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politicalbetting.com » Blog Archive » To kneel or not to kneel that is the question
politicalbetting.com » Blog Archive » To kneel or not to kneel that is the question
The story above in the Sunday Telegraph follows on from Corbyn’s failure to sing the national anthem at the Battle of Britain 75th anniversary memorial earlier on this week could present further problems for Mr Corbyn. Why this story might carry some potency is that Kevan Jones, one of Corbyn’s own shadow ministers has gone on the record so it can’t be dismissed as Tory/media smears/hype.
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If accurate it's bad move by the Conservative government.
So much for principles. - After numerous ‘clarification’, apologies, U-turns and dumping old loyalties in his clamber to retain power, Jeremy Corbyn will soon be Tony Blair with a beard.
The government and parents need to address the obesity crisis and this programme should be part of an overall strategy to tackle the problem from early years.
The programme retention was also part of the Conservative manifesto.
Nutrition is a fundamental factor that is at the root of so many issues (e.g. behaviour, learning rates, etc) but In my view supporting something like this would be a far better use of public money
http://www.mayorsfundforlondon.org.uk/programme/breakfast-clubs/
The essential and primary purpose of the government is to govern. Let them do so and .... this will be novel, keep a few manifesto promises on the way.
However I think you're going wrong with the obesity bit. The problem is not just what kids shove into their gobs, but also the exercise they get.
If you want to help reduce the obesity crisis for the next generation, getting them interested in outside activity - and that is far more than just the obsession with competitive sports - is vital.
I've just read a guardian article which is a complete hatchet job, if they're turning on him he might go even sooner than most predicted, the Mirror barely endorses him.
Stop whining and pointing fingers and accept you elected an unelectable buffoon with a dubious past, you have nobody to blame but yourselves.
The infrastructure is now there. I'd go further and gradually extend the programme as part of a radical programme to tackle child obesity through this and a vast education programme in the schools through to adulthood. Obesity is costing the state a vast amount in terms of cash and health.
The Mayoral breakfast club is also a good idea but shouldn't be regarded as a substitute but an add-on
Quant it may be but I'm also rather attracted to a political party keeping the odd promise or two.
Off topic - I see there is talk about HS2 terminating at Old Oak Common while Euston is redeveloped. I still have a suspicion that this isn't going to happen at all. If you have to trek to OOC then you might as well go to Euston and go the old way to Birmingham.
I want a market on the size of JC's turnips.
Sport in school and outside activity must also be part of the solution. I hate to use the phrase but to tackle the obesity crisis we need a "multi faceted and agency approach" to get a grip on the issue.
Oh....and morning to all.
I was discussing this issue a few months ago with a senior NHS bod who laid bare to me the vast scale of the obesity epidemic that faces the nation. I was broadly aware of the problem but the scope was shocking.
I don't have a problem with schools providing food - I can see the benefits of hot food vs. packed lunches. But why should it be free? Even a nominal sum - to pick a number let's say £1 per day [assume that is cheaper than a packed lunch] - would generate about £200 per child*
There are 8.6 million children aged 5-16 in the UK. From memory about 25% of kids already get free school meals, and about 7% are at private school. Hence this policy impacts 5.7 million children.
I'm sure there are some on the margin that would benefit from free school meals, so let's say you are only charging 4.0 million children.
That's a very useful £800 million per year for the school budget - this money should be kept by the school and invested as they see fit. And, no, it shouldn't cost any more to process bills because it could be performed by existing staff.
* Apparently the 'average family' spend £437 per year on lunch money. https://www.gov.uk/government/news/free-school-lunch-for-every-child-in-infant-school
The Conservative have made a little progress in this direction - at least they don't have to drive around Eric Pickles any longer, which of course has saved the taxpayer by cutting the bill for repairs to government car suspensions.
The nation is chomping itself to death. It's a suicide by nosh and needs to tackled as if facing a substantial external threat. It really is that bad.
The government needs to wage war on obesity and pull out all the levers of the state and take robust measures by education, encouragement, organization, bribery, tax and the law or reconcile itself to bankrupting the NHS and the decline of the country into a floating tub of lard in the mid Atlantic.
For the recently-opened secondary school on the same site, many kids walk or cycle in. Then again, this village has been designed in such a way that walking and cycling is easy and relatively safe (other pedestrians aren't necessarily safe from the kids, though!)
The real question must surely be how much of this childish nonsense the Shadow Cabinet can take. If it goes on like this I would give it another week. Buyers remorse must already be widespread whilst those that declined get to be equally childish and say, " I told you so."
On obesity one of the best ideas I heard was the daily mile. Each class took out about 15-20 minutes each day to run or walk a mile. This was staggered through the school so disruption was minimal. The consequence was a remarkable reduction in measured obesity in the school and, it was claimed, better concentration on the part of the children. Cost, zero.
Given my background, I'm a massive fan of cubs/guides and the D of E award. But they're not for everyone either.
So an activity-based plan, which has just been drawn out of my left buttock and is probably stupid:
*) In schools, ensure children who are not sporty have a non-sporty activity available: e.g. D of E or equivalent over the same time periods.
*) Rigorously enforce parking around schools, and encourage children to walk or cycle in.
*) Every school to offer cycling proficiency classes.
*) Every child to have at least one day-trip into countryside a year, combined with educational studies.
I was under the impression that Kevan Jones was on the left of the Party, but he's not impressed either. Team Corbyn's self-harm strategy will surely run out of people to offend within the next few days?
F1: will see about finding one of those pesky tips this morning.
Betting PostPre-race piece is up here:
http://enormo-haddock.blogspot.co.uk/2015/09/singapore-pre-race.html
Bit of a guess on the betting front, to be honest.
Secondly, it is not the state's responsibility to take over the business of feeding people. Education, encouragement, organisation, tax, lots of things: yes.
But the abrogation of personal responsibility and the extension of state spending into an area which it should not be funding: no.
Let the rich pay for their own food.
Otherwise it's just a bung for well-off parents.
The ability to be outraged has its limits and it doesn't take long before people tire of the complainers. There are also the the peculiarly British traits of liking fair play and admiring the rebel.
Speaking for myself who was viscerally against his election I now am very hopefull he succeeds
And half are about to side with the Tories on airstrikes in Syria http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/news/uk_news/National/article1609597.ece and inc Corbyn only getting Restricted Access info
Secondly, I'll not engage with you in verbal obesity as her indoors calls ....
Let the rich Mrs JackW pay for my breakfast.
Laters ....
http://www.sunnation.co.uk/madcap-ideas-make-corbyn-unelectable-swing-voters-say/
Toodles ....
Also, make it "opt-out" rather than "opt-in" so the default is for kids to get decent lunches with parents paying - what they already pay anyway for packed lunches - for it.
I'm losing weight, but only if I walk (at least) 10 miles and row 10k per day. That's on an intake of between 1.5k and 2k calories per day, which is not exactly sybaritic. I doubt I'd have been able to consistently achieve that level of activity when I was a working slob.
The main stumbling block that republicans have in UK is that they are fighting against a nice old lady in a cardi, that likes a flutter on the horses, spoils her dogs and makes us look good abroad.How are you supposed to fight against that?
Charles has more targets but even he is just a Woodehousian eccentric, a member of the landed gentry that talks to his pigs and carrots and wants us all to get along.
There needs to be more of an argument that "we are a laughing stock abroad", because having been abroad quite a few times we plainly aren't...or if we are it isn't the Queen that is the cause.
It has to be stronger and deeper rooted than this for republicans to succeed.
If people genuinely didn't like privatised railways, they wouldn't ride on them.
(Interestingly, across Western Europe, rail privatisation - or commercialisation, like Sweden - has correlated pretty perfectly with increased passenger trends.)
The most striking thing about the South of france is that fat people are almost non existant. The only time you see them is when a cruise ship with English or Americans pass by. It's clearly nothing to do with people's metabolism and everything to do with indulgence and laziness. I'd consider treating the obese like smokers with 'No Fat People' signs. Harsh I know but sometimes you have to be cruel to be kind
Right time, right place? Maybe. But not something you can simply write off. As story x,y and z about Corbyn hits the press its getting ignored. But it is a real and interesting development that deserves analysis.
As a Corbyn voter, I'm probably fairly typical - mildly encouraged that the polls show that the Tory onslaught hasn't had much effect so far, judging by the range of results yesterday. It was always going to be a difficult project, but we knew that and were not expecting a sunny honeymoon. There will be more awkward moments and compromises to make in the coming months, but you can't reshape British politics without some of that. Deciding whether to kneel as the price of Privy Council membership is another such - tricky but essentially peripheral to what we're trying to do. Most of us won't really care whether he kneels or not, and if the Government makes the sharing of issues of national importance hinge on that, then we'll know who to blame, and it won't be Corbyn.
What we have is not buyer's remorse but opponents' dilemma - people who didn't vote for him are torn between wanting to express their opposition and not wanting to rock the boat and be blamed for consequences. I'm not at all in the "let's start deselecting Blairites" camp, but I do expect internal opponents largely to STFU except by making specific policy proposals, and by and large that's what they're doing.
By the way, is anyone around for at the Labour conference? It'd be interesting to meet up. I'm at the Tory conference as well, but only on the Tuesday when I've got a fringe meeting.
That's because it's adherents and proponents main argument is about their belief the monarchy is objectionable in theory, and it doesn't fit with their ideal democratic constitutional niceties.
But the typical British person does not think like that. They are much more interested in pragmatism, symbolism, pride and seeing and feeling what works.
And the monarchy works - very, very well indeed*.
(*incidentally, I think constitutional monarchy works perfectly well in theory as well as in practice, but that's a discussion for another time - must dash)
But the biggest questions the pro-renationalisation people have to answer are:
What problems are you trying to solve, and why is renationalisation the best approach? (extra points if they can fit this into the nationalised Network Rail's abject failures)
If it did, then Labour would have won a landslide in May, given the pro-Labour posts on Twitter and Facebook.
Sounds like Red Bull will have a Ferrari engine in 2017-8 and then a VW/Audi engine from then on.
As previously mentioned, Manor will have a Mercedes engine.
Can't the Queen be shown respect without having to do this ?
LDs give old scare story an outing - 2 years to save the NHS.
Farron's stealing Labour's clothing.
http://www.theguardian.com/society/2015/sep/19/nhs-collapse-former-health-minister-norman-lamb
On topic, he's been married three times so doesn't really appear to have any objections to participating in pointless ceremony, when it suits him.
Remember "Not Flash, just Gordon"? Or "Ed speaks human" (presumably unlike most members of his species)? You have elected a net vote loser.
I'm just saying that well-off people should pay for their kids food.
Not that controversial...I thought!
Of course, we know that, as he said it five years after the Good Friday Agreement. But the BBC and the TV media refuses to hold him to account.
That's a small ray of hope if he isn't an isolated case.