I don't think there's any great incentive for 2010 LDs to return to the fold in most seats. Only those where LD can genuinely claim to be in the game, and most of those are LD/Con battlegrounds.
Indeed. The anti-Tory urge may well see 2010 LDs return home in places where their votes might stop Tories winning.
You being one of those returning 2010 LDs. Governments should be judged on results. Labour left the economy and much else in tatters. The Coalitition, Tories and LDs, has done a marvelous job in righting the ship of state. It would be a travesty to see Labour, under Brown's two delinquent dauphins, returned in 2015.
I would vote LD without hesitation if I felt it would prevent a Tory being elected.
I happen to agree that Labour has done little to indicate it is ready to return to government and that under Brown Labour was appalling (saving the way Brown and Darling responded to the crash - thank God it was them in power and not GO and DC). All in all, the thought of Labour in power does not fill me with any enthusiasm; I rather dread it. But when I read some of the views expressed by Tories on here and elsewhere about immigrants, people on benefits, teachers and all the other people living in this country that they so clearly dislike and hold in contempt, I am afraid that preventing a Tory government has to be the priority.
chortle
consistently inconsistent SO. last year you were telling us you couldn't vote Labour after one of the scandals.
Where have I said I would vote Labour? I doubt I will. I would certainly vote LD if it would keep a Tory out though. In fact, I'd probably vote LD full stop, but for the likes of Laws and Alexander.
Well you're in a Con\Lab marginal what other way are you planning to get your Tory MP out ?
After today's match, which I fear will be as one-sided as the two yesterday, there's a fortnight break in the Six Nations. However, all the matches after that look good.
Wales host France. To help the English and themselves the Welsh must win.
Italy play Scotland. That will probably be the wooden spoon decider, and Italy at home can be tough.
Last but not least, England welcome Ireland to Twickenham. To help the Welsh and themselves, the English must win.
Italy generally perform well against the detested French. An Italian win is worth a punt.
Can I just suggest that any poster wanting to silence labour posters on education use my handy and efficient 'mentioning Wales' kit.
Wales is Labour education policy made flesh. First world funding. Third world performance. A pile of excuses. No changes planned. A generation betrayed.
@SO - Eric Pickles declined the opportunity to nudge Smith towards the exit on Marr.
The bigger issue is how well qualified these quangocrats are for the jobs they have been appointed to - little in Smith's background suggests he would be particularly suited for the role (something in the arts would be a different matter) - and that they are primarily Labour quangocrats is only because the previous government was so assiduous in stuffing quangos with like minded people.....I've little doubt in 4 years time we'll bemoaning the inadequacies of Tory & Lib Dem ones too....
Its no surprise to me that teachers don't like Gove. They want to protect their cushy 16-17 weeks holiday, its natural innit. Any suggestion of upping standards and achievement of pupils is seen as a direct attack on the teaching profession in as much that they are doing badly..
I imagine that is because you are profoundly ignorant.
Thank you Southam. Must have hit the nail on the head for you to revert to insult.
Not really. There is not much point in trying to engage sensibly with someone who believes that teachers' main interest is in preserving the length of their holidays. Anyone who believes that teaching is a cushy job is ignorant. That's not an insult. It is a statement of fact.
Can I just say I am not convinced by the Con share.The coverage of floods has been incessant and the government hasn`t come out smelling of flowers.
That's because we Tory voters are intelligent enough to know that the Government doesn't create the weather and that many of the problems are long term and relate to the way the EA has managed the environment for ten years and more.
Compared to the way Obama tackled the Sandy aftermath and enhanced his reputation,the government hasn`t done a brilliant job.Everyone agrees that the weather is uncontrollable but the government has given the impression of being asleep on it`s job.
Obama`s Sandy response won him re-election.This flood response,if nothing else, is a missed opportunity for the Tories.
So, what do you think the Government could have done differently, in response to the short term crisis, that it hasn't done? For Gordon Brown of course the response would be to "appear on telly a lot wearing wellington boots".
Very tetchy on here this morning. It's regrettable but inevitable but politics became a lot more adversarial, partisan and bad-tempered (and arguably more fun) with the departure of Blair and then the global financial crisis in whose shadow (the latter, not the former) we still exist.
I'll vote LD of course next time but in East Ham that will make no difference whatsoever just as anyone voting Conservative in this constituency is going to have no impact on the final result.
That said, the glorious uncertainty of all this will keep the "fun" going for a fair old while yet. On the one side we have the apparent stability of the Labour (or should that be anti-Coalition) vote and on the other the improving (up to a point) economy bolstering the Conservative (or should that be anti-Labour) vote. Throw in the wild card of UKIP and we have all the ingredients (so to speak) for as stormy a period politically as we are currently experiencing meteorologically.
Morning all feeling almost embarrassed to say from a dry brightening Easter Ross where so far this year we have had only 40% of our average rainfall hence I was out cutting my lawns midweek.
Interesting OGH has posted the YouGov average for the week on Twitter as Labour 38.6, Tory 33.6, LibDem 9.8 and UKIP 10.8. This produces a Labour majority of 54 on UNS. Just swapping them around to 33.6, 38.6, 10.8 and 9.8 by contrast produces the Tories 4 short of a majority according to Baxter. If so much can change on as low a swing of 2.5% from where YouGov claim we are now, show how much there is to play for.
If the Tory party have the same views as most PB Tory supporters regarding public sector workers, I genuinely hope they never get a majority ever again. The contempt you have is almost scary. It seems like everything is our fault!
Can I just say I am not convinced by the Con share.The coverage of floods has been incessant and the government hasn`t come out smelling of flowers.
That's because we Tory voters are intelligent enough to know that the Government doesn't create the weather and that many of the problems are long term and relate to the way the EA has managed the environment for ten years and more.
We're an Executive Non-departmental Public Body responsible to the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. Our principal aims are to protect and improve the environment, and to promote sustainable development. We play a central role in delivering the environmental priorities of central government through our functions and roles.
Given the above, the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs either approves of the job Smith has done or it has been negligent. Which one would you go for?
Ooh a straw man false dichotomy, haven't seen one of those for a while. Of course environmental protection is a technical matter, the EA both delivers the policy and advises Government on what that policy should be. The funding was probably refused because the EA told the SoS it wasn't necessary.
It's all hypocrisy from the left: we're still following your policies. We shouldn't be, but sometimes it takes an event like this to point put that the previous policy was wrong.
Its no surprise to me that teachers don't like Gove. They want to protect their cushy 16-17 weeks holiday, its natural innit. Any suggestion of upping standards and achievement of pupils is seen as a direct attack on the teaching profession in as much that they are doing badly..
I imagine that is because you are profoundly ignorant.
Thank you Southam. Must have hit the nail on the head for you to revert to insult.
Not really. There is not much point in trying to engage sensibly with someone who believes that teachers' main interest is in preserving the length of their holidays. Anyone who believes that teaching is a cushy job is ignorant. That's not an insult. It is a statement of fact.
It would help if you engaged on what I actually said than rather than what you would like to think I said. I never said teaching was cushy, I said that 17 weeks HOLIDAY was cushy.. which of course it is. And of course I never said protecting it was their main aim either, but hey lets not have the truth get in the way.
Its no surprise to me that teachers don't like Gove. They want to protect their cushy 16-17 weeks holiday, its natural innit. Any suggestion of upping standards and achievement of pupils is seen as a direct attack on the teaching profession in as much that they are doing badly..
The Minister of the Silly Walk is a truly repulsive and nasty person. He rightly belongs to the Nasty Party [ credit: Theresa May ]
Do you know him personally to make that judgement?
All the reports I've heard - I've never met him - suggest that he is charming, considerate and quietly spoken.
All of which may be true but smacks slightly of the Kray twins loving their mum. Look, we know from the polls that Gove goes down like a lead tax increase with the voters, so the question is: why?
Some politicians, fairly or unfairly, just don't cut it with the electorate. Ed Balls is one; Osborne seems to be another; perhaps Gove is a third.
Another possible explanation is the way Gove is running Education. His spinners will say it is natural that Gove's reforms will upset teachers. Up to a point, Lord Copper. It seems unlikely that no teachers are interested in improving education, so it is surely a deep political failure not to carry the profession with him. Is it no longer part of politics to inspire and persuade?
In any case, it is not just teachers who dislike Gove. Perhaps parents are concerned about lack of school places. There is probably something in this, as the new Conservative line is to blame Labour for encouraging immigration or shagging or whatever it is that has led to an excess of 5-year-olds, and for not having drawn it to Gove's attention in the nearly four years he has been head honcho. If there were nothing in it, why the spin?
Has anyone had the wit to run a survey of parents with kids at new free schools? They are the ones we should be asking, not teachers who will do anything to protect their cushy status quo, or lefties who hate the fact he is trying to break up the teaching unions and an establishment that has happily supported plummeting education standards for nigh on fifty years.
If the Tory party have the same views as most PB Tory supporters regarding public sector workers, I genuinely hope they never get a majority ever again. The contempt you have is almost scary. It seems like everything is our fault!
Its no surprise to me that teachers don't like Gove. They want to protect their cushy 16-17 weeks holiday, its natural innit. Any suggestion of upping standards and achievement of pupils is seen as a direct attack on the teaching profession in as much that they are doing badly..
I imagine that is because you are profoundly ignorant.
Thank you Southam. Must have hit the nail on the head for you to revert to insult.
Not really. There is not much point in trying to engage sensibly with someone who believes that teachers' main interest is in preserving the length of their holidays. Anyone who believes that teaching is a cushy job is ignorant. That's not an insult. It is a statement of fact.
So teachers would be happy to move to a 46-week year working ~40 hours a week? That would be great, it would really help parents with childcare.
Tom Hunter's project to inject some hard data and evidence into the indy debate has some interesting results. Bettertogether and associated UKOKers seemed to have got the wrong idea about what's important to the voters.
'Only 3% and 2% of those polled respectively said EU membership or currency was most important to them in deciding how to vote in the referendum yet our politicians see these issues as priorities.'
In addition there's an ongoing argument between those who say we're all one big happy, homogenised Brit family, and those who say there are major difference between Scotland & the rest of the UK. Regarding immigration, the latter certainly seems to be the case. The last Yougov UK wide 'Issues' poll had immigration 2nd highest.
'When asked which of a prompted list of seventeen issues was most important in deciding how you might vote, the economy and job prospects were tied equally with 15% indicating these issues were most important, followed by healthcare (11%), pensions/benefits (8%), education (8%) and then personal finances (6%). Immigration (4%) ranked higher than EU membership and currency.'
Its no surprise to me that teachers don't like Gove. They want to protect their cushy 16-17 weeks holiday, its natural innit. Any suggestion of upping standards and achievement of pupils is seen as a direct attack on the teaching profession in as much that they are doing badly..
I imagine that is because you are profoundly ignorant.
Thank you Southam. Must have hit the nail on the head for you to revert to insult.
Not really. There is not much point in trying to engage sensibly with someone who believes that teachers' main interest is in preserving the length of their holidays. Anyone who believes that teaching is a cushy job is ignorant. That's not an insult. It is a statement of fact.
So teachers would be happy to move to a 46-week year working ~40 hours a week? That would be great, it would really help parents with childcare.
The job of teachers is to teach, not to provide childcare. If we as a country believe that childcare is a priority then we need to pay for it.
If the Tory party have the same views as most PB Tory supporters regarding public sector workers, I genuinely hope they never get a majority ever again. The contempt you have is almost scary. It seems like everything is our fault!
It's a pity, as I'd have thought it would be interesting to have some views etc voiced on PB 'from the ground'. But why anyone would bother, considering the attitude on here... well, I don't bother anymore. By the time I get chance to look at threads they're already full of ignorant bile (including one poster the other week accusing teachers of spending their spare time in chat rooms trying - I assume - to groom children).
Its no surprise to me that teachers don't like Gove. They want to protect their cushy 16-17 weeks holiday, its natural innit. Any suggestion of upping standards and achievement of pupils is seen as a direct attack on the teaching profession in as much that they are doing badly..
I imagine that is because you are profoundly ignorant.
Thank you Southam. Must have hit the nail on the head for you to revert to insult.
Not really. There is not much point in trying to engage sensibly with someone who believes that teachers' main interest is in preserving the length of their holidays. Anyone who believes that teaching is a cushy job is ignorant. That's not an insult. It is a statement of fact.
It would help if you engaged on what I actually said than rather than what you would like to think I said. I never said teaching was cushy, I said that 17 weeks HOLIDAY was cushy.. which of course it is. And of course I never said protecting it was their main aim either, but hey lets not have the truth get in the way.
So, we agree that teaching is not a cushy job and that teachers' priorities are in ensuring that they do the best they can by their pupils. Good. I apologise for misunderstanding you.
Its no surprise to me that teachers don't like Gove. They want to protect their cushy 16-17 weeks holiday, its natural innit. Any suggestion of upping standards and achievement of pupils is seen as a direct attack on the teaching profession in as much that they are doing badly..
The Minister of the Silly Walk is a truly repulsive and nasty person. He rightly belongs to the Nasty Party [ credit: Theresa May ]
Do you know him personally to make that judgement?
All the reports I've heard - I've never met him - suggest that he is charming, considerate and quietly spoken.
All of which may be true but smacks slightly of the Kray twins loving their mum. Look, we know from the polls that Gove goes down like a lead tax increase with the voters, so the question is: why?
Some politicians, fairly or unfairly, just don't cut it with the electorate. Ed Balls is one; Osborne seems to be another; perhaps Gove is a third.
Another possible explanation is the way Gove is running Education. His spinners will say it is natural that Gove's reforms will upset teachers. Up to a point, Lord Copper. It seems unlikely that no teachers are interested in improving education, so it is surely a deep political failure not to carry the profession with him. Is it no longer part of politics to inspire and persuade?
In any case, it is not just teachers who dislike Gove. Perhaps parents are concerned about lack of school places. There is probably something in this, as the new Conservative line is to blame Labour for encouraging immigration or shagging or whatever it is that has led to an excess of 5-year-olds, and for not having drawn it to Gove's attention in the nearly four years he has been head honcho. If there were nothing in it, why the spin?
Has anyone had the wit to run a survey of parents with kids at new free schools? They are the ones we should be asking, not teachers who will do anything to protect their cushy status quo, or lefties who hate the fact he is trying to break up the teaching unions and an establishment that has happily supported plummeting education standards for nigh on fifty years.
Stop spinning and think of the voters. If Gove's reforms are improving things, then it is surely his own political incompetence that he cannot persuade a majority of that.
Its no surprise to me that teachers don't like Gove. They want to protect their cushy 16-17 weeks holiday, its natural innit. Any suggestion of upping standards and achievement of pupils is seen as a direct attack on the teaching profession in as much that they are doing badly..
I imagine that is because you are profoundly ignorant.
Thank you Southam. Must have hit the nail on the head for you to revert to insult.
Not really. There is not much point in trying to engage sensibly with someone who believes that teachers' main interest is in preserving the length of their holidays. Anyone who believes that teaching is a cushy job is ignorant. That's not an insult. It is a statement of fact.
So teachers would be happy to move to a 46-week year working ~40 hours a week? That would be great, it would really help parents with childcare.
They sort of do that already, though it's more like 46 (+) hours for 39 weeks. Most teachers I know will do 2-3 hours post school each day either supervising after-school activities or the bain of their lives marking and report writing.
Its no surprise to me that teachers don't like Gove. They want to protect their cushy 16-17 weeks holiday, its natural innit. Any suggestion of upping standards and achievement of pupils is seen as a direct attack on the teaching profession in as much that they are doing badly..
I imagine that is because you are profoundly ignorant.
Thank you Southam. Must have hit the nail on the head for you to revert to insult.
Not really. There is not much point in trying to engage sensibly with someone who believes that teachers' main interest is in preserving the length of their holidays. Anyone who believes that teaching is a cushy job is ignorant. That's not an insult. It is a statement of fact.
You only have to read Taffys comment below to realise that in Wales the teachers main interest is themselves and not the education of the children.
In a nutshell, to the teaching unions and the Left it is all about them and their ideology and not the best interests of the kids.
If the Tory party have the same views as most PB Tory supporters regarding public sector workers, I genuinely hope they never get a majority ever again. The contempt you have is almost scary. It seems like everything is our fault!
I'm a public sector worker myself and have been for most of my working life (although I started out in the voluntary sector). Public sector workers do a lot of good work, some of it vital. Some of them are not very well paid. There is also a lot of waste, ineffective and poor management, and wrong attitudes. A quango I worked for once seemed to think it was reasonable to think up new jobs for itself, to justify keeping the headcount up & its fat managerial salaries. These are all things that need to be addressed. It is also quite reasonable to have a political viewpoint that public sector spending should be lower. So if I were to tell you that I think the public sector should be smaller, do less things, and should employ fewer people, it doesn't mean I have contempt for anyone.
Regarding Clegg's stance on changing the UK's neanderthal drug policies,the polling suggests he has tapped a seam of public support.The latest You Gov poll found: "On cannabis policy specifically, slightly more (47%) actually tend to favour a change in the law than want the law to remain as it is (43%). Of those who favour a change, 25% say it should be illegal but decriminalised, like parking in the wrong place, while 22% say it should be legal altogether." http://yougov.co.uk/news/2013/12/03/20-know-someone-who-uses-cannabis-weekly/
Its no surprise to me that teachers don't like Gove. They want to protect their cushy 16-17 weeks holiday, its natural innit. Any suggestion of upping standards and achievement of pupils is seen as a direct attack on the teaching profession in as much that they are doing badly..
I imagine that is because you are profoundly ignorant.
Thank you Southam. Must have hit the nail on the head for you to revert to insult.
Not really. There is not much point in trying to engage sensibly with someone who believes that teachers' main interest is in preserving the length of their holidays. Anyone who believes that teaching is a cushy job is ignorant. That's not an insult. It is a statement of fact.
It would help if you engaged on what I actually said than rather than what you would like to think I said. I never said teaching was cushy, I said that 17 weeks HOLIDAY was cushy.. which of course it is. And of course I never said protecting it was their main aim either, but hey lets not have the truth get in the way.
So, we agree that teaching is not a cushy job and that teachers' priorities are in ensuring that they do the best they can by their pupils. Good. I apologise for misunderstanding you.
Could you apologise for insulting me whilst you are about it... and not make statements that claim I agree with.
Tom Hunter's project to inject some hard data and evidence into the indy debate has some interesting results. Bettertogether and associated UKOKers seemed to have got the wrong idea about what's important to the voters.
'Only 3% and 2% of those polled respectively said EU membership or currency was most important to them in deciding how to vote in the referendum yet our politicians see these issues as priorities.'
In addition there's an ongoing argument between those who say we're all one big happy, homogenised Brit family, and those who say there are major difference between Scotland & the rest of the UK. Regarding immigration, the latter certainly seems to be the case. The last Yougov UK wide 'Issues' poll had immigration 2nd highest.
'When asked which of a prompted list of seventeen issues was most important in deciding how you might vote, the economy and job prospects were tied equally with 15% indicating these issues were most important, followed by healthcare (11%), pensions/benefits (8%), education (8%) and then personal finances (6%). Immigration (4%) ranked higher than EU membership and currency.'
Different questions. When asked about how important an issue immigration is to them and their families, immigration actually scores pretty low in UK-wide polls. All the things the Scots mention are mentioned just as much by voters elsewhere.
Its no surprise to me that teachers don't like Gove. They want to protect their cushy 16-17 weeks holiday, its natural innit. Any suggestion of upping standards and achievement of pupils is seen as a direct attack on the teaching profession in as much that they are doing badly..
I imagine that is because you are profoundly ignorant.
Thank you Southam. Must have hit the nail on the head for you to revert to insult.
Not really. There is not much point in trying to engage sensibly with someone who believes that teachers' main interest is in preserving the length of their holidays. Anyone who believes that teaching is a cushy job is ignorant. That's not an insult. It is a statement of fact.
So teachers would be happy to move to a 46-week year working ~40 hours a week? That would be great, it would really help parents with childcare.
The job of teachers is to teach, not to provide childcare. If we as a country believe that childcare is a priority then we need to pay for it.
It would also mean you have a more sensible working year. My teacher friends are absolutely knackered by the end of a half term. Why not teach for longer, but at much less intensity?
Or are you saying that maintaining 13 weeks' holiday a year is a priority?
Tom Hunter's project to inject some hard data and evidence into the indy debate has some interesting results.
Awareness of what's already devolved might be a place to start:
When asked about which areas were currently devolved to the Scottish Parliament, only 50% of voters were aware that education is already a devolved power, 47% mentioned healthcare and 35% free care for the elderly, with 34% indicating that transport was a devolved power.
Why so low?
Edit - Hunter seems a bit like Ashcroft "stop banging on about trivia"
Its no surprise to me that teachers don't like Gove. They want to protect their cushy 16-17 weeks holiday, its natural innit. Any suggestion of upping standards and achievement of pupils is seen as a direct attack on the teaching profession in as much that they are doing badly..
I imagine that is because you are profoundly ignorant.
Thank you Southam. Must have hit the nail on the head for you to revert to insult.
Not really. There is not much point in trying to engage sensibly with someone who believes that teachers' main interest is in preserving the length of their holidays. Anyone who believes that teaching is a cushy job is ignorant. That's not an insult. It is a statement of fact.
So teachers would be happy to move to a 46-week year working ~40 hours a week? That would be great, it would really help parents with childcare.
They sort of do that already, though it's more like 46 (+) hours for 39 weeks. Most teachers I know will do 2-3 hours post school each day either supervising after-school activities or the bain of their lives marking and report writing.
If you average that out over a "normal" working year, it means teachers' hours aren't so much different to most professionals and middle managers in the private sector, probably shorter in fact.
Its no surprise to me that teachers don't like Gove. They want to protect their cushy 16-17 weeks holiday, its natural innit. Any suggestion of upping standards and achievement of pupils is seen as a direct attack on the teaching profession in as much that they are doing badly..
I imagine that is because you are profoundly ignorant.
Thank you Southam. Must have hit the nail on the head for you to revert to insult.
Not really. There is not much point in trying to engage sensibly with someone who believes that teachers' main interest is in preserving the length of their holidays. Anyone who believes that teaching is a cushy job is ignorant. That's not an insult. It is a statement of fact.
It would help if you engaged on what I actually said than rather than what you would like to think I said. I never said teaching was cushy, I said that 17 weeks HOLIDAY was cushy.. which of course it is. And of course I never said protecting it was their main aim either, but hey lets not have the truth get in the way.
So, we agree that teaching is not a cushy job and that teachers' priorities are in ensuring that they do the best they can by their pupils. Good. I apologise for misunderstanding you.
Could you apologise for insulting me whilst you are about it... and not make statements that claim I agree with.
I am getting confused here. Are you now saying that teaching is a cushy job and that teachers' priorities are not in ensuring they do the best they can by their pupils? If that is the case, I will return to calling you ignorant.
Its no surprise to me that teachers don't like Gove. They want to protect their cushy 16-17 weeks holiday, its natural innit. Any suggestion of upping standards and achievement of pupils is seen as a direct attack on the teaching profession in as much that they are doing badly..
The Minister of the Silly Walk is a truly repulsive and nasty person. He rightly belongs to the Nasty Party [ credit: Theresa May ]
Do you know him personally to make that judgement?
All the reports I've heard - I've never met him - suggest that he is charming, considerate and quietly spoken.
All of which may be true but smacks slightly of the Kray twins loving their mum. Look, we know from the polls that Gove goes down like a lead tax increase with the voters, so the question is: why?
Some politicians, fairly or unfairly, just don't cut it with the electorate. Ed Balls is one; Osborne seems to be another; perhaps Gove is a third.
Another possible explanation is the way Gove is running Education. His spinners will say it is natural that Gove's reforms will upset teachers. Up to a point, Lord Copper. It seems unlikely that no teachers are interested in improving education, so it is surely a deep political failure not to carry the profession with him. Is it no longer part of politics to inspire and persuade?
In any case, it is not just teachers who dislike Gove. Perhaps parents are concerned about lack of school places. There is probably something in this, as the new Conservative line is to blame Labour for encouraging immigration or shagging or whatever it is that has led to an excess of 5-year-olds, and for not having drawn it to Gove's attention in the nearly four years he has been head honcho. If there were nothing in it, why the spin?
Has anyone had the wit to run a survey of parents with kids at new free schools? They are the ones we should be asking, not teachers who will do anything to protect their cushy status quo, or lefties who hate the fact he is trying to break up the teaching unions and an establishment that has happily supported plummeting education standards for nigh on fifty years.
Stop spinning and think of the voters. If Gove's reforms are improving things, then it is surely his own political incompetence that he cannot persuade a majority of that.
Like I said, let us see a survey of parents with children at the new free schools to see what they think
Its no surprise to me that teachers don't like Gove. They want to protect their cushy 16-17 weeks holiday, its natural innit. Any suggestion of upping standards and achievement of pupils is seen as a direct attack on the teaching profession in as much that they are doing badly..
I imagine that is because you are profoundly ignorant.
Thank you Southam. Must have hit the nail on the head for you to revert to insult.
Not really. There is not much point in trying to engage sensibly with someone who believes that teachers' main interest is in preserving the length of their holidays. Anyone who believes that teaching is a cushy job is ignorant. That's not an insult. It is a statement of fact.
So teachers would be happy to move to a 46-week year working ~40 hours a week? That would be great, it would really help parents with childcare.
The job of teachers is to teach, not to provide childcare. If we as a country believe that childcare is a priority then we need to pay for it.
It would also mean you have a more sensible working year. My teacher friends are absolutely knackered by the end of a half term. Why not teach for longer, but at much less intensity?
Or are you saying that maintaining 13 weeks' holiday a year is a priority?
When I worked out my hours against the national average I get four weeks off a year anyway. I think many would agree with a change if not for the fact we think we'd still be working the same weekly hours but for more weeks of the year. Plus some of any reduced holiday.
Tom Hunter's project to inject some hard data and evidence into the indy debate has some interesting results. Bettertogether and associated UKOKers seemed to have got the wrong idea about what's important to the voters.
'Only 3% and 2% of those polled respectively said EU membership or currency was most important to them in deciding how to vote in the referendum yet our politicians see these issues as priorities.'
In addition there's an ongoing argument between those who say we're all one big happy, homogenised Brit family, and those who say there are major difference between Scotland & the rest of the UK. Regarding immigration, the latter certainly seems to be the case. The last Yougov UK wide 'Issues' poll had immigration 2nd highest.
'When asked which of a prompted list of seventeen issues was most important in deciding how you might vote, the economy and job prospects were tied equally with 15% indicating these issues were most important, followed by healthcare (11%), pensions/benefits (8%), education (8%) and then personal finances (6%). Immigration (4%) ranked higher than EU membership and currency.'
Different questions. When asked about how important an issue immigration is to them and their families, immigration actually scores pretty low in UK-wide polls. All the things the Scots mention are mentioned just as much by voters elsewhere.
Eh? Afaik Hunter's TNS question didn't mention families. The last Yougov with the 'families' component still had immigration at 5th.
Its no surprise to me that teachers don't like Gove. They want to protect their cushy 16-17 weeks holiday, its natural innit. Any suggestion of upping standards and achievement of pupils is seen as a direct attack on the teaching profession in as much that they are doing badly..
I imagine that is because you are profoundly ignorant.
Thank you Southam. Must have hit the nail on the head for you to revert to insult.
Not really. There is not much point in trying to engage sensibly with someone who believes that teachers' main interest is in preserving the length of their holidays. Anyone who believes that teaching is a cushy job is ignorant. That's not an insult. It is a statement of fact.
So teachers would be happy to move to a 46-week year working ~40 hours a week? That would be great, it would really help parents with childcare.
The job of teachers is to teach, not to provide childcare. If we as a country believe that childcare is a priority then we need to pay for it.
It would also mean you have a more sensible working year. My teacher friends are absolutely knackered by the end of a half term. Why not teach for longer, but at much less intensity?
Or are you saying that maintaining 13 weeks' holiday a year is a priority?
It's 13 weeks when they do not teach, not when they do not work. I suspect that teachers would generally be happy to accept terms and conditions that allowed them to do their jobs in the most effective manner possible. As Mr Gove is so keen on people not being able to tell private and state schools apart, perhaps longer days, smaller classes, much higher spending on sports and other facilities, and shorter terms is the way forward.
Tom Hunter's project to inject some hard data and evidence into the indy debate has some interesting results. Bettertogether and associated UKOKers seemed to have got the wrong idea about what's important to the voters.
'Only 3% and 2% of those polled respectively said EU membership or currency was most important to them in deciding how to vote in the referendum yet our politicians see these issues as priorities.'
In addition there's an ongoing argument between those who say we're all one big happy, homogenised Brit family, and those who say there are major difference between Scotland & the rest of the UK. Regarding immigration, the latter certainly seems to be the case. The last Yougov UK wide 'Issues' poll had immigration 2nd highest.
'When asked which of a prompted list of seventeen issues was most important in deciding how you might vote, the economy and job prospects were tied equally with 15% indicating these issues were most important, followed by healthcare (11%), pensions/benefits (8%), education (8%) and then personal finances (6%). Immigration (4%) ranked higher than EU membership and currency.'
'In May next year will see significant Anti-Gove tactical voting.'
Do you think that will cancel out the significant Anti-Balls tactical voting?
maybe the voters of Morley & Outwood, and Surrey Heath, should contemplate vote swaps. Although there is probably little point voting tactically in Surrey Heath.
Its no surprise to me that teachers don't like Gove. They want to protect their cushy 16-17 weeks holiday, its natural innit. Any suggestion of upping standards and achievement of pupils is seen as a direct attack on the teaching profession in as much that they are doing badly..
I imagine that is because you are profoundly ignorant.
Thank you Southam. Must have hit the nail on the head for you to revert to insult.
Not really. There is not much point in trying to engage sensibly with someone who believes that teachers' main interest is in preserving the length of their holidays. Anyone who believes that teaching is a cushy job is ignorant. That's not an insult. It is a statement of fact.
So teachers would be happy to move to a 46-week year working ~40 hours a week? That would be great, it would really help parents with childcare.
The job of teachers is to teach, not to provide childcare. If we as a country believe that childcare is a priority then we need to pay for it.
It would also mean you have a more sensible working year. My teacher friends are absolutely knackered by the end of a half term. Why not teach for longer, but at much less intensity?
Or are you saying that maintaining 13 weeks' holiday a year is a priority?
When I worked out my hours against the national average I get four weeks off a year anyway. I think many would agree with a change if not for the fact we think we'd still be working the same weekly hours but for more weeks of the year. Plus some of any reduced holiday.
Out of interest Carola what will you be doing during the upcoming half term break?
Tom Hunter's project to inject some hard data and evidence into the indy debate has some interesting results. Bettertogether and associated UKOKers seemed to have got the wrong idea about what's important to the voters.
'Only 3% and 2% of those polled respectively said EU membership or currency was most important to them in deciding how to vote in the referendum yet our politicians see these issues as priorities.'
In addition there's an ongoing argument between those who say we're all one big happy, homogenised Brit family, and those who say there are major difference between Scotland & the rest of the UK. Regarding immigration, the latter certainly seems to be the case. The last Yougov UK wide 'Issues' poll had immigration 2nd highest.
'When asked which of a prompted list of seventeen issues was most important in deciding how you might vote, the economy and job prospects were tied equally with 15% indicating these issues were most important, followed by healthcare (11%), pensions/benefits (8%), education (8%) and then personal finances (6%). Immigration (4%) ranked higher than EU membership and currency.'
Different questions. When asked about how important an issue immigration is to them and their families, immigration actually scores pretty low in UK-wide polls. All the things the Scots mention are mentioned just as much by voters elsewhere.
Eh? Afaik Hunter's TNS question didn't mention families. The last Yougov with the 'families' component still had immigration at 5th.
To make a valid comparison, you have to ask the Hunter question to everyone. He asks what issues are important when people vote. The wider UK polling does not ask that question. It asks "What are the most important issues facing the country"; and "What are the most important issues facing you and your family". Immigration and race relations (not just immigration) is much lower down the list in responses to the latter than to the former. Issues such as the economy, jobs, health and education are high in both sets of responses.
If the Tory party have the same views as most PB Tory supporters regarding public sector workers, I genuinely hope they never get a majority ever again. The contempt you have is almost scary. It seems like everything is our fault!
I think most Tories can differentiate between the important and vital work done by the vast majority of "Indians" in the public sector, particularly those on the front line like medical and emergency services staff, the council workers who sweep the streets, empty the bins etc. However we also see that vast amount of waste, especially in town halls and council offices, public sector admin, the "jobs worth" attitude which remains and holds back genuine talent because someone else's nose is put out of joint.
As for teaching and education. Clearly there are a great many dedicated, excellent teachers. There are however far too many inadequate failing teachers which the system makes it almost impossible to remove. The teaching profession's spokespersons and the teaching unions seem to be the only people who fail to accept what the rest of the world sees, that educational standards, particularly in England, are falling further and further behind the rest of the world. I agree a great many teachers work very hard. They are also very well paid, have unequalled holidays and support (we didn't have so called in-service days or classroom assistants when I was at school and we all left being able to read, write, count and spell) and can look forward to excellent pensions which most office workers and middle managers in the private sector can only dream of.
Its no surprise to me that teachers don't like Gove. They want to protect their cushy 16-17 weeks holiday, its natural innit. Any suggestion of upping standards and achievement of pupils is seen as a direct attack on the teaching profession in as much that they are doing badly..
The Minister of the Silly Walk is a truly repulsive and nasty person. He rightly belongs to the Nasty Party [ credit: Theresa May ]
Do you know him personally to make that judgement?
All the reports I've heard - I've never met him - suggest that he is charming, considerate and quietly spoken.
All of which may be true but smacks slightly of the Kray twins loving their mum. Look, we know from the polls that Gove goes down like a lead tax increase with the voters, so the question is: why?
Some politicians, fairly or unfairly, just don't cut it with the electorate. Ed Balls is one; Osborne seems to be another; perhaps Gove is a third.
Another possible explanation is the way Gove is running Education. His spinners will say it is natural that Gove's reforms will upset teachers. Up to a point, Lord Copper. It seems unlikely that no teachers are interested in improving education, so it is surely a deep political failure not to carry the profession with him. Is it no longer part of politics to inspire and persuade?
In any case, it is not just teachers who dislike Gove. Perhaps parents are concerned about lack of school places. There is probably something in this, as the new Conservative line is to blame Labour for encouraging immigration or shagging or whatever it is that has led to an excess of 5-year-olds, and for not having drawn it to Gove's attention in the nearly four years he has been head honcho. If there were nothing in it, why the spin?
Has anyone had the wit to run a survey of parents with kids at new free schools? They are the ones we should be asking, not teachers who will do anything to protect their cushy status quo, or lefties who hate the fact he is trying to break up the teaching unions and an establishment that has happily supported plummeting education standards for nigh on fifty years.
Stop spinning and think of the voters. If Gove's reforms are improving things, then it is surely his own political incompetence that he cannot persuade a majority of that.
Like I said, let us see a survey of parents with children at the new free schools to see what they think
Why just at the Free Schools? Why not at all state schools?
All of which may be true but smacks slightly of the Kray twins loving their mum. Look, we know from the polls that Gove goes down like a lead tax increase with the voters, so the question is: why?
Some politicians, fairly or unfairly, just don't cut it with the electorate. Ed Balls is one; Osborne seems to be another; perhaps Gove is a third.
Another possible explanation is the way Gove is running Education. His spinners will say it is natural that Gove's reforms will upset teachers. Up to a point, Lord Copper. It seems unlikely that no teachers are interested in improving education, so it is surely a deep political failure not to carry the profession with him. Is it no longer part of politics to inspire and persuade?
In any case, it is not just teachers who dislike Gove. Perhaps parents are concerned about lack of school places. There is probably something in this, as the new Conservative line is to blame Labour for encouraging immigration or shagging or whatever it is that has led to an excess of 5-year-olds, and for not having drawn it to Gove's attention in the nearly four years he has been head honcho. If there were nothing in it, why the spin?
Has anyone had the wit to run a survey of parents with kids at new free schools? They are the ones we should be asking, not teachers who will do anything to protect their cushy status quo, or lefties who hate the fact he is trying to break up the teaching unions and an establishment that has happily supported plummeting education standards for nigh on fifty years.
Stop spinning and think of the voters. If Gove's reforms are improving things, then it is surely his own political incompetence that he cannot persuade a majority of that.
Like I said, let us see a survey of parents with children at the new free schools to see what they think
It might be more interesting than even you think but even if 100 per cent of these parents votes Conservative, it will make no difference to the number of Tory MPs post-2015.
If it is true that Gove's reforms will lead to the sunlit uplands of PISA, it shows staggering political ineptitude that he can't get massive popular support.
Its no surprise to me that teachers don't like Gove. They want to protect their cushy 16-17 weeks holiday, its natural innit. Any suggestion of upping standards and achievement of pupils is seen as a direct attack on the teaching profession in as much that they are doing badly..
I imagine that is because you are profoundly ignorant.
Thank you Southam. Must have hit the nail on the head for you to revert to insult.
Not really. There is not much point in trying to engage sensibly with someone who believes that teachers' main interest is in preserving the length of their holidays. Anyone who believes that teaching is a cushy job is ignorant. That's not an insult. It is a statement of fact.
So teachers would be happy to move to a 46-week year working ~40 hours a week? That would be great, it would really help parents with childcare.
The job of teachers is to teach, not to provide childcare. If we as a country believe that childcare is a priority then we need to pay for it.
It would also mean you have a more sensible working year. My teacher friends are absolutely knackered by the end of a half term. Why not teach for longer, but at much less intensity?
Or are you saying that maintaining 13 weeks' holiday a year is a priority?
When I worked out my hours against the national average I get four weeks off a year anyway. I think many would agree with a change if not for the fact we think we'd still be working the same weekly hours but for more weeks of the year. Plus some of any reduced holiday.
Out of interest Carola what will you be doing during the upcoming half term break?
In school Monday and Tuesday. Family down to visit Friday for the weekend. Two days of trying to catch up with home stuff that I don't get chance to do in term time.
Its no surprise to me that teachers don't like Gove. They want to protect their cushy 16-17 weeks holiday, its natural innit. Any suggestion of upping standards and achievement of pupils is seen as a direct attack on the teaching profession in as much that they are doing badly..
I imagine that is because you are profoundly ignorant.
Thank you Southam. Must have hit the nail on the head for you to revert to insult.
Not really. There is not much point in trying to engage sensibly with someone who believes that teachers' main interest is in preserving the length of their holidays. Anyone who believes that teaching is a cushy job is ignorant. That's not an insult. It is a statement of fact.
So teachers would be happy to move to a 46-week year working ~40 hours a week? That would be great, it would really help parents with childcare.
They sort of do that already, though it's more like 46 (+) hours for 39 weeks. Most teachers I know will do 2-3 hours post school each day either supervising after-school activities or the bain of their lives marking and report writing.
If you average that out over a "normal" working year, it means teachers' hours aren't so much different to most professionals and middle managers in the private sector, probably shorter in fact.
yes it's to do with the distribution of the teaching year. Whether we still need super long summer holidays is a moot point since originally this was to help with working on farms.
But as you say teachers' hours are similar to other middle managers so i can't really see how the longer holidays etc. are extra time, it's just at present the teachers' year is organised differently.
Its no surprise to me that teachers don't like Gove. They want to protect their cushy 16-17 weeks holiday, its
Do you know him personally to make that judgement?
All the reports I've heard - I've never met him - suggest that he is charming, considerate and quietly spoken.
All of which may be true but smacks slightly of the Kray twins loving their mum. Look, we know from the polls that Gove goes down like a lead tax increase with the voters, so the question is: why?
Some politicians, fairly or unfairly, just don't cut it with the electorate. Ed Balls is one; Osborne seems to be another; perhaps Gove is a third.
Another possible explanation is the way Gove is running Education. His spinners will say it is natural that Gove's reforms will upset teachers. Up to a point, Lord Copper. It seems unlikely that no teachers are interested in improving education, so it is surely a deep political failure not to carry the profession with him. Is it no longer part of politics to inspire and persuade?
In any case, it is not just teachers who dislike Gove. Perhaps parents are concerned about lack of school places. There is probably something in this, as the new Conservative line is to blame Labour for encouraging immigration or shagging or whatever it is that has led to an excess of 5-year-olds, and for not having drawn it to Gove's attention in the nearly four years he has been head honcho. If there were nothing in it, why the spin?
Has anyone had the wit to run a survey of parents with kids at new free schools? They are the ones we should be asking, not teachers who will do anything to protect their cushy status quo, or lefties who hate the fact he is trying to break up the teaching unions and an establishment that has happily supported plummeting education standards for nigh on fifty years.
Stop spinning and think of the voters. If Gove's reforms are improving things, then it is surely his own political incompetence that he cannot persuade a majority of that.
Like I said, let us see a survey of parents with children at the new free schools to see what they think
Why just at the Free Schools? Why not at all state schools?
Erm, because I want to see if the parents are happy with the way their children are being taught at the new schools?
My wife has just left teaching after 21 years to manage a nursery. She gets 25 days annual holiday now (including bank holidays) and works from 9-6, five days a week, including a whole hour to herself for lunch. She says it is an absolute doddle. No class preparation, no marking, no special needs, no liaising with social services, no chopping and changing the curriculum, no working at weekends. Less money. But so what?
Oh, and when she gets to draw her teaching pension after making 21 years of contributions it will be worth something like £8,000 a year.
Its no surprise to me that teachers don't like Gove. They want to protect their cushy 16-17 weeks holiday, its natural innit. Any suggestion of upping standards and achievement of pupils is seen as a direct attack on the teaching profession in as much that they are doing badly..
I imagine that is because you are profoundly ignorant.
Thank you Southam. Must have hit the nail on the head for you to revert to insult.
Not really. There is not much point in trying to engage sensibly with someone who believes that teachers' main interest is in preserving the length of their holidays. Anyone who believes that teaching is a cushy job is ignorant. That's not an insult. It is a statement of fact.
So teachers would be happy to move to a 46-week year working ~40 hours a week? That would be great, it would really help parents with childcare.
They sort of do that already, though it's more like 46 (+) hours for 39 weeks. Most teachers I know will do 2-3 hours post school each day either supervising after-school activities or the bain of their lives marking and report writing.
If you average that out over a "normal" working year, it means teachers' hours aren't so much different to most professionals and middle managers in the private sector, probably shorter in fact.
yes it's to do with the distribution of the teaching year. Whether we still need super long summer holidays is a moot point since originally this was to help with working on farms.
But as you say teachers' hours are similar to other middle managers so i can't really see how the longer holidays etc. are extra time, it's just at present the teachers' year is organised differently.
There's been some debate re that agricultural calendar argument. I can't be bothered to dig (got to start on the marking pile!) for the recent links, but an older one here (I've no idea, btw):
Its no surprise to me that teachers don't like Gove. They want to protect their cushy 16-17 weeks holiday, its natural innit. Any suggestion of upping standards and achievement of pupils is seen as a direct attack on the teaching profession in as much that they are doing badly..
I imagine that is because you are profoundly ignorant.
Thank you Southam. Must have hit the nail on the head for you to revert to insult.
Not really. There is not much point in trying to engage sensibly with someone who believes that teachers' main interest is in preserving the length of their holidays. Anyone who believes that teaching is a cushy job is ignorant. That's not an insult. It is a statement of fact.
So teachers would be happy to move to a 46-week year working ~40 hours a week? That would be great, it would really help parents with childcare.
They sort of do that already, though it's more like 46 (+) hours for 39 weeks. Most teachers I know will do 2-3 hours post school each day either supervising after-school activities or the bain of their lives marking and report writing.
If you average that out over a "normal" working year, it means teachers' hours aren't so much different to most professionals and middle managers in the private sector, probably shorter in fact.
yes it's to do with the distribution of the teaching year. Whether we still need super long summer holidays is a moot point since originally this was to help with working on farms.
But as you say teachers' hours are similar to other middle managers so i can't really see how the longer holidays etc. are extra time, it's just at present the teachers' year is organised differently.
Yes I agree with you. I have never thought that teachers' lives are cushy, but then I don't believe the teachers when they say they are so hard done by either.
One problem is of course that the rational response to not liking your job is to look for another one - but teachers have largely painted themselves into a corner. It is probably difficult to change course, and because terms and conditions are national, to find an employer that does things differently. An accountant who doesn't like how hard he has to work at his City firm can always join a local firm, move into a corporate finance role, even set up his own firm... teachers don't have so many options.
Its no surprise to me that teachers don't like Gove. They want to protect their cushy 16-17 weeks holiday, its natural innit. Any suggestion of upping standards and achievement of pupils is seen as a direct attack on the teaching profession in as much that they are doing badly..
I imagine that is because you are profoundly ignorant.
Thank you Southam. Must have hit the nail on the head for you to revert to insult.
Not really. There is not much point in trying to engage sensibly with someone who believes that teachers' main interest is in preserving the length of their holidays. Anyone who believes that teaching is a cushy job is ignorant. That's not an insult. It is a statement of fact.
So teachers would be happy to move to a 46-week year working ~40 hours a week? That would be great, it would really help parents with childcare.
They sort of do that already, though it's more like 46 (+) hours for 39 weeks. Most teachers I know will do 2-3 hours post school each day either supervising after-school activities or the bain of their lives marking and report writing.
If you average that out over a "normal" working year, it means teachers' hours aren't so much different to most professionals and middle managers in the private sector, probably shorter in fact.
yes it's to do with the distribution of the teaching year. Whether we still need super long summer holidays is a moot point since originally this was to help with working on farms.
But as you say teachers' hours are similar to other middle managers so i can't really see how the longer holidays etc. are extra time, it's just at present the teachers' year is organised differently.
There's been some debate re that agricultural calendar argument. I can't be bothered to dig (got to start on the marking pile!) for the recent links, but an older one here (I've no idea, btw):
I could of course be wrong and I'm simply repeating an urban myth. However I should think a reorganisation of the school year could be helpful, I'd rather we had staggered school hols like Germany where different Laender start at different times.
If the Tory party have the same views as most PB Tory supporters regarding public sector workers, I genuinely hope they never get a majority ever again. The contempt you have is almost scary. It seems like everything is our fault!
I'm a public sector worker myself and have been for most of my working life (although I started out in the voluntary sector). Public sector workers do a lot of good work, some of it vital. Some of them are not very well paid. There is also a lot of waste, ineffective and poor management, and wrong attitudes. A quango I worked for once seemed to think it was reasonable to think up new jobs for itself, to justify keeping the headcount up & its fat managerial salaries. These are all things that need to be addressed. It is also quite reasonable to have a political viewpoint that public sector spending should be lower. So if I were to tell you that I think the public sector should be smaller, do less things, and should employ fewer people, it doesn't mean I have contempt for anyone.
I can't find anything to disagree with in your post. Not all posters express themselves in such a restrained and thoughjhtful manner, though.
My wife has just left teaching after 21 years ... when she gets to draw her teaching pension after making 21 years of contributions it will be worth something like £8,000 a year.
I guess that's about 21/60ths then... your point is?
Its no surprise to me that teachers don't like Gove. They want to protect their cushy 16-17 weeks holiday, its natural innit. Any suggestion of upping standards and achievement of pupils is seen as a direct attack on the teaching profession in as much that they are doing badly..
The Minister of the Silly Walk is a truly repulsive and nasty person. He rightly belongs to the Nasty Party [ credit: Theresa May ]
Do you know him personally to make that judgement?
All the reports I've heard - I've never met him - suggest that he is charming, considerate and quietly spoken.
All of which may be true but smacks slightly of the Kray twins loving their mum. Look, we know from the polls that Gove goes down like a lead tax increase with the voters, so the question is: why?
Some politicians, fairly or unfairly, just don't cut it with the electorate. Ed Balls is one; Osborne seems to be another; perhaps Gove is a third.
Another possible explanation is the way Gove is running Education. His spinners will say it is natural that Gove's reforms will upset teachers. Up to a point, Lord Copper. It seems unlikely that no teachers are interested in improving education, so it is surely a deep political failure not to carry the profession with him. Is it no longer part of politics to inspire and persuade?
In any case, it is not just teachers who dislike Gove. Perhaps parents are concerned about lack of school places. There is probably something in this, as the new Conservative line is to blame Labour for encouraging immigration or shagging or whatever it is that has led to an excess of 5-year-olds, and for not having drawn it to Gove's attention in the nearly four years he has been head honcho. If there were nothing in it, why the spin?
Has anyone had the wit to run a survey of parents with kids at new free schools? They are the ones we should be asking, not teachers who will do anything to protect their cushy status quo, or lefties who hate the fact he is trying to break up the teaching unions and an establishment that has happily supported plummeting education standards for nigh on fifty years.
Stop spinning and think of the voters. If Gove's reforms are improving things, then it is surely his own political incompetence that he cannot persuade a majority of that.
Gove's ability to persuade a majority of a trend to improvements is nothing to do with his competence but the unceasing propaganda from the teaching unions who can't stand any reform which threatens their dominance. It will take years to see the full results of Gove's reforms.
Remember that @ALP forecast crossover by Christmas 2013 (wrong) and this site's self-appointed swingback guru @RodCrosby (he of the ellipsis on every post) forecast it for May 1 this year. We shall see (...)
Mr Scout, that was in fact his last crossover prediction.ALP had also predicted July 2013 and October 2013.He has gone quiet since the Christmas 2013 prediction went the same way as the others.....hence my carrying of his goalposts
My wife has just left teaching after 21 years ... when she gets to draw her teaching pension after making 21 years of contributions it will be worth something like £8,000 a year.
I guess that's about 21/60ths then... your point is?
Depends how many of the 21 years were not full time due to family or working part time. My wife has 28 years with her employer but that's closer to 16 full time years due to family and choosing to work part time.
All of which may be true but smacks slightly of the Kray twins loving their mum. Look, we know from the polls that Gove goes down like a lead tax increase with the voters, so the question is: why?
Some politicians, fairly or unfairly, just don't cut it with the electorate. Ed Balls is one; Osborne seems to be another; perhaps Gove is a third.
Another possible explanation is the way Gove is running Education. His spinners will say it is natural that Gove's reforms will upset teachers. Up to a point, Lord Copper. It seems unlikely that no teachers are interested in improving education, so it is surely a deep political failure not to carry the profession with him. Is it no longer part of politics to inspire and persuade?
In any case, it is not just teachers who dislike Gove. Perhaps parents are concerned about lack of school places. There is probably something in this, as the new Conservative line is to blame Labour for encouraging immigration or shagging or whatever it is that has led to an excess of 5-year-olds, and for not having drawn it to Gove's attention in the nearly four years he has been head honcho. If there were nothing in it, why the spin?
Has anyone had the wit to run a survey of parents with kids at new free schools? They are the ones we should be asking, not teachers who will do anything to protect their cushy status quo, or lefties who hate the fact he is trying to break up the teaching unions and an establishment that has happily supported plummeting education standards for nigh on fifty years.
Stop spinning and think of the voters. If Gove's reforms are improving things, then it is surely his own political incompetence that he cannot persuade a majority of that.
Gove's ability to persuade a majority of a trend to improvements is nothing to do with his competence but the unceasing propaganda from the teaching unions who can't stand any reform which threatens their dominance. It will take years to see the full results of Gove's reforms.
Because parents are unable to see for themselves whether there are enough places at the local school? Or whether the playing fields have been sold?
And let's assume that maybe half the teachers joined the profession because they think education is important and not just for the long summer holidays. What has Gove done to persuade them he is right, why hasn't it worked, and why isn't that Gove's fault?
Remember that @ALP forecast crossover by Christmas 2013 (wrong) and this site's self-appointed swingback guru @RodCrosby (he of the ellipsis on every post) forecast it for May 1 this year. We shall see (...)
Mr Scout, that was in fact his last crossover prediction.ALP had also predicted July 2013 and October 2013.He has gone quiet since the Christmas 2013 prediction went the same way as the others.....hence my carrying of his goalposts
Actually crossover has almost certainly already happened. There were (IIRC) three polls last year showing Labour and the Tories neck-and-neck. As polls are rounded to the nearest whole digit, it is likely that at least one of them in reality showed a small Tory lead.
'One problem is of course that the rational response to not liking your job is to look for another one - but teachers have largely painted themselves into a corner. It is probably difficult to change course, and because terms and conditions are national, to find an employer that does things differently. An accountant who doesn't like how hard he has to work at his City firm can always join a local firm, move into a corporate finance role, even set up his own firm... teachers don't have so many options.'
The irony is that most teachers (ime) still love teaching. The problem is that teaching seems to be regarded as an inconvenience in schools, getting in the way of all the pointless guff we have to do (too much to list). Good teachers, who love teaching but hate the fact that they can't focus on it, are leaving in droves.
When threshold payments were bought in, for example, the idea was to reward good teachers for staying in the classroom, rather than take on whole-school responsibilities/going into management etc. Now to *justify* it, you have to take on those responsibilities anyway - with no extra time given.
You can't opt to drop the threshold. You have to quit the job and reapply. And as so many schools are trying to pension off expensive/experienced (and often good) teachers due to budget constraints, that's a risky thing to do.
Gove's ability to persuade a majority of a trend to improvements is nothing to do with his competence but the unceasing propaganda from the teaching unions who can't stand any reform which threatens their dominance. It will take years to see the full results of Gove's reforms.
Out of interest what method do you think the teaching unions are using to successfully communicate their propaganda to a mass audience?
Remember that @ALP forecast crossover by Christmas 2013 (wrong) and this site's self-appointed swingback guru @RodCrosby (he of the ellipsis on every post) forecast it for May 1 this year. We shall see (...)
Mr Scout, that was in fact his last crossover prediction.ALP had also predicted July 2013 and October 2013.He has gone quiet since the Christmas 2013 prediction went the same way as the others.....hence my carrying of his goalposts
Actually crossover has almost certainly already happened. There were (IIRC) three polls last year showing Labour and the Tories neck-and-neck. As polls are rounded to the nearest whole digit, it is likely that at least one of them in reality showed a small Tory lead.
Or just as likely they all had small Labour leads.Without the facts we will have to go with the headline figure.....so....no crossover.
Hitherto Panelbase have consistently produced the most optimistic estimates of the state of the referendum race so far as the Yes side is concerned. Ever since the exact wording of the referendum question became known a year ago, their polls have consistently put Yes on 44% or 45% once the Don’t Knows are excluded. So given the advances for the Yes side registered by many other pollsters in recent weeks, there must have been some hope in nationalist ranks that when Panelbase’s first post-White Paper poll finally appeared – as it does in today’s Sunday Times and on Real Radio – it would show the Yes vote up to, say, 47% or 48%, thereby injecting real excitement into the campaign.
Not so. Instead Panelbase have reported the first widening of the No lead to be uncovered by any poll since the end of November. Yes are estimated to be on 37%, down one point on the middle of November, while the No vote is put at 49%, up two points. Once the Don’t Knows are excluded that means the Yes side are on 43%, lower than in any previous Panelbase poll that has asked how people would vote in response to the referendum question.
'One problem is of course that the rational response to not liking your job is to look for another one - but teachers have largely painted themselves into a corner. It is probably difficult to change course, and because terms and conditions are national, to find an employer that does things differently. An accountant who doesn't like how hard he has to work at his City firm can always join a local firm, move into a corporate finance role, even set up his own firm... teachers don't have so many options.'
The irony is that most teachers (ime) still love teaching. The problem is that teaching seems to be regarded as an inconvenience in schools, getting in the way of all the pointless guff we have to do (too much to list). Good teachers, who love teaching but hate the fact that they can't focus on it, are leaving in droves.
When threshold payments were bought in, for example, the idea was to reward good teachers for staying in the classroom, rather than take on whole-school responsibilities/going into management etc. Now to *justify* it, you have to take on those responsibilities anyway - with no extra time given.
You can't opt to drop the threshold. You have to quit the job and reapply. And as so many schools are trying to pension off expensive/experienced (and often good) teachers due to budget constraints, that's a risky thing to do.
I suppose this is the bit I don't get Carola. Schools have been clobbered with loads of box ticking, admin guff, pointless tests which basically get in the way of teaching. On that slow drift less frontline time I can't recall the teaching unions doing anything much to stop the rot.
Remember that @ALP forecast crossover by Christmas 2013 (wrong) and this site's self-appointed swingback guru @RodCrosby (he of the ellipsis on every post) forecast it for May 1 this year. We shall see (...)
Mr Scout, that was in fact his last crossover prediction.ALP had also predicted July 2013 and October 2013.He has gone quiet since the Christmas 2013 prediction went the same way as the others.....hence my carrying of his goalposts
I do think that at some point this year, there will be a crossover. Sure, it looks like it's still gonna be hello to PM Milliband, but even some one as tribal as you must realise that there's isn't any real great love for the current Labour party. You're not the party of the working class anymore, most of us think that you're not that much different from the Tories. You'll get 38%ish of the vote, big deal. You'll be happy with that, crowing that the much hated Tories have been shown the door, on a miserly 35% of the vote. Meanwhile, the rest of us'll go "meh!" and carry on, meeting the new boss, same as the old boss.
You can't opt to drop the threshold. You have to quit the job and reapply. And as so many schools are trying to pension off expensive/experienced (and often good) teachers due to budget constraints, that's a risky thing to do.
I once met someone who was trying to get back into teaching after a short-ish break. She reckoned she was being priced out of a job because she was too high up the pay spine. She would have been happy to work for less - in fact she reckoned she would need to do a bit of catching up as she was a bit rusty, so that was only fair - but schools wouldn't employ her on that basis. I suggested private schools but she said they tended to follow the same pay scales.
Having worked with (ex-)teachers they make lousy managers anyway, so I am surprised that anything above a departmental head is not recruited from outside, or is a separate school management cadre.
And I think you need to do away with spinal column points and the like and find a way of rewarding teachers according to the value they bring to the organisation (and their students). A good 25-year-old should always be paid more than a mediocre 50-year-old.
Remember that @ALP forecast crossover by Christmas 2013 (wrong) and this site's self-appointed swingback guru @RodCrosby (he of the ellipsis on every post) forecast it for May 1 this year. We shall see (...)
Mr Scout, that was in fact his last crossover prediction.ALP had also predicted July 2013 and October 2013.He has gone quiet since the Christmas 2013 prediction went the same way as the others.....hence my carrying of his goalposts
Actually crossover has almost certainly already happened. There were (IIRC) three polls last year showing Labour and the Tories neck-and-neck. As polls are rounded to the nearest whole digit, it is likely that at least one of them in reality showed a small Tory lead.
Or just as likely they all had small Labour leads.Without the facts we will have to go with the headline figure.....so....no crossover.
The July 2012 ICM doesn't give detailed figures for the "published VI" after taking likelihood to vote into account, just 36/36. The Sept YouGov had exactly 507 each voting Tory and Labour after weighting so it reallly was neck-and-neck. The October Ipsos MORI had 185 in each category. So the answer is that two of them did show exactly neck-and-neck and the ICM might have been either way.
'One problem is of course that the rational response to not liking your job is to look for another one - but teachers have largely painted themselves into a corner. It is probably difficult to change course, and because terms and conditions are national, to find an employer that does things differently. An accountant who doesn't like how hard he has to work at his City firm can always join a local firm, move into a corporate finance role, even set up his own firm... teachers don't have so many options.'
The irony is that most teachers (ime) still love teaching. The problem is that teaching seems to be regarded as an inconvenience in schools, getting in the way of all the pointless guff we have to do (too much to list). Good teachers, who love teaching but hate the fact that they can't focus on it, are leaving in droves.
When threshold payments were bought in, for example, the idea was to reward good teachers for staying in the classroom, rather than take on whole-school responsibilities/going into management etc. Now to *justify* it, you have to take on those responsibilities anyway - with no extra time given.
You can't opt to drop the threshold. You have to quit the job and reapply. And as so many schools are trying to pension off expensive/experienced (and often good) teachers due to budget constraints, that's a risky thing to do.
I suppose this is the bit I don't get Carola. Schools have been clobbered with loads of box ticking, admin guff, pointless tests which basically get in the way of teaching. On that slow drift less frontline time I can't recall the teaching unions doing anything much to stop the rot.
I agree, but pay and conditions is their focus (though as I've said many times, I've never heard a teacher complain about pay. Pension worries, yes. But the only reasons for quitting I've ever heard have been re workload and weak behaviour policy).
My wife has just left teaching after 21 years ... when she gets to draw her teaching pension after making 21 years of contributions it will be worth something like £8,000 a year.
I guess that's about 21/60ths then... your point is?
That it is not an outrageous or princely sum after 21 years of full-time work.
A friend who is a teacher at an independent school recently told me about a little known perk of the profession.
Apparently waxing lyrical about the capabilities of their little darlings has an aphrodisiac effect on yummy mummies, particularly the divorcees.
So bone idle teachers are not only betraying our kids futures, they're shagging our wives? Actually, that's ok, my lad's teacher is an attractive young blonde lady. Maybe I can watch?
If the Tory party have the same views as most PB Tory supporters regarding public sector workers, I genuinely hope they never get a majority ever again. The contempt you have is almost scary. It seems like everything is our fault!
I don't think most PB Tories have the views you think you divine.
Some do (but often they are not Conservative voters, although the term PB Tory is fungible). And the leadership of the Tory party certainly doesn't.
You can't opt to drop the threshold. You have to quit the job and reapply. And as so many schools are trying to pension off expensive/experienced (and often good) teachers due to budget constraints, that's a risky thing to do.
I once met someone who was trying to get back into teaching after a short-ish break. She reckoned she was being priced out of a job because she was too high up the pay spine. She would have been happy to work for less - in fact she reckoned she would need to do a bit of catching up as she was a bit rusty, so that was only fair - but schools wouldn't employ her on that basis. I suggested private schools but she said they tended to follow the same pay scales.
Having worked with (ex-)teachers they make lousy managers anyway, so I am surprised that anything above a departmental head is not recruited from outside, or is a separate school management cadre.
And I think you need to do away with spinal column points and the like and find a way of rewarding teachers according to the value they bring to the organisation (and their students). A good 25-year-old should always be paid more than a mediocre 50-year-old.
I'd agree re teachers becoming managers to a degree - but the problem, really, is that the *wrong* teachers make it up to management.
There's a recruitment/retention crisis looming. I think it will be easier for pricey teachers to get a foot back in the door then. A good way to get in is to do long term supply placements - there are a lot more of those around these days. If you're good, they'll often aim to keep you if/when an opening comes up. If you want to stay of course.
'One problem is of course that the rational response to not liking your job is to look for another one - but teachers have largely painted themselves into a corner. It is probably difficult to change course, and because terms and conditions are national, to find an employer that does things differently. An accountant who doesn't like how hard he has to work at his City firm can always join a local firm, move into a corporate finance role, even set up his own firm... teachers don't have so many options.'
The irony is that most teachers (ime) still love teaching. The problem is that teaching seems to be regarded as an inconvenience in schools, getting in the way of all the pointless guff we have to do (too much to list). Good teachers, who love teaching but hate the fact that they can't focus on it, are leaving in droves.
When threshold payments were bought in, for example, the idea was to reward good teachers for staying in the classroom, rather than take on whole-school responsibilities/going into management etc. Now to *justify* it, you have to take on those responsibilities anyway - with no extra time given.
You can't opt to drop the threshold. You have to quit the job and reapply. And as so many schools are trying to pension off expensive/experienced (and often good) teachers due to budget constraints, that's a risky thing to do.
I suppose this is the bit I don't get Carola. Schools have been clobbered with loads of box ticking, admin guff, pointless tests which basically get in the way of teaching. On that slow drift less frontline time I can't recall the teaching unions doing anything much to stop the rot.
I agree, but pay and conditions is their focus (though as I've said many times, I've never heard a teacher complain about pay. Pension worries, yes. But the only reasons for quitting I've ever heard have been re workload and weak behaviour policy).
But isn't time spent teaching, pretty fundamental to conditions ? It's one of the reasons I'm against politically biased Unions, they can only ever have a fight with one side of the political spectrum and short change their members as a result. For teachers getting to teach and pushing for more freedom in the class room should be pretty core to what the Union is about.
It's one of the reasons I'm against politically biased Unions, they can only ever have a fight with one side of the political spectrum and short change their members as a result.
I dont think you can accuse teaching unions of being politically biased. They are unaffiliated and took loads of action against the last Labour government's policies.
1. The Tories start to recover having persuaded their city patrons to open the bank lending taps for a bit of feel good borrowing. With Labour falling behind in theolls the party heeds the catcalls of continuity New Labour types and moves right. With prospects of a Labour win receding and a desperate need to stop the Tories (most posters on here have no concept of how desperate normal people have become to stop the Tories) the tumescent UKIP support amongst the working class soars. Whilst that won't be enough to dislodge Labour from safe seats, it will be enough to give the kippers real momentum. Feeling safe, Tea Party Tories also go UKIP, splitting the Tory vote allowing Labour/Yellow Pox wins in unlikely places. RESULT: Hung parliament, probably with Pox MPs propping up a minority Labour government
2. The Tories don't start to recover, because constantly telling voters you need to win that you think they are scrounging scum isn't a strategy designed for success. As the election approaches Tea Party Tories decide there is no risk to going UKIP as they aren't going to win anyway and the battle is for ideological purity. UKIP do well enough to split the right so that Labour win in some unlikely places (cf 1997) and the LibDems cling on in northern Scotland and parts of the west country (the large cuts Cameron made to the Environment Agency budget blamed for the floods rather than a lack of dregdging 15 years ago). RESULT: Labour win
With regards to the swinhback some of you are waiting for, they get this by outright abuse of the voters they need to support them do they? I went to my son's parents evening at his affluent catholic high school last week. Didn't find any support for Gove's reforms amongst parents, and the level of sarcastic comments from the teachers was entertaining.
It's one of the reasons I'm against politically biased Unions, they can only ever have a fight with one side of the political spectrum and short change their members as a result.
I dont think you can accuse teaching unions of being politically biased. They are unaffiliated and took loads of action against the last Labour government's policies.
It's one of the reasons I'm against politically biased Unions, they can only ever have a fight with one side of the political spectrum and short change their members as a result.
I dont think you can accuse teaching unions of being politically biased. They are unaffiliated and took loads of action against the last Labour government's policies.
It's one of the reasons I'm against politically biased Unions, they can only ever have a fight with one side of the political spectrum and short change their members as a result.
I dont think you can accuse teaching unions of being politically biased. They are unaffiliated and took loads of action against the last Labour government's policies.
I can and I have.
Ok, I think the fact that they have been just as quick to take action against Labour governments disproves your argument that they will only ever have a fight with one side of the political spectrum!
@financier Thanks for the link - odd that how MSM can't be bothered to do some reading or research - perhaps they are out looking for Mr Noah and his Ark.
2. The Tories don't start to recover, because constantly telling voters you need to win that you think they are scrounging scum isn't a strategy designed for success.
Can you post a link to an example of a senior Tory calling any voters "scrounging scum?
1. Si @Spunkyman58 1h Farage Sky News. "Have you taken good look at UKIP's cleaners etc?" Farage - "I don't need to - you lot are doing it all the time" LOL
2. Cllr.Brian Silvester @CllrBSilvester 2h Says lot about UK politics that despite one of most poisonous smear campaigns ever mounted against any party #UKIP are increasing their vote
It's one of the reasons I'm against politically biased Unions, they can only ever have a fight with one side of the political spectrum and short change their members as a result.
I dont think you can accuse teaching unions of being politically biased. They are unaffiliated and took loads of action against the last Labour government's policies.
I can and I have.
Ok, I think the fact that they have been just as quick to take action against Labour governments disproves your argument that they will only ever have a fight with one side of the political spectrum!
My kids went through school mostly in the Blair years I can't recall a single event that inconvenienced me as a parent nor where the school was closed for a sizeable period of time. I was also a school governor for half that period. What you call action isn't, where's the "fight" ? A union even if not affiliated will be more likely to seek a dispute with a right of centre govt earlier and more intensely than a left of centre one, they will also be more likely to seek compromise with a LoC one than a RoC one because of the politics.
2. The Tories don't start to recover, because constantly telling voters you need to win that you think they are scrounging scum isn't a strategy designed for success.
Can you post a link to an example of a senior Tory calling any voters "scrounging scum?
Here's someone talking about 'Shirkers':
Labour is the party of hard workers not free-riders. The clue is in the name. We are the Labour party. The party that said that idleness is an evil. The party of workers, not shirkers
Actually crossover has almost certainly already happened. There were (IIRC) three polls last year showing Labour and the Tories neck-and-neck. As polls are rounded to the nearest whole digit, it is likely that at least one of them in reality showed a small Tory lead.
For a few years there was a a sub-community on PB playing the game of Diplomacy, then for various reasons it died away. Recently Luicien_Fletcher, gent of this Parish, put up a post for a new game and it "sold-out" inside half-an-hour. If you weren't on line when it came up then you missed it, and I know there were several posters who would have liked to have joined if they had got the chance.
That game has been running very successfully for a couple of weeks and has had its fair share of plots, schemes, back-stabbings and mild skull-duggery. It is also reaching the point were the first eliminations could be expected to take place in the near future.
So, it occurs that it might be time to kick off a new game or, maybe, two. You see experience has shown that everyone's enjoyment is improved if the players are, generally-speaking, and taking on theing with another, on much the same level. I therefore propose to set up two games:
PB Diplomacy Novice Hurdles
A standard game* open to only those who have not previously been either an outright winner or a member of a wining alliance.
PB Diplomacy 2014 Death Match
A standard game with one exception, there can only be one winner alliances are not allowed. One player has to make 18 centres to win. Anyone can join but be aware this is going to be a devious, vicious, no holds barred, bring a gun to a knife fight sort of game. Not really for novices, the feint-hearted or anyone who likes their gaming fair and honest. Andy Cooke is now a confirmed runner so here is a chance for PB Diplomatists to test their metal against the most cunning, devious and treacherous player seen on the Diplomacy board for many a long year.
Those who are interested in either game should email me at HurstLlama at gmail dot com for details.
*For those who don't know Diplomacy is a game without dice, without any element of external luck which is built around one central paradox: there are 7 players each of whom want to win but it is impossible for any one player to win on their own they must enlist allies amongst the other 6 to help them. The game is therefore one of negotiation, decit, blackmail, treachery and all round good-fellowship. The rules can be learned in half an hour but the play depends on human interaction and so is eternal and unlimited.
The Government is having a good crisis over the winter floods. The Environment Agency is not. Why is that? Perhaps these quotes, all from Eric Pickles over the last week, will help explain:
The NUT held a national strike in 2008. There not being a national strike during the Blair years isnt a particularly strong point because there wasnt one for the 10 years before Blair took power either. I think the facts show that teachers take action on the merits of the arguments as they see them irrespective of who is in power.
Comments
Wales is Labour education policy made flesh. First world funding. Third world performance. A pile of excuses. No changes planned. A generation betrayed.
The bigger issue is how well qualified these quangocrats are for the jobs they have been appointed to - little in Smith's background suggests he would be particularly suited for the role (something in the arts would be a different matter) - and that they are primarily Labour quangocrats is only because the previous government was so assiduous in stuffing quangos with like minded people.....I've little doubt in 4 years time we'll bemoaning the inadequacies of Tory & Lib Dem ones too....
Very tetchy on here this morning. It's regrettable but inevitable but politics became a lot more adversarial, partisan and bad-tempered (and arguably more fun) with the departure of Blair and then the global financial crisis in whose shadow (the latter, not the former) we still exist.
I'll vote LD of course next time but in East Ham that will make no difference whatsoever just as anyone voting Conservative in this constituency is going to have no impact on the final result.
That said, the glorious uncertainty of all this will keep the "fun" going for a fair old while yet. On the one side we have the apparent stability of the Labour (or should that be anti-Coalition) vote and on the other the improving (up to a point) economy bolstering the Conservative (or should that be anti-Labour) vote. Throw in the wild card of UKIP and we have all the ingredients (so to speak) for as stormy a period politically as we are currently experiencing meteorologically.
Interesting OGH has posted the YouGov average for the week on Twitter as Labour 38.6, Tory 33.6, LibDem 9.8 and UKIP 10.8. This produces a Labour majority of 54 on UNS. Just swapping them around to 33.6, 38.6, 10.8 and 9.8 by contrast produces the Tories 4 short of a majority according to Baxter. If so much can change on as low a swing of 2.5% from where YouGov claim we are now, show how much there is to play for.
It's all hypocrisy from the left: we're still following your policies. We shouldn't be, but sometimes it takes an event like this to point put that the previous policy was wrong.
`For Gordon Brown of course the response would be to "appear on telly a lot wearing wellington boots"
lol.Isn`t that what Cammo did?
Atleast Brown wouldn`t have flown in,visited a farm and flew out quickly in case he gets heckled by the people like he was in Kent.
100 on Betfair
'Only 3% and 2% of those polled respectively said EU membership or currency was most important to them in deciding how to vote in the referendum yet our politicians see these issues as priorities.'
In addition there's an ongoing argument between those who say we're all one big happy, homogenised Brit family, and those who say there are major difference between Scotland & the rest of the UK. Regarding immigration, the latter certainly seems to be the case. The last Yougov UK wide 'Issues' poll had immigration 2nd highest.
'When asked which of a prompted list of seventeen issues was most important in deciding how you might vote, the economy and job prospects were tied equally with 15% indicating these issues were most important, followed by healthcare (11%), pensions/benefits (8%), education (8%) and then personal finances (6%). Immigration (4%) ranked higher than EU membership and currency.'
http://tinyurl.com/oj2gu3e
Ask parents what they think? Whatever next!!!
In a nutshell, to the teaching unions and the Left it is all about them and their ideology and not the best interests of the kids.
"On cannabis policy specifically, slightly more (47%) actually tend to favour a change in the law than want the law to remain as it is (43%). Of those who favour a change, 25% say it should be illegal but decriminalised, like parking in the wrong place, while 22% say it should be legal altogether."
http://yougov.co.uk/news/2013/12/03/20-know-someone-who-uses-cannabis-weekly/
Going back to Feb.2013,IpsosMori found:"New Ipsos MORI poll shows 53% of GB public want cannabis legalised or decriminalised, and 67% want a comprehensive review of our approach to drugs".
http://transform-drugs.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/new-ipsos-mori-poll-shows-53-of-gb.html
I suggest the Rhode Island policy would make a good start.
http://www.health.ri.gov/healthcare/medicalmarijuana/for/patients/
'In May next year will see significant Anti-Gove tactical voting.'
Do you think that will cancel out the significant Anti-Balls tactical voting?
Or are you saying that maintaining 13 weeks' holiday a year is a priority?
When asked about which areas were currently devolved to the Scottish Parliament, only 50% of voters were aware that education is already a devolved power, 47% mentioned healthcare and 35% free care for the elderly, with 34% indicating that transport was a devolved power.
Why so low?
Edit - Hunter seems a bit like Ashcroft "stop banging on about trivia"
The most powerful sanction they had was to say that failure to learn results in an extremely hard life.
With the welfare state as it is even that is a pretty de-powered sanction, especially for teenage girls.
For those who reject education completely, a kid and a property are waiting.
As for teaching and education. Clearly there are a great many dedicated, excellent teachers. There are however far too many inadequate failing teachers which the system makes it almost impossible to remove. The teaching profession's spokespersons and the teaching unions seem to be the only people who fail to accept what the rest of the world sees, that educational standards, particularly in England, are falling further and further behind the rest of the world. I agree a great many teachers work very hard. They are also very well paid, have unequalled holidays and support (we didn't have so called in-service days or classroom assistants when I was at school and we all left being able to read, write, count and spell) and can look forward to excellent pensions which most office workers and middle managers in the private sector can only dream of.
If it is true that Gove's reforms will lead to the sunlit uplands of PISA, it shows staggering political ineptitude that he can't get massive popular support.
The usual
But as you say teachers' hours are similar to other middle managers so i can't really see how the longer holidays etc. are extra time, it's just at present the teachers' year is organised differently.
Oh, and when she gets to draw her teaching pension after making 21 years of contributions it will be worth something like £8,000 a year.
http://www.tes.co.uk/article.aspx?storycode=6019148
One problem is of course that the rational response to not liking your job is to look for another one - but teachers have largely painted themselves into a corner. It is probably difficult to change course, and because terms and conditions are national, to find an employer that does things differently. An accountant who doesn't like how hard he has to work at his City firm can always join a local firm, move into a corporate finance role, even set up his own firm... teachers don't have so many options.
I think part of the problem the teachers face is their Union which tends to project them in a less favourable light to the wider public.
Yes: 29
No: 42
DK: 29
So excluding DK:
Yes: 41
No: 59
http://scotlandseptember18.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/TNS_-_ScotlandSeptember18_Poll_Phase_2__-_10th_February_2014.pdf
And let's assume that maybe half the teachers joined the profession because they think education is important and not just for the long summer holidays. What has Gove done to persuade them he is right, why hasn't it worked, and why isn't that Gove's fault?
The irony is that most teachers (ime) still love teaching. The problem is that teaching seems to be regarded as an inconvenience in schools, getting in the way of all the pointless guff we have to do (too much to list). Good teachers, who love teaching but hate the fact that they can't focus on it, are leaving in droves.
When threshold payments were bought in, for example, the idea was to reward good teachers for staying in the classroom, rather than take on whole-school responsibilities/going into management etc. Now to *justify* it, you have to take on those responsibilities anyway - with no extra time given.
You can't opt to drop the threshold. You have to quit the job and reapply. And as so many schools are trying to pension off expensive/experienced (and often good) teachers due to budget constraints, that's a risky thing to do.
http://blog.whatscotlandthinks.org/2014/02/panelbase-breaks-the-pattern/
Hitherto Panelbase have consistently produced the most optimistic estimates of the state of the referendum race so far as the Yes side is concerned. Ever since the exact wording of the referendum question became known a year ago, their polls have consistently put Yes on 44% or 45% once the Don’t Knows are excluded. So given the advances for the Yes side registered by many other pollsters in recent weeks, there must have been some hope in nationalist ranks that when Panelbase’s first post-White Paper poll finally appeared – as it does in today’s Sunday Times and on Real Radio – it would show the Yes vote up to, say, 47% or 48%, thereby injecting real excitement into the campaign.
Not so. Instead Panelbase have reported the first widening of the No lead to be uncovered by any poll since the end of November. Yes are estimated to be on 37%, down one point on the middle of November, while the No vote is put at 49%, up two points. Once the Don’t Knows are excluded that means the Yes side are on 43%, lower than in any previous Panelbase poll that has asked how people would vote in response to the referendum question.
You'll get 38%ish of the vote, big deal. You'll be happy with that, crowing that the much hated Tories have been shown the door, on a miserly 35% of the vote.
Meanwhile, the rest of us'll go "meh!" and carry on, meeting the new boss, same as the old boss.
Having worked with (ex-)teachers they make lousy managers anyway, so I am surprised that anything above a departmental head is not recruited from outside, or is a separate school management cadre.
And I think you need to do away with spinal column points and the like and find a way of rewarding teachers according to the value they bring to the organisation (and their students). A good 25-year-old should always be paid more than a mediocre 50-year-old.
Apparently waxing lyrical about the capabilities of their little darlings has an aphrodisiac effect on yummy mummies, particularly the divorcees.
This has been mooted for a while:
http://www.theguardian.com/education/2014/feb/08/new-teachers-body-government-curriculum
So bone idle teachers are not only betraying our kids futures, they're shagging our wives? Actually, that's ok, my lad's teacher is an attractive young blonde lady. Maybe I can watch?
Some do (but often they are not Conservative voters, although the term PB Tory is fungible). And the leadership of the Tory party certainly doesn't.
There's a recruitment/retention crisis looming. I think it will be easier for pricey teachers to get a foot back in the door then. A good way to get in is to do long term supply placements - there are a lot more of those around these days. If you're good, they'll often aim to keep you if/when an opening comes up. If you want to stay of course.
'UKIP Scotland is run by "loonies, fruitcakes and out-of-the-closet racists with repellently extreme" views.'
'http://tinyurl.com/navkqty'
2008 doc by the EA:
http://www.tauntondeane.gov.uk/irj/go/km/docs/CouncilDocuments/TDBC/Documents/Forward Planning/Evidence Base/Parret Catchment Flood Management Plan.pdf
2012 Doc by the EA:
http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/static/documents/Leisure/_CFMP_Parrett_2012.pdf
http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/research/planning/114342.aspx
1. The Tories start to recover having persuaded their city patrons to open the bank lending taps for a bit of feel good borrowing. With Labour falling behind in theolls the party heeds the catcalls of continuity New Labour types and moves right. With prospects of a Labour win receding and a desperate need to stop the Tories (most posters on here have no concept of how desperate normal people have become to stop the Tories) the tumescent UKIP support amongst the working class soars. Whilst that won't be enough to dislodge Labour from safe seats, it will be enough to give the kippers real momentum. Feeling safe, Tea Party Tories also go UKIP, splitting the Tory vote allowing Labour/Yellow Pox wins in unlikely places.
RESULT: Hung parliament, probably with Pox MPs propping up a minority Labour government
2. The Tories don't start to recover, because constantly telling voters you need to win that you think they are scrounging scum isn't a strategy designed for success. As the election approaches Tea Party Tories decide there is no risk to going UKIP as they aren't going to win anyway and the battle is for ideological purity. UKIP do well enough to split the right so that Labour win in some unlikely places (cf 1997) and the LibDems cling on in northern Scotland and parts of the west country (the large cuts Cameron made to the Environment Agency budget blamed for the floods rather than a lack of dregdging 15 years ago).
RESULT: Labour win
With regards to the swinhback some of you are waiting for, they get this by outright abuse of the voters they need to support them do they? I went to my son's parents evening at his affluent catholic high school last week. Didn't find any support for Gove's reforms amongst parents, and the level of sarcastic comments from the teachers was entertaining.
Ukip Scotland is a basket case. Apologies to baskets there.
Mike, I couldn't have agreed with Viscount Monckton's comments more if I had penned them myself.
1. Si @Spunkyman58 1h
Farage Sky News.
"Have you taken good look at UKIP's cleaners etc?"
Farage - "I don't need to - you lot are doing it all the time"
LOL
2. Cllr.Brian Silvester @CllrBSilvester 2h
Says lot about UK politics that despite one of most poisonous smear campaigns ever mounted against any party #UKIP are increasing their vote
I do have something in common with Ukip Scotland then ....
For a few years there was a a sub-community on PB playing the game of Diplomacy, then for various reasons it died away. Recently Luicien_Fletcher, gent of this Parish, put up a post for a new game and it "sold-out" inside half-an-hour. If you weren't on line when it came up then you missed it, and I know there were several posters who would have liked to have joined if they had got the chance.
That game has been running very successfully for a couple of weeks and has had its fair share of plots, schemes, back-stabbings and mild skull-duggery. It is also reaching the point were the first eliminations could be expected to take place in the near future.
So, it occurs that it might be time to kick off a new game or, maybe, two. You see experience has shown that everyone's enjoyment is improved if the players are, generally-speaking, and taking on theing with another, on much the same level. I therefore propose to set up two games:
PB Diplomacy Novice Hurdles
A standard game* open to only those who have not previously been either an outright winner or a member of a wining alliance.
PB Diplomacy 2014 Death Match
A standard game with one exception, there can only be one winner alliances are not allowed. One player has to make 18 centres to win. Anyone can join but be aware this is going to be a devious, vicious, no holds barred, bring a gun to a knife fight sort of game. Not really for novices, the feint-hearted or anyone who likes their gaming fair and honest. Andy Cooke is now a confirmed runner so here is a chance for PB Diplomatists to test their metal against the most cunning, devious and treacherous player seen on the Diplomacy board for many a long year.
Those who are interested in either game should email me at HurstLlama at gmail dot com for details.
*For those who don't know Diplomacy is a game without dice, without any element of external luck which is built around one central paradox: there are 7 players each of whom want to win but it is impossible for any one player to win on their own they must enlist allies amongst the other 6 to help them. The game is therefore one of negotiation, decit, blackmail, treachery and all round good-fellowship. The rules can be learned in half an hour but the play depends on human interaction and so is eternal and unlimited.
There are still vacancies in both games.
Perhaps these quotes, all from Eric Pickles over the last week, will help explain:
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/jameskirkup/100258825/eric-pickles-floods-and-the-environment-agency-playing-the-blame-game-pays-off/
Pickles dis come across well on Marr - 'Should the Prime Minister apologise..? "I apologise.....