FlyTheNest

The good news is that 11 of the 34 academy chains we analysed outperformed the average for those in mainstream schools – all state-funded secondary schools including academies – in 2014. Across the sponsored academies in each of these best chains, the proportion of disadvantaged students achieving five good GCSEs is at least 15 percentage points higher than the average for disadvantaged students in mainstream schools.

However, the impact of other academies is patchy at best. The difference between the best and worst performing chains seems to be increasing too with some of those chains identified as having low results and no improvement in our 2014 report falling back further in the intervening period.

One way to explain the pattern is to say, rather than a typical pattern of reversion to the mean, academy chains seem to be showing increasing polarisation between the most effective academy chains (which continue to improve for disadvantaged students) and the least effective chains (which have got worse).

yahyah wrote:Morning.

Have been trying to follow these links:

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

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales ... ed-9717102" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

But strange that the two links don't work.
The Wales Online article that is unavailable is headed 'Bereaved mother & teenage daughter evicted after failing to keep up with bedroom tax payments'.

If anyone finds any workable links please can you post them ?

ITV Report 23 July 2015 at 12:18pm

Campaigner arrested in 'bedroom tax' eviction protest

mikems wrote:The bedroom tax eviction story :

http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/a-da ... r-daughter" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

yahyah wrote:Morning.

Have been trying to follow these links:

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

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales ... ed-9717102" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

But strange that the two links don't work.
The Wales Online article that is unavailable is headed 'Bereaved mother & teenage daughter evicted after failing to keep up with bedroom tax payments'.

If anyone finds any workable links please can you post them ?

Bed Tax Claims Woman And Her Daughter
JUL 2015 Friday 24TH posted by Joana Ramiro in Britain

Locals trying to resist eviction arrested
A VULNERABLE woman and her 17-year-old daughter were violently evicted from their council home in Cardiff yesterday after bedroom tax charges on her late mother’s room led to them falling £3,000 in arrears. One of a number of local residents taking part in an emergency eviction blockade was arrested at the scene after preventing bailiffs from accessing Mandy Williams’s home.
Plaid Cymru Cllr Neil McEvoy offered to cover Ms Williams’s costs but had his money rejected by a court and Labour-led Cardiff council. Speaking to the Star, Mr McEvoy said he put through the courts an emergency application to stop the eviction which was “opposed by the council.”

http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/a-da ... r-daughter" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

mikems wrote:Perhaps he wants to provoke another Beef War with Europe, and repeat the triumphs of the Major government?

Liz Kendall accuses Lord Falconer of dismissing women in leadership race
Falconer’s comments to the Times that she and Yvette Cooper are not tough enough have sexist undertones, says Kendall

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/201 ... rship-race" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

“Neither Yvette nor Liz can steer the Labour party through the challenging few years ahead when we need a leader who can reach out to all wings of our party and provide unity. As a result, both Liz and Yvette are unlikely to beat Jeremy [Corbyn, the fourth leadership candidate].”

Moreveternoon....

I really don't know what to say about this...I just find it very unsettling that the DWP need to employ someone (who, by the way he writes, has no experience of what he speaks other than what he's 'learnt' at yoo-nee) to 'make the team aware of who their users are'...

https://dwpdigital.blog.gov.uk/2015/07/ ... heir-life/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

AnatolyKasparov wrote:Kendall playing the "poor woman" card - pretty desperate stuff tbh.

refitman wrote:I see Kendall has got her knickers in a twist over a Times headline and decided it's Lord Falconer's fault:

Liz Kendall accuses Lord Falconer of dismissing women in leadership race
Falconer’s comments to the Times that she and Yvette Cooper are not tough enough have sexist undertones, says Kendall

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/201 ... rship-race" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The actual quote from Falconer is:

“Neither Yvette nor Liz can steer the Labour party through the challenging few years ahead when we need a leader who can reach out to all wings of our party and provide unity. As a result, both Liz and Yvette are unlikely to beat Jeremy [Corbyn, the fourth leadership candidate].”

Which doesn't seem all that unreasonable to me.

StephenDolan wrote:

AnatolyKasparov wrote:Kendall playing the "poor woman" card - pretty desperate stuff tbh.

How has she said that based upon what is in the actual article? smh

“For Charlie to say that women somehow aren’t tough enough to lead the Labour party is a gross insult and, as for standing up to Jeremy Corbyn, I’m the only candidate who has been saying he would be a disaster for our party and that I wouldn’t serve in his shadow cabinet, unlike the candidate Charlie is supporting.”

Kendall added: “Charlie made a great contribution to the last Labour government and I would have thought he would have learned that one of the reasons we achieved so much was because there was a record number of women around the top table.

A spokesperson for Andy Burnham said: “The quotes attributed to Charlie Falconer in the headline of the Times are not something he said or believes. People should read Charlie’s article to see he doesn’t even raise the question of whether anyone is ‘tough enough’ or anyone’s gender.”

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/201 ... rship-race" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The council says it collects 97 per cent of the tax it should
The council is owned more than £3million in council tax

Joanna Elson, chief executive of National Debtline, said: “We are seeing more and more people seeking help with council tax arrears – but the fact that Bracknell Forest residents owe £3.2 million makes us concerned that many more people in the area are struggling alone.

http://www.bracknellnews.co.uk/news/134 ... x_arrears/

The way forward for Labour is to elect Andy Burnham
Charles Falconer

Published at 12:01AM, July 24 2015
He is the only candidate to combine principle and electability

My party has become embroiled in one of the debates that it perennially loves to have – does it want to be principled or does it want to be electable. As has been the case every time in our past, the right answer to that question is to reject the false choice. It is now time for those who care about our party combining values with the ability to reach out to voters to come together behind Andy Burnham for Labour leader.

http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/opinion/c ... 506643.ece" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Lord Falconer wrote, in the context of endorsing Andy Burnham:

“Liz Kendall and Yvette Cooper are both very talented politicians. Both have a big future in our party. But neither Yvette nor Liz can steer the Labour party through the challenging few years ahead of us when we need a leader who can reach out to all wings of our party and provide unity.”

http://leftfootforward.org/2015/07/no-l ... ship-race/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

StephenDolan wrote:

AnatolyKasparov wrote:Kendall playing the "poor woman" card - pretty desperate stuff tbh.

How has she said that based upon what is in the actual article? smh

Lonewolfie wrote:Moreveternoon....

I really don't know what to say about this...I just find it very unsettling that the DWP need to employ someone (who, by the way he writes, has no experience of what he speaks other than what he's 'learnt' at yoo-nee) to 'make the team aware of who their users are'...

https://dwpdigital.blog.gov.uk/2015/07/ ... heir-life/

...and, even though I'm a grumpy old f*** (or 'grumpfuttock', if you will), this brought a small tear to my eye....don't be put off by the link title - the 'old man' wrote a poem...

http://kraabel.tumblr.com/post/27651955 ... -ward-of-a

"...I will not be voting although I could, of course, register to do so."

Richard Murphy
Tax Research
24 July 2015

http://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2015 ... -guardian/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

ephemerid wrote:

Lonewolfie wrote:Moreveternoon....

I really don't know what to say about this...I just find it very unsettling that the DWP need to employ someone (who, by the way he writes, has no experience of what he speaks other than what he's 'learnt' at yoo-nee) to 'make the team aware of who their users are'...

https://dwpdigital.blog.gov.uk/2015/07/ ... heir-life/

...and, even though I'm a grumpy old f*** (or 'grumpfuttock', if you will), this brought a small tear to my eye....don't be put off by the link title - the 'old man' wrote a poem...

http://kraabel.tumblr.com/post/27651955 ... -ward-of-a

Good aftereve, Lonewolfie.

The eejit "advising" on that blog is a moron, and appears to think everyone else is too. His ideas are the very definition of specious.

The people who he describes as "users" are, like, actually real people?
People who are not using anything, but applying for state assistance at a very difficult point in their lives.
In some cases, the end of their lives.
Given that DWP staff are very quick to prevent anyone from claiming PIP if they can possibly avoid it, I suspect they are perfectly well aware that they "are not their user(sic)" and wouldn't want to be like "their user" in any way shape or form.

DWP SPADs "earn" annual salaries not unadjacent to £90,000.
"Consultants" and "consultancy work" are even more costly.

Example - large amounts of DWP spending are not subject to budgetary constraints or controls; from January to March 2015, just one of DWP's "exceptions to spending controls" was this single piece of "consultancy" - £490,000 for a "content-led digital campaign with a local focus, supported by partnerships with Local Authorities and other hyper-local voices (really)". The aim of this is to "drive claimants to an online hub to receive daily hints to improve their jobsearch" and more equally risible tosh about Universal Credit.
This is, apparently, only part of Tranche 1 of the Universal Credit hyper-local campaign.

This, ladies and gentlemen, is where your taxes are going. There are hundreds of exceptions in DWP alone to spending constraints.
These exceptions are filed, one by one and listed with only the latest open for scrutiny so you can't see what the running total is, under "transparency". You will not find any information at all on the gov.uk website.

ephemerid wrote:

Lonewolfie wrote:Moreveternoon....

I really don't know what to say about this...I just find it very unsettling that the DWP need to employ someone (who, by the way he writes, has no experience of what he speaks other than what he's 'learnt' at yoo-nee) to 'make the team aware of who their users are'...

https://dwpdigital.blog.gov.uk/2015/07/ ... heir-life/

...and, even though I'm a grumpy old f*** (or 'grumpfuttock', if you will), this brought a small tear to my eye....don't be put off by the link title - the 'old man' wrote a poem...

http://kraabel.tumblr.com/post/27651955 ... -ward-of-a

Good aftereve, Lonewolfie.

The eejit "advising" on that blog is a moron, and appears to think everyone else is too. His ideas are the very definition of specious.

The people who he describes as "users" are, like, actually real people?
People who are not using anything, but applying for state assistance at a very difficult point in their lives.
In some cases, the end of their lives.
Given that DWP staff are very quick to prevent anyone from claiming PIP if they can possibly avoid it, I suspect they are perfectly well aware that they "are not their user(sic)" and wouldn't want to be like "their user" in any way shape or form.

DWP SPADs "earn" annual salaries not unadjacent to £90,000.
"Consultants" and "consultancy work" are even more costly.

Example - large amounts of DWP spending are not subject to budgetary constraints or controls; from January to March 2015, just one of DWP's "exceptions to spending controls" was this single piece of "consultancy" - £490,000 for a "content-led digital campaign with a local focus, supported by partnerships with Local Authorities and other hyper-local voices (really)". The aim of this is to "drive claimants to an online hub to receive daily hints to improve their jobsearch" and more equally risible tosh about Universal Credit.
This is, apparently, only part of Tranche 1 of the Universal Credit hyper-local campaign.

This, ladies and gentlemen, is where your taxes are going. There are hundreds of exceptions in DWP alone to spending constraints.
These exceptions are filed, one by one and listed with only the latest open for scrutiny so you can't see what the running total is, under "transparency". You will not find any information at all on the gov.uk website.

The cap on care costs has been a long time coming. Nearly 70 years in fact, as the social-care system has remained relatively unchanged since the post-World War Two welfare settlement.

But last Friday, in a written ministerial statement, the long-awaited changes were put on ice. Instead of the £72,000 cap starting in April 2016, the elderly, and younger adults with disabilities, will now have to wait until 2020.

Unsurprisingly, there is concern in some quarters the delay may actually spell the end for the changes. After all, if a week is a long time in politics - as the saying goes - four years must be an eternity.

Richard Humphries, an expert in social care from the King's Fund think tank, predicts the cap will not now be introduced. (BBC News website - my emphasis)

The cap on care costs has been a long time coming. Nearly 70 years in fact, as the social-care system has remained relatively unchanged since the post-World War Two welfare settlement.

But last Friday, in a written ministerial statement, the long-awaited changes were put on ice. Instead of the £72,000 cap starting in April 2016, the elderly, and younger adults with disabilities, will now have to wait until 2020.

Unsurprisingly, there is concern in some quarters the delay may actually spell the end for the changes. After all, if a week is a long time in politics - as the saying goes - four years must be an eternity.

Richard Humphries, an expert in social care from the King's Fund think tank, predicts the cap will not now be introduced. (BBC News website - my emphasis)

MPs can no longer remain exempt from surveillance, lawyers concede

James Eadie QC tells investigatory powers tribunal the Wilson doctrine is unworkable in era of bulk interception by intelligence agencies

[Tom Watson, MP, said]“Either government policy has changed in the last year or Theresa May misled parliament,” Watson said. He added that prime minsters have for decades reassured MPs the Wilson doctrine stands. “It’s particularly interesting to read the lawyers argue the doctrine has no force in law. MPs have been treated like fools. Either Theresa May was telling the truth last year or the government lawyer was telling the truth today - and we need to find out.” (Guardian)

The difference between the best and worst performing chains seems to be increasing too with some of those chains identified as having low results and no improvement in our 2014 report falling back further in the intervening period.

One way to explain the pattern is to say, rather than a typical pattern of reversion to the mean, academy chains seem to be showing increasing polarisation between the most effective academy chains (which continue to improve for disadvantaged students) and the least effective chains (which have got worse).

I understand that mechanism by which the referendum was fixed is that right before the debates special agents snuck into SNP HQ, cracked the safe, and removed and burnt the one and only plan for a currency for iScotland. And then nobody could remember what it said, so Alex Salmond had to just wing it from there on out.

PorFavor wrote:

The cap on care costs has been a long time coming. Nearly 70 years in fact, as the social-care system has remained relatively unchanged since the post-World War Two welfare settlement.

But last Friday, in a written ministerial statement, the long-awaited changes were put on ice. Instead of the £72,000 cap starting in April 2016, the elderly, and younger adults with disabilities, will now have to wait until 2020.

Unsurprisingly, there is concern in some quarters the delay may actually spell the end for the changes. After all, if a week is a long time in politics - as the saying goes - four years must be an eternity.

Richard Humphries, an expert in social care from the King's Fund think tank, predicts the cap will not now be introduced. (BBC News website - my emphasis)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-33624728

Oh, well. I think a lot of Conservative voters will find that they've joined the ranks of those who are "heir today gone tomorrow".

HindleA wrote:IDS responds to open letter from Catholics on Welfare Reform

http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/node/21931" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;


Original letter
http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/node/21853" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;


Response to IDS letter
http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/node/21932" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Mirror Politics ‏@MirrorPolitics 4h4 hours ago
Massive leaked NHS privatisation plan could shut 29 centres across the country http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/ma ... ar_twitter" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; …

rebeccariots2 wrote:

Mirror Politics ‏@MirrorPolitics 4h4 hours ago
Massive leaked NHS privatisation plan could shut 29 centres across the country http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/ma ... ar_twitter" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; …

These are NHS Primary Care Centres which look set to be hived off to Capita - who are apparently proposing keeping just 3 centres. The article says the centres handle patient data and records.

ohsocynical wrote:It's been raining steadily all day, but suddenly it's gone very dark and the wind has got up....Nasty!!!!

ohsocynical wrote:It's been raining steadily all day, but suddenly it's gone very dark and the wind has got up....Nasty!!!!

Tom Newton Dunn ‏@tnewtondunn 15m15 minutes ago
Every Little Hurts: Supermarkets refuse fresh demand to pay the Living Wage - despite making £1bn in profit; http://www.sunnation.co.uk/every-little ... ving-wage/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; …

But the high street giants all confirmed they will have to be dragged kicking and screaming into paying the higher basic salary.

Between them, the five chains made £1.19bn in profit for their shareholders last year.

Their armies of shelf stackers are the biggest group of low earners in the country.

HindleA wrote:http://www.theguardian.com/environment/ ... are_btn_tw


The nine green policies killed off by the Tory government

Air Quality and Health in the UK
Published 22 July 2015
http://researchbriefings.parliament.uk/ ... -2015-0024" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;