It hasn't really ebbed or flowed anywhere, has it? They had the original meeting of 28 which produced Hungary, Sweden, Holland and UK against while Germany was vague, producing a potential blocking minority. Then Merkel immediately got push-back and endorsed Juncker which left the right-wing opponents short, and nothing has moved since.
Think there's more subsurface haggling than is immediately obvious.
Interesting article from Dan Hodges, I have sympathy on a philosophical level just think removing faith schools would be controversial and impractical.
He goes further still, advocating the banning of single-sex schools and (it seems) private education. Most single-sex schools, private schools, or faith schools don't pose a danger to our society.
I disagree. Segregating the rich and poor is a huge danger to society, one much bigger than any Islamic extremism.
I doubt it's a coincidence that Thatcher went to a selective single-sex school.
What a terrible example to back up your 'case'. Thatcher ,as far as I am aware, went o a school anyone rich or poor could go to . Also I am sure the school Maggie went to is very proud of her .
Absolutely. My daughter is at the same school (KGGS in Grantham) and there is a wedgewood plaque in her honour in the old School hall where all the honours are displayed with a carving in profile of the lady and beneath it the words:
“A Patriot, Courage, Tenacity, Dedication.”
The main school hall is named in her honour (using her maiden name of Roberts)
Anyone who has bet on UKIP to win in Grimsby should be sectioned by their families for wasting money . Although they did come first in the local elections the turnout was always in this area appallingly low . Their ex Conservative candidate is also the one who managed to split the UKIP group on Lincs CC into 2 opposing halves within a couple of months of the 2013 CC elections .
Whatever the relative merits of the ex-conservative, she was not the one responsible for splitting the UKIP group on Lincs CC. That lies entirely at the feet of Chris Pain who was thrown out of the party after allegations of racism.
you are being disingenuous . Chris Pain was expelled after the rebel group of 6 councillors broke away and the allegations of racism appeared at that time . Given Ayling's NF history they are exposed as a smoke screen .
Nope that is absolutely not true. The whole spark for the split was the police being called in to investigate extremely racist comments on Pain's face book. He was suspended as a matter of course at that point and everything else developed from there. Three of the six breakaway councillors including Pain were investigated by the police prior to any split.
If you are going to spread false accusations at least try and get your basic facts right.
OT. Having put in a prediction a lot closer than any of the polling firms, albeit having had the advantage of not being constrained to the data alone, can I put in my two pennyworth.
.........So my prediction was basically that Lab would underperform on the polling, Con would overperform, and UKIP would be there or thereabouts. And so it proved.
What does this tell us about the likely accuracy of GE 2015 polls? Well, nothing at all, because for all these reasons the circumstances of the Euro elections were very different to the context we can expect at GE 2015. As also applies to Newark.
What do I think will happen in 2015? Well, it's nonetheless that Labour will underperform against the polls in GE 2015. But that's nothing to do with anything that we've seen to date, but rather the consequences of the introduction of an untried system of individual voter registration likely to play havoc with registration by transient populations in private rented accommodation.
Really good analysis. I think the impact of the new voter system on inner cities in particular needs a lot more attention from punters, though those seats tend not to be marginal. ............ On Europe, in Broxtowe we defied advice and put out a lot of stuff about the EU and our splendid policies ....... By the way, FWIW Labour expects to win Cambridge in a canter. It's exactly the sort of seat where the swing from the LibDems is largest.
Agree "Wulfrun_Phil"'s post well worth a read. Losing that chap Huppert would bring deep deep joy. I had it listed as a LD hold, in case my heart was ruling my head. Huppert has managed to upset most of the HoC.
I'm really surprised that this summit on sexual violence in warfare isn't getting more attention. I know it's not necessarily a glamorous area of international policy but I think it is a hugely important and impressive campaign, and something that deserves to be up the agenda more.
Why we're getting these ridiculous "No Prime Minister" adverts.
They're scared. I love the 4 smokescreen rationales they've come up with. This campaign is supported by the big tobacco companies who aren't worried about slippery slopes or gesture politics. They are worried that the policy will work and their profits will be hit.
Interesting article from Dan Hodges, I have sympathy on a philosophical level just think removing faith schools would be controversial and impractical.
2. Work out how to recreate the academic success of faith-based schools in secular schools.
I think we need to do 2 before we worry about 1
The academic success of faith schools is nothing to do with religion making either good teaching or pupils its the general intake of kids (ie those usually with interested parents). There is nothing to solve before you need to get rid of 1) imo
Except that - if you believe faith schools give a better overall education - then you are requiring several years worth, at least, of kids to accept a worse education for themselves personally until you find a way to improve standards in the overall sector.
Isn't it better to improve the overall sector first, so that parents feel they don't need to send their kids to faith schools?
Really good analysis. I think the impact of the new voter system on inner cities in particular needs a lot more attention from punters, though those seats tend not to be marginal. Is it correct that new voters now have to produce their NI number?
...
The new voter registration system will see the number of people on the register fall and I suspect by quite large amounts. I spent a month last winter trudging the street of Hurstpierpoint and district knocking on doors and trying to get people who had not responded to the councils invitation to register as a voter. Of nearly 400 households on my list I managed to get just under 200 to sign up. If I had had to get the National Insurance Number for each voter I doubt I would have got into double figures. That is in nice, comfortable, law-abiding (it is an offence not to fill in voter registration forms) rural Sussex. What it will be like in inner city areas I dread to think.
Presumably, that will make Turnout 'appear' to be up, and possibly quite dramatically, as those people that can't be bothered to register are unlikely to have been bothered to vote previously, and so the numerator will not have changed much, but the denominator fallen quite considerably. Worth bearing in mind when considering 'Turnout' bets.
OT. Having put in a prediction a lot closer than any of the polling firms, albeit having had the advantage of not being constrained to the data alone, can I put in my two pennyworth.
.........So my prediction was basically that Lab would underperform on the polling, Con would overperform, and UKIP would be there or thereabouts. And so it proved.
What does this tell us about the likely accuracy of GE 2015 polls? Well, nothing at all, because for all these reasons the circumstances of the Euro elections were very different to the context we can expect at GE 2015. As also applies to Newark.
What do I think will happen in 2015? Well, it's nonetheless that Labour will underperform against the polls in GE 2015. But that's nothing to do with anything that we've seen to date, but rather the consequences of the introduction of an untried system of individual voter registration likely to play havoc with registration by transient populations in private rented accommodation.
Really good analysis. I think the impact of the new voter system on inner cities in particular needs a lot more attention from punters, though those seats tend not to be marginal. ............ On Europe, in Broxtowe we defied advice and put out a lot of stuff about the EU and our splendid policies ....... By the way, FWIW Labour expects to win Cambridge in a canter. It's exactly the sort of seat where the swing from the LibDems is largest.
Agree "Wulfrun_Phil"'s post well worth a read. Losing that chap Huppert would bring deep deep joy. I had it listed as a LD hold, in case my heart was ruling my head. Huppert has managed to upset most of the HoC.
Upsetting "most of the HoC" (mainly Labour benches) might be seen as a vote winner.
Anyone who has bet on UKIP to win in Grimsby should be sectioned by their families for wasting money . Although they did come first in the local elections the turnout was always in this area appallingly low . Their ex Conservative candidate is also the one who managed to split the UKIP group on Lincs CC into 2 opposing halves within a couple of months of the 2013 CC elections .
Whatever the relative merits of the ex-conservative, she was not the one responsible for splitting the UKIP group on Lincs CC. That lies entirely at the feet of Chris Pain who was thrown out of the party after allegations of racism.
you are being disingenuous . Chris Pain was expelled after the rebel group of 6 councillors broke away and the allegations of racism appeared at that time . Given Ayling's NF history they are exposed as a smoke screen .
Nope that is absolutely not true. The whole spark for the split was the police being called in to investigate extremely racist comments on Pain's face book. He was suspended as a matter of course at that point and everything else developed from there. Three of the six breakaway councillors including Pain were investigated by the police prior to any split.
If you are going to spread false accusations at least try and get your basic facts right.
And the results of the police investigation in the racist remarks on Mr Pain's facebook page was that no action should be taken . Reading the police statements at the time give a good indication that they believed that the statements had been planted there by someone else . It would be supposition to think that a local political rival would have done so .
The Birmingham schools that are being investigated were doing very well academically, a big recent turn around in grades
Same as Tower Hamlets.
Could the fact that they are almost exclusively faith schools in all but name be the reason?
"In 1997 its schools were rated the worst in the country and the following year Ofsted declared the council’s education department, the best-funded in the country, to be failing.
Tower Hamlets Mayor Lutfur Rahman welcomed the report, saying: “The transformation of the borough’s schools is a wonderful success story."
Interesting article from Dan Hodges, I have sympathy on a philosophical level just think removing faith schools would be controversial and impractical.
2. Work out how to recreate the academic success of faith-based schools in secular schools.
I think we need to do 2 before we worry about 1
The academic success of faith schools is nothing to do with religion making either good teaching or pupils its the general intake of kids (ie those usually with interested parents). There is nothing to solve before you need to get rid of 1) imo
Except that - if you believe faith schools give a better overall education - then you are requiring several years worth, at least, of kids to accept a worse education for themselves personally until you find a way to improve standards in the overall sector.
Isn't it better to improve the overall sector first, so that parents feel they don't need to send their kids to faith schools?
Well I think kids who go to a non- faith school would do just as well as going to a faith school. Faith schools only look good because they have good 'raw material'. On an individual level kids should do the same imo. Its also one of the reasons why private schools tend to seem to do really well compared to state schools . I like Mr Gove and appreciate his efforts to improve state schooling despite the sneers from supposed lefties who should applaud this attempt to bring up standards for poorer children.
As I said yesterday though, it is bloody silly to base a child's education on what fairy tale about God their parent' believe (or pretend to believe) in. If you have to , replace faith schools with another selection criteria be it grammar schools (at least it is fairly logical to base a kid's education on how good at it they are)
And the results of the police investigation in the racist remarks on Mr Pain's facebook page was that no action should be taken . Reading the police statements at the time give a good indication that they believed that the statements had been planted there by someone else . It would be supposition to think that a local political rival would have done so .
And then that is pure supposition. The police made it clear there was no way to prove that anyone other than Pain had put the comments online. Under those circumstances if UKIP had not thrown him out you can bet people like you would have been all over it claiming they were condoning racism.
As it is you are trying to play both sides and claim that throwing him out was wrong and was part of a big cover up. It is sad that you still try to play these childish games.
Presumably, that will make Turnout 'appear' to be up, and possibly quite dramatically, as those people that can't be bothered to register are unlikely to have been bothered to vote previously, and so the numerator will not have changed much, but the denominator fallen quite considerably. Worth bearing in mind when considering 'Turnout' bets.
Yes. Another odd effect will be to make the system seem more unfairly biased to Labour, since the registered electorate in inner cities will fall heavily, and Labour will tend to win those seats with modest numbers of votes. A further effect will be that students may get even less attention from parties, since they will be particularly unlikely to pursue registration with NI numbers etc.
Personally I favour allocation of seats according to the best available census data of qualified (adult and entitled to vote) population, rather than according to those who actually register. But that's only dealing with the symptom of the problem - the real issue is making it easy, yet fraud-proof to register.
Comments
“A Patriot, Courage, Tenacity, Dedication.”
The main school hall is named in her honour (using her maiden name of Roberts)
If you are going to spread false accusations at least try and get your basic facts right.
Why we're getting these ridiculous "No Prime Minister" adverts.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-27769132
Isn't it better to improve the overall sector first, so that parents feel they don't need to send their kids to faith schools?
It would be supposition to think that a local political rival would have done so .
http://www.towerhamlets.gov.uk/lgsl/1-50/29_school_governors.aspx
As I said yesterday though, it is bloody silly to base a child's education on what fairy tale about God their parent' believe (or pretend to believe) in. If you have to , replace faith schools with another selection criteria be it grammar schools (at least it is fairly logical to base a kid's education on how good at it they are)
As it is you are trying to play both sides and claim that throwing him out was wrong and was part of a big cover up. It is sad that you still try to play these childish games.
Personally I favour allocation of seats according to the best available census data of qualified (adult and entitled to vote) population, rather than according to those who actually register. But that's only dealing with the symptom of the problem - the real issue is making it easy, yet fraud-proof to register.