Monday 13th July 2015

[rebeccariots2]

Faisal Islam ‏@faisalislam 18m18 minutes ago
Lobby waiting like a pack of hounds outside SNP MPs hunting decision meeting with Sturgeon... Being told there may be no decision

Christopher Hope retweeted
Dr. Brian May ‏@DrBrianMay 15m15 minutes ago
Hey, dear Scots ! E-mail your SNP MP tonight and tell him you expect him/her to stand up against abuse of Wild Animals throughout Britain.

Christopher Hope ‏@christopherhope 11m11 minutes ago
SNP MPs' meeting on fox hunting drags into its second hour as party discusses whether or not to vote on Wednesday with Nicola Sturgeon...

David Maddox ‏@DavidPBMaddox 13m13 minutes ago
Rumours that there is a Salmond vs Sturgeon camps split in SNP on foxes and evel

I wondered how long that would take to materialise (the split), if indeed it has.

The SNP statement clearly ties in their decision with the EVEL stitch up Cameron has tried to introduce - so I'm not sure which of Salmond or Sturgeon got their way but it seems this position is being fired at Cameron on political grounds rather than on conscience grounds which is a shame ... but pretty inevitable.

And we can expect 'constitutional firworks' now from the Tories as one commentator put it.

[rebeccariots2]

Jim Pickard ‏@PickardJE 7m7 minutes ago
Labour MP: "That was the most important meeting of the PLP I have ever been to."

I'd like to think it marks the start of something different ...

Paul Waugh ‏@paulwaugh 4m4 minutes ago
Labour MP tells me whips estimate "dozens" of backbenchers are prepared to vote against Second Reading of Welfare Bill

Will it just be backbenchers voting against?

[HindleA]

Unfortunately,Labour lost some knowledgable people about social security,Begg(how I wish she had belted him in the nether regions whilst he casually lent on her wheelchair)Gilmore etc.

[Tubby Isaacs]

A governor from the East Midlands on another board writes...

I understand that one of our local Academies permanently excluded ten year 7 pupils last week. This will create a major headache for the other two nearby secondary schools because they will probably end up having to accommodate these pupils in September. Taking in new pupils at the start of Year 8 is a really pain because all the forms and teaching groups will have already have been sorted for September and then suddenly 5 or 6 pupils could turn up to throw all the plans into chaos. Academy chains clearly think that LEA's should exist to mop up all the kids that they don't want for whatever reason.

What happens when there's no LA to mop up?

Does Nick Gibb add a clause to the funding agreement of whichever academy catches his eye- "and hereby takes whoever I say they will"?

[RogerOThornhill]

What happens when there's no LA to mop up?

Now you're being silly - given the RSCs were an afterthought they didn't even think they'd need a middle tier! The DfE can cope with it all can't it?

I seem to recall somewhere someone asking what they should do if they had a complaint to make against an academy...phone the DfE was the answer. And I;m sure one of Warwick's columns had it that one complaint was simply passed back to the academy chain for them to investigate. Which is very reassuring I;m sure you'll agree...

[Tonibel]

Jim Pickard ‏@PickardJE 7m7 minutes ago
Labour MP: "That was the most important meeting of the PLP I have ever been to."

I'd like to think it marks the start of something different ...

Paul Waugh ‏@paulwaugh 4m4 minutes ago
Labour MP tells me whips estimate "dozens" of backbenchers are prepared to vote against Second Reading of Welfare Bill

Will it just be backbenchers voting against?

Can anyone with more knowledge of parliamentary procedure tell me? Cauliflower an acting leader, with no mandate from conference, enforce a whip on an issue like this?

[Tubby Isaacs]

Actually, wouldn't it be the Education Funding Agency?

They're doing so well so far.

By the logic of Ofsted, those "whistleblowing" comments in that TES article should trigger a National Audit Office investigation.

[AngryAsWell]

Poll: Should the ban on hunting with dogs stay intact? - daft poll I know but currently running at 60% against 3% for so I though we could bump it a long a little
http://www.itv.com/news/update/2015-07- ... ay-intact/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[citizenJA]

Little does it understand how scant was the power its ministers actually wielded from their offices. And now the realisation dawns: the Greek parliament has no power inside the eurozone at all. It has the power only to implement what its lenders want.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/j ... y-is-loser" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Paul Mason
tonight about a couple hours ago

The whole article is good.
It's about regular people wanting enough for most people & some few saying no & using fear to make people not responsible for problems having to solve them or live compromised lives because of persistent wrongdoing of those powerful enough to stop the insanity.

[citizenJA]

Jim Pickard ‏@PickardJE 7m7 minutes ago
Labour MP: "That was the most important meeting of the PLP I have ever been to."

I'd like to think it marks the start of something different ...

Paul Waugh ‏@paulwaugh 4m4 minutes ago
Labour MP tells me whips estimate "dozens" of backbenchers are prepared to vote against Second Reading of Welfare Bill

Will it just be backbenchers voting against?

Can anyone with more knowledge of parliamentary procedure tell me? Cauliflower an acting leader, with no mandate from conference, enforce a whip on an issue like this?

That may explain the bewildering Kabuki theatre going on.
I'm telling ya' every time I read more about Labour the last few weeks, I'm convinced it's some kind of ritualised show with a purpose I know not. I hope Labour do. I voted for them.

[rebeccariots2]

Welsh Labour Press ‏@WelshLabPress 45m45 minutes ago
BBC reporting that Plaid Cymru MPs will vote with the Tories to relax the ban on hunting with dogs #Shame

Told you so.

[LadyCentauria]

As promised, earlier, link to today's Hansard for the HoC. Margaret Greenwood (Wirral West) spoke at 7.pm:
http://www.parliament.uk/business/publi ... /226/#c226

Emma Reynolds kicked off the Labour contributions for the day and member after member ripped apart the Chancellor's Summer Budget. The transcript, so far, only takes us up to partway through Wes Streeting's speech which started at 9.07pm – the day's debate continued until about 10.30pm and I'm sure that'll all be online soon.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Christ, I hadn't seen this from Wilshaw yesterday. Man in the pub.

http://schoolsimprovement.net/wilshaw-1 ... od-enough/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Sir Michael is said to believe data indicates progress in secondary schools has stalled and, as a result, is to launch an Ofsted crackdown on “casual leadership” this autumn. The report does make clear that it would be up to governors, and not Ofsted, to decide whether any heads would lose their jobs.

In particular, a lack of respect from pupils to heads is referred to, with Sir Michael suggesting that many heads have “so little authority” that pupils fail to stand when they enter the room and fail to refer to teachers as “Sir” or “Miss”. He also urges head teachers to stop behaving like social workers and focus on creating a structured, orderly environment.

"Casual leadership"?

Did it escape Ofsted's notice? Or did they start slouching once Ofsted had gone?

Wouldn't it be good if there were something that kept an eye on schools all the time....

[rebeccariots2]

Minister begs Tory MPs to back hunting changes as SNP says it will vote against
The decision will be the first time that the SNP MPs have decided to vote down a law which only affects England in the new Parliament.http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politic ... ainst.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The Government has written to every Conservative MP, urging them to back changes to the law on hunting in England and Wales, as it emerged that the SNP are will vote down the plans.
David Cameron’s attempts to relax fox hunting in England are now on a knife edge as it emerged that as many as 50 Tories might defy the Prime Minister and fail to back the plans.
MPs are getting their first chance in over a decade to relax the hunting ban in England and Wales when in a free vote of the House of Commons on Wednesday.
The SNP decided to vote against the change in the law after a 90 minute long meeting with Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon in Westminster on Monday night...

[RogerOThornhill]

Christ, I hadn't seen this from Wilshaw yesterday. Man in the pub.

http://schoolsimprovement.net/wilshaw-1 ... od-enough/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Sir Michael is said to believe data indicates progress in secondary schools has stalled and, as a result, is to launch an Ofsted crackdown on “casual leadership” this autumn. The report does make clear that it would be up to governors, and not Ofsted, to decide whether any heads would lose their jobs.

In particular, a lack of respect from pupils to heads is referred to, with Sir Michael suggesting that many heads have “so little authority” that pupils fail to stand when they enter the room and fail to refer to teachers as “Sir” or “Miss”. He also urges head teachers to stop behaving like social workers and focus on creating a structured, orderly environment.

"Casual leadership"?

Did it escape Ofsted's notice? Or did they start slouching once Ofsted had gone?

Wouldn't it be good if there were something that kept an eye on schools all the time....

I'm pretty sure that our HT doesn't want pupils to even notice that he's there and just get on with their learning. Given that he spends a lot of time in classrooms - including himself teaching - pupils would spend a lot of time standing up and sitting down...

The idea that Ofsted would mark a school down if that didn't happen is just bizarre.

[refitman]

Christ, I hadn't seen this from Wilshaw yesterday. Man in the pub.

http://schoolsimprovement.net/wilshaw-1 ... od-enough/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Sir Michael is said to believe data indicates progress in secondary schools has stalled and, as a result, is to launch an Ofsted crackdown on “casual leadership” this autumn. The report does make clear that it would be up to governors, and not Ofsted, to decide whether any heads would lose their jobs.

In particular, a lack of respect from pupils to heads is referred to, with Sir Michael suggesting that many heads have “so little authority” that pupils fail to stand when they enter the room and fail to refer to teachers as “Sir” or “Miss”. He also urges head teachers to stop behaving like social workers and focus on creating a structured, orderly environment.

"Casual leadership"?

Did it escape Ofsted's notice? Or did they start slouching once Ofsted had gone?

Wouldn't it be good if there were something that kept an eye on schools all the time....

Stand up when they enter the room? Is he harking back to the 50s or something? I can recall several occasions when I was at school that the HT would pop into the classroom for a quick word with the teacher. In Wilshaw's world this would force all the pupils to stop what they are doing and come to attention.

[LadyCentauria]

Poll: Should the ban on hunting with dogs stay intact? - daft poll I know but currently running at 60% against 3% for so I though we could bump it a long a little
http://www.itv.com/news/update/2015-07- ... ay-intact/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

'Tis pity that ITV's team lack sufficient knowledge of the English language and display it by writing 'past-time' rather that 'pastime'... Although, surely, setting dogs on foxes is a practise which is past its time.

[Tubby Isaacs]

The idea of an Osted "crackdown in the Autumn" is silly anyway.

How many schools do they even see at one time? At least when eg the police crackdown on street drug dealing they can put together a team and hit a few likely areas, or arrest a load of suspects at home.

What's Mikey going to do?

[Tubby Isaacs]

There's no money left!

Government gives OK to Sikh free school in Derby, where there's already plenty of primary places.

Shame Chris Williamson lost his seat.

http://schoolsimprovement.net/city-coun ... ree-school" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[RogerOThornhill]

There's no money left!

Government gives OK to Sikh free school in Derby, where there's already plenty of primary places.

Shame Chris Williamson lost his seat.

http://schoolsimprovement.net/city-coun ... ree-school" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Good job there's plenty of money around to fund all these surplus places...oh hang on...

The ultimate in parent choice needs every school to have unlimited places...and therefore an awful lot of money funding it all. Strangely enough, when I point this out to the ideologues they seem to go missing soon afterwards...

[rebeccariots2]

Grahame Morris ‏@grahamemorris 3m3 minutes ago
I could rationalise "triangulation" if it was based on 40/50% Tory support but only 24% voted Tory. Shouldn't #Labour be chasing the 76%?

[Tubby Isaacs]

There's no money left!

Government gives OK to Sikh free school in Derby, where there's already plenty of primary places.

Shame Chris Williamson lost his seat.

http://schoolsimprovement.net/city-coun ... ree-school" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Good job there's plenty of money around to fund all these surplus places...oh hang on...

The ultimate in parent choice needs every school to have unlimited places...and therefore an awful lot of money funding it all. Strangely enough, when I point this out to the ideologues they seem to go missing soon afterwards...

Wasn't it Derby LA that copped a really horrible mouthful from Gove for failing kids? So hopeless they had to bring them in to help tidy up after Al Madinah.

[HindleA]

FWIW Government defeated in the Lords tonight regarding waiting days for UC,and the consequent six weeks before it is forthcoming-Lord German attempted an amendment to remove the housing element but lost,to test opinion the Lords agreed with the amendment to" wait until UC is fully rolled out"Freud just shrugged his shoulders as per usual.

[HindleA]

http://www.parliament.uk/business/publi ... known/552/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[HindleA]

For those interested,I recommend Lister,Sherlock,Kirkwood,Best in the Lords for knowledgeable opposition ,which it appears will be lacking elsewhere.

[HindleA]

My better has had health problems since she was 10.Despite interrupted schooling ;a move to a special school due to bullying which offered less in qualifications ,she was employed for decades,eventually at managerial level;ignoring accusations of special treatment for the barest of necessary measures by employers-an aspect rarely mentioned but sadly rife.Beyond the wit or indeed the basic humanity of politicians of all stripes in the decades old collusion of corrupt thought ,is that people do not choose to be ill,indeed if they did that would be an illness in itself.The tragedy is that the desire to participate is being thrown back in their face and used against them,the State used to purposefully deny them that right.As usual arse about face is the tactic of this,as it was the last Government.Less people as a proportion moved off IB/ESA during the (non) transformational IDS regime that under Labour,a system in stasis,foreseen and forewarned by many.Hard to think this was not obvious,even to him,and therefore intended.Reading between the lines,they expect an increase in PIP claims,if not actively encourage to offset the severe reduction in income and assuage opposition to the WRAG change.
My better half lies in her literal death bed,fulfilling her last role as an employer.According to IDS et al she has not contributed anything for a decade.I wish I believed in hell,imagining eternal damnation would bring some solace.