That also required an enormous amount of work to replan literally every lesson
Yes, buried in there, there it is.
And?
And, that increase in workload has biased you against him.
You could be right in your critiques of him. But nonetheless they are unsafe to rely on.
Driver, those are facts. And they are his responsibility.
It doesn't matter whether I'm biased in favour of him or not. Facts don't change. As Ronald Reagan failed to say, they are stubborn things.
Are you saying - for example - that I am wrong about the assessment criteria? Or about how long it takes the new GCSEs? Or about the pass marks? Merely because I'm angry that he messed up his timetable so I had no time off for two years trying to sort the mess out?
I'm thinking it's you that's too close to the subject. You appear emotionally invested in a failed system that you've been conned into thinking is somehow brilliant because you don't know much about it and you don't want to hear from people who do. Of course, you're not alone in this. Hyufd is much the same, as are many others e.g. ConHome.
Gibb is objectively, a failure who has done appalling damage to millions of children out of mindless arrogance. That's also a fact. If you don't like it, that's your problem.
Anyway, I have to go. Hope I have given you food for thought at least.
Although sometimes experts can be too close to the details (my example of the only time consultants are useful is when you can't see the woods for the trees) generally it is sensible to listen to experts. So I weigh your opinion on education way above mine or Drivers. For the same reason I go to a mechanic when my car doesn't work and the Doctor when I broke my legs and not the other way around.
That also required an enormous amount of work to replan literally every lesson
Yes, buried in there, there it is.
And?
And, that increase in workload has biased you against him.
You could be right in your critiques of him. But nonetheless they are unsafe to rely on.
Driver, those are facts. And they are his responsibility.
It doesn't matter whether I'm biased in favour of him or not. Facts don't change. As Ronald Reagan failed to say, they are stubborn things.
Are you saying - for example - that I am wrong about the assessment criteria? Or about how long it takes the new GCSEs? Or about the pass marks? Merely because I'm angry that he messed up his timetable so I had no time off for two years trying to sort the mess out?
I'm thinking it's you that's too close to the subject. You appear emotionally invested in a failed system that you've been conned into thinking is somehow brilliant because you don't know much about it and you don't want to hear from people who do. Of course, you're not alone in this. Hyufd is much the same, as are many others e.g. ConHome.
Gibb is objectively, a failure who has done appalling damage to millions of children out of mindless arrogance. That's also a fact. If you don't like it, that's your problem.
Anyway, I have to go. Hope I have given you food for thought at least.
Well, we've been seeing children who have been schooled primarily since 2010 for a while, and we're starting to see those who've been schooled entirely since 2010. They don't look appallingly damaged to me.
Laying a Lab majority may be a good trading bet but I still think it's more likely than not that they get a majority. My gut tells me they'll get a decent one, too. I don't bet so feel free to ignore, I'm just a random person offering an opinion on the Internet.
If the public want Party X to have a majority, the hive mind of the electorate is normally pretty good at making that happen. Even if it means flipping lots of seats.
Not saying you're wrong but how are you getting to these conclusions about what the "public wants" after each election? Is this coming from some kind of polling data?
Hands up, pure qualitative sniff test.
But look at the stability of the Conservative vote '79 to '92, or '15 to '19. I think what makes a difference to the MP tally is how fed up the opposition forces are with a Conservative government and how willing they are to use their votes in a locally efficient way.
Both 1983 and 2019 saw the opposition parties fighting each other, whereas 1992 and 2017 saw them lined up against the Tories. No need for squalid deals, just understanding each other.
If that's right, we could be in "job lot of brown trousers for CCHQ" territory.
Laying a Lab majority may be a good trading bet but I still think it's more likely than not that they get a majority. My gut tells me they'll get a decent one, too. I don't bet so feel free to ignore, I'm just a random person offering an opinion on the Internet.
If the public want Party X to have a majority, the hive mind of the electorate is normally pretty good at making that happen. Even if it means flipping lots of seats.
Not saying you're wrong but how are you getting to these conclusions about what the "public wants" after each election? Is this coming from some kind of polling data?
Hands up, pure qualitative sniff test.
But look at the stability of the Conservative vote '79 to '92, or '15 to '19. I think what makes a difference to the MP tally is how fed up the opposition forces are with a Conservative government and how willing they are to use their votes in a locally efficient way.
Both 1983 and 2019 saw the opposition parties fighting each other, whereas 1992 and 2017 saw them lined up against the Tories. No need for squalid deals, just understanding each other.
If that's right, we could be in "job lot of brown trousers for CCHQ" territory.
The Tories won in 1992 and the SNP certainly aren't lined up to vote for Starmer Labour.
If Sunak squeezes the RefUK and DKs he could also get the Tory voteshare up to 35%+
That also required an enormous amount of work to replan literally every lesson
Yes, buried in there, there it is.
And?
And, that increase in workload has biased you against him.
You could be right in your critiques of him. But nonetheless they are unsafe to rely on.
Driver, those are facts. And they are his responsibility.
It doesn't matter whether I'm biased in favour of him or not. Facts don't change. As Ronald Reagan failed to say, they are stubborn things.
Are you saying - for example - that I am wrong about the assessment criteria? Or about how long it takes the new GCSEs? Or about the pass marks? Merely because I'm angry that he messed up his timetable so I had no time off for two years trying to sort the mess out?
I'm thinking it's you that's too close to the subject. You appear emotionally invested in a failed system that you've been conned into thinking is somehow brilliant because you don't know much about it and you don't want to hear from people who do. Of course, you're not alone in this. Hyufd is much the same, as are many others e.g. ConHome.
Gibb is objectively, a failure who has done appalling damage to millions of children out of mindless arrogance. That's also a fact. If you don't like it, that's your problem.
Anyway, I have to go. Hope I have given you food for thought at least.
Well, we've been seeing children who have been schooled primarily since 2010 for a while, and we're starting to see those who've been schooled entirely since 2010. They don't look appallingly damaged to me.
What are your qualifications to make these assessments Driver compared to @ydoethur? Don't you think there is a chance he knows more about it than you?
The Trades unions are doing their best to remind people not to vote Labour
Just a gentle reminder that the current wave of industrial action is under a Conservative government. Trouble with the Trades Unions under the last Labour government? Pretty rare.
Trouble with the Trades Unions under the Wilson and Callaghan Labour governments in the late 1960s and 1970s when inflation was higher like now though very frequent.
Fair to say Heath's Tory government also had problems with the unions and strikes and inflation but it was Thatcher who sorted it out and with Major brought down inflation to Blair's benefit. Inflation is back again now though
Thatcher also had a lot of issues with strikes and was only able to muscle through due to a combination of her own perseverence, North Sea Oil revenues and, crucially, the Falklands.
Yep events are critical. If it wasn't for the Falklands Margaret Thatcher may not have won another term and one of the most important PMs of the 20th century may have been a PM that we would just forget.
The Falklands War began in April 1982, by March 1982 however the Conservatives were already back ahead on 35% with Gallup with the SDP on 33% and Labour on 30%.
You do understand the words 'may not have' don't you? It doesn't mean 'won't'. I'm simply pointing out that events outside of our control can have dramatic effects.
Margaret Thatcher is one of the most important PMs of the 20th century. If Argentina had not invaded the Falklands she MAY not (not WON'T) have been PM after the next election in which case she would have just been a footnote. Having had the luck of history she could still have been a footnote, but the fact that she wasn't was then down to her strength and ability (whether you like her or not).
As I said even before the Argentines had invaded the Falklands Thatcher's Tories were back in front in the polls
So as @Benpointer suggested and you have actually now confirmed you really don't understand the difference between 'MAY' and 'WON'T'.
Unbelievable. I never said she wouldn't have won. She may have, she may not have. How do you not get this? How can you create an argument over this?
She may have won anyway. She may not have. I mean that isn't hard is it?
You suggested the Falklands war alone was responsible for her victory, that was not the case, for as I showed she was already back in front ahead of the SDP and Labour even before it broke out
I said no such thing. I said nothing of the sort. Show me. You really don't understand what the word 'MAY' means do you?
The Trades unions are doing their best to remind people not to vote Labour
That was the approach used by John Major and his government, thinking that most voters see the word "strike" and think "Labour=strike=aaaaaagh", whereas most voters realise that it is more nuanced than that.
That also required an enormous amount of work to replan literally every lesson
Yes, buried in there, there it is.
And?
And, that increase in workload has biased you against him.
You could be right in your critiques of him. But nonetheless they are unsafe to rely on.
Driver, those are facts. And they are his responsibility.
It doesn't matter whether I'm biased in favour of him or not. Facts don't change. As Ronald Reagan failed to say, they are stubborn things.
Are you saying - for example - that I am wrong about the assessment criteria? Or about how long it takes the new GCSEs? Or about the pass marks? Merely because I'm angry that he messed up his timetable so I had no time off for two years trying to sort the mess out?
I'm thinking it's you that's too close to the subject. You appear emotionally invested in a failed system that you've been conned into thinking is somehow brilliant because you don't know much about it and you don't want to hear from people who do. Of course, you're not alone in this. Hyufd is much the same, as are many others e.g. ConHome.
Gibb is objectively, a failure who has done appalling damage to millions of children out of mindless arrogance. That's also a fact. If you don't like it, that's your problem.
Anyway, I have to go. Hope I have given you food for thought at least.
Well, we've been seeing children who have been schooled primarily since 2010 for a while, and we're starting to see those who've been schooled entirely since 2010. They don't look appallingly damaged to me.
What are your qualifications to make these assessments Driver compared to @ydoethur? Don't you think there is a chance he knows more about it than you?
I see the young adults when they leave school. I simply don't recognise them as "appallingly damaged", certainly in comparison with previous cohorts.
That also required an enormous amount of work to replan literally every lesson
Yes, buried in there, there it is.
And?
And, that increase in workload has biased you against him.
You could be right in your critiques of him. But nonetheless they are unsafe to rely on.
Driver, those are facts. And they are his responsibility.
It doesn't matter whether I'm biased in favour of him or not. Facts don't change. As Ronald Reagan failed to say, they are stubborn things.
Are you saying - for example - that I am wrong about the assessment criteria? Or about how long it takes the new GCSEs? Or about the pass marks? Merely because I'm angry that he messed up his timetable so I had no time off for two years trying to sort the mess out?
I'm thinking it's you that's too close to the subject. You appear emotionally invested in a failed system that you've been conned into thinking is somehow brilliant because you don't know much about it and you don't want to hear from people who do. Of course, you're not alone in this. Hyufd is much the same, as are many others e.g. ConHome.
Gibb is objectively, a failure who has done appalling damage to millions of children out of mindless arrogance. That's also a fact. If you don't like it, that's your problem.
Anyway, I have to go. Hope I have given you food for thought at least.
The facts also show an increase to 82% in those reaching the expected reading standard, a rise in England's PISA ranking and a rise in the number of good and outstanding schools.
Plus clearer differentiation amongst pupils at 16, especially at the top level
"Everything that is wrong with the upper ranks of British policing — in particular a culture of failing ever upwards — is evident in the case of the former chief constable under investigation for alleged serious misconduct who has just been handed a new job upholding police standards. "
I have been saying this for years.
What the actual fuck does the Policing Minister do every day?
The current government (though I'm not automatically assuming the next one will be better) is part of the problem, I think. It's not that they're somehow just failing to notice.
It is enraging. Rewards for failure is one of the biggest reasons why so much in this country is now so crap and getting worse.
Starmer's elevation of Watson tells me that Labour will be just as bad.
There is no hope for this country until our leadership cadre - the whole bloody lot of them, no matter what party - is booted out. I wouldn't trust any of them to make me a cup of tea.
And as for getting the truth out of them, well, it'd be easier to nail jelly to a wall frankly.
It was one of the more frustrating things about education - seeing people who had been catastrophically awful in one role being moved to another where they were unsurprisingly even worse.
Edit - I suppose Nick Gibb is an exception to that rule. He's just kept returning to one role and being catastrophically awful in it.
As is Gibb himself. A vested interest it's impossible to dislodge.
Gibb pushed phonics for reading, so 82% reached the expected standard by 2019. 86% of schools now good or outstanding too compared to 69% in 2010 with his emphasis on traditional education
He's a doctrinaire fool. As noted above, phonics has its uses. It's exclusive use has had disastrous consequences for a significant minority of learners.
And "traditional education" did not involve the requirement for massive amounts of useless paperwork.
He did what a conservative education minister should do and the results with improved literacy and the UK rising up the PISA rankings show
That also required an enormous amount of work to replan literally every lesson
Yes, buried in there, there it is.
And?
And, that increase in workload has biased you against him.
You could be right in your critiques of him. But nonetheless they are unsafe to rely on.
Driver, those are facts. And they are his responsibility.
It doesn't matter whether I'm biased in favour of him or not. Facts don't change. As Ronald Reagan failed to say, they are stubborn things.
Are you saying - for example - that I am wrong about the assessment criteria? Or about how long it takes the new GCSEs? Or about the pass marks? Merely because I'm angry that he messed up his timetable so I had no time off for two years trying to sort the mess out?
I'm thinking it's you that's too close to the subject. You appear emotionally invested in a failed system that you've been conned into thinking is somehow brilliant because you don't know much about it and you don't want to hear from people who do. Of course, you're not alone in this. Hyufd is much the same, as are many others e.g. ConHome.
Gibb is objectively, a failure who has done appalling damage to millions of children out of mindless arrogance. That's also a fact. If you don't like it, that's your problem.
Anyway, I have to go. Hope I have given you food for thought at least.
Well, we've been seeing children who have been schooled primarily since 2010 for a while, and we're starting to see those who've been schooled entirely since 2010. They don't look appallingly damaged to me.
What are your qualifications to make these assessments Driver compared to @ydoethur? Don't you think there is a chance he knows more about it than you?
I see the young adults when they leave school. I simply don't recognise them as "appallingly damaged", certainly in comparison with previous cohorts.
Not the question. I asked what your qualifications were compared to @ydoethur to make these assessments and asked whether there was a chance he knew more about it than you, unless you think that answer made you more qualified.
That also required an enormous amount of work to replan literally every lesson
Yes, buried in there, there it is.
And?
And, that increase in workload has biased you against him.
You could be right in your critiques of him. But nonetheless they are unsafe to rely on.
Driver, those are facts. And they are his responsibility.
It doesn't matter whether I'm biased in favour of him or not. Facts don't change. As Ronald Reagan failed to say, they are stubborn things.
Are you saying - for example - that I am wrong about the assessment criteria? Or about how long it takes the new GCSEs? Or about the pass marks? Merely because I'm angry that he messed up his timetable so I had no time off for two years trying to sort the mess out?
I'm thinking it's you that's too close to the subject. You appear emotionally invested in a failed system that you've been conned into thinking is somehow brilliant because you don't know much about it and you don't want to hear from people who do. Of course, you're not alone in this. Hyufd is much the same, as are many others e.g. ConHome.
Gibb is objectively, a failure who has done appalling damage to millions of children out of mindless arrogance. That's also a fact. If you don't like it, that's your problem.
Anyway, I have to go. Hope I have given you food for thought at least.
Well, we've been seeing children who have been schooled primarily since 2010 for a while, and we're starting to see those who've been schooled entirely since 2010. They don't look appallingly damaged to me.
What are your qualifications to make these assessments Driver compared to @ydoethur? Don't you think there is a chance he knows more about it than you?
I see the young adults when they leave school. I simply don't recognise them as "appallingly damaged", certainly in comparison with previous cohorts.
Not the question. I asked what your qualifications were compared to @ydoethur to make these assessments and asked whether there was a chance he knew more about it than you, unless you think that answer made you more qualified.
I answered the question, I can't be held responsible if you didn't like the answer.
Just had a fiver on Pakistan for the win. Not a huge total, but 4th innings on the sub continent, and Bazball can go very wrong, and will do at some point.
The Trades unions are doing their best to remind people not to vote Labour
Just a gentle reminder that the current wave of industrial action is under a Conservative government. Trouble with the Trades Unions under the last Labour government? Pretty rare.
Trouble with the Trades Unions under the Wilson and Callaghan Labour governments in the late 1960s and 1970s when inflation was higher like now though very frequent.
Fair to say Heath's Tory government also had problems with the unions and strikes and inflation but it was Thatcher who sorted it out and with Major brought down inflation to Blair's benefit. Inflation is back again now though
Thatcher also had a lot of issues with strikes and was only able to muscle through due to a combination of her own perseverence, North Sea Oil revenues and, crucially, the Falklands.
Yep events are critical. If it wasn't for the Falklands Margaret Thatcher may not have won another term and one of the most important PMs of the 20th century may have been a PM that we would just forget.
The Falklands War began in April 1982, by March 1982 however the Conservatives were already back ahead on 35% with Gallup with the SDP on 33% and Labour on 30%.
You do understand the words 'may not have' don't you? It doesn't mean 'won't'. I'm simply pointing out that events outside of our control can have dramatic effects.
Margaret Thatcher is one of the most important PMs of the 20th century. If Argentina had not invaded the Falklands she MAY not (not WON'T) have been PM after the next election in which case she would have just been a footnote. Having had the luck of history she could still have been a footnote, but the fact that she wasn't was then down to her strength and ability (whether you like her or not).
As I said even before the Argentines had invaded the Falklands Thatcher's Tories were back in front in the polls
One poll, followed by two further ones in which they were behind. Whereas by late April the Tories were back in the 40%s and by May-June touching 50%. Case closed.
"Everything that is wrong with the upper ranks of British policing — in particular a culture of failing ever upwards — is evident in the case of the former chief constable under investigation for alleged serious misconduct who has just been handed a new job upholding police standards. "
I have been saying this for years.
What the actual fuck does the Policing Minister do every day?
The current government (though I'm not automatically assuming the next one will be better) is part of the problem, I think. It's not that they're somehow just failing to notice.
It is enraging. Rewards for failure is one of the biggest reasons why so much in this country is now so crap and getting worse.
Starmer's elevation of Watson tells me that Labour will be just as bad.
There is no hope for this country until our leadership cadre - the whole bloody lot of them, no matter what party - is booted out. I wouldn't trust any of them to make me a cup of tea.
And as for getting the truth out of them, well, it'd be easier to nail jelly to a wall frankly.
It was one of the more frustrating things about education - seeing people who had been catastrophically awful in one role being moved to another where they were unsurprisingly even worse.
Edit - I suppose Nick Gibb is an exception to that rule. He's just kept returning to one role and being catastrophically awful in it.
As is Gibb himself. A vested interest it's impossible to dislodge.
Gibb pushed phonics for reading, so 82% reached the expected standard by 2019. 86% of schools now good or outstanding too compared to 69% in 2010 with his emphasis on traditional education
He's a doctrinaire fool. As noted above, phonics has its uses. It's exclusive use has had disastrous consequences for a significant minority of learners.
And "traditional education" did not involve the requirement for massive amounts of useless paperwork.
He did what a conservative education minister should do and the results with improved literacy and the UK rising up the PISA rankings show
The Trades unions are doing their best to remind people not to vote Labour
Just a gentle reminder that the current wave of industrial action is under a Conservative government. Trouble with the Trades Unions under the last Labour government? Pretty rare.
Trouble with the Trades Unions under the Wilson and Callaghan Labour governments in the late 1960s and 1970s when inflation was higher like now though very frequent.
Fair to say Heath's Tory government also had problems with the unions and strikes and inflation but it was Thatcher who sorted it out and with Major brought down inflation to Blair's benefit. Inflation is back again now though
Thatcher also had a lot of issues with strikes and was only able to muscle through due to a combination of her own perseverence, North Sea Oil revenues and, crucially, the Falklands.
Yep events are critical. If it wasn't for the Falklands Margaret Thatcher may not have won another term and one of the most important PMs of the 20th century may have been a PM that we would just forget.
The Falklands War began in April 1982, by March 1982 however the Conservatives were already back ahead on 35% with Gallup with the SDP on 33% and Labour on 30%.
You do understand the words 'may not have' don't you? It doesn't mean 'won't'. I'm simply pointing out that events outside of our control can have dramatic effects.
Margaret Thatcher is one of the most important PMs of the 20th century. If Argentina had not invaded the Falklands she MAY not (not WON'T) have been PM after the next election in which case she would have just been a footnote. Having had the luck of history she could still have been a footnote, but the fact that she wasn't was then down to her strength and ability (whether you like her or not).
As I said even before the Argentines had invaded the Falklands Thatcher's Tories were back in front in the polls
One poll, followed by two further ones in which they were behind. Whereas by late April the Tories were back in the 40%s and by May-June touching 50%. Case closed.
Nope. Indeed the 2 polls putting Labour 1% ahead and the SDP ahead were taken AFTER the Falklands war had broken out.
One was from Mori, yet Mori had the Tories 5% ahead in February 1982, 2 months before the Falklands war began.
The Falklands war victory may have turned a narrow Thatcher re election into a landslide but it did not mean she went from clear defeat to clear victory
That also required an enormous amount of work to replan literally every lesson
Yes, buried in there, there it is.
And?
And, that increase in workload has biased you against him.
You could be right in your critiques of him. But nonetheless they are unsafe to rely on.
Driver, those are facts. And they are his responsibility.
It doesn't matter whether I'm biased in favour of him or not. Facts don't change. As Ronald Reagan failed to say, they are stubborn things.
Are you saying - for example - that I am wrong about the assessment criteria? Or about how long it takes the new GCSEs? Or about the pass marks? Merely because I'm angry that he messed up his timetable so I had no time off for two years trying to sort the mess out?
I'm thinking it's you that's too close to the subject. You appear emotionally invested in a failed system that you've been conned into thinking is somehow brilliant because you don't know much about it and you don't want to hear from people who do. Of course, you're not alone in this. Hyufd is much the same, as are many others e.g. ConHome.
Gibb is objectively, a failure who has done appalling damage to millions of children out of mindless arrogance. That's also a fact. If you don't like it, that's your problem.
Anyway, I have to go. Hope I have given you food for thought at least.
But at £45,245 OTR for a base model, I won't be getting one soon. EV prices need to halve before they become very competitive with the cars we plebs drive.
Yes, but that is fairly top of the Kia range as a model, even the base variants of the EV6 are fully loaded with kit.
My 2 1/2 year old Kia e-niro has depreciated about 20% over its 25 000 miles were I to trade it in, about £6 000. That is pretty good compared to historical depreciation. If you can charge at home it is less than half the running costs too. Battery capacity hasn't reduced either over those years.
Mostly though it is much nicer to drive electric. Once used to the smoothness and power, IC powered cars seem very crude.
Privet. I am back from 𝘽𝙀𝙃𝙄𝙉𝘿 𝙀𝙉𝙀𝙈𝙔 𝙇𝙄𝙉𝙀𝙎. Debrief follows.
Moscow seemed the same as ever. Decadent, crime-ridden, expensive, filthy, glamorous. It's the Eurasian maximum city. Mumbai in a blizzard. Less Western stuff and more Chinese tat for sale but it's hard to say how much different that was from the situation before sanctions.
Nobody I met thinks that Russia will lose the SMO for whatever ambiguous definition of 'lose' you care to adopt. It's just question of whether they stop at Kherson, Kiev or Lviv.
I watched Solovyov's tv show. He reckons the plan is a series of rolling mobilisations until they get to 3 million people in the armed forces. Which was reckoned by the coterie of beardie weirdos (it was like the LibDem conference) on the show to be sufficient to prevail against NATO in the existential conflict.
Casualities don't hurt VVP politically and you are kidding yourself if you think it does. On some level, they fucking like it.
There is a modest fraction of the population who are absolutely fanatical about it and are known as the Z-Publik. They have merch and VK/Telegram groups where they breathlessly follow the latest atrocities. The British equivalent would be those fucking arseholes who drive around with Comic Relief noses on R56 Minis 365 days/year.
Saw a fucking amazing road rage incident on the M7 motorway near Nizhny Novgorod involving an axe, a scaffold pole and a fire extinguisher. Some fat chybak tumbled out of a UK registered Audi A4 and started waving a Browning HP (SMO booty?) around which calmed everybody down.
Krasnov pretty much predicted all of this in 'Beyond the Thistle' in 1923. I might re-read it to see how it ends.
Endex.
Honest. I think we underestimate how much the average Russian is up for this (it's why Putin is in power in the first place) and Western media focuses on the liberal Mets and the 20% or so who vehemently oppose it.
It's not representative - anymore than it would be to film a people's march for a second referendum - but it's not a truth we are comfortable hearing.
Always too worth remembering the Russia has never really had democracy, and has had its regular populace given more flavours of fucking by its elite than probably any other country in Europe*. I've never been, but did learn some Russian in my twenties and love the mad place and its incredible culture and people, despite all the horrible shit that has gone on there. I'm not a teeny tiny bit surprised that the average Russian is broadly in favour of the SMO.
I've got a book somewhere in the loft called Russia 2010, written in the mid 90s and posits a few different potential scenarios for the post-communist state - the most pessimistic pretty accurately describes were the country has ended up.
*yeah.
Russian history seems like a rolling wave of tragedy to me.
It's remarkable that it just continues and people accept it.
It's a testament to the enduring power of state violence and propaganda, and enough bandits at the top to keep it going.
At what point in the demographic journey dies that flip, if ever? When the population is down to 120 million? 100 million? 50 million?
They are compounding an existing fertility decline with a loss of potentially several years worth of fighting age (and fathering age) men being lost to death or simple absence from home. The more mobilised, the starker the effect.
I was wondering the same thing earlier. If we’re really generous about the numbers we get the following: 500k emigrated. 100k KIA. 200k seriously wounded. We’re getting on for a million. But that’s still only 3% ish of fighting age Russian men.
In 60 years time, will Russia have a generation of entitled boomers?
Just had a fiver on Pakistan for the win. Not a huge total, but 4th innings on the sub continent, and Bazball can go very wrong, and will do at some point.
What odds did you get?
Certainly not beyond England to collapse in a heap in the face of Pakistan's spinner called Ahmed. Might not have to wait until tomorrow to find out.
"Everything that is wrong with the upper ranks of British policing — in particular a culture of failing ever upwards — is evident in the case of the former chief constable under investigation for alleged serious misconduct who has just been handed a new job upholding police standards. "
I have been saying this for years.
What the actual fuck does the Policing Minister do every day?
The current government (though I'm not automatically assuming the next one will be better) is part of the problem, I think. It's not that they're somehow just failing to notice.
It is enraging. Rewards for failure is one of the biggest reasons why so much in this country is now so crap and getting worse.
Starmer's elevation of Watson tells me that Labour will be just as bad.
There is no hope for this country until our leadership cadre - the whole bloody lot of them, no matter what party - is booted out. I wouldn't trust any of them to make me a cup of tea.
And as for getting the truth out of them, well, it'd be easier to nail jelly to a wall frankly.
It was one of the more frustrating things about education - seeing people who had been catastrophically awful in one role being moved to another where they were unsurprisingly even worse.
Edit - I suppose Nick Gibb is an exception to that rule. He's just kept returning to one role and being catastrophically awful in it.
I leave it for the educators to comment on Gibb's success or otherwise at the DfE but the start of Atkinson's article hints at the big question: wtf have the Tories actually managed to achieve after 12 years in power?
The educators are the last people I'd trust to judge the performance of an education minister. Similarly, doctors and nurses with a health minister.
"The last people" ? So you'd completely ignore the views of those with direct experience of delivering healthcare and education ?
Their claims cannot simply be accepted uncritically, but ignoring them entirely is s bit far in the other direction.
Laying a Lab majority may be a good trading bet but I still think it's more likely than not that they get a majority. My gut tells me they'll get a decent one, too. I don't bet so feel free to ignore, I'm just a random person offering an opinion on the Internet.
If the public want Party X to have a majority, the hive mind of the electorate is normally pretty good at making that happen. Even if it means flipping lots of seats.
Not saying you're wrong but how are you getting to these conclusions about what the "public wants" after each election? Is this coming from some kind of polling data?
Hands up, pure qualitative sniff test.
But look at the stability of the Conservative vote '79 to '92, or '15 to '19. I think what makes a difference to the MP tally is how fed up the opposition forces are with a Conservative government and how willing they are to use their votes in a locally efficient way.
Both 1983 and 2019 saw the opposition parties fighting each other, whereas 1992 and 2017 saw them lined up against the Tories. No need for squalid deals, just understanding each other.
If that's right, we could be in "job lot of brown trousers for CCHQ" territory.
I think the sniff test sounds circular, ie if the government gets totally hammered under the existing voting system people say The Voters wanted that. Cameron didn't get a majority in 2010, so people work it backwards and say that The Voters weren't convinced they wanted a Tory government. But if some random artifact of the voting system had given him a majority, they'd say The Voters wanted the opposite.
It's true that tactical voting can kind of fill in the gaps to make FPTP behave a bit more like PR, but a lot of this is long-term trends and just random stuff.
Just had a fiver on Pakistan for the win. Not a huge total, but 4th innings on the sub continent, and Bazball can go very wrong, and will do at some point.
What odds did you get?
Certainly not beyond England to collapse in a heap in the face of Pakistan's spinner called Ahmed. Might not have to wait until tomorrow to find out.
6.8 - looking a poor choice now, but the Aussies were well placed at Headingly in 1981 - 56-1 chasing 130.
Just had a fiver on Pakistan for the win. Not a huge total, but 4th innings on the sub continent, and Bazball can go very wrong, and will do at some point.
What odds did you get?
Certainly not beyond England to collapse in a heap in the face of Pakistan's spinner called Ahmed. Might not have to wait until tomorrow to find out.
Disclosure: I wrote that after Crawley hit the first ball for four, so no great prescience on my part. Blimey.
The Trades unions are doing their best to remind people not to vote Labour
Just a gentle reminder that the current wave of industrial action is under a Conservative government. Trouble with the Trades Unions under the last Labour government? Pretty rare.
Trouble with the Trades Unions under the Wilson and Callaghan Labour governments in the late 1960s and 1970s when inflation was higher like now though very frequent.
Fair to say Heath's Tory government also had problems with the unions and strikes and inflation but it was Thatcher who sorted it out and with Major brought down inflation to Blair's benefit. Inflation is back again now though
Thatcher also had a lot of issues with strikes and was only able to muscle through due to a combination of her own perseverence, North Sea Oil revenues and, crucially, the Falklands.
Yep events are critical. If it wasn't for the Falklands Margaret Thatcher may not have won another term and one of the most important PMs of the 20th century may have been a PM that we would just forget.
The Falklands War began in April 1982, by March 1982 however the Conservatives were already back ahead on 35% with Gallup with the SDP on 33% and Labour on 30%.
You do understand the words 'may not have' don't you? It doesn't mean 'won't'. I'm simply pointing out that events outside of our control can have dramatic effects.
Margaret Thatcher is one of the most important PMs of the 20th century. If Argentina had not invaded the Falklands she MAY not (not WON'T) have been PM after the next election in which case she would have just been a footnote. Having had the luck of history she could still have been a footnote, but the fact that she wasn't was then down to her strength and ability (whether you like her or not).
As I said even before the Argentines had invaded the Falklands Thatcher's Tories were back in front in the polls
So as @Benpointer suggested and you have actually now confirmed you really don't understand the difference between 'MAY' and 'WON'T'.
Unbelievable. I never said she wouldn't have won. She may have, she may not have. How do you not get this? How can you create an argument over this?
She may have won anyway. She may not have. I mean that isn't hard is it?
In fairness, that isn't saying anything. In a counterfactual almost anything could have happened.
Oh for crying out loud some of you guys can create an argument out of nothing.
It was simple observation on history that events outside of our control can have an impact on our future. I think it is pretty well recorded that the Falklands war and the management of that war by Margaret Thatcher boosted her popularity which meant winning the next election became easier. Subsequently through her skills and personality she became a formidable and important leader in the 20th century.
If the Falklands war hadn't happened the above still may have happened, but it might not have and she may never have had a chance to make her mark on history.
I mean how is that at all controversial?
I do sometimes think you look for an argument for the sake of it.
Funny how Gary Neville can be so strident at comparing the U.K. with Qatar on workers' rights but seems so coy about a comparison on, let's say, LGBTQ+ or women's rights. I wonder if that big pay cheque he got from Qatari broadcaster BeIN has anything to do with it?
Just had a fiver on Pakistan for the win. Not a huge total, but 4th innings on the sub continent, and Bazball can go very wrong, and will do at some point.
What odds did you get?
Certainly not beyond England to collapse in a heap in the face of Pakistan's spinner called Ahmed. Might not have to wait until tomorrow to find out.
6.8 - looking a poor choice now, but the Aussies were well placed at Headingly in 1981 - 56-1 chasing 130.
Collapses have a momentum all of their own. Pakistan just lost 7-52 and England aren't exactly playing this safe.
Funny how Gary Neville can be so strident at comparing the U.K. with Qatar on workers' rights but seems so coy about a comparison on, let's say, LGBTQ+ or women's rights. I wonder if that big pay cheque he got from Qatari broadcaster BeIN has anything to do with it?
Women's rights you say...he still backs his mate Ryan Giggs to the hilt as well....
Regardless of the legality of the exact nature of his behaviour, if any of my male mates had done half the stuff Giggs had done, he wouldn't be getting invites for a pint anytime, let alone put him in charge of my business.
Like him or not, this is a very odd way to decide who runs a company.
If I was a a thin skinned billionaire narcissist I would simply not have immolated my net worth and reputation buying a website where everyone insults me 24 hours a day expecting to be praised for doing so.
They're playing this like a T20 chase, trying to get it finished tonight.
Sir Geoffrey will be choking on this cornflakes watching this....
I don't think Boycott was quite the reactionary you make him out to be. He played the way he did because that how he learned, and he was exceptionally good at it. But he was not averse to change, and a fan of what works.
Should England football & rugby looked for a Bazza type new coach?
Ossie Ardiles tried the football equivalent of Bazball......
Yes.
That Tottenham team played the best football ever played by a team that is from North London.
At Swindon we played 'Swindon' style, which has always been about 'proper' football. Ardiles benefitted from inheriting a superbly fit team - Lou Macari's side that had one two promotions in two seasons, then narrowly missed out in the 1989 Play-offs of the Division 2, were for their time the fittest side I ever saw. Apparently the training was brutal, but the pay off late in games was great, as Town often took the game away late on.
Wouldn't work today as all sides are fit (including down to the higher level non-league sides), but was great in its time.
Ardiles inherited a squad at the peak of fitness and got them playing passing football. For a season it worked, but then I think the fitness dropped off, and the demotion shambles for the illegal payments crippled the club.
They're playing this like a T20 chase, trying to get it finished tonight.
Sir Geoffrey will be choking on this cornflakes watching this....
I don't think Boycott was quite the reactionary you make him out to be. He played the way he did because that how he learned, and he was exceptionally good at it. But he was not averse to change, and a fan of what works.
I think this is true to an extent, but ultimately Boycott just loved batting, and would have batted for all 5 days of a match if he could.
They're playing this like a T20 chase, trying to get it finished tonight.
Sir Geoffrey will be choking on this cornflakes watching this....
I don't think Boycott was quite the reactionary you make him out to be. He played the way he did because that how he learned, and he was exceptionally good at it. But he was not averse to change, and a fan of what works.
He changes his tune as often as Nigel Farage.
3 months ago he was saying Bazball has to stop, it doesn't work, last week he was saying more of this bazball....
E.g.
No more talk of Bazball – continue like that and we have no chance in the Ashes Anyone who thinks you can whack top-class fast bowling is talking rubbish and defeat at Lord's to South Africa proved that
Ben Stokes is becoming England's answer to Steve Waugh Stokes and McCullum's approach has England playing without fear, and we should want and expect more of the same in Multan
Like him or not, this is a very odd way to decide who runs a company.
If I was a a thin skinned billionaire narcissist I would simply not have immolated my net worth and reputation buying a website where everyone insults me 24 hours a day expecting to be praised for doing so.
Well he did try and pull out of the deal remember.
Either he meant that and was stuck buying something he no longer wanted, or he was trying to knock down the price by threatening to pull out. Either way it didn't work.
They're playing this like a T20 chase, trying to get it finished tonight.
Sir Geoffrey will be choking on this cornflakes watching this....
I don't think Boycott was quite the reactionary you make him out to be. He played the way he did because that how he learned, and he was exceptionally good at it. But he was not averse to change, and a fan of what works.
I think this is true to an extent, but ultimately Boycott just loved batting, and would have batted for all 5 days of a match if he could.
ISTR that he is the only player to have batted on all five days of a test match. (Can't remember the details - think it was something like started England's innings late on day 1, batted all through day 2 and into the start of day 3, then began England's second innings towards the end of day 4, batting into day 5. Not sure of the result - probably a draw.)
To answer my own question re bazball for other sports. I don't think its viable for international football, rugby i think France & New Zealand have shown a belief in we back ourselves to simply out score you can work (although SA showed a Southgate approach can also win you the WC).
They're playing this like a T20 chase, trying to get it finished tonight.
Sir Geoffrey will be choking on this cornflakes watching this....
I don't think Boycott was quite the reactionary you make him out to be. He played the way he did because that how he learned, and he was exceptionally good at it. But he was not averse to change, and a fan of what works.
I think this is true to an extent, but ultimately Boycott just loved batting, and would have batted for all 5 days of a match if he could.
Absolutely. Which is why I enjoyed watching him play.
But after he retired as a player, he was rather different. Note for example his 2005 Colin Cowdrey lecture in which he backed the rise of T20.
But at £45,245 OTR for a base model, I won't be getting one soon. EV prices need to halve before they become very competitive with the cars we plebs drive.
That's fairly likely in just a few year's time. The limiting factor is batteries, and until the dozens of new plants in construction start manufacturing, most of the supply will go into the highest margin vehicles.
The new plants and battery formats will bring the cost of production down, but just as importantly, they will make production of lower margin high volume production possible.
That depends on what the lower cost limit for battery production is (the limit being things like raw material costs). There will be a minimum cost for making the batteries, and I've no idea what that is. But given the plants are already quite efficient, I'm sceptical about battery prices massively decreasing. But I might be wrong.
IMV we are really waiting on a new, better battery chemistry (depending on how you define 'better' ...)
The numbers I have seen suggest a series of incremental improvements - each years batteries a few percent cheaper, a few percent more charge per Kg etc - for the near term. There are apparently something like 10 years of improvements for Li batteries in the pipeline from the lab to the factory, like this.
They're playing this like a T20 chase, trying to get it finished tonight.
Sir Geoffrey will be choking on this cornflakes watching this....
I don't think Boycott was quite the reactionary you make him out to be. He played the way he did because that how he learned, and he was exceptionally good at it. But he was not averse to change, and a fan of what works.
He changes his tune as often as Nigel Farage.
3 months ago he was saying Bazball has to stop, it doesn't work, last week he was saying more of this bazball....
E.g.
No more talk of Bazball – continue like that and we have no chance in the Ashes Anyone who thinks you can whack top-class fast bowling is talking rubbish and defeat at Lord's to South Africa proved that
Ben Stokes is becoming England's answer to Steve Waugh Stokes and McCullum's approach has England playing without fear, and we should want and expect more of the same in Multan
Well it will be interesting to see how it works against Australia. But I suspect Stokes himself isn't a one note wonder, either. He adapts to the conditions.
"Everything that is wrong with the upper ranks of British policing — in particular a culture of failing ever upwards — is evident in the case of the former chief constable under investigation for alleged serious misconduct who has just been handed a new job upholding police standards. "
I have been saying this for years.
What the actual fuck does the Policing Minister do every day?
The current government (though I'm not automatically assuming the next one will be better) is part of the problem, I think. It's not that they're somehow just failing to notice.
It's not just the police as @Cyclefree has frequently pointed out.
Above a certain level, failure isn't just an option. It's a planned route to a better job.
The classic of this is Rotherham - where one of the senior managers in charge of child care, who suppressed what was happening for years, went on to a bigger and better job. In childcare. In Australia IIRC.
When, it was suggested that, perhaps a glowing reference wasn't appropriate from the UK Home Office, the fight back in officialdom was fierce. Unthinkable. A disgraceful suggestion.
So she was *recommended* to the Australians as a top notch child care expert....
Privet. I am back from 𝘽𝙀𝙃𝙄𝙉𝘿 𝙀𝙉𝙀𝙈𝙔 𝙇𝙄𝙉𝙀𝙎. Debrief follows.
Moscow seemed the same as ever. Decadent, crime-ridden, expensive, filthy, glamorous. It's the Eurasian maximum city. Mumbai in a blizzard. Less Western stuff and more Chinese tat for sale but it's hard to say how much different that was from the situation before sanctions.
Nobody I met thinks that Russia will lose the SMO for whatever ambiguous definition of 'lose' you care to adopt. It's just question of whether they stop at Kherson, Kiev or Lviv.
I watched Solovyov's tv show. He reckons the plan is a series of rolling mobilisations until they get to 3 million people in the armed forces. Which was reckoned by the coterie of beardie weirdos (it was like the LibDem conference) on the show to be sufficient to prevail against NATO in the existential conflict.
Casualities don't hurt VVP politically and you are kidding yourself if you think it does. On some level, they fucking like it.
There is a modest fraction of the population who are absolutely fanatical about it and are known as the Z-Publik. They have merch and VK/Telegram groups where they breathlessly follow the latest atrocities. The British equivalent would be those fucking arseholes who drive around with Comic Relief noses on R56 Minis 365 days/year.
Saw a fucking amazing road rage incident on the M7 motorway near Nizhny Novgorod involving an axe, a scaffold pole and a fire extinguisher. Some fat chybak tumbled out of a UK registered Audi A4 and started waving a Browning HP (SMO booty?) around which calmed everybody down.
Krasnov pretty much predicted all of this in 'Beyond the Thistle' in 1923. I might re-read it to see how it ends.
Endex.
Honest. I think we underestimate how much the average Russian is up for this (it's why Putin is in power in the first place) and Western media focuses on the liberal Mets and the 20% or so who vehemently oppose it.
It's not representative - anymore than it would be to film a people's march for a second referendum - but it's not a truth we are comfortable hearing.
@Dura_Ace’s vivid account tallies exactly with my experience meeting young rich Russians in Armenia in June
They hated the war, but ultimately, they said: Russia had to prevail, could not lose, and they would reluctantly take up arms for Putin if needs be
If that’s how the sophisticated Muscovites feel…
An American relative says that news from Russia (relatives there) reminds her of the stories her father told of the end of WWII in Germany (he was a Jew, hidden of false papers). Everyone was 126% Nazi, and all up for hanging traitors from lampposts etc, until 30 seconds after Admiral Donuts gave the good news on the radio.
"Everything that is wrong with the upper ranks of British policing — in particular a culture of failing ever upwards — is evident in the case of the former chief constable under investigation for alleged serious misconduct who has just been handed a new job upholding police standards. "
I have been saying this for years.
What the actual fuck does the Policing Minister do every day?
The current government (though I'm not automatically assuming the next one will be better) is part of the problem, I think. It's not that they're somehow just failing to notice.
It's not just the police as @Cyclefree has frequently pointed out.
Above a certain level, failure isn't just an option. It's a planned route to a better job.
The classic of this is Rotherham - where one of the senior managers in charge of child care, who suppressed what was happening for years, went on to a bigger and better job. In childcare. In Australia IIRC.
When, it was suggested that, perhaps a glowing reference wasn't appropriate from the UK Home Office, the fight back in officialdom was fierce. Unthinkable. A disgraceful suggestion.
So she was *recommended* to the Australians as a top notch child care expert....
It's the New Upper 10,000
Yep, it beggars belief but it really seems anathema that people are held accountable for terrible performance.
Ahmed has clearly been told to play without fear, which is how new test players should be managed. I approve (especially as we're 2/0 up in the series).
I see the High Court has said the Rwanda scheme is legal. An understandable attempt at review on this occasion, but I often feel in these situations that the lawfulness is secondary - a policy might be ineffective or just considered wrong even if it is lawful.
"Everything that is wrong with the upper ranks of British policing — in particular a culture of failing ever upwards — is evident in the case of the former chief constable under investigation for alleged serious misconduct who has just been handed a new job upholding police standards. "
I have been saying this for years.
What the actual fuck does the Policing Minister do every day?
The current government (though I'm not automatically assuming the next one will be better) is part of the problem, I think. It's not that they're somehow just failing to notice.
It's not just the police as @Cyclefree has frequently pointed out.
Above a certain level, failure isn't just an option. It's a planned route to a better job.
The classic of this is Rotherham - where one of the senior managers in charge of child care, who suppressed what was happening for years, went on to a bigger and better job. In childcare. In Australia IIRC.
When, it was suggested that, perhaps a glowing reference wasn't appropriate from the UK Home Office, the fight back in officialdom was fierce. Unthinkable. A disgraceful suggestion.
So she was *recommended* to the Australians as a top notch child care expert....
It's the New Upper 10,000
Yep, it beggars belief but it really seems anathema that people are held accountable for terrible performance.
It is quite standard - and not just in this country.
"Everything that is wrong with the upper ranks of British policing — in particular a culture of failing ever upwards — is evident in the case of the former chief constable under investigation for alleged serious misconduct who has just been handed a new job upholding police standards. "
I have been saying this for years.
What the actual fuck does the Policing Minister do every day?
The current government (though I'm not automatically assuming the next one will be better) is part of the problem, I think. It's not that they're somehow just failing to notice.
It's not just the police as @Cyclefree has frequently pointed out.
Above a certain level, failure isn't just an option. It's a planned route to a better job.
The classic of this is Rotherham - where one of the senior managers in charge of child care, who suppressed what was happening for years, went on to a bigger and better job. In childcare. In Australia IIRC.
When, it was suggested that, perhaps a glowing reference wasn't appropriate from the UK Home Office, the fight back in officialdom was fierce. Unthinkable. A disgraceful suggestion.
So she was *recommended* to the Australians as a top notch child care expert....
It's the New Upper 10,000
Yep, it beggars belief but it really seems anathema that people are held accountable for terrible performance.
It is quite standard - and not just in this country.
Look at the career of Ursula von der Leyen
Anything is acceptable as long as you're what Sir Humphrey called "One Of Us".
"Everything that is wrong with the upper ranks of British policing — in particular a culture of failing ever upwards — is evident in the case of the former chief constable under investigation for alleged serious misconduct who has just been handed a new job upholding police standards. "
I have been saying this for years.
What the actual fuck does the Policing Minister do every day?
The current government (though I'm not automatically assuming the next one will be better) is part of the problem, I think. It's not that they're somehow just failing to notice.
It's not just the police as @Cyclefree has frequently pointed out.
Above a certain level, failure isn't just an option. It's a planned route to a better job.
The classic of this is Rotherham - where one of the senior managers in charge of child care, who suppressed what was happening for years, went on to a bigger and better job. In childcare. In Australia IIRC.
When, it was suggested that, perhaps a glowing reference wasn't appropriate from the UK Home Office, the fight back in officialdom was fierce. Unthinkable. A disgraceful suggestion.
So she was *recommended* to the Australians as a top notch child care expert....
It's the New Upper 10,000
Yep, it beggars belief but it really seems anathema that people are held accountable for terrible performance.
A lot of organisations are worried about being sued for giving a bad reference. Far easier to let the problem be someone else's.
There’s no cherry picking or spinning this Mori poll. Whatever way it is sliced and diced it’s an awful one for Sunak and the Tories.
Lib Dem recovery not at expense of Labour is my main take out, because I presumed it should be opposite to that.
PB has observed news takes a week or more to move the polls, but I’m scratching my head trying to think of what it is that has reversed the Tory fortunes. Maybe its a messy picture wether Sunak got a Honeymoon bounce, but polling certainly are on the turn now.
That also required an enormous amount of work to replan literally every lesson
Yes, buried in there, there it is.
And?
And, that increase in workload has biased you against him.
You could be right in your critiques of him. But nonetheless they are unsafe to rely on.
Driver, those are facts. And they are his responsibility.
It doesn't matter whether I'm biased in favour of him or not. Facts don't change. As Ronald Reagan failed to say, they are stubborn things.
Are you saying - for example - that I am wrong about the assessment criteria? Or about how long it takes the new GCSEs? Or about the pass marks? Merely because I'm angry that he messed up his timetable so I had no time off for two years trying to sort the mess out?
I'm thinking it's you that's too close to the subject. You appear emotionally invested in a failed system that you've been conned into thinking is somehow brilliant because you don't know much about it and you don't want to hear from people who do. Of course, you're not alone in this. Hyufd is much the same, as are many others e.g. ConHome.
Gibb is objectively, a failure who has done appalling damage to millions of children out of mindless arrogance. That's also a fact. If you don't like it, that's your problem.
Anyway, I have to go. Hope I have given you food for thought at least.
Well, we've been seeing children who have been schooled primarily since 2010 for a while, and we're starting to see those who've been schooled entirely since 2010. They don't look appallingly damaged to me.
What are your qualifications to make these assessments Driver compared to @ydoethur? Don't you think there is a chance he knows more about it than you?
I see the young adults when they leave school. I simply don't recognise them as "appallingly damaged", certainly in comparison with previous cohorts.
Not the question. I asked what your qualifications were compared to @ydoethur to make these assessments and asked whether there was a chance he knew more about it than you, unless you think that answer made you more qualified.
I answered the question, I can't be held responsible if you didn't like the answer.
No you didn't. Nor did you answer @ydoethur similar question. Again what are your qualifications to make that assessment and asked whether there was a chance that ydoethur maybe, as a professional in the field, knew more about it than you?
I think most sensible people regard the answer of a professional more likely to be right than some guy in the street, which you seem to be suggesting is your only qualification. Just out of interest when you feel ill or your car breaks down do you just ask any old tom, dick or harry or do you consult a doctor or a mechanic?
There’s no cherry picking or spinning this Mori poll. Whatever way it is sliced and diced it’s an awful one for Sunak and the Tories.
Lib Dem recovery not at expense of Labour is my main take out, because I presumed it should be opposite to that.
PB has observed news takes a week or more to move the polls, but I’m scratching my head trying to think of what it is that has reversed the Tory fortunes. Maybe its a messy picture wether Sunak got a Honeymoon bounce, but polling certainly are on the turn now.
"Everything that is wrong with the upper ranks of British policing — in particular a culture of failing ever upwards — is evident in the case of the former chief constable under investigation for alleged serious misconduct who has just been handed a new job upholding police standards. "
I have been saying this for years.
What the actual fuck does the Policing Minister do every day?
The current government (though I'm not automatically assuming the next one will be better) is part of the problem, I think. It's not that they're somehow just failing to notice.
It's not just the police as @Cyclefree has frequently pointed out.
Above a certain level, failure isn't just an option. It's a planned route to a better job.
The classic of this is Rotherham - where one of the senior managers in charge of child care, who suppressed what was happening for years, went on to a bigger and better job. In childcare. In Australia IIRC.
When, it was suggested that, perhaps a glowing reference wasn't appropriate from the UK Home Office, the fight back in officialdom was fierce. Unthinkable. A disgraceful suggestion.
So she was *recommended* to the Australians as a top notch child care expert....
It's the New Upper 10,000
Yep, it beggars belief but it really seems anathema that people are held accountable for terrible performance.
A lot of organisations are worried about being sued for giving a bad reference. Far easier to let the problem be someone else's.
There is no legal obligation to issue a glowing reference. Instead a statement of "X worked here in capacity Y between dates A and B".
This lady got a 2 pager about how wonderful she was.
That also required an enormous amount of work to replan literally every lesson
Yes, buried in there, there it is.
And?
And, that increase in workload has biased you against him.
You could be right in your critiques of him. But nonetheless they are unsafe to rely on.
Driver, those are facts. And they are his responsibility.
It doesn't matter whether I'm biased in favour of him or not. Facts don't change. As Ronald Reagan failed to say, they are stubborn things.
Are you saying - for example - that I am wrong about the assessment criteria? Or about how long it takes the new GCSEs? Or about the pass marks? Merely because I'm angry that he messed up his timetable so I had no time off for two years trying to sort the mess out?
I'm thinking it's you that's too close to the subject. You appear emotionally invested in a failed system that you've been conned into thinking is somehow brilliant because you don't know much about it and you don't want to hear from people who do. Of course, you're not alone in this. Hyufd is much the same, as are many others e.g. ConHome.
Gibb is objectively, a failure who has done appalling damage to millions of children out of mindless arrogance. That's also a fact. If you don't like it, that's your problem.
Anyway, I have to go. Hope I have given you food for thought at least.
Well, we've been seeing children who have been schooled primarily since 2010 for a while, and we're starting to see those who've been schooled entirely since 2010. They don't look appallingly damaged to me.
What are your qualifications to make these assessments Driver compared to @ydoethur? Don't you think there is a chance he knows more about it than you?
I see the young adults when they leave school. I simply don't recognise them as "appallingly damaged", certainly in comparison with previous cohorts.
Not the question. I asked what your qualifications were compared to @ydoethur to make these assessments and asked whether there was a chance he knew more about it than you, unless you think that answer made you more qualified.
I answered the question, I can't be held responsible if you didn't like the answer.
No you didn't. Nor did you answer @ydoethur similar question. Again what are your qualifications to make that assessment and asked whether there was a chance that ydoethur maybe, as a professional in the field, knew more about it than you?
Yes, I did. I deal with young adults when they leave school, and have been doing so for the best part of 20 years.
The Trades unions are doing their best to remind people not to vote Labour
Just a gentle reminder that the current wave of industrial action is under a Conservative government. Trouble with the Trades Unions under the last Labour government? Pretty rare.
Trouble with the Trades Unions under the Wilson and Callaghan Labour governments in the late 1960s and 1970s when inflation was higher like now though very frequent.
Fair to say Heath's Tory government also had problems with the unions and strikes and inflation but it was Thatcher who sorted it out and with Major brought down inflation to Blair's benefit. Inflation is back again now though
Thatcher also had a lot of issues with strikes and was only able to muscle through due to a combination of her own perseverence, North Sea Oil revenues and, crucially, the Falklands.
Yep events are critical. If it wasn't for the Falklands Margaret Thatcher may not have won another term and one of the most important PMs of the 20th century may have been a PM that we would just forget.
The Falklands War began in April 1982, by March 1982 however the Conservatives were already back ahead on 35% with Gallup with the SDP on 33% and Labour on 30%.
You do understand the words 'may not have' don't you? It doesn't mean 'won't'. I'm simply pointing out that events outside of our control can have dramatic effects.
Margaret Thatcher is one of the most important PMs of the 20th century. If Argentina had not invaded the Falklands she MAY not (not WON'T) have been PM after the next election in which case she would have just been a footnote. Having had the luck of history she could still have been a footnote, but the fact that she wasn't was then down to her strength and ability (whether you like her or not).
As I said even before the Argentines had invaded the Falklands Thatcher's Tories were back in front in the polls
So as @Benpointer suggested and you have actually now confirmed you really don't understand the difference between 'MAY' and 'WON'T'.
Unbelievable. I never said she wouldn't have won. She may have, she may not have. How do you not get this? How can you create an argument over this?
She may have won anyway. She may not have. I mean that isn't hard is it?
You suggested the Falklands war alone was responsible for her victory, that was not the case, for as I showed she was already back in front ahead of the SDP and Labour even before it broke out
I said no such thing. I said nothing of the sort. Show me. You really don't understand what the word 'MAY' means do you?
‘He’s Got a Huge Problem’ Mike Pence is struggling to find his path back to the White House. https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2022/12/19/mike-pence-identity-crisis-00067939 Those who know Pence best say he is wrestling with how to recalibrate himself to a Republican base that hasn’t yet forgiven him for refusing Trump’s pressure to overturn the election results — and maybe never will. When you’ve buried your true self for four years in service to someone who happens to be the most divisive and unpopular former president since Richard Nixon, it’s not so easy to excavate yourself again. ..
A lay even at current odds (assuming it suits the rest of your 2024 book).
A lay even at current odds (assuming it suits the rest of your 2024 book).
A man too cowardly to properly call out his old boss after that boss endorsed people who would have lynched him, and campaigns for people who think he certified a phony election. Not sure how he could appeal to that base, as the article notes.
Comments
But look at the stability of the Conservative vote '79 to '92, or '15 to '19. I think what makes a difference to the MP tally is how fed up the opposition forces are with a Conservative government and how willing they are to use their votes in a locally efficient way.
Both 1983 and 2019 saw the opposition parties fighting each other, whereas 1992 and 2017 saw them lined up against the Tories. No need for squalid deals, just understanding each other.
If that's right, we could be in "job lot of brown trousers for CCHQ" territory.
If Sunak squeezes the RefUK and DKs he could also get the Tory voteshare up to 35%+
Plus clearer differentiation amongst pupils at 16, especially at the top level
One was from Mori, yet Mori had the Tories 5% ahead in February 1982, 2 months before the Falklands war began.
The Falklands war victory may have turned a narrow Thatcher re election into a landslide but it did not mean she went from clear defeat to clear victory
Certainly not beyond England to collapse in a heap in the face of Pakistan's spinner called Ahmed. Might not have to wait until tomorrow to find out.
It's true that tactical voting can kind of fill in the gaps to make FPTP behave a bit more like PR, but a lot of this is long-term trends and just random stuff.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-64024827
Regardless of the legality of the exact nature of his behaviour, if any of my male mates had done half the stuff Giggs had done, he wouldn't be getting invites for a pint anytime, let alone put him in charge of my business.
Twitter have demanded a new CEO in return for their continued support, and thus is just good cover.
That Tottenham team played the best football ever played by a team that is from North London.
He played the way he did because that how he learned, and he was exceptionally good at it. But he was not averse to change, and a fan of what works.
He could appoint himself as MD
Wouldn't work today as all sides are fit (including down to the higher level non-league sides), but was great in its time.
Ardiles inherited a squad at the peak of fitness and got them playing passing football. For a season it worked, but then I think the fitness dropped off, and the demotion shambles for the illegal payments crippled the club.
3 months ago he was saying Bazball has to stop, it doesn't work, last week he was saying more of this bazball....
E.g.
No more talk of Bazball – continue like that and we have no chance in the Ashes
Anyone who thinks you can whack top-class fast bowling is talking rubbish and defeat at Lord's to South Africa proved that
Ben Stokes is becoming England's answer to Steve Waugh
Stokes and McCullum's approach has England playing without fear, and we should want and expect more of the same in Multan
Either he meant that and was stuck buying something he no longer wanted, or he was trying to knock down the price by threatening to pull out. Either way it didn't work.
(Can't remember the details - think it was something like started England's innings late on day 1, batted all through day 2 and into the start of day 3, then began England's second innings towards the end of day 4, batting into day 5. Not sure of the result - probably a draw.)
That would provide some click bait....
Arsenal were only ‘promoted’ to the top flight because of corruption and blackmail.
I’ll spare you more deets
Norovirus?
I am currently on bout #2 of covid over the past 4 months.
But after he retired as a player, he was rather different. Note for example his 2005 Colin Cowdrey lecture in which he backed the rise of T20.
But I suspect Stokes himself isn't a one note wonder, either. He adapts to the conditions.
Above a certain level, failure isn't just an option. It's a planned route to a better job.
The classic of this is Rotherham - where one of the senior managers in charge of child care, who suppressed what was happening for years, went on to a bigger and better job. In childcare. In Australia IIRC.
When, it was suggested that, perhaps a glowing reference wasn't appropriate from the UK Home Office, the fight back in officialdom was fierce. Unthinkable. A disgraceful suggestion.
So she was *recommended* to the Australians as a top notch child care expert....
It's the New Upper 10,000
Not Dying (I don’t think)
Edit - I forgot its bazball.....
Ahmed has clearly been told to play without fear, which is how new test players should be managed. I approve (especially as we're 2/0 up in the series).
Look at the career of Ursula von der Leyen
My listening pleasures over the festive period.
Lib Dem recovery not at expense of Labour is my main take out, because I presumed it should be opposite to that.
PB has observed news takes a week or more to move the polls, but I’m scratching my head trying to think of what it is that has reversed the Tory fortunes. Maybe its a messy picture wether Sunak got a Honeymoon bounce, but polling certainly are on the turn now.
I think most sensible people regard the answer of a professional more likely to be right than some guy in the street, which you seem to be suggesting is your only qualification. Just out of interest when you feel ill or your car breaks down do you just ask any old tom, dick or harry or do you consult a doctor or a mechanic?
This lady got a 2 pager about how wonderful she was.
That's how shit rolls in the new Upper 10,000
It is very irritating when you just make stuff up.
Driver and hyufd just seem to want an argument for no good reason this morning.
Possibly a way out of a situation that is spiralling? As in played for?
‘He’s Got a Huge Problem’
Mike Pence is struggling to find his path back to the White House.
https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2022/12/19/mike-pence-identity-crisis-00067939
Those who know Pence best say he is wrestling with how to recalibrate himself to a Republican base that hasn’t yet forgiven him for refusing Trump’s pressure to overturn the election results — and maybe never will. When you’ve buried your true self for four years in service to someone who happens to be the most divisive and unpopular former president since Richard Nixon, it’s not so easy to excavate yourself again. ..
A lay even at current odds (assuming it suits the rest of your 2024 book).