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Why Amanda Spielman should not be elevated to the peerage – politicalbetting.com

SystemSystem Posts: 12,397
edited April 5 in General
Why Amanda Spielman should not be elevated to the peerage – politicalbetting.com

"Obscene". "An insult to every teacher in the country". School leaders fury at my revelation that Amanda Spielman, Ofsted's chief when headteacher Ruth Perry took her own life after a bruising inspection, has been nominated for a peerage by the Tories. https://t.co/tCFIC1v3ci

Read the full story here

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Comments

  • Peter_the_PunterPeter_the_Punter Posts: 14,596
    edited April 5
    First Like of the day. I am sure this excellent piece will receive many more.

    It illustrates why people like me are relaxed about the current Government's unpopularity. It is still all too easy to remember what the previous one was like.
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 73,129
    I apologise to @viewcode for the length.

    In my defence, there is a *lot* to say...
  • dixiedeandixiedean Posts: 29,886
    ydoethur said:

    I apologise to @viewcode for the length.

    In my defence, there is a *lot* to say...

    She's a fucking imbecile who's screwed education.
    It's a disgrace.
    That would have done.
  • MustaphaMondeoMustaphaMondeo Posts: 260
    Scrap Ofsted too.
  • FoxyFoxy Posts: 50,837
    edited April 5
    Considering that we struggle to implement customs on European goods even years after Brexit, is there any chance at all of the US Customs* implementing the Trump Tariffs any time soon without log-jamming US ports?

    *assuming they weren't all sacked by DOGE.
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 73,129

    Scrap Ofsted too.

    I think in light of Spielman they may well have to. It's so damaged it's very hard to see how it can recover any credibility.

    But - I'm not terribly optimistic about any replacement. There are the opposite dangers of something that's even more punitive and directly under DFE control (particularly with that fool Acland-Hood shoving her oar in all the time) or something that's too craven and won't actually stand up to be counted where needed.
  • TimSTimS Posts: 14,734
    edited April 5
    Foxy said:

    Considering that we struggle to implement customs on European goods even years after Brexit, is there any chance at all of the US Customs* implementing the Trump Tariffs any time soon without log-jamming US ports?

    *assuming they weren't all sacked by DOGE.

    Yes. It’s different.

    In Brexit we went from having complete free movement of goods with no checks on intra-EU shipments, to requiring the full range of customs procedures, even though imports themselves are tariff-free. That was a huge administrative undertaking: red tape where none existed before.

    For the US, with one exception*, they’re applying exactly the same procedures as before, just charging a higher rate. Relatively simple.

    *the removal of the $800 de minimis on drop shipments is a bigger deal and already caused chaos at airports when they attempted it first time around.
  • FoxyFoxy Posts: 50,837
    TimS said:

    Foxy said:

    Considering that we struggle to implement customs on European goods even years after Brexit, is there any chance at all of the US Customs* implementing the Trump Tariffs any time soon without log-jamming US ports?

    *assuming they weren't all sacked by DOGE.

    Yes. It’s different.

    In Brexit we went from having complete free movement of goods with no checks on intra-EU shipments, to requiring the full range of customs procedures, even though imports themselves are tariff-free. That was a huge administrative undertaking: red tape where none existed before.

    For the US, with one exception*, they’re applying exactly the same procedures as before, just charging a higher rate. Relatively simple.

    *the removal of the $800 de minimis on drop shipments is a bigger deal and already caused chaos at airports when they attempted it first time around.
    Though wasn't a lot of trade with Canada and Mexico free of customs checks?
  • DavidLDavidL Posts: 54,966
    ydoethur said:

    dixiedean said:

    ydoethur said:

    I apologise to @viewcode for the length.

    In my defence, there is a *lot* to say...

    She's a fucking imbecile who's screwed education.
    It's a disgrace.
    That would have done.
    Pithy though that is, I thought some evidence might be useful for those who are not experts in education.
    But we're all experts in education. After all, we had one and most of us have had kids who have had one too. Some have even moved on to grandkids.
  • TimSTimS Posts: 14,734
    edited April 5
    Foxy said:

    TimS said:

    Foxy said:

    Considering that we struggle to implement customs on European goods even years after Brexit, is there any chance at all of the US Customs* implementing the Trump Tariffs any time soon without log-jamming US ports?

    *assuming they weren't all sacked by DOGE.

    Yes. It’s different.

    In Brexit we went from having complete free movement of goods with no checks on intra-EU shipments, to requiring the full range of customs procedures, even though imports themselves are tariff-free. That was a huge administrative undertaking: red tape where none existed before.

    For the US, with one exception*, they’re applying exactly the same procedures as before, just charging a higher rate. Relatively simple.

    *the removal of the $800 de minimis on drop shipments is a bigger deal and already caused chaos at airports when they attempted it first time around.
    Though wasn't a lot of trade with Canada and Mexico free of customs checks?
    No, tariff free and with some simplified procedures but still subject to customs clearance and quite detailed origin checks. More like present-day UK-EU trade.
  • TheScreamingEaglesTheScreamingEagles Posts: 121,442
    Carlos Sainz should be banned for at least six races.

    Loving the fact that Liam Lawson has finished ahead of Tsunoda.
  • TheScreamingEaglesTheScreamingEagles Posts: 121,442
    I have heard from reliable sources that Kemi Badenoch's éminence grise and former Education Secretary Michael Gove is the one who persuaded her to nominate Spielman for a peerage
  • PulpstarPulpstar Posts: 79,098

    Carlos Sainz should be banned for at least six races.

    Loving the fact that Liam Lawson has finished ahead of Tsunoda.

    Indeed

    It shows just how good a driver Max Verstappen really is though.
  • FoxyFoxy Posts: 50,837
    TimS said:

    Foxy said:

    TimS said:

    Foxy said:

    Considering that we struggle to implement customs on European goods even years after Brexit, is there any chance at all of the US Customs* implementing the Trump Tariffs any time soon without log-jamming US ports?

    *assuming they weren't all sacked by DOGE.

    Yes. It’s different.

    In Brexit we went from having complete free movement of goods with no checks on intra-EU shipments, to requiring the full range of customs procedures, even though imports themselves are tariff-free. That was a huge administrative undertaking: red tape where none existed before.

    For the US, with one exception*, they’re applying exactly the same procedures as before, just charging a higher rate. Relatively simple.

    *the removal of the $800 de minimis on drop shipments is a bigger deal and already caused chaos at airports when they attempted it first time around.
    Though wasn't a lot of trade with Canada and Mexico free of customs checks?
    No, tariff free and with some simplified procedures but still subject to customs clearance and quite detailed origin checks. More like present-day UK-EU trade.
    Still likely to create a lot of work for customs, as most likely to have a lot of bootleggers. Nothing drives smuggling more than tariffs. Shops in Canadian border towns are going to be busy, as indeed are retail malls in the Caribbean and Mexico.
  • TheScreamingEaglesTheScreamingEagles Posts: 121,442
    Pulpstar said:

    Carlos Sainz should be banned for at least six races.

    Loving the fact that Liam Lawson has finished ahead of Tsunoda.

    Indeed

    It shows just how good a driver Max Verstappen really is though.
    No.

    He only began his dominance when Michael Masi screwed up and handed him the title, fruit from the poisonous tree.
  • DopermeanDopermean Posts: 901
    TimS said:

    Foxy said:

    TimS said:

    Foxy said:

    Considering that we struggle to implement customs on European goods even years after Brexit, is there any chance at all of the US Customs* implementing the Trump Tariffs any time soon without log-jamming US ports?

    *assuming they weren't all sacked by DOGE.

    Yes. It’s different.

    In Brexit we went from having complete free movement of goods with no checks on intra-EU shipments, to requiring the full range of customs procedures, even though imports themselves are tariff-free. That was a huge administrative undertaking: red tape where none existed before.

    For the US, with one exception*, they’re applying exactly the same procedures as before, just charging a higher rate. Relatively simple.

    *the removal of the $800 de minimis on drop shipments is a bigger deal and already caused chaos at airports when they attempted it first time around.
    Though wasn't a lot of trade with Canada and Mexico free of customs checks?
    No, tariff free and with some simplified procedures but still subject to customs clearance and quite detailed origin checks. More like present-day UK-EU trade.
    Cicero said:

    Foxy said:

    No one should have a peerage. Scrap the lot.

    Quite. The Lib Dems have been saying this for decades... just saying
    Pity they came up with such a shit option for replacing them. People elected for a single 15 year term makes them unaccountable to the electorate. Coupled to a likely lack of public enthusiasm for voting on them, we'd have had people completely unsuited to the role.
  • TheScreamingEaglesTheScreamingEagles Posts: 121,442
    DavidL said:

    ydoethur said:

    dixiedean said:

    ydoethur said:

    I apologise to @viewcode for the length.

    In my defence, there is a *lot* to say...

    She's a fucking imbecile who's screwed education.
    It's a disgrace.
    That would have done.
    Pithy though that is, I thought some evidence might be useful for those who are not experts in education.
    But we're all experts in education. After all, we had one and most of us have had kids who have had one too. Some have even moved on to grandkids.
    I actually agree with Donald Trump when it comes to education, in the UK we should abolish the Department of Education and use the money to give parents vouchers for education as we privatise education.

    Private schools have the best results, it helps produce people like myself, who is the grandson of humble immigrants to this country.
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 73,129

    I have heard from reliable sources that Kemi Badenoch's éminence grise and former Education Secretary Michael Gove is the one who persuaded her to nominate Spielman for a peerage

    That doesn't surprise me. She was his creature over academies, curriculum/exam reviews and finally the centralisation of power to the DfE that her tenure at Ofsted was the crowning inglory of.
  • rkrkrkrkrkrk Posts: 8,615
    The last lot of Tories really fell into the trap of promoting for loyalty rather than competence.
    I see no reason to think Amanda Spielman did a good job, although I suppose there must be some people who think she did. In fairness, I think education generally has improved in quality over the last 20 years - a rare policy success in a sea of failure.

    But I get a bit uncomfortable with the implication, repeated in this piece but common across many, that a headteachers tragic suicide is the fault of the head of ofsted.
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 73,129

    DavidL said:

    ydoethur said:

    dixiedean said:

    ydoethur said:

    I apologise to @viewcode for the length.

    In my defence, there is a *lot* to say...

    She's a fucking imbecile who's screwed education.
    It's a disgrace.
    That would have done.
    Pithy though that is, I thought some evidence might be useful for those who are not experts in education.
    But we're all experts in education. After all, we had one and most of us have had kids who have had one too. Some have even moved on to grandkids.
    I actually agree with Donald Trump when it comes to education, in the UK we should abolish the Department of Education and use the money to give parents vouchers for education as we privatise education.
    I'm also inclined to agree, with two caveats:

    1) It's got to be done with some thought and a replacement system ready to go, not just because the boss* is coked out of his mind and decided to do something weird;

    2) It's not on any sort of principle, just because it seems to me that if things are still wrong in education, and there are many things wrong, that's the one constant nobody has ever tried to change.

    *I've had a nice pot noodle, but I've never had a poodle, and I've never met a nice South African.
  • TheScreamingEaglesTheScreamingEagles Posts: 121,442
    I agree with J.D. Vance.


  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 73,129
    rkrkrk said:

    The last lot of Tories really fell into the trap of promoting for loyalty rather than competence.
    I see no reason to think Amanda Spielman did a good job, although I suppose there must be some people who think she did. In fairness, I think education generally has improved in quality over the last 20 years - a rare policy success in a sea of failure.

    But I get a bit uncomfortable with the implication, repeated in this piece but common across many, that a headteachers tragic suicide is the fault of the head of ofsted.

    Click on some of the links to find out why that is.

    And it isn't just that she was to blame through flawed processes which led to falsified reports. It's the way she reacted as well, painting herself as the victim, that makes her unfit for further preferment.
  • MattWMattW Posts: 26,269
    edited April 5
    Foxy said:

    Considering that we struggle to implement customs on European goods even years after Brexit, is there any chance at all of the US Customs* implementing the Trump Tariffs any time soon without log-jamming US ports?

    *assuming they weren't all sacked by DOGE.

    Thay'll make like Doge - whack it in from false assumptions on a spreadsheet, shout loudly that you have succeeded, expect lots of Yaaaayyyy !!! from the MAGA LOOFS, and rely on anybody left standing to push back, which claims they will no longer have enough staff to process.

    Here's a piece about a UK cycle manufacturer who is offering a 5% discount to "meet their customers halfway". They have a direct debit with USA customs, import their frames from Taiwan, and export to the USA.

    The USA apparently treats the "frame" as the original for the cycle, rather than eg getting a UK tariff on parts manufactured in the UK.

    What could possible go wrong?

    https://road.cc/content/news/trump-tariffs-see-uk-bike-brand-offer-5-discount-313399

  • MattWMattW Posts: 26,269
    DavidL said:

    Foxy said:

    Carney advert on the housing shortage. Impressive presentation.

    https://bsky.app/profile/mark-carney.bsky.social/post/3llz5p26ydc2j

    And a powerful boost to domestic demand using Canadian timber to offset the impact of tariffs. Smart. Very, very smart.
    That's quite good. Just like the reports that were doing the rounds in the UK in 1994, 1998, 2006 ....

    Here, of course, Nonny-Nonny-Nigel would be demanding that everyone wants to live in brick built houses, with single glazing, space to grow cabbages, a free bulldog, and a coal fire.

    None of this woke wood and insulation stuff :smile: . Granada TV and World in Action proved in 1983 that it is disastrous.
  • Morris_DancerMorris_Dancer Posts: 62,396
    F1: not the pole I expected. Ultra-close, if Piastri hadn't cocked up Q1 he would've had it by a decent margin.
  • TimSTimS Posts: 14,734
    MattW said:

    DavidL said:

    Foxy said:

    Carney advert on the housing shortage. Impressive presentation.

    https://bsky.app/profile/mark-carney.bsky.social/post/3llz5p26ydc2j

    And a powerful boost to domestic demand using Canadian timber to offset the impact of tariffs. Smart. Very, very smart.
    That's quite good. Just like the reports that were doing the rounds in the UK in 1994, 1998, 2006 ....

    Here, of course, Nonny-Nonny-Nigel would be demanding that everyone wants to live in brick built houses, with single glazing, space to grow cabbages, a free bulldog, and a coal fire.

    None of this woke wood and insulation stuff :smile: . Granada TV and World in Action proved in 1983 that it is disastrous.
    You forgot the double garage and paved front drive with electric (or gas-powered) security gates.
  • StuartinromfordStuartinromford Posts: 18,203
    rkrkrk said:

    The last lot of Tories really fell into the trap of promoting for loyalty rather than competence.
    I see no reason to think Amanda Spielman did a good job, although I suppose there must be some people who think she did. In fairness, I think education generally has improved in quality over the last 20 years - a rare policy success in a sea of failure.

    But I get a bit uncomfortable with the implication, repeated in this piece but common across many, that a headteachers tragic suicide is the fault of the head of ofsted.

    Up to a point. But the horrible tragedy did happen on her watch, and the inspection the led to Ruth Perry's suicide, convenient grade 4 and all that, was part of a pattern that the head of Ofsted should have known about. As with the former Archbishop of Canterbury, the buck should have stopped with her, even if it wasn't directly her fault.

    One other thing, though. Heads of Ofsted and Ofqual really shouldn't be partisan creatures. There's an extent to which they will be, but they shouldn't be. Giving any former Chief Inspector a party ticket into the Lords shouldn't be on. Admittedly, there are very few potential great and good willing to take the Conservative whip right now...
  • MattWMattW Posts: 26,269
    edited April 5
    Foxy said:

    TimS said:

    Foxy said:

    TimS said:

    Foxy said:

    Considering that we struggle to implement customs on European goods even years after Brexit, is there any chance at all of the US Customs* implementing the Trump Tariffs any time soon without log-jamming US ports?

    *assuming they weren't all sacked by DOGE.

    Yes. It’s different.

    In Brexit we went from having complete free movement of goods with no checks on intra-EU shipments, to requiring the full range of customs procedures, even though imports themselves are tariff-free. That was a huge administrative undertaking: red tape where none existed before.

    For the US, with one exception*, they’re applying exactly the same procedures as before, just charging a higher rate. Relatively simple.

    *the removal of the $800 de minimis on drop shipments is a bigger deal and already caused chaos at airports when they attempted it first time around.
    Though wasn't a lot of trade with Canada and Mexico free of customs checks?
    No, tariff free and with some simplified procedures but still subject to customs clearance and quite detailed origin checks. More like present-day UK-EU trade.
    Still likely to create a lot of work for customs, as most likely to have a lot of bootleggers. Nothing drives smuggling more than tariffs. Shops in Canadian border towns are going to be busy, as indeed are retail malls in the Caribbean and Mexico.
    I see Canada tightening up its borders to control the incoming refugees, and I can see Trumpski making threats about Usonians bringing back cheap goods - as is already a big thing on drugs eg insulin. The difference in cost of insulin in the market is about 5-8x higher in the USA than Canada. AI numbers but I think not far off:

    One report states that the average list price for a vial of insulin in Canada was $12, while in the US it was $98.70.

    A vial is 100ml usually of normal concentration insulin. I use a vial every 10-12 days.

    I checked and at present the numbers from the USA seeking asylum in Canada is around 10x those in the other direction - which as a rate is somewhat higher but not very much. Both number are (currently) low.

    Here's an account of a woman who uses half as much as I do, and flew 1000 miles to Canada and back to save $2000 on 10 months supply ($2500 vs $500). My photo quota is her wrist tattoo to warn First Responders. She also has a therapy dog that warns her when her blood glucose is low.

    https://www.statnews.com/2020/03/04/photo-essay-journey-to-canada-for-insulin/


  • ChrisChris Posts: 11,878
    TimS said:

    MattW said:

    DavidL said:

    Foxy said:

    Carney advert on the housing shortage. Impressive presentation.

    https://bsky.app/profile/mark-carney.bsky.social/post/3llz5p26ydc2j

    And a powerful boost to domestic demand using Canadian timber to offset the impact of tariffs. Smart. Very, very smart.
    That's quite good. Just like the reports that were doing the rounds in the UK in 1994, 1998, 2006 ....

    Here, of course, Nonny-Nonny-Nigel would be demanding that everyone wants to live in brick built houses, with single glazing, space to grow cabbages, a free bulldog, and a coal fire.

    None of this woke wood and insulation stuff :smile: . Granada TV and World in Action proved in 1983 that it is disastrous.
    You forgot the double garage and paved front drive with electric (or gas-powered) security gates.
    Quadruple garage seems to be more the requirement these days.
  • MexicanpeteMexicanpete Posts: 30,987
    ydoethur said:

    I apologise to @viewcode for the length.

    In my defence, there is a *lot* to say...

    It was nonetheless very readable.

    Although Amanda Spielman from her interview with WATO, where she tacitly opined that Phillipson is a Soviet agent and she ( Amanda Spielman) is the real victim here and not Ruth Perry would wholly disagree with your analysis. You do realise that when Cummings becomes Fuhrer you are in big trouble!

    Of course like Spielman we are all experts in the field of education because we all went to school didn't we? (That being a statement of truth, rather than flippery.)
  • MattWMattW Posts: 26,269
    edited April 5
    MattW said:

    Foxy said:

    TimS said:

    Foxy said:

    TimS said:

    Foxy said:

    Considering that we struggle to implement customs on European goods even years after Brexit, is there any chance at all of the US Customs* implementing the Trump Tariffs any time soon without log-jamming US ports?

    *assuming they weren't all sacked by DOGE.

    Yes. It’s different.

    In Brexit we went from having complete free movement of goods with no checks on intra-EU shipments, to requiring the full range of customs procedures, even though imports themselves are tariff-free. That was a huge administrative undertaking: red tape where none existed before.

    For the US, with one exception*, they’re applying exactly the same procedures as before, just charging a higher rate. Relatively simple.

    *the removal of the $800 de minimis on drop shipments is a bigger deal and already caused chaos at airports when they attempted it first time around.
    Though wasn't a lot of trade with Canada and Mexico free of customs checks?
    No, tariff free and with some simplified procedures but still subject to customs clearance and quite detailed origin checks. More like present-day UK-EU trade.
    Still likely to create a lot of work for customs, as most likely to have a lot of bootleggers. Nothing drives smuggling more than tariffs. Shops in Canadian border towns are going to be busy, as indeed are retail malls in the Caribbean and Mexico.
    I see Canada tightening up its borders to control the incoming refugees, and I can see Trumpski making threats about Usonians bringing back cheap goods - as is already a big thing on drugs eg insulin. The difference in cost of insulin in the market is about 5-8x higher in the USA than Canada. AI numbers but I think not far off:

    One report states that the average list price for a vial of insulin in Canada was $12, while in the US it was $98.70.

    A vial is 100ml usually of normal concentration insulin. I use a vial every 10-12 days.

    I checked and at present the numbers from the USA seeking asylum in Canada is around 10x those in the other direction - which as a rate is somewhat higher but not very much. Both number are (currently) low.

    Here's an account of a woman who uses half as much as I do, and flew 1000 miles to Canada and back to save $2000 on 10 months supply ($2500 vs $500). My photo quota is her wrist tattoo to warn First Responders. She also has a therapy dog that warns her when her blood glucose is low.

    https://www.statnews.com/2020/03/04/photo-essay-journey-to-canada-for-insulin/


    2 corrections / updates.

    A vial is normally 10ml not 100ml (type - sorry).

    One costs the NHS £14.08 (says the British National Formulary *).That is about $20 at current rates.

    * https://bnf.nice.org.uk/drugs/insulin-aspart/medicinal-forms/
  • RogerRoger Posts: 20,320
    "Amanda Spielman is a bad leader, an inept person, and has done enormous damage to the education of children not I think because she meant to but because she was profoundly ignorant, not especially intelligent and incredibly arrogant. You can see why she was a friend of Dominic Cummings."

    This is the stuff of HIGNFY.

    Are we to take the rest of it seriously?
  • kinabalukinabalu Posts: 44,550
    Pulpstar said:

    Carlos Sainz should be banned for at least six races.

    Loving the fact that Liam Lawson has finished ahead of Tsunoda.

    Indeed

    It shows just how good a driver Max Verstappen really is though.
    The best ever imo.
  • MexicanpeteMexicanpete Posts: 30,987
    ydoethur said:

    DavidL said:

    ydoethur said:

    dixiedean said:

    ydoethur said:

    I apologise to @viewcode for the length.

    In my defence, there is a *lot* to say...

    She's a fucking imbecile who's screwed education.
    It's a disgrace.
    That would have done.
    Pithy though that is, I thought some evidence might be useful for those who are not experts in education.
    But we're all experts in education. After all, we had one and most of us have had kids who have had one too. Some have even moved on to grandkids.
    I actually agree with Donald Trump when it comes to education, in the UK we should abolish the Department of Education and use the money to give parents vouchers for education as we privatise education.
    I'm also inclined to agree, with two caveats:

    1) It's got to be done with some thought and a replacement system ready to go, not just because the boss* is coked out of his mind and decided to do something weird;

    2) It's not on any sort of principle, just because it seems to me that if things are still wrong in education, and there are many things wrong, that's the one constant nobody has ever tried to change.

    *I've had a nice pot noodle, but I've never had a poodle, and I've never met a nice South African.
    To address TSE's final point, hasn't quasi privatisation already been implemented? With these academy groups paying their Directors half a million pound a year salaries with additional bonuses, and expense accounts. Luvvly Jubbly!

    Now LAs are f***** so they are not the answer, but can't we do something about these academy group confidence tricksters?
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 73,129
    Roger said:

    "Amanda Spielman is a bad leader, an inept person, and has done enormous damage to the education of children not I think because she meant to but because she was profoundly ignorant, not especially intelligent and incredibly arrogant. You can see why she was a friend of Dominic Cummings."

    This is the stuff of HIGNFY.

    Are we to take the rest of it seriously?

    Feel free to click on the links and make up your own mind. That is what they are there for.

    The conclusion stands.
  • The next election is now totally up in the air.

    I’m going to run. Why not.
  • algarkirkalgarkirk Posts: 13,849
    DavidL said:

    ydoethur said:

    dixiedean said:

    ydoethur said:

    I apologise to @viewcode for the length.

    In my defence, there is a *lot* to say...

    She's a fucking imbecile who's screwed education.
    It's a disgrace.
    That would have done.
    Pithy though that is, I thought some evidence might be useful for those who are not experts in education.
    But we're all experts in education. After all, we had one and most of us have had kids who have had one too. Some have even moved on to grandkids.
    Yes, I'm that sort of expert too. I don't have any particular views partly because of that. It seems to me there are difficult to reconcile perspectives on what makes out as bad, good, better, best and worst.
    In particular in question is the point of view. Is the discussion on education about what is best for: a given individual, any individual, the local community and its cohesion, the nation as a whole or what is best for the least able, least articulate, most feckless, worst parented and so on.

    Over the years I have been chair of governors of four schools, ranging in pupil numbers from 8 to 1300. I doubt if any of that makes me wiser rather than better informed on the matters.
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 76,030
    Roger said:

    "Amanda Spielman is a bad leader, an inept person, and has done enormous damage to the education of children not I think because she meant to but because she was profoundly ignorant, not especially intelligent and incredibly arrogant. You can see why she was a friend of Dominic Cummings."

    This is the stuff of HIGNFY.

    Are we to take the rest of it seriously?

    Yes.

    The polemic is backed by facts.
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 76,030
    As I suspected.

    Trump’s team did actually spend weeks calculating the true reciprocal tariff rates for each country, and then he just decided not to do that anymore and based it on trade deficits.

    Absolutely absurd.

    https://x.com/Geiger_Capital/status/1908318822349647872
  • kinabalukinabalu Posts: 44,550
    ydoethur said:

    DavidL said:

    ydoethur said:

    dixiedean said:

    ydoethur said:

    I apologise to @viewcode for the length.

    In my defence, there is a *lot* to say...

    She's a fucking imbecile who's screwed education.
    It's a disgrace.
    That would have done.
    Pithy though that is, I thought some evidence might be useful for those who are not experts in education.
    But we're all experts in education. After all, we had one and most of us have had kids who have had one too. Some have even moved on to grandkids.
    I actually agree with Donald Trump when it comes to education, in the UK we should abolish the Department of Education and use the money to give parents vouchers for education as we privatise education.
    I'm also inclined to agree, with two caveats:

    1) It's got to be done with some thought and a replacement system ready to go, not just because the boss* is coked out of his mind and decided to do something weird;

    2) It's not on any sort of principle, just because it seems to me that if things are still wrong in education, and there are many things wrong, that's the one constant nobody has ever tried to change.

    *I've had a nice pot noodle, but I've never had a poodle, and I've never met a nice South African.
    So long as they compete on quality and type of offering, not price. If they can charge what they want (eg multiples of the voucher) you'll get an even stronger correlation between parental wealth and opportunity to achieve than we have today.

    Quality header btw.
  • TimSTimS Posts: 14,734
    edited April 5

    The next election is now totally up in the air.

    I’m going to run. Why not.

    I’m afraid the Lib Dems are already best placed in the Vale of Correct Horse.
  • MexicanpeteMexicanpete Posts: 30,987
    Roger said:

    "Amanda Spielman is a bad leader, an inept person, and has done enormous damage to the education of children not I think because she meant to but because she was profoundly ignorant, not especially intelligent and incredibly arrogant. You can see why she was a friend of Dominic Cummings."

    This is the stuff of HIGNFY.

    Are we to take the rest of it seriously?

    A little bit of comedic high jinx doesn't detract from the fact that Spielman was wholly unsuitable to her role and Johnsonian era corruption has seen a vile, self-serving nincompoop on the cusp of being elevated to the House of Lords.
  • StuartinromfordStuartinromford Posts: 18,203

    ydoethur said:

    DavidL said:

    ydoethur said:

    dixiedean said:

    ydoethur said:

    I apologise to @viewcode for the length.

    In my defence, there is a *lot* to say...

    She's a fucking imbecile who's screwed education.
    It's a disgrace.
    That would have done.
    Pithy though that is, I thought some evidence might be useful for those who are not experts in education.
    But we're all experts in education. After all, we had one and most of us have had kids who have had one too. Some have even moved on to grandkids.
    I actually agree with Donald Trump when it comes to education, in the UK we should abolish the Department of Education and use the money to give parents vouchers for education as we privatise education.
    I'm also inclined to agree, with two caveats:

    1) It's got to be done with some thought and a replacement system ready to go, not just because the boss* is coked out of his mind and decided to do something weird;

    2) It's not on any sort of principle, just because it seems to me that if things are still wrong in education, and there are many things wrong, that's the one constant nobody has ever tried to change.

    *I've had a nice pot noodle, but I've never had a poodle, and I've never met a nice South African.
    To address TSE's final point, hasn't quasi privatisation already been implemented? With these academy groups paying their Directors half a million pound a year salaries with additional bonuses, and expense accounts. Luvvly Jubbly!

    Now LAs are f***** so they are not the answer, but can't we do something about these academy group confidence tricksters?
    Presumably the mechanism already exists, in Financial Notices to Improve. The DfE would just have to decide to use them. One of the problems with the current model is that it's very hard to be objective; it does depend too much on who the head or CEO is.

    Besides- the bigger risk at the moment is Academy chains posting the keys to unviable schools through the DfE's letterbox when nobody is watching.
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 73,129
    Cyclefree said:

    I love a vitriolic header about a useless public servant and this is one of your best @ydoethur.

    Why thank you :smile:
  • TimSTimS Posts: 14,734
    I am on my way to Heathrow T2 for a long trip to Mexico City via Newark, unavoidably on United.

    In a gesture of solidarity and as they’re both Star Alliance I shall be making my way to the Air Canada maple leaf lounge.
  • MexicanpeteMexicanpete Posts: 30,987
    kinabalu said:

    Pulpstar said:

    Carlos Sainz should be banned for at least six races.

    Loving the fact that Liam Lawson has finished ahead of Tsunoda.

    Indeed

    It shows just how good a driver Max Verstappen really is though.
    The best ever imo.
    That was Jim Clark. Verstappen over the course of the last 75 years would be fortunate to make the top 20.
  • bondegezoubondegezou Posts: 13,433
    Video Shows Aid Workers Killed in Gaza Under Gunfire Barrage, With Ambulance Lights On

    https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/04/world/middleeast/gaza-israel-aid-workers-deaths-video.html
  • CyclefreeCyclefree Posts: 25,607

    Our bird box has attracted interest for the first time in two years:



    This makes me very happy. :)

    I have two: 1 is a repeat nest we have now had for 3 years under the eaves on the side of our house and the other is a new one at the front. I love watching the parents as they fly to and fro and hearing the fledglings. My bird feeder has to be replenished every few days. We're hoping to get swifts nesting here as well. The bird life around here is wonderful - partly because of a local bird reserve. We see kestrels and buzzards quite often and barn owls.
  • ydoethur said:

    Cyclefree said:

    I love a vitriolic header about a useless public servant and this is one of your best @ydoethur.

    Why thank you :smile:
    What does Y Doe Thur mean
  • stodgestodge Posts: 14,398
    Morning all :)

    An uncompromising article to start the weekend from @ydoethur for which many thanks. I don't pretend to have the in-depth knowledge of education of many on here but that's an excoriating judgement if I ever saw one.

    With others, I fail to grasp why the Conservatives think this woman should be in my way rewarded or honoured for what is clearly a litany of at best failure.

    That's not to tar all public servants with the same brush as may be the temptation though it might also be argued even in these more meritocratic days too many who make a real difference to people's lives go largely unrecognised.
  • SirNorfolkPassmoreSirNorfolkPassmore Posts: 7,268
    edited April 5
    Dopermean said:

    TimS said:

    Foxy said:

    TimS said:

    Foxy said:

    Considering that we struggle to implement customs on European goods even years after Brexit, is there any chance at all of the US Customs* implementing the Trump Tariffs any time soon without log-jamming US ports?

    *assuming they weren't all sacked by DOGE.

    Yes. It’s different.

    In Brexit we went from having complete free movement of goods with no checks on intra-EU shipments, to requiring the full range of customs procedures, even though imports themselves are tariff-free. That was a huge administrative undertaking: red tape where none existed before.

    For the US, with one exception*, they’re applying exactly the same procedures as before, just charging a higher rate. Relatively simple.

    *the removal of the $800 de minimis on drop shipments is a bigger deal and already caused chaos at airports when they attempted it first time around.
    Though wasn't a lot of trade with Canada and Mexico free of customs checks?
    No, tariff free and with some simplified procedures but still subject to customs clearance and quite detailed origin checks. More like present-day UK-EU trade.
    Cicero said:

    Foxy said:

    No one should have a peerage. Scrap the lot.

    Quite. The Lib Dems have been saying this for decades... just saying
    Pity they came up with such a shit option for replacing them. People elected for a single 15 year term makes them unaccountable to the electorate. Coupled to a likely lack of public enthusiasm for voting on them, we'd have had people completely unsuited to the role.
    How does your bald and unsupported assertion about lack of public enthusiasm for voting making it more likely that those elected would be more unsuitable than those appointed by a PM? And how does a single 15 year term make them less accountable than those appointed for life?

    I'd also note that the proposals that came forward in 2012 weren't Lib Dem proposals - they were Coalition proposals that had gone through a joint committee. They were shot down by a group of Tory backbenchers, in blatant breach of the Coalition Agreement, with the complicity of Labour (who at the time promised to come up with a better alternative which, despite their mega-majority now, they appear not to be interested in doing at all).
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 73,129

    ydoethur said:

    Cyclefree said:

    I love a vitriolic header about a useless public servant and this is one of your best @ydoethur.

    Why thank you :smile:
    What does Y Doe Thur mean
    'Y Doethur' is Welsh for 'The Doctor' (hence my avatar).

    You will be surprised to hear that it is, in fact, an awesome and mischievous pun.
  • With immigration dropping over the next two years, those polls will look quite different IMO.
  • ydoethur said:

    ydoethur said:

    Cyclefree said:

    I love a vitriolic header about a useless public servant and this is one of your best @ydoethur.

    Why thank you :smile:
    What does Y Doe Thur mean
    'Y Doethur' is Welsh for 'The Doctor' (hence my avatar).

    You will be surprised to hear that it is, in fact, an awesome and mischievous pun.
    Oh right, just thought it was a randomly generated name.
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 73,129
    kinabalu said:

    ydoethur said:

    DavidL said:

    ydoethur said:

    dixiedean said:

    ydoethur said:

    I apologise to @viewcode for the length.

    In my defence, there is a *lot* to say...

    She's a fucking imbecile who's screwed education.
    It's a disgrace.
    That would have done.
    Pithy though that is, I thought some evidence might be useful for those who are not experts in education.
    But we're all experts in education. After all, we had one and most of us have had kids who have had one too. Some have even moved on to grandkids.
    I actually agree with Donald Trump when it comes to education, in the UK we should abolish the Department of Education and use the money to give parents vouchers for education as we privatise education.
    I'm also inclined to agree, with two caveats:

    1) It's got to be done with some thought and a replacement system ready to go, not just because the boss* is coked out of his mind and decided to do something weird;

    2) It's not on any sort of principle, just because it seems to me that if things are still wrong in education, and there are many things wrong, that's the one constant nobody has ever tried to change.

    *I've had a nice pot noodle, but I've never had a poodle, and I've never met a nice South African.
    So long as they compete on quality and type of offering, not price. If they can charge what they want (eg multiples of the voucher) you'll get an even stronger correlation between parental wealth and opportunity to achieve than we have today.

    Quality header btw.
    Thank you :smile:

    There are all sorts of ways it could be done, and all sorts of ways it could go wrong.

    I think my main concern would be governance and oversight. That could be done through a properly constituted board of inspectors answering to the relevant Secretary of State.

    But there would also be issues around exclusions, SEND, training, safeguarding to hammer out too.

    It is worth noting that many smaller private schools are currently merging into larger chains that in many ways resemble academy chains to try and deal with these issues.
  • TimSTimS Posts: 14,734
    Cyclefree said:

    Our bird box has attracted interest for the first time in two years:



    This makes me very happy. :)

    I have two: 1 is a repeat nest we have now had for 3 years under the eaves on the side of our house and the other is a new one at the front. I love watching the parents as they fly to and fro and hearing the fledglings. My bird feeder has to be replenished every few days. We're hoping to get swifts nesting here as well. The bird life around here is wonderful - partly because of a local bird reserve. We see kestrels and buzzards quite often and barn owls.
    Seeing as we’re doing wildlife guests, I’ve got sheep in the vineyard this month:


  • stodgestodge Posts: 14,398
    It seems a relatively calm morning after the stock market storms of the past few days.

    Listening to the proponents of Trump's tariffs, it seems it's almost gangsternomics - there's an unsubtle hint if you play nice you'll get the tariffs reduced or eliminated but I'm not sure what for the likes of Vietnam "playing nice" means.

    Using economic leverage as a weapon for domestic and foreign policy is as old as the hills but it's overt use in more recent times has been a shade more subtle. As I said yesterday, this is the war against globalisation - if you want to save American jobs in Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania, your main weapons are a) stopping the flow of cheap foreign labour and b) reducing the price advantage of cheap foreign imports.

    As Vance himself once admitted, the real solution isn't protectionism, it's education and automaton - improving the skills of your own workers and reducing production costs by automating transactional activities but that requires time, money and thought.

    I see Jeremy Hunt has brought out the Singapore-on-Thames model as the Conservative "response" to all this but while it's long on superficial policy ideas, it's desperately short on how we can afford them - in essence, it's the rehashed "European social model on Asian taxes" solution (with the usual jibe at Net Zero). As a putative economic policy, it's as illiterate in its way as Trump's tariffs but the latter at least has a clear political objective. I presume Hunt is trying to reach those ex-Conservative voters who voted LD last year (and, I'm told, enjoy the attractions of Gail's).
  • rkrkrkrkrkrk Posts: 8,615
    ydoethur said:

    rkrkrk said:

    The last lot of Tories really fell into the trap of promoting for loyalty rather than competence.
    I see no reason to think Amanda Spielman did a good job, although I suppose there must be some people who think she did. In fairness, I think education generally has improved in quality over the last 20 years - a rare policy success in a sea of failure.

    But I get a bit uncomfortable with the implication, repeated in this piece but common across many, that a headteachers tragic suicide is the fault of the head of ofsted.

    Click on some of the links to find out why that is.

    And it isn't just that she was to blame through flawed processes which led to falsified reports. It's the way she reacted as well, painting herself as the victim, that makes her unfit for further preferment.
    Yes, it was grotesque how she reacted. But that makes her a bad leader, it doesn't make her to blame for the suicide. Schools presumably get downgraded all the time without this kind of tragedy. I think suicide is probably always complex and we should not apportion blame to any one individual.
  • squareroot2squareroot2 Posts: 6,996
    Roger said:

    "Amanda Spielman is a bad leader, an inept person, and has done enormous damage to the education of children not I think because she meant to but because she was profoundly ignorant, not especially intelligent and incredibly arrogant. You can see why she was a friend of Dominic Cummings."

    This is the stuff of HIGNFY.

    Are we to take the rest of it seriously?

    Yes Roger... and even more so because you always seem to get it wrong.
  • kinabalukinabalu Posts: 44,550

    kinabalu said:

    Pulpstar said:

    Carlos Sainz should be banned for at least six races.

    Loving the fact that Liam Lawson has finished ahead of Tsunoda.

    Indeed

    It shows just how good a driver Max Verstappen really is though.
    The best ever imo.
    That was Jim Clark. Verstappen over the course of the last 75 years would be fortunate to make the top 20.
    Fangio!
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 76,030
    Great thread on tariffs.

    Suppose your US company imports $1M of high quality parts, and adds in its own components to produce finished goods sold for $1.2M per batch. Your gross profit is $200k per batch.

    But wait! Suddenly a new 30% tariff is imposed on that $1M of parts. You now have to fork over $300k to customs before you sell anything. That’s cash you probably don’t have. Oh, and even if you do sell everything, you’re now losing $100k per batch.

    With a sinking feeling, you realize your profitable business which you somehow managed to keep in America all these years has suddenly become unprofitable.

    You post online about how bad this is but get shouted down by an angry mob, convinced that capitalists like you should die. You can’t tell nowadays if they’re on left or right.

    Moreover, you don’t have the time, money, skills, or tools in house to build that $1M of parts yourself. You are being asked to do the equivalent of growing a maple tree when all you needed was a little maple syrup. So now you are faced with several tough choices.

    (1) First, you may need to go into debt or fire people to quickly come up with the $300k in cash to pay for these surprise tariffs at customs. Even if the tariff might go away, it might not, so you have to get the cash somehow or risk having your shipment impounded.

    (2) Next, you might need to reduce quality to stop losing $100k on each batch. You could order the lower quality $750k parts, grimace and pay 30% tariff at customs, and hope you can build and sell for the same price of $1.2M per batch despite the lower quality.

    (3) Alternatively, you could keep the quality parts at $1M and instead raise prices to $1.5M per batch to get back your original margins of $200k per batch, which you need to pay employees after all. But that’s a big hike that your customer will probably not welcome, given that he’s likely dealing with his own tariff shock.

    So: these tariffs don’t really give an incentive to build in the US. Because it’s far more expensive to build a screw factory than to pay even high tariffs on a foreign screw...

    https://x.com/balajis/status/1908236239268175927
  • Scott_xPScott_xP Posts: 37,694
    @Aiannucci

    Today is Day One of humanity’s Idiolithic Era.

    https://x.com/Aiannucci/status/1908410582069293359


    We can debate the exact start date, but future historians will be able to see the Trusk era in the economic data. A layer of toxic stupidity covering the globe and smothering prosperity
  • Scott_xPScott_xP Posts: 37,694
    Nigelb said:

    So: these tariffs don’t really give an incentive to build in the US. Because it’s far more expensive to build a screw factory than to pay even high tariffs on a foreign screw...
    https://x.com/balajis/status/1908236239268175927

    Apple tried it.

    It didn't work.
  • TimSTimS Posts: 14,734
    edited April 5
    Nigelb said:

    Great thread on tariffs.

    Suppose your US company imports $1M of high quality parts, and adds in its own components to produce finished goods sold for $1.2M per batch. Your gross profit is $200k per batch.

    But wait! Suddenly a new 30% tariff is imposed on that $1M of parts. You now have to fork over $300k to customs before you sell anything. That’s cash you probably don’t have. Oh, and even if you do sell everything, you’re now losing $100k per batch.

    With a sinking feeling, you realize your profitable business which you somehow managed to keep in America all these years has suddenly become unprofitable.

    You post online about how bad this is but get shouted down by an angry mob, convinced that capitalists like you should die. You can’t tell nowadays if they’re on left or right.

    Moreover, you don’t have the time, money, skills, or tools in house to build that $1M of parts yourself. You are being asked to do the equivalent of growing a maple tree when all you needed was a little maple syrup. So now you are faced with several tough choices.

    (1) First, you may need to go into debt or fire people to quickly come up with the $300k in cash to pay for these surprise tariffs at customs. Even if the tariff might go away, it might not, so you have to get the cash somehow or risk having your shipment impounded.

    (2) Next, you might need to reduce quality to stop losing $100k on each batch. You could order the lower quality $750k parts, grimace and pay 30% tariff at customs, and hope you can build and sell for the same price of $1.2M per batch despite the lower quality.

    (3) Alternatively, you could keep the quality parts at $1M and instead raise prices to $1.5M per batch to get back your original margins of $200k per batch, which you need to pay employees after all. But that’s a big hike that your customer will probably not welcome, given that he’s likely dealing with his own tariff shock.

    So: these tariffs don’t really give an incentive to build in the US. Because it’s far more expensive to build a screw factory than to pay even high tariffs on a foreign screw...

    https://x.com/balajis/status/1908236239268175927

    Its obviously polemic and over-simplifying what will be a mixed picture for US manufacturing (there will be some winners and some losers), but I particularly like this line because it’s straight out of Ricardo:

    You are being asked to do the equivalent of growing a maple tree when all you needed was a little maple syrup.

    But then I’m a hypocrite. I’m trying to make wine in England.
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 73,129
    edited April 5
    rkrkrk said:

    ydoethur said:

    rkrkrk said:

    The last lot of Tories really fell into the trap of promoting for loyalty rather than competence.
    I see no reason to think Amanda Spielman did a good job, although I suppose there must be some people who think she did. In fairness, I think education generally has improved in quality over the last 20 years - a rare policy success in a sea of failure.

    But I get a bit uncomfortable with the implication, repeated in this piece but common across many, that a headteachers tragic suicide is the fault of the head of ofsted.

    Click on some of the links to find out why that is.

    And it isn't just that she was to blame through flawed processes which led to falsified reports. It's the way she reacted as well, painting herself as the victim, that makes her unfit for further preferment.
    Yes, it was grotesque how she reacted. But that makes her a bad leader, it doesn't make her to blame for the suicide. Schools presumably get downgraded all the time without this kind of tragedy. I think suicide is probably always complex and we should not apportion blame to any one individual.
    There is no doubt that the actions of OFSTED, which were set up on her watch and using her ideas, were the significant contributor. The press may be saying this, but I would point out so did the coroner.

    @Northern_Al said when this came up a few days ago that one of the key jobs of the Chief is to tell the DfE to do one when necessary. Although he and I don't see eye to eye on many matters in education (and he may have many criticisms of this header, I shall be interested to see) he's clearly right on that point. But that was not happening under Spielman.

    It is not entirely clear whether schools including Caversham were deliberately failed as an instrument of policy to further DfE goals with the connivance of the Chief. However, there are allegations to that effect and there is evidence that may be circumstantial but is nevertheless compelling to support those allegations (see links).

    If they are correct, she is very much to blame. If they are not correct, she bears a portion of the blame. If it was all a tragic misunderstanding, she should have faced up to her responsibilities, apologised and possibly resigned. As it was, she refused to acknowledge any weakness or wrongdoing which only makes me more suspicious.

    Hope that clarifies my position for you. You do not have to agree with it.
  • Big_G_NorthWalesBig_G_NorthWales Posts: 64,951
    Good morning

    I have little knowledge of education but great respect for @ydoethur contributions to PB and absolutely agree that Spielman should not go to the Lords

    We can find terrible nominations to the Lords across the political divide and IMHO the Lords including Bishops should be scrapped and replaced with an elected second chamber with revising powers
  • RogerRoger Posts: 20,320
    edited April 5

    Roger said:

    "Amanda Spielman is a bad leader, an inept person, and has done enormous damage to the education of children not I think because she meant to but because she was profoundly ignorant, not especially intelligent and incredibly arrogant. You can see why she was a friend of Dominic Cummings."

    This is the stuff of HIGNFY.

    Are we to take the rest of it seriously?

    A little bit of comedic high jinx doesn't detract from the fact that Spielman was wholly unsuitable to her role and Johnsonian era corruption has seen a vile, self-serving nincompoop on the cusp of being elevated to the House of Lords.
    These personal vendettas are becoming a thing. If they're not funny they sound mean spirited. We've become adept in this country at creating monsters and it's not one of our attractive qualities.

    Did the UK invent the stocks?
  • Scott_xPScott_xP Posts: 37,694
    Turns out the AI engine they used to calculate the tariffs didn't apply the formula correctly (another win for the AI will take over the World crew...)

    https://x.com/faisalislam/status/1908434870180667574
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 73,129
    kinabalu said:

    kinabalu said:

    Pulpstar said:

    Carlos Sainz should be banned for at least six races.

    Loving the fact that Liam Lawson has finished ahead of Tsunoda.

    Indeed

    It shows just how good a driver Max Verstappen really is though.
    The best ever imo.
    That was Jim Clark. Verstappen over the course of the last 75 years would be fortunate to make the top 20.
    Fangio!
    He was definitely the best Juan.
  • kinabalukinabalu Posts: 44,550
    Nigelb said:

    As I suspected.

    Trump’s team did actually spend weeks calculating the true reciprocal tariff rates for each country, and then he just decided not to do that anymore and based it on trade deficits.

    Absolutely absurd.

    https://x.com/Geiger_Capital/status/1908318822349647872

    DOGE, key appointments, Russia/Ukraine, Gaza, bombing the Houthis, tariffs ... there's a theme. No strategy or prep or planning or due diligence, all on the whim of a single individual. It's no way to carry on at the best of times and it's downright scary when the individual in question is not only lazy and borderline stupid but doesn't even mean well.
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 76,030
    On 4 APR 2025 a RU ballistic missile (Iskander-M per UA General Staff) attacked Kryvyi Rih, UA.

    At least 18 people were killed, including 9 kids.

    Geolocations show that the missile arrived & exploded immediately next to kids' playground, causing numerous casualties

    https://x.com/Dmojavensis/status/1908394690061492607
  • Scott_xPScott_xP Posts: 37,694
    kinabalu said:

    Nigelb said:

    As I suspected.

    Trump’s team did actually spend weeks calculating the true reciprocal tariff rates for each country, and then he just decided not to do that anymore and based it on trade deficits.

    Absolutely absurd.

    https://x.com/Geiger_Capital/status/1908318822349647872

    DOGE, key appointments, Russia/Ukraine, Gaza, bombing the Houthis, tariffs ... there's a theme. No strategy or prep or planning or due diligence, all on the whim of a single individual. It's no way to carry on at the best of times and it's downright scary when the individual in question is not only lazy and borderline stupid but doesn't even mean well.
    Policy at the whim of the Mad King.

    Elected officials (especially Republicans) should read the declaration of Independence

    https://x.com/TheOmniLiberal/status/1908270028073341379
  • TimSTimS Posts: 14,734
    kinabalu said:

    Nigelb said:

    As I suspected.

    Trump’s team did actually spend weeks calculating the true reciprocal tariff rates for each country, and then he just decided not to do that anymore and based it on trade deficits.

    Absolutely absurd.

    https://x.com/Geiger_Capital/status/1908318822349647872

    DOGE, key appointments, Russia/Ukraine, Gaza, bombing the Houthis, tariffs ... there's a theme. No strategy or prep or planning or due diligence, all on the whim of a single individual. It's no way to carry on at the best of times and it's downright scary when the individual in question is not only lazy and borderline stupid but doesn't even mean well.
    And yet I was talking to a client yesterday who is convinced this is all 4D chess and a stroke of genius “even though I don’t agree with it”.

    There is a great deal of sanewashing in a nation.

    Trumpsplaining is becoming a disease. Radio 4 were at it this morning. A feature on the new hostility between the US and Canada, so off they go to Maine to record some cross lobster fishermen who don’t like the Canadians. The US equivalent of those barometer of British public opinion pieces that seem to focus entirely on Lancashire town centres at lunchtime on a working day.

  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 73,129
    Going to be an exciting start tomorrow with a slow car driven by Vercrash'em at the front.
  • StuartinromfordStuartinromford Posts: 18,203
    kinabalu said:

    Nigelb said:

    As I suspected.

    Trump’s team did actually spend weeks calculating the true reciprocal tariff rates for each country, and then he just decided not to do that anymore and based it on trade deficits.

    Absolutely absurd.

    https://x.com/Geiger_Capital/status/1908318822349647872

    DOGE, key appointments, Russia/Ukraine, Gaza, bombing the Houthis, tariffs ... there's a theme. No strategy or prep or planning or due diligence, all on the whim of a single individual. It's no way to carry on at the best of times and it's downright scary when the individual in question is not only lazy and borderline stupid but doesn't even mean well.
    The only saving grace (and it's not much) is that lazy, stupid and malign is preferable to clever, hardworking and malign.
  • MoonRabbitMoonRabbit Posts: 14,013
    On Topic. And to qualify up front, as I barely went to school, who am I to argue with a world renown teacher and researcher - but wasn’t the Head Teacher unjustly stressed and bullied to death more an issue with process, than the wealth of experience Spellman (sic) could bring to a legislative role?
  • LeonLeon Posts: 59,340
    Pissing down in Almaty, Kazakhstan
  • rottenboroughrottenborough Posts: 65,172
    Thanks for the header @ydoethur

    Opens a lid on a world I know little about.

    On reading it I am minded to support her application to be in the Lords under the condition that whatever she recommends for the education system during her time there, we do the opposite.
  • Northern_AlNorthern_Al Posts: 8,753
    edited April 5
    ydoethur said:

    rkrkrk said:

    ydoethur said:

    rkrkrk said:

    The last lot of Tories really fell into the trap of promoting for loyalty rather than competence.
    I see no reason to think Amanda Spielman did a good job, although I suppose there must be some people who think she did. In fairness, I think education generally has improved in quality over the last 20 years - a rare policy success in a sea of failure.

    But I get a bit uncomfortable with the implication, repeated in this piece but common across many, that a headteachers tragic suicide is the fault of the head of ofsted.

    Click on some of the links to find out why that is.

    And it isn't just that she was to blame through flawed processes which led to falsified reports. It's the way she reacted as well, painting herself as the victim, that makes her unfit for further preferment.
    Yes, it was grotesque how she reacted. But that makes her a bad leader, it doesn't make her to blame for the suicide. Schools presumably get downgraded all the time without this kind of tragedy. I think suicide is probably always complex and we should not apportion blame to any one individual.
    There is no doubt that the actions of OFSTED, which were set up on her watch and using her ideas, were the significant contributor. The press may be saying this, but I would point out so did the coroner.

    @Northern_Al said when this came up a few days ago that one of the key jobs of the Chief is to tell the DfE to do one when necessary. Although he and I don't see eye to eye on many matters in education (and he may have many criticisms of this header, I shall be interested to see) he's clearly right on that point. But that was not happening under Spielman.

    It is not entirely clear whether schools including Caversham were deliberately failed as an instrument of policy to further DfE goals with the connivance of the Chief. However, there are allegations to that effect and there is evidence that may be circumstantial but is nevertheless compelling to support those allegations (see links).

    If they are correct, she is very much to blame. If they are not correct, she bears a portion of the blame. If it was all a tragic misunderstanding, she should have faced up to her responsibilities, apologised and possibly resigned. As it was, she refused to acknowledge any weakness or wrongdoing which only makes me more suspicious.

    Hope that clarifies my position for you. You do not have to agree with it.
    Thanks for the reference. I don't really disagree with any of the header, although there is a minor factual error in the first reference in paragraph 4. If you click on the link, what Spielman actually said was that Our school inspectors are current or former school leaders, not that all Ofsted inspectors are. My area is further education, and it's pretty much true that all FE inspectors were FE practitioners at one time.

    I'd only add one comment, which is that even if Ruth Perry had not committed suicide, Spielman would still, in my view, by the worst Chief Inspector Ofsted has ever had.
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 76,030
    edited April 5
    TimS said:

    Nigelb said:

    Great thread on tariffs.

    Suppose your US company imports $1M of high quality parts, and adds in its own components to produce finished goods sold for $1.2M per batch. Your gross profit is $200k per batch.

    But wait! Suddenly a new 30% tariff is imposed on that $1M of parts. You now have to fork over $300k to customs before you sell anything. That’s cash you probably don’t have. Oh, and even if you do sell everything, you’re now losing $100k per batch.

    With a sinking feeling, you realize your profitable business which you somehow managed to keep in America all these years has suddenly become unprofitable.

    You post online about how bad this is but get shouted down by an angry mob, convinced that capitalists like you should die. You can’t tell nowadays if they’re on left or right.

    Moreover, you don’t have the time, money, skills, or tools in house to build that $1M of parts yourself. You are being asked to do the equivalent of growing a maple tree when all you needed was a little maple syrup. So now you are faced with several tough choices.

    (1) First, you may need to go into debt or fire people to quickly come up with the $300k in cash to pay for these surprise tariffs at customs. Even if the tariff might go away, it might not, so you have to get the cash somehow or risk having your shipment impounded.

    (2) Next, you might need to reduce quality to stop losing $100k on each batch. You could order the lower quality $750k parts, grimace and pay 30% tariff at customs, and hope you can build and sell for the same price of $1.2M per batch despite the lower quality.

    (3) Alternatively, you could keep the quality parts at $1M and instead raise prices to $1.5M per batch to get back your original margins of $200k per batch, which you need to pay employees after all. But that’s a big hike that your customer will probably not welcome, given that he’s likely dealing with his own tariff shock.

    So: these tariffs don’t really give an incentive to build in the US. Because it’s far more expensive to build a screw factory than to pay even high tariffs on a foreign screw...

    https://x.com/balajis/status/1908236239268175927

    Its obviously polemic and over-simplifying what will be a mixed picture for US manufacturing (there will be some winners and some losers), but I particularly like this line because it’s straight out of Ricardo:

    You are being asked to do the equivalent of growing a maple tree when all you needed was a little maple syrup.

    But then I’m a hypocrite. I’m trying to make wine in England.
    Of course.
    But read the whole thread if you want.

    A further point he makes is that tariffs are effectively a presales tax, targeted at the very US companies the policy is supposed to be encouraging.

    There is a respectable argument for targeted tariffs as an instrument of policy. I've yet to see any credible rationale for global, blanket tariffs.
    Likely because there isn't one.
  • Scott_xPScott_xP Posts: 37,694
    TimS said:

    There is a great deal of sanewashing in a nation.

    Burning the most prosperous nation in the World to the ground to "own the libs"
  • MarqueeMarkMarqueeMark Posts: 54,252
    I would make gongs the sole preserve of nominated recipients for their selfless work for the greater public benefit.

    Not for sportsmen. Nor luvvies. Not for ex-MPs. And certainly not for civil servants. Time-servers in paid employment reluctant to take a decision because it might impact on their getting letters after their name is one of the curses that goes down the ages. End it now.
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 73,129

    ydoethur said:

    rkrkrk said:

    ydoethur said:

    rkrkrk said:

    The last lot of Tories really fell into the trap of promoting for loyalty rather than competence.
    I see no reason to think Amanda Spielman did a good job, although I suppose there must be some people who think she did. In fairness, I think education generally has improved in quality over the last 20 years - a rare policy success in a sea of failure.

    But I get a bit uncomfortable with the implication, repeated in this piece but common across many, that a headteachers tragic suicide is the fault of the head of ofsted.

    Click on some of the links to find out why that is.

    And it isn't just that she was to blame through flawed processes which led to falsified reports. It's the way she reacted as well, painting herself as the victim, that makes her unfit for further preferment.
    Yes, it was grotesque how she reacted. But that makes her a bad leader, it doesn't make her to blame for the suicide. Schools presumably get downgraded all the time without this kind of tragedy. I think suicide is probably always complex and we should not apportion blame to any one individual.
    There is no doubt that the actions of OFSTED, which were set up on her watch and using her ideas, were the significant contributor. The press may be saying this, but I would point out so did the coroner.

    @Northern_Al said when this came up a few days ago that one of the key jobs of the Chief is to tell the DfE to do one when necessary. Although he and I don't see eye to eye on many matters in education (and he may have many criticisms of this header, I shall be interested to see) he's clearly right on that point. But that was not happening under Spielman.

    It is not entirely clear whether schools including Caversham were deliberately failed as an instrument of policy to further DfE goals with the connivance of the Chief. However, there are allegations to that effect and there is evidence that may be circumstantial but is nevertheless compelling to support those allegations (see links).

    If they are correct, she is very much to blame. If they are not correct, she bears a portion of the blame. If it was all a tragic misunderstanding, she should have faced up to her responsibilities, apologised and possibly resigned. As it was, she refused to acknowledge any weakness or wrongdoing which only makes me more suspicious.

    Hope that clarifies my position for you. You do not have to agree with it.
    Thanks for the reference, I don't really disagree with any of the header, although there is a minor factual error in the first reference in paragraph 4. If you click on the link, what Spielman actually said was that Our school inspectors are current or former school leaders, not that all Ofsted inspectors are. My area is further education, and it's pretty much true that all FE inspectors were FE practitioners at one time.

    I'd only add one comment, which is that even if Ruth Perry had not committed suicide, Spielman would still, in my view, by the worst Chief Inspector Ofsted has ever had.
    Fair point - however, I would note that further down the wrongful dismissal case was a former children's home manager inspecting a school, so she was still wrong.

    Anecdotally, I have also had a former social services worker in my classroom as an inspector. (She was very good, by the way. Made several intelligent comments informally that were both constructive and helpful. And she still fed back nice things to my head.)
  • Sean_FSean_F Posts: 38,381

    kinabalu said:

    Nigelb said:

    As I suspected.

    Trump’s team did actually spend weeks calculating the true reciprocal tariff rates for each country, and then he just decided not to do that anymore and based it on trade deficits.

    Absolutely absurd.

    https://x.com/Geiger_Capital/status/1908318822349647872

    DOGE, key appointments, Russia/Ukraine, Gaza, bombing the Houthis, tariffs ... there's a theme. No strategy or prep or planning or due diligence, all on the whim of a single individual. It's no way to carry on at the best of times and it's downright scary when the individual in question is not only lazy and borderline stupid but doesn't even mean well.
    The only saving grace (and it's not much) is that lazy, stupid and malign is preferable to clever, hardworking and malign.
    The best feature of autocracies is that they are usually incompetent. Indeed, competent people are seen as a threat to the Leader.
  • MarqueeMarkMarqueeMark Posts: 54,252
    ydoethur said:

    ydoethur said:

    rkrkrk said:

    ydoethur said:

    rkrkrk said:

    The last lot of Tories really fell into the trap of promoting for loyalty rather than competence.
    I see no reason to think Amanda Spielman did a good job, although I suppose there must be some people who think she did. In fairness, I think education generally has improved in quality over the last 20 years - a rare policy success in a sea of failure.

    But I get a bit uncomfortable with the implication, repeated in this piece but common across many, that a headteachers tragic suicide is the fault of the head of ofsted.

    Click on some of the links to find out why that is.

    And it isn't just that she was to blame through flawed processes which led to falsified reports. It's the way she reacted as well, painting herself as the victim, that makes her unfit for further preferment.
    Yes, it was grotesque how she reacted. But that makes her a bad leader, it doesn't make her to blame for the suicide. Schools presumably get downgraded all the time without this kind of tragedy. I think suicide is probably always complex and we should not apportion blame to any one individual.
    There is no doubt that the actions of OFSTED, which were set up on her watch and using her ideas, were the significant contributor. The press may be saying this, but I would point out so did the coroner.

    @Northern_Al said when this came up a few days ago that one of the key jobs of the Chief is to tell the DfE to do one when necessary. Although he and I don't see eye to eye on many matters in education (and he may have many criticisms of this header, I shall be interested to see) he's clearly right on that point. But that was not happening under Spielman.

    It is not entirely clear whether schools including Caversham were deliberately failed as an instrument of policy to further DfE goals with the connivance of the Chief. However, there are allegations to that effect and there is evidence that may be circumstantial but is nevertheless compelling to support those allegations (see links).

    If they are correct, she is very much to blame. If they are not correct, she bears a portion of the blame. If it was all a tragic misunderstanding, she should have faced up to her responsibilities, apologised and possibly resigned. As it was, she refused to acknowledge any weakness or wrongdoing which only makes me more suspicious.

    Hope that clarifies my position for you. You do not have to agree with it.
    Thanks for the reference, I don't really disagree with any of the header, although there is a minor factual error in the first reference in paragraph 4. If you click on the link, what Spielman actually said was that Our school inspectors are current or former school leaders, not that all Ofsted inspectors are. My area is further education, and it's pretty much true that all FE inspectors were FE practitioners at one time.

    I'd only add one comment, which is that even if Ruth Perry had not committed suicide, Spielman would still, in my view, by the worst Chief Inspector Ofsted has ever had.
    Fair point - however, I would note that further down the wrongful dismissal case was a former children's home manager inspecting a school, so she was still wrong.

    Anecdotally, I have also had a former social services worker in my classroom as an inspector. (She was very good, by the way. Made several intelligent comments informally that were both constructive and helpful. And she still fed back nice things to my head.)
    At leat she wasn't feeding back nice things to other parts of your body...
  • LeonLeon Posts: 59,340
    Sean_F said:

    kinabalu said:

    Nigelb said:

    As I suspected.

    Trump’s team did actually spend weeks calculating the true reciprocal tariff rates for each country, and then he just decided not to do that anymore and based it on trade deficits.

    Absolutely absurd.

    https://x.com/Geiger_Capital/status/1908318822349647872

    DOGE, key appointments, Russia/Ukraine, Gaza, bombing the Houthis, tariffs ... there's a theme. No strategy or prep or planning or due diligence, all on the whim of a single individual. It's no way to carry on at the best of times and it's downright scary when the individual in question is not only lazy and borderline stupid but doesn't even mean well.
    The only saving grace (and it's not much) is that lazy, stupid and malign is preferable to clever, hardworking and malign.
    The best feature of autocracies is that they are usually incompetent. Indeed, competent people are seen as a threat to the Leader.
    China being a very very notable exception
  • kinabalukinabalu Posts: 44,550
    edited April 5
    ydoethur said:

    kinabalu said:

    ydoethur said:

    DavidL said:

    ydoethur said:

    dixiedean said:

    ydoethur said:

    I apologise to @viewcode for the length.

    In my defence, there is a *lot* to say...

    She's a fucking imbecile who's screwed education.
    It's a disgrace.
    That would have done.
    Pithy though that is, I thought some evidence might be useful for those who are not experts in education.
    But we're all experts in education. After all, we had one and most of us have had kids who have had one too. Some have even moved on to grandkids.
    I actually agree with Donald Trump when it comes to education, in the UK we should abolish the Department of Education and use the money to give parents vouchers for education as we privatise education.
    I'm also inclined to agree, with two caveats:

    1) It's got to be done with some thought and a replacement system ready to go, not just because the boss* is coked out of his mind and decided to do something weird;

    2) It's not on any sort of principle, just because it seems to me that if things are still wrong in education, and there are many things wrong, that's the one constant nobody has ever tried to change.

    *I've had a nice pot noodle, but I've never had a poodle, and I've never met a nice South African.
    So long as they compete on quality and type of offering, not price. If they can charge what they want (eg multiples of the voucher) you'll get an even stronger correlation between parental wealth and opportunity to achieve than we have today.

    Quality header btw.
    Thank you :smile:

    There are all sorts of ways it could be done, and all sorts of ways it could go wrong.

    I think my main concern would be governance and oversight. That could be done through a properly constituted board of inspectors answering to the relevant Secretary of State.

    But there would also be issues around exclusions, SEND, training, safeguarding to hammer out too.

    It is worth noting that many smaller private schools are currently merging into larger chains that in many ways resemble academy chains to try and deal with these issues.
    Yep, that would certainly be an issue. But also as a general point when you have a free market in something it usually means that the more you can afford to spend on it the better is the product you get. Premium end, mid-range, standard, bargain basement etc. This is ok for most things in life (restaurants, hotels, cars, clothes, etc) but for me it absolutely isn't ok for schools. With schools the aspiration should be to minimise the impact of parental bank balance on a child's opportunities to achieve. Privatising the sector would likely have the opposite effect.
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 73,129

    ydoethur said:

    ydoethur said:

    rkrkrk said:

    ydoethur said:

    rkrkrk said:

    The last lot of Tories really fell into the trap of promoting for loyalty rather than competence.
    I see no reason to think Amanda Spielman did a good job, although I suppose there must be some people who think she did. In fairness, I think education generally has improved in quality over the last 20 years - a rare policy success in a sea of failure.

    But I get a bit uncomfortable with the implication, repeated in this piece but common across many, that a headteachers tragic suicide is the fault of the head of ofsted.

    Click on some of the links to find out why that is.

    And it isn't just that she was to blame through flawed processes which led to falsified reports. It's the way she reacted as well, painting herself as the victim, that makes her unfit for further preferment.
    Yes, it was grotesque how she reacted. But that makes her a bad leader, it doesn't make her to blame for the suicide. Schools presumably get downgraded all the time without this kind of tragedy. I think suicide is probably always complex and we should not apportion blame to any one individual.
    There is no doubt that the actions of OFSTED, which were set up on her watch and using her ideas, were the significant contributor. The press may be saying this, but I would point out so did the coroner.

    @Northern_Al said when this came up a few days ago that one of the key jobs of the Chief is to tell the DfE to do one when necessary. Although he and I don't see eye to eye on many matters in education (and he may have many criticisms of this header, I shall be interested to see) he's clearly right on that point. But that was not happening under Spielman.

    It is not entirely clear whether schools including Caversham were deliberately failed as an instrument of policy to further DfE goals with the connivance of the Chief. However, there are allegations to that effect and there is evidence that may be circumstantial but is nevertheless compelling to support those allegations (see links).

    If they are correct, she is very much to blame. If they are not correct, she bears a portion of the blame. If it was all a tragic misunderstanding, she should have faced up to her responsibilities, apologised and possibly resigned. As it was, she refused to acknowledge any weakness or wrongdoing which only makes me more suspicious.

    Hope that clarifies my position for you. You do not have to agree with it.
    Thanks for the reference, I don't really disagree with any of the header, although there is a minor factual error in the first reference in paragraph 4. If you click on the link, what Spielman actually said was that Our school inspectors are current or former school leaders, not that all Ofsted inspectors are. My area is further education, and it's pretty much true that all FE inspectors were FE practitioners at one time.

    I'd only add one comment, which is that even if Ruth Perry had not committed suicide, Spielman would still, in my view, by the worst Chief Inspector Ofsted has ever had.
    Fair point - however, I would note that further down the wrongful dismissal case was a former children's home manager inspecting a school, so she was still wrong.

    Anecdotally, I have also had a former social services worker in my classroom as an inspector. (She was very good, by the way. Made several intelligent comments informally that were both constructive and helpful. And she still fed back nice things to my head.)
    At leat she wasn't feeding back nice things to other parts of your body...
    *Raises eyebrows*

    I think they leave the fucking around to the centre...
  • Sean_FSean_F Posts: 38,381
    TimS said:

    kinabalu said:

    Nigelb said:

    As I suspected.

    Trump’s team did actually spend weeks calculating the true reciprocal tariff rates for each country, and then he just decided not to do that anymore and based it on trade deficits.

    Absolutely absurd.

    https://x.com/Geiger_Capital/status/1908318822349647872

    DOGE, key appointments, Russia/Ukraine, Gaza, bombing the Houthis, tariffs ... there's a theme. No strategy or prep or planning or due diligence, all on the whim of a single individual. It's no way to carry on at the best of times and it's downright scary when the individual in question is not only lazy and borderline stupid but doesn't even mean well.
    And yet I was talking to a client yesterday who is convinced this is all 4D chess and a stroke of genius “even though I don’t agree with it”.

    There is a great deal of sanewashing in a nation.

    Trumpsplaining is becoming a disease. Radio 4 were at it this morning. A feature on the new hostility between the US and Canada, so off they go to Maine to record some cross lobster fishermen who don’t like the Canadians. The US equivalent of those barometer of British public opinion pieces that seem to focus entirely on Lancashire town centres at lunchtime on a working day.

    I'd say there is no such thing as 4D chess, which is where quite a lot of novelists go wrong, when writing of war and politics, and coming up with fiendishly complex (and highly improbable), strategies and tactics.

    War and politics are in principle, very simple things to get right. It's the execution that's extremely difficult. That requires basic competence, good planning, and attention to detail.
  • MarqueeMarkMarqueeMark Posts: 54,252
    Nigelb said:

    On 4 APR 2025 a RU ballistic missile (Iskander-M per UA General Staff) attacked Kryvyi Rih, UA.

    At least 18 people were killed, including 9 kids.

    Geolocations show that the missile arrived & exploded immediately next to kids' playground, causing numerous casualties

    https://x.com/Dmojavensis/status/1908394690061492607

    I guess Trump is now rather busy burning down his own country to worry about others doing it to other countries.

    Putin will now assume he has a free hand to ignore any "ceasefire" without consequence.
  • algarkirkalgarkirk Posts: 13,849
    edited April 5

    Good morning

    I have little knowledge of education but great respect for @ydoethur contributions to PB and absolutely agree that Spielman should not go to the Lords

    We can find terrible nominations to the Lords across the political divide and IMHO the Lords including Bishops should be scrapped and replaced with an elected second chamber with revising powers

    I don't care much what they do with the second chamber except for one thing. There should only be one elected decision making body - ie the House of Commons. To have two or more such outfits sets the country against itself.

    An added and increasingly obvious benefit of the position the House of Commons holds is that it is very much harder for a charismatic psychopath to take the sort of control that is occurring in the USA. The powers of a single president are of course reinforced by having a mandate. The UK mandate belongs to 650 MPs, the PM has no less and no more than being one of those. The Lords has wisdom but no mandate. Keep it that way.
  • JosiasJessopJosiasJessop Posts: 45,129
    Leon said:

    Sean_F said:

    kinabalu said:

    Nigelb said:

    As I suspected.

    Trump’s team did actually spend weeks calculating the true reciprocal tariff rates for each country, and then he just decided not to do that anymore and based it on trade deficits.

    Absolutely absurd.

    https://x.com/Geiger_Capital/status/1908318822349647872

    DOGE, key appointments, Russia/Ukraine, Gaza, bombing the Houthis, tariffs ... there's a theme. No strategy or prep or planning or due diligence, all on the whim of a single individual. It's no way to carry on at the best of times and it's downright scary when the individual in question is not only lazy and borderline stupid but doesn't even mean well.
    The only saving grace (and it's not much) is that lazy, stupid and malign is preferable to clever, hardworking and malign.
    The best feature of autocracies is that they are usually incompetent. Indeed, competent people are seen as a threat to the Leader.
    China being a very very notable exception
    I'm far from sure that's the case. The Chinese authorities like to *appear* competent, but the signs bubbling up from under the surface are from that. They just try to hide their incompetence better - usually by blaming other minions in the system.

    The way they lied, hid and dissembled the seriousness of the Covid outbreak in early 2020, when openness was key, shows that well.

    As an example, there is an ongoing military purgre:
    https://www.indiatoday.in/world/story/chinese-army-top-officials-arrested-xi-jinping-military-purge-2695008-2025-03-18
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