Thursday 5th February 2015
Forum rules
Welcome to FTN. New posters are welcome to join the conversation. You can follow us on Twitter @FlythenestHaven You are responsible for the content you post. This is a public forum. Treat it as if you are speaking in a crowded room. Site admin and Moderators are volunteers who will respond as quickly as they are able to when made aware of any complaints. Please do not post copyrighted material without the original authors permission.
Welcome to FTN. New posters are welcome to join the conversation. You can follow us on Twitter @FlythenestHaven You are responsible for the content you post. This is a public forum. Treat it as if you are speaking in a crowded room. Site admin and Moderators are volunteers who will respond as quickly as they are able to when made aware of any complaints. Please do not post copyrighted material without the original authors permission.
Re: Thursday 5th February 2015
Thanks for the kind welcome, all - much appreciated. Thanks Toby also for the tip about links to video.
- AngryAsWell
- Prime Minister
- Posts: 5852
- Joined: Mon 25 Aug, 2014 7:35 pm
Re: Thursday 5th February 2015
Welcome from me as wellNicky wrote:Thanks!frightful_oik wrote:Welcome Nicky!
Re: Thursday 5th February 2015
http://www.theguardian.com/politics/201 ... -5-percentGeorge Osborne needlessly shrank 5% off GDP with 2010 cuts, says thinktank
Respected NIESR blames delay in economic recovery on unnecessarily aggressive cuts in 2010 which cost UK almost £1,500 per person
Just found this.
The original report is from the National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR)Professor Simon Wren-Lewis, of Oxford University, argued that the deficit-cutting policy adopted in Osborne’s “emergency budget” of 2010 was unnecessarily aggressive, particularly since interest rates were already close to zero, making it hard for the Bank of England to offset the slowdown that followed.
“The delay in the UK recovery over the first part of the coalition government’s term is at least in part a result of the government’s fiscal decisions”. The final cost will not be clear for some time, he argued, but, “measured against the scale of how much governments can influence the welfare of its citizens in peacetime, it is likely to be a large cost”.
Using the independent Office for Budget Responsibilities estimates, he argued that GDP may have been reduced by up to 5%, or £1,500 per head.
http://www.niesr.ac.uk/media/press-rele ... NPeqcasW2y
-
- Prime Minister
- Posts: 9949
- Joined: Mon 25 Aug, 2014 11:18 pm
Re: Thursday 5th February 2015
McVey's £2.5bn on Troubled Families Programme.
It seems to be £650m.
It seems to be £650m.
- AngryAsWell
- Prime Minister
- Posts: 5852
- Joined: Mon 25 Aug, 2014 7:35 pm
Re: Thursday 5th February 2015
Is this going to be another Ooops!
Experience tells us you can take Goddard J’s assessment to the bank. Hopefully the British prefer an exhaustive and complex inquiry to an accurate and transparent outcome.
http://www.kiwisfirst.com/new-zealands-latest-export/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Experience tells us you can take Goddard J’s assessment to the bank. Hopefully the British prefer an exhaustive and complex inquiry to an accurate and transparent outcome.
http://www.kiwisfirst.com/new-zealands-latest-export/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
- AngryAsWell
- Prime Minister
- Posts: 5852
- Joined: Mon 25 Aug, 2014 7:35 pm
Re: Thursday 5th February 2015
£14 million for "academy brokers" ?
https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/ ... ing-614435" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/ ... ing-614435" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Re: Thursday 5th February 2015
Chum's pockets.AngryAsWell wrote: "academy brokers" ?
- AngryAsWell
- Prime Minister
- Posts: 5852
- Joined: Mon 25 Aug, 2014 7:35 pm
Re: Thursday 5th February 2015
Ah right - should have guessed ...diGriz wrote:Chum's pockets.AngryAsWell wrote: "academy brokers" ?
-
- Prime Minister
- Posts: 9949
- Joined: Mon 25 Aug, 2014 11:18 pm
Re: Thursday 5th February 2015
Tweeted.AngryAsWell wrote:£14 million for "academy brokers" ?
https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/ ... ing-614435" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Incredible. Civil servants could do that for free, except would have to obey FOIA.
-
- Prime Minister
- Posts: 9949
- Joined: Mon 25 Aug, 2014 11:18 pm
Re: Thursday 5th February 2015
It's another great day for Gove!
http://www.theguardian.com/education/20 ... am-reforms" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.theguardian.com/education/20 ... am-reforms" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Education secretary Nicky Morgan has pulled the plug on a key part of her predecessor Michael Gove's efforts to reform exams in England, by cutting off funds to a body that gave universities a role in overseeing A-levels.
Gove established the A-levels Content Advisory Board (Alcab) in 2013 with much fanfare, giving leading UK universities and academics a say in the process of exam reforms – concentrating on specific subjects – and becoming a permanent check on the quality of of A-level course content
But on the advice of Department for Education (DfE) officials Morgan has abruptly terminated the group’s funding, over the objections of Alcab's board including its chair Sir Nigel Thrift, vice chancellor of Warwick University.
The decision was attacked by Dominic Cummings, Gove's former special adviser, who described the move as "almost a Jedi-level operation from DfE officials" who had never liked Alcab's involvement.
"The DfE hated giving away control, obviously, and hated Alcab. The very point of the process – a sword of Damocles in the form of eminent professors saying 'crap questions' each year – was supposed to force the DfE, exam boards and Ofqual to raise their game," Cummings said, blaming officials rather than Morgan's advisors.
"I very much doubt that Nicky Morgan realises what she has done. It was probably a letter buried deep in her box weeks ago that she had no reason to suspect meant she was being used to subvert reform and entrench Whitehall's power," he said.
- AngryAsWell
- Prime Minister
- Posts: 5852
- Joined: Mon 25 Aug, 2014 7:35 pm
Re: Thursday 5th February 2015
The Crewe Chronicle is reporting that the father of a Crewe schoolgirl has told of his horror after discovering his daughter’s asthma inhaler had been used as ‘security’ against a school tie…
You want a replacement tie? Give me your inhaler’
http://schoolsimprovement.net/you-want- ... ur-inhaler" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
You want a replacement tie? Give me your inhaler’
http://schoolsimprovement.net/you-want- ... ur-inhaler" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
-
- Prime Minister
- Posts: 27400
- Joined: Tue 26 Aug, 2014 12:40 am
- Location: Three quarters way to hell
Re: Thursday 5th February 2015
Latest YouGov poll (04 - 05 Feb):
LAB - 33% (-)
CON - 32% (-2)
UKIP - 15% (+2)
LDEM - 9% (+3)
GRN - 5% (-2)
LAB - 33% (-)
CON - 32% (-2)
UKIP - 15% (+2)
LDEM - 9% (+3)
GRN - 5% (-2)
- rebeccariots2
- Prime Minister
- Posts: 14038
- Joined: Mon 25 Aug, 2014 8:20 pm
Re: Thursday 5th February 2015
Jeepers .... it's a Lib Dem surge.Mike Smithson @MSmithsonPB · 2m 2 minutes ago
After last night's CON lead the final YouGov poll of the week has
CON 32
LAB 33
LD 9
UKIP 15
GRN 5
Working on the wild side.
- RogerOThornhill
- Prime Minister
- Posts: 11137
- Joined: Mon 25 Aug, 2014 10:18 pm
Re: Thursday 5th February 2015
First A level exams not until 2018 and Maths not until 2019...if you're looking for savings then closing down something that's not going to be doing very much for 3-4 years is an easy decision.Tubby Isaacs wrote:It's another great day for Gove!
http://www.theguardian.com/education/20 ... am-reforms" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Education secretary Nicky Morgan has pulled the plug on a key part of her predecessor Michael Gove's efforts to reform exams in England, by cutting off funds to a body that gave universities a role in overseeing A-levels.
Gove established the A-levels Content Advisory Board (Alcab) in 2013 with much fanfare, giving leading UK universities and academics a say in the process of exam reforms – concentrating on specific subjects – and becoming a permanent check on the quality of of A-level course content
But on the advice of Department for Education (DfE) officials Morgan has abruptly terminated the group’s funding, over the objections of Alcab's board including its chair Sir Nigel Thrift, vice chancellor of Warwick University.
The decision was attacked by Dominic Cummings, Gove's former special adviser, who described the move as "almost a Jedi-level operation from DfE officials" who had never liked Alcab's involvement.
"The DfE hated giving away control, obviously, and hated Alcab. The very point of the process – a sword of Damocles in the form of eminent professors saying 'crap questions' each year – was supposed to force the DfE, exam boards and Ofqual to raise their game," Cummings said, blaming officials rather than Morgan's advisors.
"I very much doubt that Nicky Morgan realises what she has done. It was probably a letter buried deep in her box weeks ago that she had no reason to suspect meant she was being used to subvert reform and entrench Whitehall's power," he said.
Besides, they only had Maths, MFL/Ancient languages and geography anyway. Not quite sure why they didn't have others unless the intention was to expand it.
If I'm not here, then I'll be in the library. Or the other library.
- rebeccariots2
- Prime Minister
- Posts: 14038
- Joined: Mon 25 Aug, 2014 8:20 pm
Re: Thursday 5th February 2015
You just beat me to it Hindle. Hope it's not going to give Clegg false hope ... the Lib Dem mini surge that is.HindleA wrote:Latest YouGov poll (04 - 05 Feb):
LAB - 33% (-)
CON - 32% (-2)
UKIP - 15% (+2)
LDEM - 9% (+3)
GRN - 5% (-2)
Working on the wild side.
- rebeccariots2
- Prime Minister
- Posts: 14038
- Joined: Mon 25 Aug, 2014 8:20 pm
Re: Thursday 5th February 2015
You are probably right. I see some BTL comments on the G story are saying that if Cameron gets back in Gove will be straight back in to Education ... he was just removed from there because he was too much of a toxic liability in the run up to the election.RobertSnozers wrote:I say bring him on. Apart from the tiny band of Torygraph readers who thought he was the Messiah, literally everyone else hates him. Think Portillo c.1995 x 10rebeccariots2 wrote:Aaaarrrrgggh. We're going to have this nitwit doing loads of media for the next 3 months. Ghastly. Make him disappear.Emily Ashton @elashton 57m57 minutes ago
Michael Gove warns that @AlexSalmond could be deputy PM or chancellor in a Lab/SNP coalition: "The risks are real." http://www.buzzfeed.com/emilyashton/mic ... n?s=mobile" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; …
Working on the wild side.
-
- Prime Minister
- Posts: 9949
- Joined: Mon 25 Aug, 2014 11:18 pm
Re: Thursday 5th February 2015
Yes, I've said that on there.RogerOThornhill wrote: First A level exams not until 2018 and Maths not until 2019...if you're looking for savings then closing down something that's not going to be doing very much for 3-4 years is an easy decision.
Besides, they only had Maths, MFL/Ancient languages and geography anyway. Not quite sure why they didn't have others unless the intention was to expand it.
If Ofqual can't guarantee exams after the other lot have helped set it up, what's the point of Ofqual? It has academic standards advisers.
Though odd to see Tim Coates and someone from Pearson among them.
-
- Prime Minister
- Posts: 9949
- Joined: Mon 25 Aug, 2014 11:18 pm
Re: Thursday 5th February 2015
Simon Wren-Lewis is excellent.RobertSnozers wrote:This ought to be lead story on the Today Programme.citizenJA wrote:http://www.theguardian.com/politics/201 ... -5-percentGeorge Osborne needlessly shrank 5% off GDP with 2010 cuts, says thinktank
Respected NIESR blames delay in economic recovery on unnecessarily aggressive cuts in 2010 which cost UK almost £1,500 per person
Just found this.
The original report is from the National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR)Professor Simon Wren-Lewis, of Oxford University, argued that the deficit-cutting policy adopted in Osborne’s “emergency budget” of 2010 was unnecessarily aggressive, particularly since interest rates were already close to zero, making it hard for the Bank of England to offset the slowdown that followed.
“The delay in the UK recovery over the first part of the coalition government’s term is at least in part a result of the government’s fiscal decisions”. The final cost will not be clear for some time, he argued, but, “measured against the scale of how much governments can influence the welfare of its citizens in peacetime, it is likely to be a large cost”.
Using the independent Office for Budget Responsibilities estimates, he argued that GDP may have been reduced by up to 5%, or £1,500 per head.
http://www.niesr.ac.uk/media/press-rele ... NPeqcasW2y
Won't be though.
Merely an Oxford University professor- wrong part of the establishment?
- RogerOThornhill
- Prime Minister
- Posts: 11137
- Joined: Mon 25 Aug, 2014 10:18 pm
Re: Thursday 5th February 2015
Watching QT...hadn't realised that the DT had got rid of Christina Odone - she was introduced as being from some group called the Legatum Institute.
If I'm not here, then I'll be in the library. Or the other library.
- rebeccariots2
- Prime Minister
- Posts: 14038
- Joined: Mon 25 Aug, 2014 8:20 pm
Re: Thursday 5th February 2015
Smithson's link goes to an article with a video of the young SNP candidate saying she fantasises about putting the nut on Labour councillors.Mike Smithson @MSmithsonPB · 4m 4 minutes ago
The 19 year old challenger to Douglas Alexander http://bit.ly/1zUySqT" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
I didn't post that link earlier because it was just after I'd encountered Andrew Percy MP's claims re the Labour councillors using dirty tactics and language in their campaign against the Conservatives in Bootle ... and just before that I'd seen that a Conservative councillor somewhere in Lincolnshire has resigned after he sent round racist and pornographic emails.
Taking these instances together in that short space of time ... it all felt pretty OTT and tawdry.
Working on the wild side.
- frightful_oik
- Whip
- Posts: 954
- Joined: Tue 26 Aug, 2014 12:45 am
Re: Thursday 5th February 2015
Dimbleby unerringly finding Tories in the audience.
Shake your chains to earth like dew
Which in sleep had fallen on you-
Ye are many - they are few."
Which in sleep had fallen on you-
Ye are many - they are few."
- RogerOThornhill
- Prime Minister
- Posts: 11137
- Joined: Mon 25 Aug, 2014 10:18 pm
Re: Thursday 5th February 2015
It's from Finchley...Tory country that returned one M.Thatcher for a few years...frightful_oik wrote:Dimbleby unerringly finding Tories in the audience.
If I'm not here, then I'll be in the library. Or the other library.
- RogerOThornhill
- Prime Minister
- Posts: 11137
- Joined: Mon 25 Aug, 2014 10:18 pm
Re: Thursday 5th February 2015
Er...what?
Morgan spinning the 10% reduction in real terms as schools getting more because there are more pupils!
So with our school and thousands of others who can't take any more pupils?
Morgan spinning the 10% reduction in real terms as schools getting more because there are more pupils!
So with our school and thousands of others who can't take any more pupils?
If I'm not here, then I'll be in the library. Or the other library.
- RogerOThornhill
- Prime Minister
- Posts: 11137
- Joined: Mon 25 Aug, 2014 10:18 pm
Re: Thursday 5th February 2015
Pupil premium wasn't additional money but instead of per pupil funding.
A con.
A con.
If I'm not here, then I'll be in the library. Or the other library.
- ErnstRemarx
- Secretary of State
- Posts: 1280
- Joined: Mon 25 Aug, 2014 11:04 pm
- Location: Bury, in the frozen north of England
Re: Thursday 5th February 2015
Hi R, it actually looks like bollocks to me. If I'm popular/good at my job, why limit the time I can do it? Apply it to David fucking Cameron and I'll perhaps believe you. If you're a councillor you already get paid leave AFAIK, so that's bollocks too. Councillor pay should be equalized with a nod to regional pay variations, no probs, diversity is already in there, and you'll search hard for a council that doesn't at least acknowledge it. So that's even more bollocks. Youth councils? Mostly in place.rebeccariots2 wrote:@Ernst
You might be interested in the Welsh Govt proposals to shake up councils in Wales ... not only do they want big reform of the authority boundaries and structures - from 22 councils currently to 12 in future - they are also proposing the following:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-politics-31097569Council elections every five years, not four as at present
Maximum five terms - 25 years - for councillors
Maximum two terms - 10 years - for council leaders and cabinet members
Pay councillors in line with those on similar sized councils elsewhere in the UK
Public sector employers to give staff unpaid leave to carry out duties as councillors, and other employers encouraged to do the same
Council leaders and chief executives given a duty to promote and respect diversity
Youth councils to be set up by each authority
The minister is quoted as saying term limits for councillors will break up "the old boys' club". A mere 25 years to be set as a time limit ... that should shake em up good and proper, eh? Risible.
But at least they are proposing to sort out the exorbitant pay scales - as we noted yesterday.
I mean, honestly, who the fuck thinks this is worth reporting? Would I be right in guessing that this platitudinous nonsense came from a Tory minister?
- rebeccariots2
- Prime Minister
- Posts: 14038
- Joined: Mon 25 Aug, 2014 8:20 pm
Re: Thursday 5th February 2015
No you'd be sadly wrong. It's come from a Labour Welsh Govt minister. The legislation for all their proposed local government constitutional reforms is going to provoke merry hell I think. But something does have to be done about how 'old boys club' the institutions are here ... it is abysmal. I don't want them to feel they've got tenure for life. Pembrokeshire C C is beyond belief. I am now meeting people on the doorstep who almost need to spit before they talk about them ... they are a another large part of why people around here think politics is bust.ErnstRemarx wrote:Hi R, it actually looks like bollocks to me. If I'm popular/good at my job, why limit the time I can do it? Apply it to David fucking Cameron and I'll perhaps believe you. If you're a councillor you already get paid leave AFAIK, so that's bollocks too. Councillor pay should be equalized with a nod to regional pay variations, no probs, diversity is already in there, and you'll search hard for a council that doesn't at least acknowledge it. So that's even more bollocks. Youth councils? Mostly in place.rebeccariots2 wrote:@Ernst
You might be interested in the Welsh Govt proposals to shake up councils in Wales ... not only do they want big reform of the authority boundaries and structures - from 22 councils currently to 12 in future - they are also proposing the following:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-politics-31097569Council elections every five years, not four as at present
Maximum five terms - 25 years - for councillors
Maximum two terms - 10 years - for council leaders and cabinet members
Pay councillors in line with those on similar sized councils elsewhere in the UK
Public sector employers to give staff unpaid leave to carry out duties as councillors, and other employers encouraged to do the same
Council leaders and chief executives given a duty to promote and respect diversity
Youth councils to be set up by each authority
The minister is quoted as saying term limits for councillors will break up "the old boys' club". A mere 25 years to be set as a time limit ... that should shake em up good and proper, eh? Risible.
But at least they are proposing to sort out the exorbitant pay scales - as we noted yesterday.
I mean, honestly, who the fuck thinks this is worth reporting? Would I be right in guessing that this platitudinous nonsense came from a Tory minister?
Working on the wild side.
- ErnstRemarx
- Secretary of State
- Posts: 1280
- Joined: Mon 25 Aug, 2014 11:04 pm
- Location: Bury, in the frozen north of England
Re: Thursday 5th February 2015
Hi Nicky! Consider yourself utterly welcomed to FTN! A pleasure to have you along for the ride, and I hope you take advantage of the new suites on the first floor, the new cocktail bar and the improved vistas down to the river at the bottom, where dedicated teams are farming the rare freshwater herring in anticipation of a bumper harvest.Nicky wrote:That LibDem delusional smug fest photo op, on budget day, was actually disrupted in spectacular style. Investigative journalist Sonia Poulton (former Mail journalist!) chases Danny Alexander across College Green asking him to answer why he's complicit with the austerity lie. Before that, though, her friend Bill asked Clegg about child abuse cover ups and Leon Brittan (his former boss in Brussels).yahyah wrote:
" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Love this site and finally decided to register just to share this video ...
Not sure how to embed the video?
Below stairs facilities would have been available, but since the decision to install a microbrewery there, we've had to think on about that, although you may be pleased to hear that the members' bar - recently established, and with a beer garden facing the river - will soon be stocking our own brews.
FTN is what you make it. Gald you could make it. Come and help us make it better.
- RogerOThornhill
- Prime Minister
- Posts: 11137
- Joined: Mon 25 Aug, 2014 10:18 pm
Re: Thursday 5th February 2015
Oh fuck off Odone, you're just spouting Daily Mail lies about sex ed for 5 year olds.
Can't stand that woman.
Can't stand that woman.
If I'm not here, then I'll be in the library. Or the other library.
- ErnstRemarx
- Secretary of State
- Posts: 1280
- Joined: Mon 25 Aug, 2014 11:04 pm
- Location: Bury, in the frozen north of England
Re: Thursday 5th February 2015
And that doesn't sound like sour grapes from one of Pob's monkeys at all.Tubby Isaacs wrote:It's another great day for Gove!
http://www.theguardian.com/education/20 ... am-reforms" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Education secretary Nicky Morgan has pulled the plug on a key part of her predecessor Michael Gove's efforts to reform exams in England, by cutting off funds to a body that gave universities a role in overseeing A-levels.
Gove established the A-levels Content Advisory Board (Alcab) in 2013 with much fanfare, giving leading UK universities and academics a say in the process of exam reforms – concentrating on specific subjects – and becoming a permanent check on the quality of of A-level course content
But on the advice of Department for Education (DfE) officials Morgan has abruptly terminated the group’s funding, over the objections of Alcab's board including its chair Sir Nigel Thrift, vice chancellor of Warwick University.
The decision was attacked by Dominic Cummings, Gove's former special adviser, who described the move as "almost a Jedi-level operation from DfE officials" who had never liked Alcab's involvement.
"The DfE hated giving away control, obviously, and hated Alcab. The very point of the process – a sword of Damocles in the form of eminent professors saying 'crap questions' each year – was supposed to force the DfE, exam boards and Ofqual to raise their game," Cummings said, blaming officials rather than Morgan's advisors.
"I very much doubt that Nicky Morgan realises what she has done. It was probably a letter buried deep in her box weeks ago that she had no reason to suspect meant she was being used to subvert reform and entrench Whitehall's power," he said.
- RogerOThornhill
- Prime Minister
- Posts: 11137
- Joined: Mon 25 Aug, 2014 10:18 pm
Re: Thursday 5th February 2015
Ooh...all kicking off with the question of anti-semitic attacks and Galloway.
Difficult to see how the BBC didn't realise this would happen in Finchley...
Difficult to see how the BBC didn't realise this would happen in Finchley...
If I'm not here, then I'll be in the library. Or the other library.
- ErnstRemarx
- Secretary of State
- Posts: 1280
- Joined: Mon 25 Aug, 2014 11:04 pm
- Location: Bury, in the frozen north of England
Re: Thursday 5th February 2015
Anyone remember this?RobertSnozers wrote:I say bring him on. Apart from the tiny band of Torygraph readers who thought he was the Messiah, literally everyone else hates him. Think Portillo c.1995 x 10rebeccariots2 wrote:Aaaarrrrgggh. We're going to have this nitwit doing loads of media for the next 3 months. Ghastly. Make him disappear.Emily Ashton @elashton 57m57 minutes ago
Michael Gove warns that @AlexSalmond could be deputy PM or chancellor in a Lab/SNP coalition: "The risks are real." http://www.buzzfeed.com/emilyashton/mic ... n?s=mobile" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; …
Re: Thursday 5th February 2015
Still one of my favourite Graun cartoons.ErnstRemarx wrote:Anyone remember this?RobertSnozers wrote:I say bring him on. Apart from the tiny band of Torygraph readers who thought he was the Messiah, literally everyone else hates him. Think Portillo c.1995 x 10rebeccariots2 wrote: Aaaarrrrgggh. We're going to have this nitwit doing loads of media for the next 3 months. Ghastly. Make him disappear.
- ErnstRemarx
- Secretary of State
- Posts: 1280
- Joined: Mon 25 Aug, 2014 11:04 pm
- Location: Bury, in the frozen north of England
Re: Thursday 5th February 2015
The way to sort out the 'old boys clubs' has nowt to do with legislation, but plenty to do with Labour party democracy. All councillors seeking a fresh mandate have to be nominated by their ward. Get involved in your ward and if your siting Labour councillor isn't what you want deselect. Simples. The limits must come from below not via legislation. We have some long servers here in Bury who really should push off, but it's not my ward, so all I can do is give advice and leave it to those who are ward members.rebeccariots2 wrote:No you'd be sadly wrong. It's come from a Labour Welsh Govt minister. The legislation for all their proposed local government constitutional reforms is going to provoke merry hell I think. But something does have to be done about how 'old boys club' the institutions are here ... it is abysmal. I don't want them to feel they've got tenure for life. Pembrokeshire C C is beyond belief. I am now meeting people on the doorstep who almost need to spit before they talk about them ... they are a another large part of why people around here think politics is bust.ErnstRemarx wrote:Hi R, it actually looks like bollocks to me. If I'm popular/good at my job, why limit the time I can do it? Apply it to David fucking Cameron and I'll perhaps believe you. If you're a councillor you already get paid leave AFAIK, so that's bollocks too. Councillor pay should be equalized with a nod to regional pay variations, no probs, diversity is already in there, and you'll search hard for a council that doesn't at least acknowledge it. So that's even more bollocks. Youth councils? Mostly in place.rebeccariots2 wrote:@Ernst
You might be interested in the Welsh Govt proposals to shake up councils in Wales ... not only do they want big reform of the authority boundaries and structures - from 22 councils currently to 12 in future - they are also proposing the following:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-politics-31097569
The minister is quoted as saying term limits for councillors will break up "the old boys' club". A mere 25 years to be set as a time limit ... that should shake em up good and proper, eh? Risible.
But at least they are proposing to sort out the exorbitant pay scales - as we noted yesterday.
I mean, honestly, who the fuck thinks this is worth reporting? Would I be right in guessing that this platitudinous nonsense came from a Tory minister?
Re: Thursday 5th February 2015
Apparently they are a think-tank that produces a 'prosperity index'. They are an offshoot of a private investment firm based in Dubai.RogerOThornhill wrote:Watching QT...hadn't realised that the DT had got rid of Christina Odone - she was introduced as being from some group called the Legatum Institute.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legatum#Th ... _Institute" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
-
- Prime Minister
- Posts: 9949
- Joined: Mon 25 Aug, 2014 11:18 pm
Re: Thursday 5th February 2015
And there was a progressive system there before.RogerOThornhill wrote:Pupil premium wasn't additional money but instead of per pupil funding.
A con.
Re: Thursday 5th February 2015
goodnight, my friends
love
JA
love
JA
- rebeccariots2
- Prime Minister
- Posts: 14038
- Joined: Mon 25 Aug, 2014 8:20 pm
Re: Thursday 5th February 2015
That's not the issue here Ernst. We have people who stand as, and get elected as, 'independent' - lots of them. They declare no obvious allegiance - and are not accountable to any transparent selection process other than self selection (what goes on in the behind the scenes favour system may be something else entirely.) They then behave as anything but independent - but there's no way of knowing what they are really about and who / what is calling the tune. There is a real big problem. It stinks. It stinks to high heaven. And it's all behind the scenes - I would be shouting with delight if we had more 'party' politics here. At least you know what you're dealing with.ErnstRemarx wrote:The way to sort out the 'old boys clubs' has nowt to do with legislation, but plenty to do with Labour party democracy. All councillors seeking a fresh mandate have to be nominated by their ward. Get involved in your ward and if your siting Labour councillor isn't what you want deselect. Simples. The limits must come from below not via legislation. We have some long servers here in Bury who really should push off, but it's not my ward, so all I can do is give advice and leave it to those who are ward members.rebeccariots2 wrote:No you'd be sadly wrong. It's come from a Labour Welsh Govt minister. The legislation for all their proposed local government constitutional reforms is going to provoke merry hell I think. But something does have to be done about how 'old boys club' the institutions are here ... it is abysmal. I don't want them to feel they've got tenure for life. Pembrokeshire C C is beyond belief. I am now meeting people on the doorstep who almost need to spit before they talk about them ... they are a another large part of why people around here think politics is bust.ErnstRemarx wrote: Hi R, it actually looks like bollocks to me. If I'm popular/good at my job, why limit the time I can do it? Apply it to David fucking Cameron and I'll perhaps believe you. If you're a councillor you already get paid leave AFAIK, so that's bollocks too. Councillor pay should be equalized with a nod to regional pay variations, no probs, diversity is already in there, and you'll search hard for a council that doesn't at least acknowledge it. So that's even more bollocks. Youth councils? Mostly in place.
I mean, honestly, who the fuck thinks this is worth reporting? Would I be right in guessing that this platitudinous nonsense came from a Tory minister?
Working on the wild side.
- rebeccariots2
- Prime Minister
- Posts: 14038
- Joined: Mon 25 Aug, 2014 8:20 pm
Re: Thursday 5th February 2015
Rather late - big understatement. But may be useful in the run up to the election - to remind the Lib Dems of what I consider their worst enabling evil deed - and to remind Cameron and the Tories of that disgraceful pledge not to reorganise the NHS.Leading health thinktank condemns ‘damaging’ Tory NHS reforms
King’s Fund report attacks then health secretary Andrew Lansley and David Cameron, claiming NHS staff were forced to ‘rearrange deckchairs’ in crisis
http://www.theguardian.com/society/2015 ... kings-fund
Working on the wild side.
-
- Prime Minister
- Posts: 9949
- Joined: Mon 25 Aug, 2014 11:18 pm
Re: Thursday 5th February 2015
Amen to that, Rebecca.
See also fiction that the City of London is above party politics.
See also fiction that the City of London is above party politics.
-
- Prime Minister
- Posts: 9949
- Joined: Mon 25 Aug, 2014 11:18 pm
Re: Thursday 5th February 2015
But Wales MidStaffs.rebeccariots2 wrote:Rather late - big understatement. But may be useful in the run up to the election - to remind the Lib Dems of what I consider their worst enabling evil deed - and to remind Cameron and the Tories of that disgraceful pledge not to reorganise the NHS.Leading health thinktank condemns ‘damaging’ Tory NHS reforms
King’s Fund report attacks then health secretary Andrew Lansley and David Cameron, claiming NHS staff were forced to ‘rearrange deckchairs’ in crisis
http://www.theguardian.com/society/2015 ... kings-fund
-
- Prime Minister
- Posts: 9949
- Joined: Mon 25 Aug, 2014 11:18 pm
Re: Thursday 5th February 2015
Who are this King's Fund? Sound like the Labour Party. They've nothing to say about Mid Staff.
Cue report about Wales.
Cue report about Wales.
- rebeccariots2
- Prime Minister
- Posts: 14038
- Joined: Mon 25 Aug, 2014 8:20 pm
Re: Thursday 5th February 2015
That's ghastly because it's so on the button. They would actually have the nerve to pretend the King's Fund is a non entity, a piffling outfit, in the world of healthcare.Tubby Isaacs wrote:Who are this King's Fund? Sound like the Labour Party. They've nothing to say about Mid Staff.
Cue report about Wales.
Working on the wild side.