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politicalbetting.com » Blog Archive » Michael Gove – the case against
Michael Gove has many admirers – most notably, several on this forum, including a former Labour MP and a number of Conservative and UKIP voters. He is an experienced minister, having held office for nine years (one of them outside the cabinet). He is able, articulate, polite, and from a very modest background. He is well connected in the media, has a remarkable imagination and drive, and stands out, frankly, for all those reasons among the dross the Tories have for reasons best known to themselves put forward as leadership contenders.
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Michael Gove's campaign video was given low marks by Roger in the previous thread.
In the video, Gove references the speech he made attacking Corbyn. Many of us wondered at the time why Gove was attacking Corbyn while ostensibly requesting Labour's help with the Withdrawal Agreement. Was he sacrificing the government to further his leadership bid, or merely demonstrating his propensity to start a fight in a phone box?
Still at least as a result of Gove's improvements to education we know what slugabed means. It means first!
<i>"Mr Johnson’s announcement will be seen as a challenge to Michael Gove’s record as Education Secretary. The amount of per pupil spending in England's schools has fallen by 8 per cent since 2010, according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies."</i>
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2019/06/02/boris-johnson-plans-spend-least-5000-every-secondary-school/
> So it's a no to the Gove-anator then ....
Don't give up the day job Jack
> https://twitter.com/lewis_goodall/status/1135339778940067840
It’s hard to disagree with any of that.
In Gove’s case did he (a) make this worse (b) not address it at all or (c) only partialky address it?
Underlines my view that Hunt is the grown up choice from among the handful of heavyweights in the contest.
I heard this guy during the referendum campaign repeatedly claiming to believe that Turkey was about to join the EU, so I would go for "very dishonest".
> "meaning he is either very stupid and was completely fooled, or very dishonest"
>
> I heard this guy during the referendum campaign repeatedly claiming to believe that Turkey was about to join the EU, so I would go for "very dishonest".
About to? It was in the process of joining
> Interesting article with some telling points. Although it’s a shame he is so down on LEA, considering the weakness of the alternatives.
>
> Underlines my view that Hunt is the grown up choice from among the handful of heavyweights in the contest.
I genuinely do not see a good choice for the Tories. The lack of talent is painful. As is the lack of honesty about the position in which the UK finds itself. It's very, very hard to see how this ends well for them or the country.
> > @Scott_P said:
> > https://twitter.com/lewis_goodall/status/1135339778940067840
>
> It’s hard to disagree with any of that.
“The party of Churchill, Macmillan, Thatcher and those under them, the great ministers, Carrington, Butler, Macleod to name a few. A party which combined pragmatism, deep attachment to our parliamentary institutions and engagement with the world as it is, not as they might like it to be.
It is a question over which historians will linger long. In 2015, total hegemony was within their grasp. They had won a majority against the odds, Labour's response was to elect Jeremy Corbyn. A new, enduring political project was possible.
Instead, they used their moment of strength to indulge their greatest weaknesses. In four short years, they have converted the potential for another decade or more of government, to the precipice of destruction, the worst election results in their long and venerable history.”
I could have listed a dozen failures, as I said.
> > @kamski said:
> > "meaning he is either very stupid and was completely fooled, or very dishonest"
> >
> > I heard this guy during the referendum campaign repeatedly claiming to believe that Turkey was about to join the EU, so I would go for "very dishonest".
>
> About to? It was in the process of joining
The truth being that the latter is the EUs way of avoiding the former, as every adult in the room very well knew.
> > @kamski said:
> > "meaning he is either very stupid and was completely fooled, or very dishonest"
> >
> > I heard this guy during the referendum campaign repeatedly claiming to believe that Turkey was about to join the EU, so I would go for "very dishonest".
>
> About to? It was in the process of joining
+++++++++++
Let's not go there shall we.
Turkey could only ever have joined if the every single other member of the EU 28 signed an accession Treaty. (Which would also need to be ratified by 28 National Parliaments, and some subnational bodies, such as the Belgian regional assemblies, and - I believe - the Scottish Parliament.)
It was dishonest of European politicians (including David Cameron) to suggest that this was easily achievable. It is hard to believe it could have been achieved in Cyprus (which would probably leave rather than accept Turkey), and the Greeks would have harboured more than a few doubts.
And the Italians under Salvini or the Hungarians or the Poles?
So, whatever the status of Turkey as an "accession" country, it was pushing it to say that it was likely to become a member of the EU in the meaningful future. And, I suspect that none of us will live long enough to see it join. (Although, of course, there are many reasons why that might be the case...)
> > @IanB2 said:
> > Interesting article with some telling points. Although it’s a shame he is so down on LEA, considering the weakness of the alternatives.
> >
> > Underlines my view that Hunt is the grown up choice from among the handful of heavyweights in the contest.
>
> I genuinely do not see a good choice for the Tories. The lack of talent is painful. As is the lack of honesty about the position in which the UK finds itself. It's very, very hard to see how this ends well for them or the country.
>
>
Not sure you’d be that heartened by a contest between Burgon, Long-Bailey and the rest. Your handful of heroes would face the same problem as Rory as being unelectable by the membership.
Even a cursory look at the standards of education over the last 30 or more years shows it has been getting disastrously worse since long before Gove appeared and for the teaching profession to blame him for its current ills is self serving and hypocritical.
While most of the teachers in my family are in their first few practicing years the stories they tell of MAT's bear out Y Doethur's report. It does seem we are returning to a system of education similar to that in early to mid Victorian times, which was ended, because of public dissatisfaction, by Parliamentary action at the end of the 19th Century.
In agreeing with Mr B2, though on the alternatives to LEA's, I would suggest though that the 'failure' of LEA's was due to the system of local government in this country, with far too many one-party states, and hence Chairs of Education Committees becoming far too powerful. The late Alderman Cyril Smith may be cited as an example.
Too many of us, of course, are 'experts' on the subject of education, based on hazy memories of being at school!
"Don't give up the day job Jack"
..........................................................................................................................
Mike - I would never give up on my day job of scouring PB for 50/1 tips from one of Bedford's finest .... whoever that might be.
I too am unconvinced by Gove. Energy is not necessarily a good thing when interfering with systems that need refreshing and revising rather than revolution. Health has suffered the same toxic ideological approach from a number of Secretaries of State for Health. Indeed one of the reasons that I am fairly pro Hunt, and to a lesser extent Hancock, is that they haven't attempted revolution. Hunt is perhaps best known for his dispute with the Junior Doctors, and that did end in failure, with a new contract that is overly complex and restrictive while singly failing to deliver. Hunt did have the sense to declare victory and move on, quietly dropping plans to do the same to other staff groups including my own.
So far as I can see there are only two good features to Brexit, the first being the destruction of the Tory party and to a lesser extent Corbynism. The second is that it has so consumed political energy that there has been little attempt by any minister at revolution in their departments, which are quietly ticking over under the Civil Servants while the politicians plot and fued over how many angels can dance on the head of an Irish backstop.
> > @kamski said:
> > "meaning he is either very stupid and was completely fooled, or very dishonest"
> >
> > I heard this guy during the referendum campaign repeatedly claiming to believe that Turkey was about to join the EU, so I would go for "very dishonest".
>
> About to? It was in the process of joining
I believe that Turkey has been in the process of joining for nearly as long as we have been a member, and is no closer to actual membership.
Still, at least you read it.
(Btw, civil servants are not there to advise. They are there to administer. There are no experts on education in the department of education, unlike in say Justice or Environment.)
> Thanks for the header; useful to have an assessment of someone produced as a result of practical experience of their policies.
>
> While most of the teachers in my family are in their first few practicing years the stories they tell of MAT's bear out Y Doethur's report. It does seem we are returning to a system of education similar to that in early to mid Victorian times, which was ended, because of public dissatisfaction, by Parliamentary action at the end of the 19th Century.
>
> In agreeing with Mr B2, though on the alternatives to LEA's, I would suggest though that the 'failure' of LEA's was due to the system of local government in this country, with far too many one-party states, and hence Chairs of Education Committees becoming far too powerful. The late Alderman Cyril Smith may be cited as an example.
>
> Too many of us, of course, are 'experts' on the subject of education, based on hazy memories of being at school!
Some form of PR would be of great benefit to breaking up the one party states of Local Government. It is sorely needed
> > @SouthamObserver said:
> > > @IanB2 said:
> > > Interesting article with some telling points. Although it’s a shame he is so down on LEA, considering the weakness of the alternatives.
> > >
> > > Underlines my view that Hunt is the grown up choice from among the handful of heavyweights in the contest.
> >
> > I genuinely do not see a good choice for the Tories. The lack of talent is painful. As is the lack of honesty about the position in which the UK finds itself. It's very, very hard to see how this ends well for them or the country.
> >
> >
>
> Not sure you’d be that heartened by a contest between Burgon, Long-Bailey and the rest. Your handful of heroes would face the same problem as Rory as being unelectable by the membership.
It would be fascinating to see who the MPs would elect as PM, without the requirement of looking over their shoulder of who to put to - and block from - the membership.
> Thanks @ydoethur for the header. I voted Conservative in 2010 for much the same reasons as yourself. Like everyone else I am an expert on education as I once went to school and took exams! Health care suffers the same problem as everyone has once been to the doctor...
>
> I too am unconvinced by Gove. Energy is not necessarily a good thing when interfering with systems that need refreshing and revising rather than revolution. Health has suffered the same toxic ideological approach from a number of Secretaries of State for Health. Indeed one of the reasons that I am fairly pro Hunt, and to a lesser extent Hancock, is that they haven't attempted revolution. Hunt is perhaps best known for his dispute with the Junior Doctors, and that did end in failure, with a new contract that is overly complex and restrictive while singly failing to deliver. Hunt did have the sense to declare victory and move on, quietly dropping plans to do the same to other staff groups including my own.
>
> So far as I can see there are only two good features to Brexit, the first being the destruction of the Tory party and to a lesser extent Corbynism. The second is that it has so consumed political energy that there has been little attempt by any minister at revolution in their departments, which are quietly ticking over under the Civil Servants while the politicians plot and fued over how many angels can dance on the head of an Irish backstop.
>
I seem to recall you were spitting teeth about Hunt three years ago?
Is the problem the Party, or the Commons?
The Commons voted for us to Leave, refuses to countenance leaving without a deal, and refuses for us to leave with a deal. The Conservatives are not even half the House of Commons, as currently constituted.
> > @OldKingCole said:
> > Thanks for the header; useful to have an assessment of someone produced as a result of practical experience of their policies.
> >
> > While most of the teachers in my family are in their first few practicing years the stories they tell of MAT's bear out Y Doethur's report. It does seem we are returning to a system of education similar to that in early to mid Victorian times, which was ended, because of public dissatisfaction, by Parliamentary action at the end of the 19th Century.
> >
> > In agreeing with Mr B2, though on the alternatives to LEA's, I would suggest though that the 'failure' of LEA's was due to the system of local government in this country, with far too many one-party states, and hence Chairs of Education Committees becoming far too powerful. The late Alderman Cyril Smith may be cited as an example.
> >
> > Too many of us, of course, are 'experts' on the subject of education, based on hazy memories of being at school!
>
> Some form of PR would be of great benefit to breaking up the one party states of Local Government. It is sorely needed
Totally agree. There are differences between the votes recorded for candidates of the same party, but they are exceptional, and there's often a reason. Thus someone in a neighbouring area at the recent elections was known to be very ill, and therefore received fewer votes than her party colleagues.
FWIW - I think there’s a very good case for Gove being a time-limited premier for c.18-24 months, to get Brexit done, and he has the skills of political skulduggery to it, but I’d prefer to not be going into the next GE with him as leader.
I suspect that @DecrepitJohnL is blaming Gove for something that isn’t his fault.
I accept that living in a revolution is no fun and that many teachers will have found the disruption difficult. I also accept that kids have one chance at education and getting yours whilst education is going through one of its upheavals must be very difficult. My son sat his National 5 (O grade) in computing about 10 days ago. The course has changed so much that there were effectively no past papers and no clear idea what was going to be in the exam. I agree with @ydoethur that changes in education need to be made slowly and carefully.
But to give an example my dear wife went to an absolutely appalling school in Arbroath where 2 children (including her) made it to University and 1 graduated. For some subjects she had more than 8 teachers, few of whom knew much about the subject and for others she had no teacher at all. In maths she failed first time around as most of the curriculum had not been taught. She and a friend went to night school and were the only 2 that passed. The maths "teacher" was furious. The point of this tale of woe is that school is every bit as bad today. Nothing has changed, as our PM might put it. Failure and incompetence is tolerated and endemic. I can't help anything has to be better than that.
But the classrooms themselves have limits. If they are built for 30, you might squeeze in another 2-3 - then you're in trouble if you can't split the group.
I've had to do a lot of juggling with timetables this term for this reason, moving oversized groups to bigger classrooms, and it has not been fun.
And Gove's reforms and the huge workload they above caused have made teacher shortages very much worse. If you are an NQT in one of the aforementioned MATs, with no support, no money, a class of over 30 and colleagues collapsing all around you - how long do you think they last? Twelve months is usual in such circumstances.
Good morning, everyone.
Is the problem the Party, or the Commons?
The Commons voted for us to Leave, refuses to countenance leaving without a deal, and refuses for us to leave with a deal. The Conservatives are not even half the House of Commons, as currently constituted.
++++++++++++++++
There are two problems:
1. There is a subset of Conservative MPs who either hate the EU with such passion that no deal would be acceptable (did you see what I did there?), or who see voting down everything as a path to Remain
2. The Labour Party has become so tribal under Corbyn, that even the most EU-sceptic daren't support a "Tory Brexit".
I don't know who to be more annoyed at: those who don't realise that to leave the EU, you have to have actually leave the EU, or those who think they are being clever in attempting to put party before country.
On the wider point, the passionate criticism in the header is quite compelling. I cannot say I've seen what MATs have usefully achieved for starters, and I believe what is said that Gove gets tunnel vision and ploughs through with a bad idea. Him as PM could be bad.
However, Gove has changed his tune on Brexit, he has responded to a changed situation to some degree even if not enough for some. And we are facing an imminent series of very bad choices.
Gove would be a gamble in such a situation. He could make things worse. But one of these jokers is going to be PM for a short time at least. A gamble is needed to have any hope of achieving something, a competition of the UK most boring automaton society wont work. Or more charitably, trying to be a dull competent candidate wont.
Nor will wildly unrealistic promises based on hope alone, but somewhere in that range is someone with ideas and an ability to push through with ideas. Can Gove do that?
Honestly I dont think anyone can square the governing circle, and absolutely if he gets a bad idea he is not who you want.
Its not even that I like Gove, though I think him interesting, and I think remaining is the least awful option we have left, but he is interesting and of the prime candidates (Boris, Hunt, Javid, Leadsom, Raab) hes got more appeal.
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/cartoon/2012/mar/16/1
> (Btw, civil servants are not there to advise. They are there to administer. There are no experts on education in the department of education, unlike in say Justice or Environment.)
Civil servants absolutely are there to advise. It's a major part of their job in Whitehall.
> @Morris_Dancer said:
> Good morning, everyone.
>
> Is the problem the Party, or the Commons?
>
> The Commons voted for us to Leave, refuses to countenance leaving without a deal, and refuses for us to leave with a deal. The Conservatives are not even half the House of Commons, as currently constituted.
>
> ++++++++++++++++
>
> There are two problems:
>
> 1. There is a subset of Conservative MPs who either hate the EU with such passion that no deal would be acceptable (did you see what I did there?), or who see voting down everything as a path to Remain
>
> 2. The Labour Party has become so tribal under Corbyn, that even the most EU-sceptic daren't support a "Tory Brexit".
>
> I don't know who to be more annoyed at: those who don't realise that to leave the EU, you have to have actually leave the EU, or those who think they are being clever in attempting to put party before country.
The current polling/recent voting shows what the voters think of being clever in attempting to put party before country.
Epic fail.
So the new PM will need to deal with the opposition parties. Perhaps Leavers on the back benches should vote for the candidate who says the nicest things about Jeremy and Nicola, whose support will surely be needed.
You need the permission of the town council to do that (which has just turned Lib Dem) so that fits.
I have no idea how long they will be there for but yet another example of the creeping politicisation of everyday life.
> @Morris_Dancer said:
> Good morning, everyone.
>
> Is the problem the Party, or the Commons?
>
> The Commons voted for us to Leave, refuses to countenance leaving without a deal, and refuses for us to leave with a deal. The Conservatives are not even half the House of Commons, as currently constituted.
>
> ++++++++++++++++
>
> There are two problems:
>
> 1. There is a subset of Conservative MPs who either hate the EU with such passion that no deal would be acceptable (did you see what I did there?), or who see voting down everything as a path to Remain
>
> 2. The Labour Party has become so tribal under Corbyn, that even the most EU-sceptic daren't support a "Tory Brexit".
>
> I don't know who to be more annoyed at: those who don't realise that to leave the EU, you have to have actually leave the EU, or those who think they are being clever in attempting to put party before country.
One problem is that the ERG so successfully destroyed the basis of May's agreement before they read it that no-one outside of the Tory whip can support it.
Hence the mess we are in...
The sane (business) approach is to revoke, work out what we want and see if it's worth trying again. Now I know that isn't an option but it removes the time pressure...
You know how with a report that must be approved by dozens of senior people it can be redrafted and tweaked endlessly to the point it makes no sense? The Tory contest on Brexit position is like that, with the additions similarity that everyone focuses in on one minor aspect and it can destroy the whole thing as they argue over one paragraph. Which might well be a paragraph reflecting the law or something just as unbending.
Had they played ball then May would have had at least 300 votes and been able to put far more pressure on Labour over its tribalism, and politically campaigned accordingly if they continued to block it.
Nonetheless an interesting read and a well deserved boot in the groin of Richard Tyndall. Not the knock-out blow I was hoping for but I suspect those who know him will realise he's less the articulate guest on the Culture Show and more the neocon pal of John Bolton.
> https://twitter.com/lewis_goodall/status/1135339778940067840
>
>
>
> Well the title has called it right. Although full blooded no dealers do actually have a plan. But as much as I wanted the deal to pass the WA is dead and trying it again a la Rory is a non starter and the others, Gove too, are basically over working the issue
>
> You know how with a report that must be approved by dozens of senior people it can be redrafted and tweaked endlessly to the point it makes no sense? The Tory contest on Brexit position is like that, with the additions similarity that everyone focuses in on one minor aspect and it can destroy the whole thing as they argue over one paragraph. Which might well be a paragraph reflecting the law or something just as unbending.
No full blooded no dealers don't have a plan - they have a plan that takes them to the first water stop but don't understand what happens after they pass that point.
However, your reply does go a long way towards explaining why the said experts were ignored.
More worryingly, Spielmann was just the start of failed civil servants trying to take over educational roles they are wholly unfit for. See here:
https://www.tes.com/news/two-more-career-civil-servants-made-regional-schools-commissioners
There's an irony that Gove's reforms, sold as setting teachers free to teach, have now brought the dead hand of failed bureaucrats into the heart of education and stifled it.
> Good morning, everyone.
>
> Is the problem the Party, or the Commons?
>
> The Commons voted for us to Leave, refuses to countenance leaving without a deal, and refuses for us to leave with a deal. The Conservatives are not even half the House of Commons, as currently constituted.
The government with its allies has a majority, and the first place to look when doling out responsibility for failure is to the rebels on its own side. The opposition can hardly be blamed for opposing, but in any event the handful of Tories who opposed from a pro-EU perspective were balanced almost exactly by supporters from the opposition benches. Leaving a whole wodge of ERG and DUP who are to blame.
> Whenever I hear "Gove", I think of two things. The first is this Guardian cartoon from 2012.
> https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/cartoon/2012/mar/16/1
Superb cartoon. It does highlight an issue with Gove. He is undoubtedly very clever but he has yet to meet a complicated problem that he doesn't have the solution to in a couple of hours and which then becomes the way ahead. As @ydoethur points out this means the quality of the inputs he receives in those hours absolutely critical. Where it is good so is he because he can master a brief very fast. Where it is not he is far too ready to treat reasoned criticism of his solution as obstructionism.
It seems inevitable to me that a Gove Premiership would inevitably hit the buffers of a poll tax where a bad policy was not stopped. OTOH a number of things would change, unlike the last 3 years, many of them positively. I still think the trade off is likely to be worth it given the absence of a young Ken Clarke.
You don't think that required a fair amount of work, as well as a hell of a lot of money?
Education doesn't finish at 16,18 or 21, nor is it simply 'technical'. (As in teaching History to potential history teachers!)
Instead, her empty rhetoric promoted the idea that if you dislike her deal (and a backstop we can't leave without EU permission isn't exactly fantastic) then no deal was perfectly fine.
A PM who was either more diplomatically astute or simply more willing to contemplate leaving with no deal would've been better. Instead we had the worst of both worlds, neither persuasive enough to get a better deal nor someone who could genuinely make the EU fear a no deal departure. She talked loudly, and carried a small stick.
Have a good morning.
Step 1: Shoot ourselves in the head.
Step 2:
Both, but I put the ERG first.
Had they played ball then May would have had at least 300 votes and been able to put far more pressure on Labour over its tribalism, and politically campaigned accordingly if they continued to block it.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
I tend to agree. If the ERG had fallen into line, then the government would have needed to have found just three more votes.
(And for the record, I also include in my disdain Kate Hoey, who voted against the Withdrawal Agreement for exactly the same reasons as the ERG. She should be ashamed of herself.)
Whitehall is full of dumb ideas which dont work to be sure, but I cannot tell how you think ministers could do anything. Listen to the right people, presumably, but who agrees who the right people are?
Instead, her empty rhetoric promoted the idea that if you dislike her deal (and a backstop we can't leave without EU permission isn't exactly fantastic) then no deal was perfectly fine.
+++++++++
"a backstop we can't leave without EU permission isn't exactly fantastic"
But that's not true. We could leave at any time by abrogating the treaty.
Or we could leave with no consequences if the EU was insincere about agreeing an FTA or implementing a technical solution to the border, via international arbitration.
(And if the EU was sincere, then the backstop would never come into being.)
At my daughters school pupils are being given time off to rally against trump
++++++++++++++++
Ah hem. I think that you should probably clarify which school that is.
Or perhaps clarify that it's not a British state school.
> > @OldKingCole said:
> > Thanks for the header; useful to have an assessment of someone produced as a result of practical experience of their policies.
> >
> > While most of the teachers in my family are in their first few practicing years the stories they tell of MAT's bear out Y Doethur's report. It does seem we are returning to a system of education similar to that in early to mid Victorian times, which was ended, because of public dissatisfaction, by Parliamentary action at the end of the 19th Century.
> >
> > In agreeing with Mr B2, though on the alternatives to LEA's, I would suggest though that the 'failure' of LEA's was due to the system of local government in this country, with far too many one-party states, and hence Chairs of Education Committees becoming far too powerful. The late Alderman Cyril Smith may be cited as an example.
> >
> > Too many of us, of course, are 'experts' on the subject of education, based on hazy memories of being at school!
>
> Some form of PR would be of great benefit to breaking up the one party states of Local Government. It is sorely needed
Was a big mistake by the LibDems not insisting on local government STV, instead of wasting their time with the AV referendum, which would have been worthless to them even if carried. It would be in an implemented by now.
https://twitter.com/DrFrancisYoung/status/1135294695955996673
> The OP might also have mentioned that as EdSec, Gove continued to sell off school playing fields and left behind a shortage of school places.
>
> I recall one of the big criticisms of the last Labour government is they hadn’t built out capacity so there was going to be a real issue with a shortage of places in the very near future
>
> In Gove’s case did he (a) make this worse (b) not address it at all or (c) only partialky address it?
>
> As I understand it, and leaving aside the attempt to blame Labour, the essential conundrum is Gove stopped LEAs having new schools (remember the jibe that the largest LEA in the country is Michael Gove's desk) and the free school and academy trusts by and large do not have the money to build new schools, especially (see Boris) since per pupil spending was cut, even if they wanted to do so.
Yep (ironically also stopping new grammar schools). Hence my old LA has had to expand almost every one of its existing schools, at the loss of open space on their sites, and leaving many of our primary schools having over 1000 pupils.
That said, he might also introduce innovative reforms to taxation, housebuilding, business investment and infrastructure domestically - as well as doing Brexit - because he is phenomenally capable of doing many things at once, very quickly.
But, we simply won’t know what it is we’ll really get and, once he’s in, he’s in.
My daughter contemplated being a teacher, having done some work as a teaching assistant with primary age children as a student. She loves the actual teaching and would be well suited I think. But she decided against because of the horror stories she had heard from some graduates who had gone into it (and left) and other more experienced teachers. It seems to me to be a shame that the perception of what teaching is like is putting off new entrants. There are 4 teachers in our family, one of whom recently retired after becoming the longest serving teacher in Cumbria. I will show them this article and see what they think.
I have no idea who of the candidates would be best for the country. It seems pointless speculating because the choice will be made on the basis of who is best for the party and who can get Brexit over the line, with scarcely a moment’s thought for what happens next. There will be a book to be written on how the Tories have managed to self-destruct since winning their unexpected 2015 election victory.
A level maths is the most popular A level choice and has been increasing in popularity for at least the past 5 years, so it seems strange that the author thinks "very few do it".
https://www.hepi.ac.uk/2018/08/18/perspectives-2018-level-results/
> "In a-levels, the results have been far more serious. It is now so difficult to do mathematics that very few are doing it."
>
> A level maths is the most popular A level choice and has been increasing in popularity for at least the past 5 years, so it seems strange that the author thinks "very few do it".
>
> https://www.hepi.ac.uk/2018/08/18/perspectives-2018-level-results/
The 2019 A level maths course is very different from the 2018 one - it's blooming hard work and a lot of people are dropping out of it,
Why closure? Because its current MAT have done such an excretably bad job that they are shifting their schools on and closing down. All their schools except ours, where a fall in student numbers (caused by them) makes it less financially lucrative and so not snaffled up yet. It is absurd that a new school with great facilities and progress on results and culture should be threatened with closure. But having become an academy it is of course illegal to be anything other than an academy.
Either the private sector takes it on. Or it closes. Because thats definitely whats best for its students isn't it Mr Gove you utter spanner. Entertainingly, the local Tories - buoyed by their "success" in nationalising the airport - are mobilised demanding it be converted to a Free School.
They presumably are encouraged by the other local Free School who inters students in punishment booths for 7 hours a day for major offences like looking out the window. Another glorious Tory education triumph. Which leadership contender is going to pledge to bring back the wheel thing off the beginning of Oliver Twist?
But, on the numbers who opposed it, even if she’d won - say - a majority of 50 in that election she’d have still had a big problem with the ERG, who might have considered No Deal more politically feasible with that bigger conservative caucus.
> > @rkrkrk said:
> > "In a-levels, the results have been far more serious. It is now so difficult to do mathematics that very few are doing it."
> >
> > A level maths is the most popular A level choice and has been increasing in popularity for at least the past 5 years, so it seems strange that the author thinks "very few do it".
> >
> > https://www.hepi.ac.uk/2018/08/18/perspectives-2018-level-results/
>
> The 2019 A level maths course is very different from the 2018 one - it's blooming hard work and a lot of people are dropping out of it,
The piece you have linked to says that 1 in 8 pupils do A level Maths which may be the most popular but still seems far too few. Again from a Scottish perspective one of the problems with A levels is that there is an excessive level of specialisation at too early a stage. Most able Scottish students will do 5 Highers one of which is normally maths.
*They would say reunification but that rarely comes under threat of nuclear annahailation and is generally taken to be a two way process.
> @Morris_Dancer said:
> Good morning, everyone.
>
> Is the problem the Party, or the Commons?
>
> The Commons voted for us to Leave, refuses to countenance leaving without a deal, and refuses for us to leave with a deal. The Conservatives are not even half the House of Commons, as currently constituted.
>
> ++++++++++++++++
>
> There are two problems:
>
> 1. There is a subset of Conservative MPs who either hate the EU with such passion that no deal would be acceptable (did you see what I did there?), or who see voting down everything as a path to Remain
>
> 2. The Labour Party has become so tribal under Corbyn, that even the most EU-sceptic daren't support a "Tory Brexit".
>
> I don't know who to be more annoyed at: those who don't realise that to leave the EU, you have to have actually leave the EU, or those who think they are being clever in attempting to put party before country.
See Conservative Party, as the largest party in the House of Commons, is the Government. See the Labour Party, as the second largest party in the House of Commons, is the Opposition. The way our version of democracy works is that the Government proposes, the Opposition questions. If the Government is unable to pass it's legislation, then in times past, it fell and a General Election is called. If the majority of the electorate wish the previous government to return, then the voters will put their crosses on the ballot paper for them, if the electorate wish a new government to come in, then the mass of the electorate will put their cross against the party they wish to be in government.
It is not the game in that the Opposition sucks up the s**t the government has decided to say and then follow like sheep into the lobbies. See when the Tories go into opposition, as they will sometime, there will be no chance that any of their supporters will demand that their MP's will be allowed to vote with the Labour (or whatever other government) Party for "the good of the country"
To be fair to Gove though, his announcement he'd be prepared to delay Brexit to block No Deal, is responsible and brave.
Schools exists to benefit parents and provide a service to educate their children. They don’t exist to keep teachers out of the pub.
Our school has gone to from a wish’s washy failing school to “Good” post Gove.
Plenty to genuinely quiz Gove on but his time in DoE isn’t it.
What we can perhaps agree on is this. Gove is energetic, intelligent, unafraid of special interest groups and eager to pursue a distinctive agenda rather than merely potter along. Since special interest groups are sometimes right, this can be dangerous. Gove is therefore a risk where someone more innocuous (Hancock, say) is not. But he is up to the job, and that is a qualification not to be despised in this remarkably barren contest. If Gove chooses to major on things which turn out badly, we can vote him out. And really, should the Tories choose Prime Ministers on the basis that they are too dim or too timid to do anything distinctive?
He is, of course, a skilled politician, and made a nasty speech about Corbyn. I don't approve, but I don't really expect otherwise of a Tory leader. I wouldn't dream of voting Tory whoever they choose, but trying to be objective I think they could do much worse (and probably will).
PS Like kle4 I think potshots at named contributors should be edited out of headers; they look in-groupy to the wider audience that we hope to interest. I like Richard Tyndall anyway but that's not the point.
Maybe it's the product not the charlatan charged with flogging it.
> I disagree with posters saying the competition so far has been awful and highlighted a dearth of talent. I'd be the first to say that if I thought it were true. I think it has been pretty good, and actually brought some people to the fore (Rory Stewart, Kit Malthouse for me) who deserve to get more of a hearing.
Rory Stewart is the candidate that the Tories need to choose, but they won't.
> Worth mentioning that Gove and Trump would probably get along very well. In many ways, they're similar people: intellectually curious, interested in policy, years of public service.
" intellectually curious, interested in policy, years of public service"
Trump?
Oh sorry, were you being ironic?
> > @eek said:
> > > @rkrkrk said:
> > > "In a-levels, the results have been far more serious. It is now so difficult to do mathematics that very few are doing it."
> > >
> > > A level maths is the most popular A level choice and has been increasing in popularity for at least the past 5 years, so it seems strange that the author thinks "very few do it".
> > >
> > > https://www.hepi.ac.uk/2018/08/18/perspectives-2018-level-results/
> >
> > The 2019 A level maths course is very different from the 2018 one - it's blooming hard work and a lot of people are dropping out of it,
>
> The piece you have linked to says that 1 in 8 pupils do A level Maths which may be the most popular but still seems far too few. Again from a Scottish perspective one of the problems with A levels is that there is an excessive level of specialisation at too early a stage. Most able Scottish students will do 5 Highers one of which is normally maths.
I think you're right that we need more people studying maths for longer.
https://twitter.com/RepBrendanBoyle/status/1135285755880910849
> As a parent of two children who are just finishing primary school I cannot disagree with this article enough.
>
> Schools exists to benefit parents and provide a service to educate their children. They don’t exist to keep teachers out of the pub.
>
> Our school has gone to from a wish’s washy failing school to “Good” post Gove.
>
> Plenty to genuinely quiz Gove on but his time in DoE isn’t it.
Can you accept that this is anecdotage? Your school has done well due to Gove. My school has gone to hell due to Gove. My example is also anecdotage...