Mr. Jonathan, you silly billy. Can you point out to me, and the rest of the class, inaccuracies or plain untruths Gove is attempting to insert into the teaching of history?
It's hardly Orwellian to teach British history. But then, I think you're being a tinker on purpose.
How and what you teach is key. History that focuses solely on kings and queens gives a very different perspective to one that focuses on social history, for example. More specifically, how should a figure such as Churchill be approached? A great, unifying Tory war leader, or a maverick politician who had a great war but was also complicit in the brutal suppression of strikes in Scotland? It's all about politics. He who controls the past, controls the future and all that.
Germ: -40. So The Merkel love-in is fading in Germany as well. However the socialist opposition would probably drive the EU and Germany even deeper into the sh*t.
Well my daughter was at the time but is now married and living in Oz (I blame myself for letting her watch Neighbours when she was young).
I'm male, and I think sometimes that modern Britain has become more "girly" in general. Whatever happened to a stiff upper lip? And everyone is "vulnerable" and needs protecting nowadays.
Soft shites!
Of course, that could just mean that I'm an old git.
A few years ago, my daughter's homework was about the blitz ... along the lines of "put yourself in their place, how would you have felt, and what would you have needed?"
It seems to her and her classmates that the obvious answer was counselling. I knew then that modern teaching had "moved on".
Personally, I'd have thought the obvious answer was better anti-aircraft guns and a bloody deep shelter, but what do I know?
As far as I remember, as a very small child the important things (living in a country village and 12 miles from Bristol) were:
My father putting blackout boards over the ground floor windows each evening, sleeping under the bed at night (no local shelter), my father and other men fire-watching from the top of the church tower, the noise of the AA guns firing from the top of the local hill, watching machine-gun bullets (from a dog-fight) lift the tar from the road in spurts, and in Bristol being shocked at seeing houses cut in two by bombs and looking at the interior of what was someone's bedroom, bathroom etc (almost an invasion of privacy).
Everyone was far too busy to even think of counselling - those who lost husbands, brothers etc in the war were supported by the local community and got on with their lives, for who knew how long each of us had.
"Measles cases in Wales are spreading with "alarming" speed despite urgent calls to ensure children have vital MMR protection. Health chiefs have again warned that the epidemic could leave unprotected children brain-damaged or dead.
Public Health Wales (PHW) says 432 cases have been reported so far, mainly in the Swansea area, with 51 people - many of them babies - in hospital.
In the last week alone, 116 people have been diagnosed and the numbers infected have doubled in less than four weeks. The disease has now spread to children in 111 secondary and primary schools, nurseries and play groups.
Experts fear the epidemic could rival an outbreak which ravaged Dublin more than a decade ago, when three people died. PHW is urging parents of all children aged between one and 18 in Wales who have not been fully vaccinated to contact their GP for advice and to arrange vaccination as soon as possible.
Dr Marion Lyons, PHW director of health protection, warned: "Measles is now spreading at an alarming rate across areas of Wales. Worryingly, there are still tens of thousands of susceptible children across Wales, yet our weekly monitoring of vaccination rates shows only a slight increase in numbers receiving MMR jabs."
History has much wider significance than its formal subject matter, because it's the one subject at school where pupils are taught how to organise facts to form opinions and make arguments. (I'm aware that students can now get taught Critical Thinking, but that's seen to be a complete doss of a subject by all the students I've talked with).
OK, I get why history is a big deal, and I get some of the specific political issues like "should we tell them about our war crimes?"
But even within history, why is chronological vs thematic interesting to the commentariat rather than - I dunno - Tudors vs Stuarts or Lecture Method vs Assignment Method?
History that focuses solely on kings and queens gives a very different perspective to one that focuses on social history, for example.
Gove isn't proposing 'history that focusses solely on kings & queens'
The draft curriculum out for consultation includes:
the struggle for power in Britain, including: the Six Acts and Peterloo through to Catholic Emancipation the slave trade and the abolition of slavery, the role of Olaudah Equiano and free slaves the Great Reform Act and the Chartists
Have you actually read it? Or are you repeating what you've learned by rote from the Unions?
@Financier." It seems to her and her classmates that the obvious answer was counselling. I knew then that modern teaching had "moved on".
But who would counsel the gibbering counsellors? These so called progressive teachers and their ilk have no idea what it is to come under bombardment, aerial or otherwise.
The bonfire that the England fans were chanting about should have had John Terry on, along with the Ferdinands. Then it would have been properly diverse and not racist?
There's a predisposition towards claiming rights and victimhood and the like from certain quarters. Oh, and being offended. Being offended means you don't actually need reasons to win an argument. Hurt feelings beat logic.
In fact, the question you raised about the Blitz was all about feelings and emotions, rather than the hard facts and wider historical context.
Does anyone actually still believe that the police log is a genuine and honest account of what happened that evening?
Does anyone still believe that the Downing Street cctv cameras are so ineptly placed that they missed most of the action, including Mitchell's admitted swearing at the police? What was on the footage David Cameron saw?
Got your tinfoil hat on?
Firstly, the cameras would not have been placed there in case there was such an altercation. As I recall, they provided a broad overview of the gate (see (1)).
So what would you have expected the cameras to be focussed on to do a good job; how many cameras would be needed, and why, without hindsight, would you have placed there there? Even better, look at Streetview (2) and show where these cameras are.
Looking at the video (1), and Streetview (2), it seems as if the footage was taken from the camera hanging off the gable end of the second police box (see streetview link below) - there's another one on the third box nearer No. 10. Can you see any similar cameras anywhere that would have had coverage of the incident?
The only other alternative are cop-cams (the wearable cameras that some policemen wear). Are these worn by the officers on duty at Downing Street?
So tell me, where are these other cameras that shot the different footage you insist exists? Or are they just figments of your fevered imagination because you don't want to face the fact that the police log does not represent what really happened?
" Two “disturbing” telephone calls from highly respected surgeons led to the suspension of child heart surgery at Leeds General Infirmary, the NHS Medical Director said today.
Staff at the hospital, where about 400 heart operations on children take place each year, are making alternative arrangements for patients who had been due to be treated there. The suspension was announced yesterday.
History is a story of what has happened (mostly recorded).
An understanding of the chronology puts each incident in its place and how it relates to other incidents. Also it enables understanding of how mankind has improved and often later regressed and then to improve again.
In its chronology it shows how a society emerged from an autocratic and often lawless rule to a more democratic society with written laws and justice. It will show how some civilisations went through these stages in differing timescales, often to regress to where they started.
A true study of history will reveal the mistakes that mankind has made and keeps making, as human nature is often stronger than any form of factual appreciation.
History that focuses solely on kings and queens gives a very different perspective to one that focuses on social history, for example.
Gove isn't proposing 'history that focusses solely on kings & queens'
The draft curriculum out for consultation includes:
the struggle for power in Britain, including: the Six Acts and Peterloo through to Catholic Emancipation the slave trade and the abolition of slavery, the role of Olaudah Equiano and free slaves the Great Reform Act and the Chartists
Have you actually read it? Or are you repeating what you've learned by rote from the Unions?
I was not referring to Gove's proposed curriculum. I was referring more generally to the idea that "it is hardly Orwellian to teach British history". History can be propaganda even if no untruths are taught.
Various sources reporting that the actor Richard Griffiths has died following complications arising from heart surgery - while most will know him from Harry Potter, his 'Uncle Monty' in Withnail & I was a tour de force.....I have never seen the peeling of a potato described so lasciviously....
Sad to hear of Richard Griffiths death. I saw him in Alan Bennett's play about Britten and Auden last year at the National where he played a marvellously lascivial Auden.
Pleasant thread as we idly chew not very partisan cuds. Southam - do you ever outsource any editing/proof-reading? If so I'll send you a bid...
Some replies:
EiT: politicians tend to have one or two personal interests which are random reflections of their past lives and otherwise get driven by what voters want them to be interested in. Most people have an opinion on schools as we've all been to one, the basic issues are easily understood, and they probably have kids in the family (and/or teachers). A problem is that it's too easy to be an armchair pundit - most people would admit that they don't really know how to improve the balance of payments, but everyone's got an opinion on learning by rote, even though the evidence is subtle and mixed. It's a bit like the corporate syndrome that the Board will spend two hours discussing canteens, which have issues everyone knows about, and skip in five minutes over the assumptions underlying the capital investment projections.
History: Morris's point that we love celebrities today but shun them in history is striking. I guess it's because the celeb culture is driven by what people want to read in papers, while the history culture is driven by history teachers, a more austere breed than Sun and Hello! readers. My (American) history textbooks (45 years ago) alternated chapters on factual history with chapters on "what was it like to live then?", which seemed a reasonable balance though I must admit I found the former more dramaticlaly interesting. As a gamer I'd like to see more use of role-playing to bring understanding of other periods and other current environments to life - I've seen some really good school simulations of e.g. African village life, not too didactic or message-driven.
The bonfire that the England fans were chanting about should have had John Terry on, along with the Ferdinands. Then it would have been properly diverse and not racist?
Surely CD13 [former of the parish of Guido?]:
Under our "'Arriet, Duchess of Peckham, 'Ardbint" legislation equality must prevail. If Rio is burnt then so must his victim, Ashley Cole. And Richard Rufus has no protection anymore now he has been called a [moderated]!
I remember when the story broke but have no idea how the criminal investigation went. It may be that the Government (and their Armed-Wing, The Met) chose not to do what the Irish State eventually did...?
Yes, we do use freelance proofers and editors all the time. If you send me your details I can certainly put you in touch with our managing editor. I know she is always on the look-out for new contacts. Most of the output is pretty dry stuff, but I guess that is the nature of the proofing beast.
A Withnailer gone, John Major seventy... these snippets really bring it home that you need to grab life by the testicles.
'I sometimes wonder where Norman is now. Probably wintering with his mother in Guildford. A cat, rain, Vim under the sink, and both bars on. But old now, old. There can be no true beauty without decay.'
I don't blame the teachers - it seems to be the modern trend. Let's have some sob story on the media every minute we can. My hero is the Black Knight from the Monty Python film ... "That? It's only a scratch."
Sixty percent of children living in poverty? A disaster? In the nineteen thirties, those kids would have been regarded as posh fops and been discriminated against.
Life's a bitch and then you die. But with age, I'm coming to a more mellow view. Even another of my heroes, Richard Feynman, wrote a letter to a mother extolling love as the most important thing in life.
If they want to believe in rocks, homeopathy, the Labour Party and other such silly totems. let them. It's their life.
Off topic but I'm finding the site unreadable sometimes on the iPad post-vanilla. The right hand side (eg Archive links, external links and advert) go over the posts.
It doesn't happen all the time, I suspect its to do with over-long links breaking the formatting. Amy idea of a way to fix it? Either on my side or in general?
"Falling party membership? It doesn’t need to be that way
Yesterday evening my local Conservative Association held its AGM. Despite all the talk of mid-term gloom, it was actually a very upbeat occasion.
Local party membership is up 40 percent over the past two years. Local councillors are fizzing with new ideas to improve the area. Our list of helpers has never been longer – or more active. We have a record number of young members.
We are often told that party membership is in decline - and that there is something inevitable about this in an age when voters are apparently full of "apathy".
Nonsense. In my experience folk have never felt more animated about local and national issues than they do today. In the age of the internet it ought to be easier than ever before to create a mass membership organisation.
@NickPalmer: "As a gamer I'd like to see more use of role-playing to bring understanding of other periods and other current environments to life - I've seen some really good school simulations of e.g. African village life, not too didactic or message-driven."
I can appreciate the above Nick. I am also a gamer and into roll playing games; Oblivion, Skyrim, etc,. But if you want to transfer these experiences to actual history one would need much more that todays technology to make the experience even a mite authentic. For one thing you would have to add 'Smellies' - the sense of smell - as well as sight and touch, to make it factual. The stink of actual history would make any student and teacher sit up. Can you imagine being taught the great plague and fire of London in 1666. The stink of plague and the heat of the fire would show how true history happened.
Hmm. That's a bit like admitting the Moon isn't made of cheese. He also didn't admit (overtly) that he lacks the ability to control them, unlike Brawn, which also disproves his claim any driver would have done the same (Rosberg didn't).
I seldom read Guido and never post but it can sometimes be funny.
Absolutism can be, as long as you don't take it seriously.
I was brought up on a council estate and the neighbours were generally good people. Not saints, and there were a few wrong 'uns as there will be with every grouping imaginable. Even bankers and wine merchants will have the same percentage of good and bad among them.
But in the end, people believe what they want to believe. And often the extreme views are a response to other views that, to them, seem equally extreme.
"The UK enjoyed yearly growth of 0.5pc in the first quarter of this year, to be followed by a 1.4pc expansion in the next three months, according to estimates from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. “The UK is doing fairly well I would say ... this avoids a triple-dip in that country,” said Pier Carlo Padoan, the OECD’s chief economist. “We see a global outlook improving after a weak 2012.”
The Paris-based think-tank’s growth projections compared to the UK economy’s 1.2pc contraction in the final three months of last year, as the OECD uses annualised rather than quarterly growth rates. On a quarterly basis, the UK economy shrank by 0.3pc at the end of last year."
Or send the kids to live for a few weeks in the homelands some of the immigrants came from. Especially those with fewer of the basic amenities. They'd probably adapt surprisingly well.
're:problems with vanilla on I-pad. I use Kindle Fire HD tablet and have no problems at all. And it cost about half the price of the I-pad. Apple are massively over-priced and over-rated.
CD13 It appears from Londons education results (and the research backs this up in both education and economic improvements) that the best way to toughen up kids brought up by the flabby individualist parents educated Under Thatcher is an influx of motivated first and second generation immigrants.
Or maybe London's parents just hire more private tutors?
The Centre for Policy Studies has spotted that deep within the Budget Red Book is the admission that the cashflow shortfall between public sector pensions’ contributions and pensions in payment is now forecast to double within 5 years. The pensions gap is growing to such an extent that it will soon represent a significant driver of the deficit. The 2013 Budget now forecasts a Public Sector New Borrowing Requirement of £96 billion for 2015 – the year the Coalition optimistically intended to close the deficit. At £13.6 billion, the pension cashflow shortfall will then be equivalent to 14% of the deficit.
Don't worry - Neil keeps telling us how affordable these are and to change even the slightest thing would be even more expensive.
The state should not be hiring a single new worker on a defined benefit scheme from now on.
At least that would put an end date on this ponzi scheme- somewhere around 2100.
When I started Primary ("Junior & Infants") School we lived with my grandfather. During a holiday I asked him how people wrote "joined up". He gave me a selection of holiday postcards sent in by relatives and some greaseproof paper for tracing the writing on the postcards.When I restarted school I wrote unprompted in cursive style. The teacher brought in the headmistress to see this unexpected event and from that time their expectation of my performance was high, pushing me to achieve. I was later moved up a year and passed the 11+ at 10 years of age. My grandfather had been variously a teacher and a carpenter. I often wonder how I would have progressed if it had not been for his influence.
If you don't want to pay the admission price but you want to experience the authentic smell of the 16th Century just pop into The Hare at the bottom of the drive during one of the events, any time after 8.
CD13 It appears from Londons education results (and the research backs this up in both education and economic improvements) that the best way to toughen up kids brought up by the flabby individualist parents educated Under Thatcher is an influx of motivated first and second generation immigrants.
Wee-Timmy, please be careful with your untangent posts. It's an anecdote but....
When I used to train people in Level-III* SSADM and 'C'-programming (back in the mid-nineties) I had the pleasure of meeting some of the finest Begums that Docklands could provide.** They all had GCSE Bengali. [One assumes language as I know little of their literature (outwith the Koran).]
My role was to make my "trainees" employable. My crop were - obviously - better equipped, but how could you encourage an employer to employ someone whose only skill is their first-language?
The moral of the story: Paper is a wood-based substence. Employability requires more than school-stats stats....
* A-Level equivilant. ** No hajibs and no "bin-bags".
After 13 years of New Labour the UK had dropped to 28th for maths in the OECD tables,you couldn't make it up,great at Indian dancing but the poor kids can't add up. No wonder Gove is so hated by lefties.
www.telegraph.co.uk › Education › Education News
OECD school league tables: UK ranked 28th for maths. The UK has been ranked below the ... By Graeme Paton, Education Editor. 10:00AM GMT 07 Dec 2010 ...
Don't worry - Neil keeps telling us how affordable these are and to change even the slightest thing would be even more expensive
I'm sorry if the facts offend you.
And it's only the ridiculous suggestion of moving to defined contribution arrangements that I said would be more expensive. Cameron seems to agree because he went right off that idea.
Given that kids on free school meals in London do better than kids not on free school meals outside of London I wouldn't bother pushing that one. If you'd bothered to read all the research that's been posted re London schools you wouldn't have made the point in the first place.
I'm sure there's a myriad of factors. I know teachers in London and outside, and London teachers work far harder and far more hours than those outside because they have imbibed the professional working culture of the capital.
But yes, I also agree immigration has played a role. But let's remember you are talking about a net effect. There are some immigrant groups that do worse in school than the indigenous population and some that do better. The obvious conclusion is that we should encourage immigration of the latter and limit it in the case of the former.
Given that kids on free school meals in London do better than kids not on free school meals outside of London I wouldn't bother pushing that one. If you'd bothered to read all the research that's been posted re London schools you wouldn't have made the point in the first place.
"But amid all the gloom and resignation, a passage leapt out: “A few weeks ago it was fashionable to predict a Conservative defeat in 2015. Now Tory MPs and commentators have gone one worse: they admit, grudgingly, that Labour’s inadequacies and the calculated political blandishments of last week’s Budget might just get Mr Cameron over the line and back into No 10; but – and this is truly embarrassing – they say it will hardly be worth it because the Prime Minister makes so little difference.”
Hardly worth it? What, just managing to scrape a win at the next election, just managing to govern for another five years, just managing to drive through your agenda on health care reform, welfare reform, education reform, etc?
The Conservative Party is currently in the middle of the biggest sulk in British political history. “It’s not fair, we didn’t win the election, and you told us we would win the election, and you only had that Gordon Brown to beat, and he’s rubbish, and now we can’t do what we wanted to do, so we’re not getting out of bed!”
I genuinely don’t understand it. The Tories spent 13 years in the political wilderness. Okay, it wasn’t quite as long as Labour’s post 1979 exile, but it was still their longest period out of power since the passing of the Representation of the People Act. Then they finally get the keys to No. 10, and just over two-and-a-half years later they’re stomping around the place like a group of stroppy teenagers... http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/danhodges/100209682/do-the-tories-actually-want-to-win-in-2015/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter
Lord Ouseley, chairman of football's anti-racism campaign Kick It Out, told BBC Radio 5 live the FA should "take a stance on this".
"I have already contacted the chairman of the Football Association and said this has to be looked at, investigated and dealt with," he said.
"Do you want to have an army of fans who call themselves the England fans travelling abroad, being abusive to their own players?"
What a tozzah! He, of all people, should understand the contempt that we English have for our politicians as well. He is more than a prime example of our ire...!
Pleasant thread as we idly chew not very partisan cuds. Southam - do you ever outsource any editing/proof-reading? If so I'll send you a bid...
As a gamer I'd like to see more use of role-playing to bring understanding of other periods and other current environments to life - I've seen some really good school simulations of e.g. African village life, not too didactic or message-driven.
As a war gamer with Squad Leader, even thirty years later, I can give an erudite explanation of the pros and done of various arcane German and Soviet tank designs. Happy days, but not something that comes up much in my medical practice.
Don't worry - Neil keeps telling us how affordable these are and to change even the slightest thing would be even more expensive
I'm sorry if the facts offend you.
And it's only the ridiculous suggestion of moving to defined contribution arrangements that I said would be more expensive. Cameron seems to agree because he went right off that idea.
Defined contributions are what the private sector uses - because they are fully funded at the time of employment.
The public sector would have to get used to reality and would see a drop in pension income for new hires - to something more affordable.
I'm not suggesting stealing your pension Neil - just all new hires would be denied entry to the ponzi scheme.
The status quo is not affordable nor sensible accounting.
just all new hires would be denied entry to the ponzi scheme
And the simple reason we cant afford that (and no political party sought to implement it once they thought about it) is that we need new hires' contributions to pay for current pensioners' benefits. If we got them to pay for their own pensions instead then taxpayers would be lumped with a bigger bill.
And describing a line of public expenditure that is forecast to *more than halve* in terms of GDP in the long term as a "ponzi scheme" is ridiculous.
just all new hires would be denied entry to the ponzi scheme
And the simple reason we cant afford that (and no political party sought to implement it once they thought about it) is that we need new hires' contributions to pay for current pensioners' benefits. If we got them to pay for their own pensions instead then taxpayers would be lumped with a bigger bill.
And describing a line of public expenditure that is forecast to *more than halve* in terms of GDP in the long term as a "ponzi scheme" is ridiculous.
I find this kick the can down the road approach profoundly depressing - and we've seen what relying on GDP growth can do to public finances.
Your "dump it on the grandkids" approach is not for me - you are though correct that our current bunch of limp politicos are too timid to grasp the nettle.
From a few threads ago you posited that we should set up a penal-colony in East Falklands. May one ask why?
As East Falklands is the hallowed grounds of Bluff Cove, Goose Green, San Carlos, Mount Pleasant, Port Stanley, &c. why would you place a prison within the most populous part of England's future oil-wells? Is it a problem of geography* or a desparate plea for humanity; or has your geography been tilted...?
Surely West Falkland, with it's rugged, sparse and sheep-full attributes would be more suitable for a new place for our Oirish, Septic, Aussie criminal-classes? Pebble Island may be remote enough for us folk to no longer care for them, no...?
* Bart Simpson has similar problems with the Southern Hemisphere too....
I find this kick the can down the road approach profoundly depressing
What "kick the can" approach? In the last few years (under both Governments) the following reforms to public service pensions have been adopted to ensure their continuing sustainability:
- increase in pension age from (generally) 60 to 65 and then to 68 and probably higher - ending of final salary schemes - increases in member contributions (of more than 200% in many cases) - agreement to share risks - cap on costs of the schemes to taxpayers
And these have resulted in projections of costs *more than halving* in the long-term.
If the long-term results in economic growth being much lower than projected and that has implications for affordability then everything will be up for grabs again.
You're just disappointed that your prejudices about public service pensions being unsustainable are completely baseless.
London schools have improved so rapidly over the past 10 years that even children in the city’s poorest neighbourhoods can expect to do better than the average pupil living outside the capital. FT analysis of 10 years of state school exam results has revealed that living in the city now gives the capital’s children an enormous advantage over pupils elsewhere – and sets out the extreme difficulties the coalition will face outside the capital in achieving its aim of raising educational social mobility.
It is making the change form a "ponzi" scheme (pensioners are paid out of current revenue, including employees contributions) to an invested scheme where the pain will happen, and such pain that no politician will do it. In the early 1990's the Home Office set up a study to consider the future of the police pensions and how they could be made affordable in the long term. It concluded that to set up a funded scheme would require the injection of a sum equal to the entire NHS budget for one year. The report landed on Ken Clarke's desk and nothing more was ever heard about it.
However, kicking the can down the road didn't change the facts. Pensioners were and are living much longer and increasing the police numbers increased the liability. Eighty-odd percent of a police force's budget goes in pay and pensions, the projections were that that that proportion would increase to the point where many forces would no longer be able to operate effectively (i.e. they would not be able to afford sufficient petrol and such like necessities). So in 2006 the police pensions scheme was changed, it became impossible for the majority of new entrants to qualify for a full pension, which was itself reduced from two-thirds to half final salary. I think, though I don't know, that the Police Pension regulations have been amended since to reduce the benefits even further.
Of course reducing public sector pensions below a certain point just increases the amount of pensioners claiming other benefits. So the net benefit to the taxpayer is dubious.
I think, though I don't know, that the Police Pension regulations have been amended since to reduce the benefits even further.
Switching the basis for increasing them in retirement from RPI to CPI (June 2010 Budget) wiped many billions off the value of accrued public service pensions (and many more billions off the value of private sector pensions).
The fundamental point being that we've all been promised more than the country will be able to afford, with some people having been proportionally promised more than others.
The end game will be various groups losing out on what they've been promised, again with some groups losing proportionally more than others.
What we are seeing now are the attempts of the upper-middle class metropolitans to ensure it is other groups who suffer the most.
Switching the basis for increasing them in retirement from RPI to CPI (June 2010 Budget) wiped many billions off the value of accrued public service pensions (and many more billions off the value of private sector pensions).
Oh dear, oh dear, oh deary me....
Gormless McBruin introduced CPI - under EU-directive - to massage inflation but paid public-sector pensions - including yours, no less - at RPI. So we have a pension "black-hole" of which you now complain?
"London schools have improved so rapidly over the past 10 years that even children in the city’s poorest neighbourhoods can expect to do better than the average pupil living outside the capital."
Hasn't it been shown here that half of London's schoolkids are now getting private tuition?
Now that might suggest an admirable (and perhaps necessary) interest among the parents in improving their children's prospects but it doesn't sound like an endorsement of London's schools to me.
"the best way to toughen up kids brought up by the flabby individualist parents educated Under Thatcher is an influx of motivated first and second generation immigrants"
Perhaps you could let us have the educational achievements of Birmingham, Bradford and various northern mill towns?
How to measure inflation and what inflation measure to use to index pensions are different decisions. I was talking about the latter, a decision made by Osborne in June 2010 as I stated. I'm not complaining about it on my own behalf, I wont be relying on the small deferred civil service pension I accrued if and when I eventually retire. I simply stated that it wiped billions off the value of public and private sector pensions and that this contributed to the situation where costs of public service pensions are projected to more than halve in the long-term (giving a lie to popular perception here that they are unsustainable).
just all new hires would be denied entry to the ponzi scheme
And the simple reason we cant afford that (and no political party sought to implement it once they thought about it) is that we need new hires' contributions to pay for current pensioners' benefits. If we got them to pay for their own pensions instead then taxpayers would be lumped with a bigger bill.
And describing a line of public expenditure that is forecast to *more than halve* in terms of GDP in the long term as a "ponzi scheme" is ridiculous.
The Hutton report on public sector pensions has some useful graphs on future costs, showing them declining as a percentage of GDP. Currently the doctors superannuation scheme pays net £2 billion into the exchequer. This will change over time, but at present closing the scheme would increase the deficit in the short term.
RT @gallaghereditor: @pollytoynbee why would I reply Polly? My point is your columns are repetitive, leaden & hectoring & do not serve Guardian readers very well
From a few threads ago you posited that we should set up a penal-colony in East Falklands. May one ask why?
As East Falklands is the hallowed grounds of Bluff Cove, Goose Green, San Carlos, Mount Pleasant, Port Stanley, &c. why would you place a prison within the most populous part of England's future oil-wells? Is it a problem of geography* or a desparate plea for humanity; or has your geography been tilted...?
Surely West Falkland, with it's rugged, sparse and sheep-full attributes would be more suitable for a new place for our Oirish, Septic, Aussie criminal-classes? Pebble Island may be remote enough for us folk to no longer care for them, no...?
* Bart Simpson has similar problems with the Southern Hemisphere too....
Fluffy Thoughts, you have convinced me that West Falkland would be a better site for the penal colony!
A further option would be international outsourcing. We could happily pay developing countries £10 000 per year per convict, and save a bundle, while also providing useful employment to Afghan and African youth as prison guards. It would perhaps be wise to return the convicts back to the UK for the final part of their sentences, for a little bit of rehab before release.
@Neil. You mean 'will slightly less impossibly unaffordable'
Unless and until each State employee funds their own pension, the giant ponzie scheme will continue to impose poverty on our descendants.
I'll repeat, ad nausiam, that there will be NO 'growth' in the UK economy for the foreseeable future over and above that of population growth (which imposes its own, additional, costs on the State, as well as increasing tax revenue) and IF, IF, IF the State did its projections on that basis, we might, one day, arrive at a happy place where Govt revenues were significantly HIGHER than forecast AND that excess money was returned to us, those who had 'donated' our money to the State in the first place.
If you project future growth at 3% pa to justify higher spending today, you'll just get deeper and deeper into the mire when things turn out less favourably, leading to instability and potential serious civic unrest.
If you project future growth at nil, and then base your spending projections on that basis, you'll end up with a 'balanced Budget' and, should additional tax revenue accrue, you'll pay off our debts that bit earlier.
Clearing those debts should be the absolutely central priority of any and all future Govts, as the moment that interest rates rise to normal rates (5%+), we're currently absolutely certain to go bankrupt as a nation, with truly catastrophic, but unpredictable consequences for everyone.
If you project future growth at 3% pa to justify higher spending today, you'll just get deeper and deeper into the mire when things turn out less favourably
That's not what's happening. Expenditure today is not justified by economic growth assumptions, it has been accrued in the past. It cant be reduced without taking the extraordinary step of interfering with people's possessions. Obviously that can happen in extreme cases but the political calculation to date is that such a measure is not justified (at least in political terms).
Now, on the basis of the OBR's projections, the current public service regime is sustainable. You beg to differ. The Government chooses to listen to the OBR over you. Their choice.
However even if you are right and the OBR is wrong there is still time to make changes to public service pensions to ensure they remain sustainable in the future.
I know it's painful for some to hear but this is not a Ponzi scheme. But it's useful to have people describe it as such, the easier to know who to ignore on the subject.
And we know how educational standards have been 'improved' in recent years.
Still it wouldn't surprise me if we are seeing educational-economic Darwinism in London.
As London becomes ever more split ** between a high earning/educational/skilled group and a menial low skilled service group the only way to prosper there will be through ensuring your kids join the first group.
Outside London there are by contrast many middling jobs still. You don't need high educational standards to become a plumber or a carpenter or a welder but such careers will still being in good earnings in much of the country and probably a higher standard of living than many more highly educated people in London. A generation ago such middling people would have been able to work and live in London, I doubt they could now.
** London parliamentary constituencies have always shown a much higher proportion of graduates than similar socio-economic constituencies elsewhere.
'Hasn't it been shown here that half of London's schoolkids are now getting private tuition?'
That's been one of Gove's major challenges to get the focus shifted from indian dancing to numeracy & literacy in the face of the usual opposition from the union dinosaurs,hence the need for parents to fork out for extra tuition. .
Interesting. The fall as a percentage of GDP will be faster than forecast, perhaps in part to reduced numbers in the schemes. I know a few people in the NHS who opted out recently.
Interesting. The fall as a percentage of GDP will be faster than forecast, perhaps in part to reduced numbers in the schemes. I know a few people in the NHS who opted out recently.
The faster fall is not based on more people opting out of the scheme (that may be happening but there's an assumption for that and it hasnt changed since Hutton's projections). It's largely based on the further developments since Hutton (including, for example, increase in pension up to 68).
The OBR get paid a lot for their projections and I get nowt.
They, and their predecessors, have been consistently wrong in their projections for 20+ years now - there is always 'jam tomorrow' in GDP growth BUT that counts for diddly squit unless you adjust for population and debt growth: only any surplus, over and above that, is the result of a better running economy, technological growth - and, of course, harder work!
My projections over the last 10+ years, in contrast, have been shown, over and over again by official figures, to have been correct: we've had no meaningful growth in UK GDP since 2001 (or so) so why anybody imagines that there will be 3% in 2016-2020 is beyond my comprehension.
But it DOES allow for higher State spending today (and tomorrow), on Osborne's version of Brown's 'Golden Rule'.
I'd be looking to see ca. £150 billion pa of cuts imposed by 2020 - whether by the 2015 GE winners or the IMF, we'll have to wait and see!
Q: Will State liabilities for ALL pensions and welfare payments rise in cash terms, over the next decade? A. If yes, then, unaffordable as they currently are, they will become ever-more impossible to fund, so a 10+ year rise in the pension age and an abolition of 'universal benefits' is inevitable - we just lack a Govt with the guts and honesty to say so.
Great for the very rich or very highly skilled. Good for outgoing young people with some money. Exciting for those who come from backward or poor countries.
But not ideal for average people who earn average money from average jobs and who want to live in an average house with an average family. Like their parents and grandparents and great-grandparents did before them.
London's a great place to visit but most people will have higher living standards, a better lifestyle and a better future for their kids elsewhere.
As it's Good Friday and he gets mentioned so often by so many on here, I thought I'd do something I've never done for and read a piece by Dan Hodges. First thing to say is that in the mountain range of cliche-ridden platitudes, that piece would be one of the more inspiring peaks. It's hardly new stuff - even that ardent left-winger Julian Critchley said the same about Labour post-1992. For some reason, THAT defeat hurt far more than 1987. Possibly because Labour thought they were going to win in 92 whereas they knew they were going to lose in 1987.
The Conservatives came out of the 2005 defeat (their third heavy defeat in a row) convinced they had to accept elements of Blairism down to and including the leadership style. They came to the conclusion that, as Labour had post-1992, the only way to win was to convince the electorate they could do the same but better. Unfortunately, the financial crisis, which showed "the same" to be utterly broken, derailed that. Margaret Thatcher took over promising to be different and radical and revolutionary and that spoke to the mood of late-1970s Britain when it was clear that post-war Butskellism was broken. Neo-social democrat Blairism was killed in 2008 but no one had the time to come up with the radical alternative (and arguably still hasn't).
It's so much easier to blame someone else - the immigrants, the rich, the bankers, the scroungers, the Party leadership etc, etc.
Having read Hodges, I then started to look at the comments and immediately fled the uplands of insanity back to the valley of sweet reason. I don't think I'll be travelling that way again.
My projections over the last 10+ years, in contrast, have been shown, over and over again by official figures, to have been correct
I presume you are posting from one of Seant's favourite hotels in the Maldives then having correctly predicted the bull market and subsequent economic crash over 10 years ago. Given the immense wealth derived from your forecasting prowess I'm impressed that you still care what happens to the rest of us.
Comments
"Miss CD13 (it is Miss, right?)"
Well my daughter was at the time but is now married and living in Oz (I blame myself for letting her watch Neighbours when she was young).
I'm male, and I think sometimes that modern Britain has become more "girly" in general. Whatever happened to a stiff upper lip? And everyone is "vulnerable" and needs protecting nowadays.
Soft shites!
Of course, that could just mean that I'm an old git.
And a Happy Easter to all.
Glorious sunshine and cold wind here.
My father putting blackout boards over the ground floor windows each evening, sleeping under the bed at night (no local shelter), my father and other men fire-watching from the top of the church tower, the noise of the AA guns firing from the top of the local hill, watching machine-gun bullets (from a dog-fight) lift the tar from the road in spurts, and in Bristol being shocked at seeing houses cut in two by bombs and looking at the interior of what was someone's bedroom, bathroom etc (almost an invasion of privacy).
Everyone was far too busy to even think of counselling - those who lost husbands, brothers etc in the war were supported by the local community and got on with their lives, for who knew how long each of us had.
"Measles cases in Wales are spreading with "alarming" speed despite urgent calls to ensure children have vital MMR protection. Health chiefs have again warned that the epidemic could leave unprotected children brain-damaged or dead.
Public Health Wales (PHW) says 432 cases have been reported so far, mainly in the Swansea area, with 51 people - many of them babies - in hospital.
In the last week alone, 116 people have been diagnosed and the numbers infected have doubled in less than four weeks. The disease has now spread to children in 111 secondary and primary schools, nurseries and play groups.
Experts fear the epidemic could rival an outbreak which ravaged Dublin more than a decade ago, when three people died. PHW is urging parents of all children aged between one and 18 in Wales who have not been fully vaccinated to contact their GP for advice and to arrange vaccination as soon as possible.
Dr Marion Lyons, PHW director of health protection, warned: "Measles is now spreading at an alarming rate across areas of Wales. Worryingly, there are still tens of thousands of susceptible children across Wales, yet our weekly monitoring of vaccination rates shows only a slight increase in numbers receiving MMR jabs."
But even within history, why is chronological vs thematic interesting to the commentariat rather than - I dunno - Tudors vs Stuarts or Lecture Method vs Assignment Method?
The draft curriculum out for consultation includes:
the struggle for power in Britain, including:
the Six Acts and Peterloo through to Catholic Emancipation
the slave trade and the abolition of slavery, the role of Olaudah Equiano and free slaves
the Great Reform Act and the Chartists
Have you actually read it? Or are you repeating what you've learned by rote from the Unions?
But who would counsel the gibbering counsellors? These so called progressive teachers and their ilk have no idea what it is to come under bombardment, aerial or otherwise.
Mr Fluffy,
The bonfire that the England fans were chanting about should have had John Terry on, along with the Ferdinands. Then it would have been properly diverse and not racist?
There's a predisposition towards claiming rights and victimhood and the like from certain quarters. Oh, and being offended. Being offended means you don't actually need reasons to win an argument. Hurt feelings beat logic.
In fact, the question you raised about the Blitz was all about feelings and emotions, rather than the hard facts and wider historical context.
Firstly, the cameras would not have been placed there in case there was such an altercation. As I recall, they provided a broad overview of the gate (see (1)).
So what would you have expected the cameras to be focussed on to do a good job; how many cameras would be needed, and why, without hindsight, would you have placed there there? Even better, look at Streetview (2) and show where these cameras are.
Looking at the video (1), and Streetview (2), it seems as if the footage was taken from the camera hanging off the gable end of the second police box (see streetview link below) - there's another one on the third box nearer No. 10. Can you see any similar cameras anywhere that would have had coverage of the incident?
The only other alternative are cop-cams (the wearable cameras that some policemen wear). Are these worn by the officers on duty at Downing Street?
So tell me, where are these other cameras that shot the different footage you insist exists? Or are they just figments of your fevered imagination because you don't want to face the fact that the police log does not represent what really happened?
(1) : http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newsvideo/uk-politics-video/9754130/New-CCTV-of-Andrew-Mitchells-plebgate-incident-emerges.html
(2) : https://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=Downing+Street,+London&hl=en&ll=51.503203,-0.126493&spn=0.002755,0.006968&sll=53.800651,-4.064941&sspn=10.717687,28.54248&oq=downing+street&t=h&hnear=Downing+St,+City+of+Westminster,+London,+United+Kingdom&z=18&layer=c&cbll=51.503205,-0.126546&panoid=RV7q2m-oqQjo7KFcAgHDQA&cbp=12,220.82,,1,-0.36
" Two “disturbing” telephone calls from highly respected surgeons led to the suspension of child heart surgery at Leeds General Infirmary, the NHS Medical Director said today.
Staff at the hospital, where about 400 heart operations on children take place each year, are making alternative arrangements for patients who had been due to be treated there. The suspension was announced yesterday.
An understanding of the chronology puts each incident in its place and how it relates to other incidents. Also it enables understanding of how mankind has improved and often later regressed and then to improve again.
In its chronology it shows how a society emerged from an autocratic and often lawless rule to a more democratic society with written laws and justice. It will show how some civilisations went through these stages in differing timescales, often to regress to where they started.
A true study of history will reveal the mistakes that mankind has made and keeps making, as human nature is often stronger than any form of factual appreciation.
Sad to hear of Richard Griffiths death. I saw him in Alan Bennett's play about Britten and Auden last year at the National where he played a marvellously lascivial Auden.
Some replies:
EiT: politicians tend to have one or two personal interests which are random reflections of their past lives and otherwise get driven by what voters want them to be interested in. Most people have an opinion on schools as we've all been to one, the basic issues are easily understood, and they probably have kids in the family (and/or teachers). A problem is that it's too easy to be an armchair pundit - most people would admit that they don't really know how to improve the balance of payments, but everyone's got an opinion on learning by rote, even though the evidence is subtle and mixed. It's a bit like the corporate syndrome that the Board will spend two hours discussing canteens, which have issues everyone knows about, and skip in five minutes over the assumptions underlying the capital investment projections.
History: Morris's point that we love celebrities today but shun them in history is striking. I guess it's because the celeb culture is driven by what people want to read in papers, while the history culture is driven by history teachers, a more austere breed than Sun and Hello! readers. My (American) history textbooks (45 years ago) alternated chapters on factual history with chapters on "what was it like to live then?", which seemed a reasonable balance though I must admit I found the former more dramaticlaly interesting. As a gamer I'd like to see more use of role-playing to bring understanding of other periods and other current environments to life - I've seen some really good school simulations of e.g. African village life, not too didactic or message-driven.
Under our "'Arriet, Duchess of Peckham, 'Ardbint" legislation equality must prevail. If Rio is burnt then so must his victim, Ashley Cole. And Richard Rufus has no protection anymore now he has been called a [moderated]!
Yes, we do use freelance proofers and editors all the time. If you send me your details I can certainly put you in touch with our managing editor. I know she is always on the look-out for new contacts. Most of the output is pretty dry stuff, but I guess that is the nature of the proofing beast.
'I sometimes wonder where Norman is now. Probably wintering with his mother in Guildford. A cat, rain, Vim under the sink, and both bars on. But old now, old. There can be no true beauty without decay.'
tim,
I don't blame the teachers - it seems to be the modern trend. Let's have some sob story on the media every minute we can. My hero is the Black Knight from the Monty Python film ... "That? It's only a scratch."
Sixty percent of children living in poverty? A disaster? In the nineteen thirties, those kids would have been regarded as posh fops and been discriminated against.
Life's a bitch and then you die. But with age, I'm coming to a more mellow view. Even another of my heroes, Richard Feynman, wrote a letter to a mother extolling love as the most important thing in life.
If they want to believe in rocks, homeopathy, the Labour Party and other such silly totems. let them. It's their life.
It doesn't happen all the time, I suspect its to do with over-long links breaking the formatting. Amy idea of a way to fix it? Either on my side or in general?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQx4qiEmRQ4
'there is, you will agree, a certain je ne sais pas, oh so very special, about a firm young carrot...'
All you need to know about the anti racistPiara Power
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2098325/Boss-footballs-anti-racism-group-branded-racist-calling-Asian-fan-coconut.html
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/england/pick-england-team/9891382/Paul-Elliotts-offensive-text-to-former-player-was-not-racist-claims-anti-racism-campaigner-Piara-Powar.html
"Falling party membership? It doesn’t need to be that way
Yesterday evening my local Conservative Association held its AGM. Despite all the talk of mid-term gloom, it was actually a very upbeat occasion.
Local party membership is up 40 percent over the past two years. Local councillors are fizzing with new ideas to improve the area. Our list of helpers has never been longer – or more active. We have a record number of young members.
We are often told that party membership is in decline - and that there is something inevitable about this in an age when voters are apparently full of "apathy".
Nonsense. In my experience folk have never felt more animated about local and national issues than they do today. In the age of the internet it ought to be easier than ever before to create a mass membership organisation.
It is not the "apathetic" electorate we need to change, but the way that established political parties do politics. Here are a few of my top tips... http://www.talkcarswell.com/home/falling-party-membership-it-doesn8217t-need-to/2629
"As a gamer I'd like to see more use of role-playing to bring understanding of other periods and other current environments to life - I've seen some really good school simulations of e.g. African village life, not too didactic or message-driven."
I can appreciate the above Nick. I am also a gamer and into roll playing games; Oblivion, Skyrim, etc,. But if you want to transfer these experiences to actual history one would need much more that todays technology to make the experience even a mite authentic. For one thing you would have to add 'Smellies' - the sense of smell - as well as sight and touch, to make it factual. The stink of actual history would make any student and teacher sit up. Can you imagine being taught the great plague and fire of London in 1666. The stink of plague and the heat of the fire would show how true history happened.
Hopeless to a man.
http://www.espn.co.uk/redbull/motorsport/story/104532.html
Hmm. That's a bit like admitting the Moon isn't made of cheese. He also didn't admit (overtly) that he lacks the ability to control them, unlike Brawn, which also disproves his claim any driver would have done the same (Rosberg didn't).
Fluffy,
I seldom read Guido and never post but it can sometimes be funny.
Absolutism can be, as long as you don't take it seriously.
I was brought up on a council estate and the neighbours were generally good people. Not saints, and there were a few wrong 'uns as there will be with every grouping imaginable. Even bankers and wine merchants will have the same percentage of good and bad among them.
But in the end, people believe what they want to believe. And often the extreme views are a response to other views that, to them, seem equally extreme.
That may be closer than you think re smell-o-vision
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21729105.900-smellovision-screens-let-you-really-smell-the-coffee.html
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/economics/9959264/UK-has-already-returned-to-growth-says-OECD.html
"The UK enjoyed yearly growth of 0.5pc in the first quarter of this year, to be followed by a 1.4pc expansion in the next three months, according to estimates from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.
“The UK is doing fairly well I would say ... this avoids a triple-dip in that country,” said Pier Carlo Padoan, the OECD’s chief economist. “We see a global outlook improving after a weak 2012.”
The Paris-based think-tank’s growth projections compared to the UK economy’s 1.2pc contraction in the final three months of last year, as the OECD uses annualised rather than quarterly growth rates. On a quarterly basis, the UK economy shrank by 0.3pc at the end of last year."
tim,
Or send the kids to live for a few weeks in the homelands some of the immigrants came from. Especially those with fewer of the basic amenities. They'd probably adapt surprisingly well.
Don't worry - Neil keeps telling us how affordable these are and to change even the slightest thing would be even more expensive.
The state should not be hiring a single new worker on a defined benefit scheme from now on.
At least that would put an end date on this ponzi scheme- somewhere around 2100.
Anyway, I'm off to do some chores, so thanks to OGH and to you all for the entertainment.
As it's Good Friday ... Pax vobiscum.
http://www.kentwell.co.uk/events/tudor
If you don't want to pay the admission price but you want to experience the authentic smell of the 16th Century just pop into The Hare at the bottom of the drive during one of the events, any time after 8.
http://sultanknish.blogspot.mx/
My grandparents wrote in the most beautiful copperplate style handwriting - and they were from very humble stock - a lost art IMO.
When I used to train people in Level-III* SSADM and 'C'-programming (back in the mid-nineties) I had the pleasure of meeting some of the finest Begums that Docklands could provide.** They all had GCSE Bengali. [One assumes language as I know little of their literature (outwith the Koran).]
My role was to make my "trainees" employable. My crop were - obviously - better equipped, but how could you encourage an employer to employ someone whose only skill is their first-language?
The moral of the story: Paper is a wood-based substence. Employability requires more than school-stats stats....
* A-Level equivilant.
** No hajibs and no "bin-bags".
After 13 years of New Labour the UK had dropped to 28th for maths in the OECD tables,you couldn't make it up,great at Indian dancing but the poor kids can't add up.
No wonder Gove is so hated by lefties.
www.telegraph.co.uk › Education › Education News
OECD school league tables: UK ranked 28th for maths. The UK has been ranked below the ... By Graeme Paton, Education Editor. 10:00AM GMT 07 Dec 2010 ...
And it's only the ridiculous suggestion of moving to defined contribution arrangements that I said would be more expensive. Cameron seems to agree because he went right off that idea.
But yes, I also agree immigration has played a role. But let's remember you are talking about a net effect. There are some immigrant groups that do worse in school than the indigenous population and some that do better. The obvious conclusion is that we should encourage immigration of the latter and limit it in the case of the former.
Waste of an investigation though. And here's me thinking he was a propah' Peckham-boy! [He'd have heard worse at Millwall! Muppet!!!]
"But amid all the gloom and resignation, a passage leapt out: “A few weeks ago it was fashionable to predict a Conservative defeat in 2015. Now Tory MPs and commentators have gone one worse: they admit, grudgingly, that Labour’s inadequacies and the calculated political blandishments of last week’s Budget might just get Mr Cameron over the line and back into No 10; but – and this is truly embarrassing – they say it will hardly be worth it because the Prime Minister makes so little difference.”
Hardly worth it? What, just managing to scrape a win at the next election, just managing to govern for another five years, just managing to drive through your agenda on health care reform, welfare reform, education reform, etc?
The Conservative Party is currently in the middle of the biggest sulk in British political history. “It’s not fair, we didn’t win the election, and you told us we would win the election, and you only had that Gordon Brown to beat, and he’s rubbish, and now we can’t do what we wanted to do, so we’re not getting out of bed!”
I genuinely don’t understand it. The Tories spent 13 years in the political wilderness. Okay, it wasn’t quite as long as Labour’s post 1979 exile, but it was still their longest period out of power since the passing of the Representation of the People Act. Then they finally get the keys to No. 10, and just over two-and-a-half years later they’re stomping around the place like a group of stroppy teenagers... http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/danhodges/100209682/do-the-tories-actually-want-to-win-in-2015/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter
The public sector would have to get used to reality and would see a drop in pension income for new hires - to something more affordable.
I'm not suggesting stealing your pension Neil - just all new hires would be denied entry to the ponzi scheme.
The status quo is not affordable nor sensible accounting.
https://twitter.com/MattProdger/status/317601533497864192/photo/1
And describing a line of public expenditure that is forecast to *more than halve* in terms of GDP in the long term as a "ponzi scheme" is ridiculous.
http://www.newstatesman.com/culture/2013/03/uncle-montys-five-finest-moments
Your "dump it on the grandkids" approach is not for me - you are though correct that our current bunch of limp politicos are too timid to grasp the nettle.
If I was emperor however...
Dr FiSUK,
From a few threads ago you posited that we should set up a penal-colony in East Falklands. May one ask why?
As East Falklands is the hallowed grounds of Bluff Cove, Goose Green, San Carlos, Mount Pleasant, Port Stanley, &c. why would you place a prison within the most populous part of England's future oil-wells? Is it a problem of geography* or a desparate plea for humanity; or has your geography been tilted...?
Surely West Falkland, with it's rugged, sparse and sheep-full attributes would be more suitable for a new place for our Oirish, Septic, Aussie criminal-classes? Pebble Island may be remote enough for us folk to no longer care for them, no...?
* Bart Simpson has similar problems with the Southern Hemisphere too....
- increase in pension age from (generally) 60 to 65 and then to 68 and probably higher
- ending of final salary schemes
- increases in member contributions (of more than 200% in many cases)
- agreement to share risks
- cap on costs of the schemes to taxpayers
And these have resulted in projections of costs *more than halving* in the long-term.
If the long-term results in economic growth being much lower than projected and that has implications for affordability then everything will be up for grabs again.
You're just disappointed that your prejudices about public service pensions being unsustainable are completely baseless.
http://www.buzzfeed.com/awesomer/the-33-most-beautiful-abandoned-places-in-the-world?utm_campaign=socialflow&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=buzzfeed
Don't you?
It is making the change form a "ponzi" scheme (pensioners are paid out of current revenue, including employees contributions) to an invested scheme where the pain will happen, and such pain that no politician will do it. In the early 1990's the Home Office set up a study to consider the future of the police pensions and how they could be made affordable in the long term. It concluded that to set up a funded scheme would require the injection of a sum equal to the entire NHS budget for one year. The report landed on Ken Clarke's desk and nothing more was ever heard about it.
However, kicking the can down the road didn't change the facts. Pensioners were and are living much longer and increasing the police numbers increased the liability. Eighty-odd percent of a police force's budget goes in pay and pensions, the projections were that that that proportion would increase to the point where many forces would no longer be able to operate effectively (i.e. they would not be able to afford sufficient petrol and such like necessities). So in 2006 the police pensions scheme was changed, it became impossible for the majority of new entrants to qualify for a full pension, which was itself reduced from two-thirds to half final salary. I think, though I don't know, that the Police Pension regulations have been amended since to reduce the benefits even further.
Of course reducing public sector pensions below a certain point just increases the amount of pensioners claiming other benefits. So the net benefit to the taxpayer is dubious.
[If you mean a kip, I awoke at the dawn of Easter. No sausages (bangers) though....]
The fundamental point being that we've all been promised more than the country will be able to afford, with some people having been proportionally promised more than others.
The end game will be various groups losing out on what they've been promised, again with some groups losing proportionally more than others.
What we are seeing now are the attempts of the upper-middle class metropolitans to ensure it is other groups who suffer the most.
Gormless McBruin introduced CPI - under EU-directive - to massage inflation but paid public-sector pensions - including yours, no less - at RPI. So we have a pension "black-hole" of which you now complain?
Hasn't it been shown here that half of London's schoolkids are now getting private tuition?
Now that might suggest an admirable (and perhaps necessary) interest among the parents in improving their children's prospects but it doesn't sound like an endorsement of London's schools to me.
Perhaps you could let us have the educational achievements of Birmingham, Bradford and various northern mill towns?
How to measure inflation and what inflation measure to use to index pensions are different decisions. I was talking about the latter, a decision made by Osborne in June 2010 as I stated. I'm not complaining about it on my own behalf, I wont be relying on the small deferred civil service pension I accrued if and when I eventually retire. I simply stated that it wiped billions off the value of public and private sector pensions and that this contributed to the situation where costs of public service pensions are projected to more than halve in the long-term (giving a lie to popular perception here that they are unsustainable).
http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/indreview_johnhutton_pensions.htm
http://cdn.budgetresponsibility.independent.gov.uk/FSR2012WEB.pdf
Appendix A has the details.
RT @gallaghereditor: @pollytoynbee why would I reply Polly? My point is your columns are repetitive, leaden & hectoring & do not serve Guardian readers very well
A further option would be international outsourcing. We could happily pay developing countries £10 000 per year per convict, and save a bundle, while also providing useful employment to Afghan and African youth as prison guards. It would perhaps be wise to return the convicts back to the UK for the final part of their sentences, for a little bit of rehab before release.
:-)
You mean 'will slightly less impossibly unaffordable'
Unless and until each State employee funds their own pension, the giant ponzie scheme will continue to impose poverty on our descendants.
I'll repeat, ad nausiam, that there will be NO 'growth' in the UK economy for the foreseeable future over and above that of population growth (which imposes its own, additional, costs on the State, as well as increasing tax revenue) and IF, IF, IF the State did its projections on that basis, we might, one day, arrive at a happy place where Govt revenues were significantly HIGHER than forecast AND that excess money was returned to us, those who had 'donated' our money to the State in the first place.
If you project future growth at 3% pa to justify higher spending today, you'll just get deeper and deeper into the mire when things turn out less favourably, leading to instability and potential serious civic unrest.
If you project future growth at nil, and then base your spending projections on that basis, you'll end up with a 'balanced Budget' and, should additional tax revenue accrue, you'll pay off our debts that bit earlier.
Clearing those debts should be the absolutely central priority of any and all future Govts, as the moment that interest rates rise to normal rates (5%+), we're currently absolutely certain to go bankrupt as a nation, with truly catastrophic, but unpredictable consequences for everyone.
Guido understands?.
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As it happens, Rolf is....
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/elderhealth/9959856/Its-the-cold-not-global-warming-that-we-should-be-worried-about.html
Of course LibLabCon all support this nonsense, another reason to vote UKIP
Now, on the basis of the OBR's projections, the current public service regime is sustainable. You beg to differ. The Government chooses to listen to the OBR over you. Their choice.
However even if you are right and the OBR is wrong there is still time to make changes to public service pensions to ensure they remain sustainable in the future.
I know it's painful for some to hear but this is not a Ponzi scheme. But it's useful to have people describe it as such, the easier to know who to ignore on the subject.
And we know how educational standards have been 'improved' in recent years.
Still it wouldn't surprise me if we are seeing educational-economic Darwinism in London.
As London becomes ever more split ** between a high earning/educational/skilled group and a menial low skilled service group the only way to prosper there will be through ensuring your kids join the first group.
Outside London there are by contrast many middling jobs still. You don't need high educational standards to become a plumber or a carpenter or a welder but such careers will still being in good earnings in much of the country and probably a higher standard of living than many more highly educated people in London. A generation ago such middling people would have been able to work and live in London, I doubt they could now.
** London parliamentary constituencies have always shown a much higher proportion of graduates than similar socio-economic constituencies elsewhere.
'Hasn't it been shown here that half of London's schoolkids are now getting private tuition?'
That's been one of Gove's major challenges to get the focus shifted from indian dancing to numeracy & literacy in the face of the usual opposition from the union dinosaurs,hence the need for parents to fork out for extra tuition.
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Rolf Harris. arrested as part of Operation Yewtree
Guido understands?.
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Can you tell what it is yet?
I can tell this whole thing is getting out of hand. I mean RH ..... FFS what? It's getting silly now
Some good points in your post.
The OBR get paid a lot for their projections and I get nowt.
They, and their predecessors, have been consistently wrong in their projections for 20+ years now - there is always 'jam tomorrow' in GDP growth BUT that counts for diddly squit unless you adjust for population and debt growth: only any surplus, over and above that, is the result of a better running economy, technological growth - and, of course, harder work!
My projections over the last 10+ years, in contrast, have been shown, over and over again by official figures, to have been correct: we've had no meaningful growth in UK GDP since 2001 (or so) so why anybody imagines that there will be 3% in 2016-2020 is beyond my comprehension.
But it DOES allow for higher State spending today (and tomorrow), on Osborne's version of Brown's 'Golden Rule'.
I'd be looking to see ca. £150 billion pa of cuts imposed by 2020 - whether by the 2015 GE winners or the IMF, we'll have to wait and see!
Q: Will State liabilities for ALL pensions and welfare payments rise in cash terms, over the next decade?
A. If yes, then, unaffordable as they currently are, they will become ever-more impossible to fund, so a 10+ year rise in the pension age and an abolition of 'universal benefits' is inevitable - we just lack a Govt with the guts and honesty to say so.
Great for the very rich or very highly skilled.
Good for outgoing young people with some money.
Exciting for those who come from backward or poor countries.
But not ideal for average people who earn average money from average jobs and who want to live in an average house with an average family. Like their parents and grandparents and great-grandparents did before them.
London's a great place to visit but most people will have higher living standards, a better lifestyle and a better future for their kids elsewhere.
Ann Pettifor, socialist Keynesian economist, adviser to last Labour government…
“There is a money tree, and it’s called the Bank of England.”
Easter greetings to everyone.
As it's Good Friday and he gets mentioned so often by so many on here, I thought I'd do something I've never done for and read a piece by Dan Hodges. First thing to say is that in the mountain range of cliche-ridden platitudes, that piece would be one of the more inspiring peaks. It's hardly new stuff - even that ardent left-winger Julian Critchley said the same about Labour post-1992. For some reason, THAT defeat hurt far more than 1987. Possibly because Labour thought they were going to win in 92 whereas they knew they were going to lose in 1987.
The Conservatives came out of the 2005 defeat (their third heavy defeat in a row) convinced they had to accept elements of Blairism down to and including the leadership style. They came to the conclusion that, as Labour had post-1992, the only way to win was to convince the electorate they could do the same but better. Unfortunately, the financial crisis, which showed "the same" to be utterly broken, derailed that. Margaret Thatcher took over promising to be different and radical and revolutionary and that spoke to the mood of late-1970s Britain when it was clear that post-war Butskellism was broken. Neo-social democrat Blairism was killed in 2008 but no one had the time to come up with the radical alternative (and arguably still hasn't).
It's so much easier to blame someone else - the immigrants, the rich, the bankers, the scroungers, the Party leadership etc, etc.
Having read Hodges, I then started to look at the comments and immediately fled the uplands of insanity back to the valley of sweet reason. I don't think I'll be travelling that way again.