authority properties – representing 9% of all social tenants in England – will be charged a market rent. Higher-income social tenants benefit, on average, by over £3,500 per household from reduced rent. This includes more than 40,000 social rented tenants with household incomes over £50,000 a year; and a further 300,000 with incomes above £30,000 a year. This so-called Pay to Stay policy will raise up to £250m a year in 2018-19.

Fascistic

Well, I never...it appears that someone else had a go at defining 'coasting schools; and came up with a far better definition and better plans for dealing with them that focused on teaching and learning and not simply converting to an academy.

http://schoolsweek.co.uk/if-you-really- ... -you-need/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

What’s even more odd about the definition is that, for at least the first two years, schools will be measured on pass rates – with protection given to any school where more than 60% of students get five or more GCSEs.

If coasting schools are those in the “leafy suburbs” with plum intakes then we would entirely expect them to meet this measure and yet still be failing their pupils in terms of progress. THESE are the real coasting schools. Not the ones with poor ability intakes about to be whacked by the new definition.

This tension is what this Labour document from 2008 on coasting schools (yes, really!) set out to resolve.

He will say that, from 2017-18, those on incomes above £40,000 in London and £30,000 in the rest of England who live in housing association and local authority properties – representing 9% of all social tenants in England – will be charged a market rent. Higher-income social tenants benefit, on average, by over £3,500 per household from reduced rent. This includes more than 40,000 social rented tenants with household incomes over £50,000 a year; and a further 300,000 with incomes above £30,000 a year. This so-called Pay to Stay policy will raise up to £250m a year in 2018-19.

Freeloading bastards.

They ought to buy the property at a discount.

rebeccariots2 wrote:

AngryAsWell wrote:hilaryosborne ‏@hilaryosborne · 30 mins30 minutes ago
ITV news saying social housing tenants earning more than £30k (£40k in London) will have to pay market rents in Budget change

That should push them into applying to buy their homes at massive discounts, eh? Even if they had some principles and would have liked to stay renting.

If even they can afford to buy. One of the 3-bed places on this estate just sold for a smidgen under four-hundred grand, so you'd still need to raise nigh on three-hundred grand in a mortgage, even after the maximum discount. I don't know how much you need to earn to get a mortgage of that size.

BBC to meet the cost of free TV licences,apparently.

RogerOThornhill wrote:Well, I never...it appears that someone else had a go at defining 'coasting schools; and came up with a far better definition and better plans for dealing with them that focused on teaching and learning and not simply converting to an academy.

http://schoolsweek.co.uk/if-you-really- ... -you-need/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

What’s even more odd about the definition is that, for at least the first two years, schools will be measured on pass rates – with protection given to any school where more than 60% of students get five or more GCSEs.

If coasting schools are those in the “leafy suburbs” with plum intakes then we would entirely expect them to meet this measure and yet still be failing their pupils in terms of progress. THESE are the real coasting schools. Not the ones with poor ability intakes about to be whacked by the new definition.

This tension is what this Labour document from 2008 on coasting schools (yes, really!) set out to resolve.

Incredible, well done Laura M for that spot.

They even nicked Labour's phrase.

HindleA wrote:BBC to meet the cost of free TV licences,apparently.

Money saved out of someone else's budget then. He's good at this, isn't he?

HindleA wrote:BBC to meet the cost of free TV licences,apparently.

So the BBC pays for what is a political decision?

What happens if they decide to extend it?

IIRC they already pay for the World Service - this latest one was dropped at the last minute in the last round of negotiations.