Thursday 5th November 2015

Post by **refitman** » Thu 05 Nov, 2015 7:10 am

Morning all.

TobyLatimer · Post by **TobyLatimer** » Thu 05 Nov, 2015 8:32 am

Bonfire night
The stars shine bright
Three little angels dressed in white
One with a cymbal
One with a drum
One with a pancake stuck to his bum.

When all the kids celebrate by burning an effigy of a 'conspirator' who confessed under duress after days of torture. Luckily he had the foresight to jump from the gallows and broke his own neck before his corpse was hung drawn and quartered.

And the bloody fireworks are scaring mum's Yorkie to the point she thought he might have a heart attack. Off to the vets today for something to calm him down.

rebeccariots2 · Post by **rebeccariots2** » Thu 05 Nov, 2015 8:38 am

Morning. This is good stuff. Sets out clear alternative - and preferable, less regressive and punitive - ways of finding that 4.4bn and more.

George Osborne can find £4.4bn without cutting tax credits, says thinktank
Resolution Foundation says chancellor should abandon politically damaging cuts and meet target by adjusting taxation and pension thresholds
http://www.theguardian.com/politics/201 ... -thinktank" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Should be essential reading and absorbing for all Labour MPs - especially those charged with countering Osborne's next proposals in his Autumn Statement.

rebeccariots2 · Post by **rebeccariots2** » Thu 05 Nov, 2015 8:41 am

I would like to thank seeingclearly for her post last night saying she wishes we could raise more funds for HindleA's socks than the ...... ******ers do for 'saving Margaret Thatcher's clothes for the nation'. So do I. And thank you, belatedly, to HindleA for offering up those socks.

Increasingly this does not seem to be a nation I particularly want to save things for ...

yahyah · Post by **yahyah** » Thu 05 Nov, 2015 9:02 am

Edenbridge are burning Sepp Blatter tonight.

yahyah · Post by **yahyah** » Thu 05 Nov, 2015 9:19 am

RR@
The Indie scroll bar has disappeared on my lap top too.

rebeccariots2 · Post by **rebeccariots2** » Thu 05 Nov, 2015 9:27 am

yahyah wrote:RR@
The Indie scroll bar has disappeared on my lap top too.

It's very very irritating. That site is just vile to look at on a laptop now - acres of white space - and zilch functionality.

TobyLatimer · Post by **TobyLatimer** » Thu 05 Nov, 2015 9:29 am

Just noticed, the scroll bar is still there on my Firefox browser (laptop) It must be something to do with Chromium based browsers such as Chrome & Opera.

: ScreenShot00923.jpg (84.96 KiB) Viewed 8347 times

yahyah · Post by **yahyah** » Thu 05 Nov, 2015 9:32 am

I bought the paper Guardian yesterday when we were in Aber.
Have to say, it works much better in print than on the net.
Maybe it's an age thing, but I tend to value words in print more than on the net.

Macbeth was worth seeing by the way, Fassbender is no great actor but he did ok and has charisma which helped carry the role.
Made me get the play text down off the shelf and re-read it, which can't be a bad thing.

rebeccariots2 · Post by **rebeccariots2** » Thu 05 Nov, 2015 9:42 am

TobyLatimer wrote:Just noticed, the scroll bar is still there on my Firefox browser (laptop) It must be something to do with Chromium based browsers such as Chrome & Opera.

ScreenShot00923.jpg

Thanks Toby - I've just switched to Firefox to take a look and it's much better for the Indie.

rebeccariots2 · Post by **rebeccariots2** » Thu 05 Nov, 2015 10:21 am

Social rent cut will have 'little or no benefit' to tenants
Cuts to social rents will have “little or no benefit” to most of the 3.9 million households living in social housing, a comprehensive new study claims.
https://www.politicshome.com/communitie ... %20tenants" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The IFS say that most tenants will see their housing benefit reduce by a corresponding amount. Those that might benefit are those with the higher incomes. They also look at the Pay To Stay policy ... verdict damning.

Housing associations really have been done over by this govt. No certainty or control over the playing field according to this. They had an agreement that social rents would rise year on year for the next 10 years. The govt have stopped that after just one year. So they're not happy with rent controls or regulations for the private sector - but constantly shifting them for social housing. Impossible for them to plan with that scenario.

AnatolyKasparov · Post by **AnatolyKasparov** » Thu 05 Nov, 2015 10:29 am

I can find just one prominent pundit who thinks that Cameron trounced Corbyn at yesterday's PMQs. Have a guess who it was?

rebeccariots2 · Post by **rebeccariots2** » Thu 05 Nov, 2015 10:33 am

AnatolyKasparov wrote:I can find just one prominent pundit who thinks that Cameron trounced Corbyn at yesterday's PMQs. Have a guess who it was?

Ooooh - at a guess - Hodges?

rebeccariots2 · Post by **rebeccariots2** » Thu 05 Nov, 2015 10:40 am

Speeding drivers targeted by desperate police commissioner
Bedfordshire’s PCC says he is running out of ways to keep force financially viable
http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015 ... mmissioner" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Police cars with logos from corporate sponsors on their sides next? Branded uniforms? Or do we already have such things?

ephemerid · Post by **ephemerid** » Thu 05 Nov, 2015 10:41 am

yahyah wrote:I bought the paper Guardian yesterday when we were in Aber.
Have to say, it works much better in print than on the net.
Maybe it's an age thing, but I tend to value words in print more than on the net.

Macbeth was worth seeing by the way, Fassbender is no great actor but he did ok and has charisma which helped carry the role.
Made me get the play text down off the shelf and re-read it, which can't be a bad thing.

I haven't seen this film - but I have to disagree about Fassbender generally.
His performance in "Hunger" (Steve McQueen's film on the IRA hunger-striker Bobby Sands) was a tour-de-force, an astonishing piece of acting. He got a BAFTA for it - well-deserved IMHO.

Re. the reports today from the Resolution Foundation and the IFS - I don't think Osborne will take any notice of any of it. He is now committed to deliver his £12 Billion in cuts to what he calls "welfare" and he doesn't give a shit how he does it.

He and Cameron consistently and repeatedly refused to say where the axe would fall. It happens to be my view that neither of them thought they would win an outright majority and were, at best, likely to be in coalition again.
Against all expectations, they won - and now they have no-one to blame if they water down the cuts, they have to press ahead or lose face. These cuts - and others - are popular with voters, if the polls are to be believed.
Until, of course, those voters are affected themselves, as witnessed on QT not so long ago.

With the notable exception of the State Pension (and even that seems to be developing issues with the new rules) there is no part of the social security system that isn't under attack.
Housing benefit, bedroom tax, pay-to-stay, council tax, local authority provision, emergency hardship help, sickness and disability benefits, support for those in work, and the hideous mess that is Universal Credit - it's all in crisis and people are really suffering. It can only get worse unless they are stopped.

I can't see this situation carrying on without protests.

The Met have published their "advice" for those going on the Masked March tonight. It's not looking good......

Off to bed now. Not so well today, laters!

AnatolyKasparov · Post by **AnatolyKasparov** » Thu 05 Nov, 2015 10:42 am

rebeccariots2 wrote:
AnatolyKasparov wrote:I can find just one prominent pundit who thinks that Cameron trounced Corbyn at yesterday's PMQs. Have a guess who it was?

Ooooh - at a guess - Hodges?

Bah, right first time

I mean, even Ren-tool thought it had been bad for Dave.

seeingclearly · Post by **seeingclearly** » Thu 05 Nov, 2015 10:51 am

http://www.welfareweekly.com/universal- ... -credible/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Universal Credit stuck in the slow lane as government tiold roll out plans not credible.

gilsey · Post by **gilsey** » Thu 05 Nov, 2015 11:21 am

seeingclearly wrote:http://www.welfareweekly.com/universal- ... -credible/

Universal Credit stuck in the slow lane as government tiold roll out plans not credible.

Read that, and then this
NHS: UK now has one of the worst healthcare systems in the developed world, according to OECD report
http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style ... 21401.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Hospitals are now so short-staffed and underequipped that people are also dying needlessly because of a chronic lack of investment. The verdict, from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), will make embarrassing reading for David Cameron who denied the cash-strapped NHS is heading for its worst winter crisis.

Staff are too rushed to improve levels of care that have in many areas fallen below countries such as Turkey, Portugal and Poland. Almost 75,000 more doctors and nurses are needed to match standards in similar countries the OECD said in its annual Health at a Glance study comparing the quality of healthcare across 34 countries.

Too depressing for words.

gilsey · Post by **gilsey** » Thu 05 Nov, 2015 11:24 am

The best line from that indy piece.

NHS funding had remained static between 2009 and 2013, the OECD report said. Mr Pearson said the UK was spending “considerably less” than many OECD countries and that “you get what you pay for” in healthcare.

TobyLatimer · Post by **TobyLatimer** » Thu 05 Nov, 2015 11:54 am

The people of Lewes are burning an effigy of a naked David Cameron with a pig sitting on his lap tonight.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/ma ... on-6773027" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

: CTC6G6nW4AElcz0.jpg (95.05 KiB) Viewed 8247 times

rebeccariots2 · Post by **rebeccariots2** » Thu 05 Nov, 2015 12:19 pm

David Cameron ‏@David_Cameron 6m6 minutes ago
I've chaired a COBRA meeting -ensuring everything is being done to make sure British tourists in Sharm el-Sheikh are flown home safely.

Just so you know what he's been doing.

TobyLatimer · Post by **TobyLatimer** » Thu 05 Nov, 2015 12:25 pm

rebeccariots2 wrote:
David Cameron ‏@David_Cameron 6m6 minutes ago
I've chaired a COBRA meeting -ensuring everything is being done to make sure British tourists in Sharm el-Sheikh are flown home safely.
Just so you know what he's been doing.

He's going to don his Superman outfit, fly over and bring them back all by himself. What a wonderfully brave chap we have for our beloved PM. Makes one wonder how we ever managed without him before.

RogerOThornhill · Post by **RogerOThornhill** » Thu 05 Nov, 2015 12:33 pm

rebeccariots2 wrote:
David Cameron ‏@David_Cameron 6m6 minutes ago
I've chaired a COBRA meeting -ensuring everything is being done to make sure British tourists in Sharm el-Sheikh are flown home safely.
Just so you know what he's been doing.

seeingclearly · Post by **seeingclearly** » Thu 05 Nov, 2015 12:55 pm

Gove on moral and real poverty and crime.

RogerOThornhill · Post by **RogerOThornhill** » Thu 05 Nov, 2015 1:53 pm

RobertSnozers wrote:
gilsey wrote:
seeingclearly wrote:http://www.welfareweekly.com/universal- ... -credible/

Universal Credit stuck in the slow lane as government tiold roll out plans not credible.
Read that, and then this
NHS: UK now has one of the worst healthcare systems in the developed world, according to OECD report
http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style ... 21401.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Hospitals are now so short-staffed and underequipped that people are also dying needlessly because of a chronic lack of investment. The verdict, from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), will make embarrassing reading for David Cameron who denied the cash-strapped NHS is heading for its worst winter crisis.

Staff are too rushed to improve levels of care that have in many areas fallen below countries such as Turkey, Portugal and Poland. Almost 75,000 more doctors and nurses are needed to match standards in similar countries the OECD said in its annual Health at a Glance study comparing the quality of healthcare across 34 countries.
Too depressing for words.
It really is. When I think of where we were in 2010... it's enough to make you weep

I see the inevitable vultures circling around the near-corpse of the NHS are shrieking "Private insurance! Break it up! Sell it off!"

Private insurance? Benefits private insurance companies who would be rubbing their hands with glee at this happening. Benefits anyone else? Nope. Mountains of additional bureaucracy - which is a bit weird given the frothing about wanting less of it from the usual suspects on the right.

I read Allistair Heath on this - given that he's a one trick pony (reduce spending, reduce taxes ad nauseum) on every subject under the sun it was inevitable that he'd say that the NHS wasn't working. Right. And who's fault is that given who's been in charge for the past 5 years?

"Not our fault. Never our fault. Blame Labour."

citizenJA · Post by **citizenJA** » Thu 05 Nov, 2015 1:58 pm

rebeccariots2 wrote:
yahyah wrote:RR@
The Indie scroll bar has disappeared on my lap top too.
It's very very irritating. That site is just vile to look at on a laptop now - acres of white space - and zilch functionality.

Plug a mouse with a rolling scroll function (I've only seen those located in the middle) into your laptop.

Begin use immediately with mouse. You may have to ask your laptop to recognise it, I doubt that formal introduction will be required though, it's usually plug-in device and go.

Make the mouse 'live', functional on the website by clicking once on the right-hand side of the mouse (as far as I know, that's default functionality, it can be different or changed) anywhere on the web page without a link attached, use the the middle scroll function on the mouse (again, that's a default function) to give you the navigation you require.

Am I helping at all or have I totally misunderstood the irritating problem you've described?

ohsocynical · Post by **ohsocynical** » Thu 05 Nov, 2015 2:10 pm

And you see, the snag with a private insurance system is those that are able to afford the large monthly outlay end up paying for those who can't afford any insurance at all.
A&E is swamped with those who aren't insured so the hospital has to make sure they have enough income coming in to cover the extra work load.

The insurance companies don't care. It's all money in the bank for them. Debt collection agencies see a huge jump in custom because even if you can't afford the insurance the hospital will try to get the money you owe. It's win win if you're in business.

I desperately hope it doesn't happen. I shan't be around to see the results but mark my words all those with a bit of spare money who support the Tories are going to be shocked when they see a huge chunk of their income going on medical insurance. I wonder if they realise that'll include paying for their children's dentist, optician etc.

ohsocynical · Post by **ohsocynical** » Thu 05 Nov, 2015 2:12 pm

citizenJA wrote:
rebeccariots2 wrote:
yahyah wrote:RR@
The Indie scroll bar has disappeared on my lap top too.
It's very very irritating. That site is just vile to look at on a laptop now - acres of white space - and zilch functionality.
Plug a mouse with a rolling scroll function (I've only seen those located in the middle) into your laptop.

Begin use immediately with mouse. You may have to ask your laptop to recognise it, I doubt that formal introduction will be required though, it's usually plug-in device and go.

Make the mouse 'live', functional on the website by clicking once on the right-hand side of the mouse (as far as I know, that's default functionality, it can be different or changed) anywhere on the web page without a link attached, use the the middle scroll function on the mouse (again, that's a default function) to give you the navigation you require.

Am I helping at all or have I totally misunderstood the irritating problem you've described?

Pound shops have computer mice for a --- pound each ... Work well too.

citizenJA · Post by **citizenJA** » Thu 05 Nov, 2015 2:12 pm

RogerOThornhill wrote:
RobertSnozers wrote:
gilsey wrote: Read that, and then this
NHS: UK now has one of the worst healthcare systems in the developed world, according to OECD report
http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style ... 21401.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; Too depressing for words.
It really is. When I think of where we were in 2010... it's enough to make you weep
I see the inevitable vultures circling around the near-corpse of the NHS are shrieking "Private insurance! Break it up! Sell it off!"

Private insurance? Benefits private insurance companies who would be rubbing their hands with glee at this happening. Benefits anyone else? Nope. Mountains of additional bureaucracy - which is a bit weird given the frothing about wanting less of it from the usual suspects on the right.

I read Allistair Heath on this - given that he's a one trick pony (reduce spending, reduce taxes ad nauseum) on every subject under the sun it was inevitable that he'd say that the NHS wasn't working. Right. And who's fault is that given who's been in charge for the past 5 years?

"Not our fault. Never our fault. Blame Labour."

Good-afternoon, everyone.

I've not seen the OECD report or latest NHS news yet, I'll take a look.

No, Tory government can't be allowed to destroy the NHS. No.

The UK's NHS has demonstrated for decades universal health care coverage funded by general taxation without requiring payment at the doors of health care providers is possible, it's been done successfully and gives everyone outstanding healthcare provision necessary from some of the finest healthcare staff in the world.

RogerOThornhill · Post by **RogerOThornhill** » Thu 05 Nov, 2015 2:20 pm

Nicky Morgan has written back to Neil Carmichael about fairer funding for schools.

Carmichael's letter had this:

During the evidence session, we had an exchange on the subject of fairer funding. My Committee welcomes the Government’s commitment to address this very important area. Our current intention is to examine your department’s proposals for reform, once they have been issued for consultation and we will be seeking to arrange access to consultation responses to help us in our work.

Fairly clear - it's your job to come up with the proposals.

The reply (unfortunately it's a photocopy and not a true pdf so won't copy and paste)

There you go - you do it. You look at it in detail. We have no proposals and can't even tell you when we might consult.

They consulted in July 2011 - since then it's been patched up and the promises of wholesale reform keep coming but now she appears to have washed her hands of the whole thing.

ohsocynical · Post by **ohsocynical** » Thu 05 Nov, 2015 2:27 pm

About women losing out on pensions.

http://paullewismoney.blogspot.co.uk/20 ... m-new.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

citizenJA · Post by **citizenJA** » Thu 05 Nov, 2015 2:42 pm

The USA's healthcare provision is excellent for anyone who can afford to pay for it, everyone else is left with debt, harassment, inadequate follow-up treatment, no treatment and an early death. No one can afford to pay the exorbitant healthcare costs, insured or not insured, the US healthcare system offers.

There are pockets of sanity in the US. Healthcare provision for veterans and for elderly people are examples of systems within a system, giving glimpses of universal, affordable, high-quality healthcare provision capacity. These are regularly subjected to changes, regularly increased costs and co-pays and new rules meaning less healthcare provided for more money.

People who like to make money from essential services create roles for themselves within healthcare provision. An expensive, pimping, greedy, nobody without skill and a professional parasite certificate expects to maintain a place within US healthcare (and anywhere else they can manage it) without providing anything more than making money for themselves and their corporations.

These people and their corporations don't limit themselves to exploiting the healthcare 'industry' (Industry used to be a nice word). We see professional parasites in every area of essential service provision. They don't work. They exploit. They should leave nice people and nice civilisations alone.

Put them all on the QM2 and keep them at sea, living it up in their little world. It'd cost the world substantially less environmentally, monetarily and socially than having to live with them running amok ashore.

citizenJA · Post by **citizenJA** » Thu 05 Nov, 2015 2:49 pm

ohsocynical wrote:And you see, the snag with a private insurance system is those that are able to afford the large monthly outlay end up paying for those who can't afford any insurance at all.
A&E is swamped with those who aren't insured so the hospital has to make sure they have enough income coming in to cover the extra work load.

The insurance companies don't care. It's all money in the bank for them. Debt collection agencies see a huge jump in custom because even if you can't afford the insurance the hospital will try to get the money you owe. It's win win if you're in business.

I desperately hope it doesn't happen. I shan't be around to see the results but mark my words all those with a bit of spare money who support the Tories are going to be shocked when they see a huge chunk of their income going on medical insurance. I wonder if they realise that'll include paying for their children's dentist, optician etc.

Correct, it's inefficient, needlessly expensive and nothing less than organised extortion.

We pay for the NHS through general taxation, if taxation needs to increase to pay for essential health and social care services, not profit, mind, paying for the service, so be it. Make sure those wealthy few who get the most from everyone's money and contribute not enough are made to pay fairly. Current Tory government is hostile to the suggestion.

citizenJA · Post by **citizenJA** » Thu 05 Nov, 2015 2:54 pm

seeingclearly wrote:http://www.welfareweekly.com/universal- ... -credible/

Universal Credit stuck in the slow lane as government tiold roll out plans not credible.

We can't afford Tory government.

RogerOThornhill · Post by **RogerOThornhill** » Thu 05 Nov, 2015 2:56 pm

citizenJA wrote: We pay for the NHS through general taxation, if taxation needs to increase to pay for essential health and social care services, not profit, mind, paying for the service, so be it. Make sure those wealthy few who get the most from everyone's money and contribute not enough are made to pay fairly. Current Tory government is hostile to the suggestion.

Cost of collection to pay for the NHS is effectively zero since even if the NHS was fully privatized, tax collection would still go on as is but at a lower level. Quite why anyone would think that going to an insurance system is better given the bureaucracy it would cause beggars belief.

citizenJA · Post by **citizenJA** » Thu 05 Nov, 2015 3:05 pm

gilsey wrote:
seeingclearly wrote:http://www.welfareweekly.com/universal- ... -credible/

Universal Credit stuck in the slow lane as government tiold roll out plans not credible.
Read that, and then this
NHS: UK now has one of the worst healthcare systems in the developed world, according to OECD report
http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style ... 21401.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Hospitals are now so short-staffed and underequipped that people are also dying needlessly because of a chronic lack of investment. The verdict, from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), will make embarrassing reading for David Cameron who denied the cash-strapped NHS is heading for its worst winter crisis.

Staff are too rushed to improve levels of care that have in many areas fallen below countries such as Turkey, Portugal and Poland. Almost 75,000 more doctors and nurses are needed to match standards in similar countries the OECD said in its annual Health at a Glance study comparing the quality of healthcare across 34 countries.
Too depressing for words.

It didn't have to be this way, it doesn't have to be this way. I'm sorry. People made a mistake not voting for a Labour government. Do I think Labour perfect? No. But Ed Miliband would've kept his word, the Labour party would've voted the Health and Social Care Act of 2012 straight to hell where it belongs and given the NHS proper funding. I'm very sorry for us all. Even Tories, they're in over their heads, they don't know how to provide appropriate leadership, they belong in opposition or in a club somewhere innocuous. They'd keep a lot of their wealth, they'd just not have the power to swallow the whole earth.

citizenJA · Post by **citizenJA** » Thu 05 Nov, 2015 3:13 pm

RogerOThornhill wrote:
citizenJA wrote: We pay for the NHS through general taxation, if taxation needs to increase to pay for essential health and social care services, not profit, mind, paying for the service, so be it. Make sure those wealthy few who get the most from everyone's money and contribute not enough are made to pay fairly. Current Tory government is hostile to the suggestion.
Cost of collection to pay for the NHS is effectively zero since even if the NHS was fully privatized, tax collection would still go on as is but at a lower level. Quite why anyone would think that going to an insurance system is better given the bureaucracy it would cause beggars belief.

Precisely, RogerOThornill, you've written clearer than I've done.
Tory government are demanding we pay more for less and fragment provision of healthcare provision in order to better fund a few who've nothing to do with healthcare provision. Just like owners of private care homes and social care companies, the people taking most the money aren't working at all. They just own.

Tubby Isaacs · Post by **Tubby Isaacs** » Thu 05 Nov, 2015 4:32 pm

One for the HS2 sceptics. Not yet up on his site, but Christian Wolmar has written a good article for Rail Magazine. You've probably heard of Cost:Benefit ratios for new projects- they also do them for projects after they've been finished and opened. The latest estimate for HS1 gives a ration of 0.64- ie it would have been better not to build it!

Wolmar, very fairly, points out that these ratios are only one tool in evaluating projects, and says that stuff like the redevelopment of Kings Cross and the Olympics probably wouldn't have happened without HS1 to St Pancras. You could take that further and say "no Olympics, much less transport improvement in East London". This is a point I've made before- that projects tend to bring other projects in their wake.

But equally, political will needs to be there. Though it was there for the Olympics, it's perhaps not been there for house building in Ebbsfleet. The station is as it stands a white elephant, with far too few new homes having been built.

Anyway, food for thought, as he says.. I'll post it if I find it.

ohsocynical · Post by **ohsocynical** » Thu 05 Nov, 2015 4:52 pm

Eerie twilight light here. It was yellow, and then pink...Now it's over Reading.

RogerOThornhill · Post by **RogerOThornhill** » Thu 05 Nov, 2015 5:56 pm

Here's the Schools Week take on the fairer funding debate from Westminster Hall.

Government ‘wants to go further’ than £390m on fairer school funding – minister

http://schoolsweek.co.uk/government-wan ... -minister/

Responding to questions about the extra cash injection to which the government has committed in the past two years, Mr Gyimah said: “The government wants to go further than the £390m. That is why we’re having this debate.”

Mr Gyimah said any decision on school funding would be made following this month’s spending review, but he refused to be more specific on timings despite the urging of several colleagues.

He said: “The honourable member is tempting me to preempt our spending review, and that is something that I don’t think is appropriate for a junior minister or something the chancellor of the exchequer will welcome.”

1. They were having the debate because, as the article goes on to say, Graham Stuart and Ben Bradshaw secured the time for it - nothing to do with 'the government'!

2. I still can't work out why they can't issue a timetable. The Spending review should be irrelevant - this is all about consultation and then methodology. What the Spending review says would be irrelevant as to the methodology - sure, it'll affect the numbers used by the methodology but not the methodology itself.

Not sure the honourable members were too impressed by the inaction by the DfE. You could see it on Graham Stuart and Neil Carmichael's faces.

TobyLatimer · Post by **TobyLatimer** » Thu 05 Nov, 2015 6:04 pm

Feckin out of his depth bully boy gets praise from Tory luvvie rag

: ScreenShot00927.jpg (23.55 KiB) Viewed 7857 times

ohsocynical · Post by **ohsocynical** » Thu 05 Nov, 2015 6:09 pm

TobyLatimer wrote:Feckin out of his depth bully boy gets praise from Tory luvvie rag

ScreenShot00927.jpg

Corbyn got one from them too. Best Campaigner....

yahyah · Post by **yahyah** » Thu 05 Nov, 2015 6:24 pm

Just seen a tweet that says Danczuk has set up a company called Danczuk Media Ltd 'that will assist in the production of media articles''.

He's made £52,858 so far from his attacks on his own party.
What a slimy, money grabbing git.

Meanwhile his ex is flogging signed pics of herself in Christmas scanties for £10 a pop.

Mr & Mrs Classy.

rebeccariots2 · Post by **rebeccariots2** » Thu 05 Nov, 2015 6:46 pm

yahyah wrote:Just seen a tweet that says Danczuk has set up a company called Danczuk Media Ltd 'that will assist in the production of media articles''.

He's made £52,858 so far from his attacks on his own party.
What a slimy, money grabbing git.

Meanwhile his ex is flogging signed pics of herself in Christmas scanties for £10 a pop.

Mr & Mrs Classy.

Set him up on a date with Louise Mensch. That should be torture for both of them ... trying to get a word in, both needing to be right, but most importantly both needing to feel the most important and get the most attention from everyone but especially the media.

Tubby Isaacs · Post by **Tubby Isaacs** » Thu 05 Nov, 2015 6:48 pm

More Tory rail brilliance!

http://www.bedfordshire-news.co.uk/East ... story.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

A MAJOR infrastructure project which is aimed at linking Oxford and Cambridge by rail has been pushed back by at least three years.

Local authorities in the East West Rail Consortium are concerned that the project to create a new railway for services between Oxford and Bedford, Aylesbury and Milton Keynes may be delayed until at least 2022 after Network Rail said it couldn't be delivered by 2019 as previously planned due to 'cost and deliverability issues'.

The Consortium understands that there is a now draft recommendation for East West Rail to be delivered in three phases, with Bedford to Oxford being rescheduled for completion in 2022; Aylesbury to Milton Keynes in 2024; and enhancements to the line between Aylesbury and Princes Risborough in 2026.

Ministers will blame Network Rail, and they've certainly got a point. It's widely regarded as inefficient, hence (I suspect) Ed Balls didn't fancy renationalization of the rest now. (From 2020 though, should be fine).

But it's also down to Osborne's over-promising hard hat projects, and keeping the funding problems quiet.

The 2019 date, btw, is the end of the Network Rail "control period"- ie period in which funding for projects is guaranteed. Once a project slips from there, it can go right down the queue.

Bedford is a marginal seat (majority 1,097).

Tubby Isaacs · Post by **Tubby Isaacs** » Thu 05 Nov, 2015 6:59 pm

RogerOThornhill wrote:Here's the Schools Week take on the fairer funding debate from Westminster Hall.

Government ‘wants to go further’ than £390m on fairer school funding – minister

http://schoolsweek.co.uk/government-wan ... -minister/

Responding to questions about the extra cash injection to which the government has committed in the past two years, Mr Gyimah said: “The government wants to go further than the £390m. That is why we’re having this debate.”

Mr Gyimah said any decision on school funding would be made following this month’s spending review, but he refused to be more specific on timings despite the urging of several colleagues.

He said: “The honourable member is tempting me to preempt our spending review, and that is something that I don’t think is appropriate for a junior minister or something the chancellor of the exchequer will welcome.”
1. They were having the debate because, as the article goes on to say, Graham Stuart and Ben Bradshaw secured the time for it - nothing to do with 'the government'!

2. I still can't work out why they can't issue a timetable. The Spending review should be irrelevant - this is all about consultation and then methodology. What the Spending review says would be irrelevant as to the methodology - sure, it'll affect the numbers used by the methodology but not the methodology itself.

Not sure the honourable members were too impressed by the inaction by the DfE. You could see it on Graham Stuart and Neil Carmichael's faces.

I can't abide that "we want to go further" meme. It's as credible as "dog ate my homework".

As you say, the spending review doesn't stop you doing the work for a formula at all. Whole point of a formula is that you can put any numbers you like into it....

RogerOThornhill · Post by **RogerOThornhill** » Thu 05 Nov, 2015 7:15 pm

Tubby Isaacs wrote: I can't abide that "we want to go further" meme. It's as credible as "dog ate my homework".

As you say, the spending review doesn't stop you doing the work for a formula at all. Whole point of a formula is that you can put any numbers you like into it....

One of the things that Labour did, and IIRC it was from about 2003, was to institute a LA school funding forum with reps from HTs and governors which actually went through all of the detail and agreed the funding formulae. In this way it wasn't just the LA telling schools what their cash was going to be - it had to be agreed by the forum.

I know this because I sat on the forum for 4 years...

Tubby Isaacs · Post by **Tubby Isaacs** » Thu 05 Nov, 2015 7:18 pm

More on those "Conservative Teachers".

https://www.linkedin.com/pub/kyle-stealey/33/167/ab2" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

This bloke isn't even a teacher. "Examinations Officer" at Harris.

Better off than being a teacher there.

Tubby Isaacs · Post by **Tubby Isaacs** » Thu 05 Nov, 2015 7:23 pm

yahyah wrote:Just seen a tweet that says Danczuk has set up a company called Danczuk Media Ltd 'that will assist in the production of media articles''.

He's made £52,858 so far from his attacks on his own party.
What a slimy, money grabbing git.

Meanwhile his ex is flogging signed pics of herself in Christmas scanties for £10 a pop.

Mr & Mrs Classy.

Funny, not noticed a press backlash against him for running his media earnings through a company.

cf Ken Livingstone.

Tubby Isaacs · Post by **Tubby Isaacs** » Thu 05 Nov, 2015 7:37 pm

Beating Roger to it....

http://schoolsweek.co.uk/insulting-scra ... e-a-level/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The government announced its intention to scrap GCSE and A-level IT qualifications on the 11th page of a consultation document this week – with concerns raised that final discussions only included bodies running competing vocational qualifications.

If this is true, then surely the consultation will have to be run again?

You can almost see Gibb's prejudices from here. Blah, blah, computers, not proper subject, blah.