The Sunday Times reports that the new Thomas Deacon Academy has not found room for building a playground amongst its (mostly taxpayer) £46.4 million funding. Justifying this move is the claim that all the pupils of this school will be so enthused by the curriculum that they will not require playtime in which to let… [Read More]
We learn today that despite a 5.9% rise in school fees, the independent sector is thriving. Annual figures published by the Independent Schools Council (ISC) have garnered particular attention this year, with the chairman of the ISC, Nigel Richardson, suggesting that private schools are finding themselves especially in demand because they ‘are providing something that… [Read More]
Since 2000, the NHS has witnessed a huge, and unprecendented, increase in funding. Public spending on the NHS has risen from £46.0bn in 2000/1 to an estimated £84.4bn in 2006/7, representing an increase of 83.5% in cash terms and over 50% in real terms. This has been accompanied by reforms that on the one hand… [Read More]
Last week, Alcohol Concern, ‘the National Agency on Alcohol Misuse’, managed to generate a significant amount of media coverage with its recommendation to ‘make it illegal to provide alcohol to anyone under the age of 15.’ The reasoning behind this was that since unsupervised consumption of alcohol is spiralling, along with associated anti-social behaviour, among… [Read More]
I remember calling the LibDem’s office in Brussels a couple of months ago, asking for their education spokesperson in the European Parliament (or even an MEP with a particular interest in education) and being told there was no-one because ‘education is not an EU competence and is still the exclusive domain of member states’. This… [Read More]
There are already some voices calling for personal Sharia law to be applied in parts of the UK. Is it anything to worry about? Recent German experience suggests that any such calls ought to be firmly resisted. Continue reading at the Centre For Social Cohesion blog.
Next month, Warwick Mansell is to bring out a book which will finally turn speculation and guesstimates about the extent of test coaching in primary schools into definitive, and above all, official figures.
Today the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) released guidance that calls on firms to help smokers quit, particularly in the run up to the public ban on smoking that comes into force in England on 1 July. This includes more uncontroversial advice such as employers providing information on where staff can go… [Read More]
All is not well in Romania. The country is currently in political turmoil, with the parliament’s move to suspend President Traian Basescu last Thursday by a vote of 322 to 108, and the impasse looks set to continue. But more concerning for the EU is that it is symptomatic of the Romania’s inability to proceed… [Read More]
BBC News Online reports this week that ‘Penalty notices or on-the-spot fines for parents whose children play truant do not work’. According to a study by Kingston-upon-Thames LEA’s principal education welfare officer, Ming Zhang, the government’s truancy tackling strategies have failed. The main conclusion of Zhang’s report is that irresponsible parents, whom the current truanting… [Read More]