Following on from the National Audit Office’s conclusions that 13 per cent of the population are being failed by poor schools and preceding a report from the Public Accounts Committee warning the government about the impact of poorly-performing schools, the front of Friday’s Times Education Supplement reported the headline ‘No need to read books: Pupils… [Read More]
For requesting to be transferred to another discussion group because unable to understand the Urdu being spoken in the one in which she had been placed, all its others members being Asian and, with one exception, unable to speak English, a fourteen year old pupil at a school in Worsely, Greater Manchester, was, according to… [Read More]
Well, I never. What’s going on?– to borrow the title of Marvin Gaye’s illustrious soul ballad. You wait forever for a New Labour minister to say something moderately critical about the intransigence of some British Muslims, and then, blow me, in the space of a week no fewer than three of them show up doing… [Read More]
It seems strange that Jack Straw should have said what he did when he did. Up until now, he has established a reputation for pandering to Islamists – during the cartoon fiasco he seemed more offended by the portrayal of Mohammed than the banners calling for ‘a real holocaust’ – and at all costs seeking… [Read More]
The Future Foundation, a think tank amongst other things, brought out a report last week telling us that today’s parenting is – contrary to popular belief – better than ever. According to their report, The Changing Face of Parenting, recent concerns about dangerously pressurised childhoods seem to have been misguided. However, a closer examination of… [Read More]
The British government is widely reported to be as yet undecided whether to allow Bulgarian and Romanian nationals the right to work in the UK upon their countries joining the EU next year. Regardless of whether it does, come the accession of their countries to the EU, Bulgarians and Romanians will as citizens of the… [Read More]
In a landmark decision this week, the European Court of Justice has ruled employers may pay their more experienced staff more than less experienced ones from a belief that extra job experience increases productivity, without needing to justify that belief first. The Court was called on to decide the matter after employers of a 44… [Read More]
Last Thursday a signature ceremony was held to celebrate the European parliament’s purchase of its own buildings in Strasbourg. The cost of the buildings? Just 136 million euros, of which approximately £10 million will come from British taxpayers held in escrow for such a noble purpose. Worth celebrating? On the plus side I guess 136… [Read More]
Particularly pertinent in light of the new anti-ageism legislation was the TES’ front-page headline on Friday: ‘New staff teach best: research explodes accepted myth of experience as young teachers outperform their colleagues’ But behind the Institute of Education and Nottingham University’s findings lies a rather different story.
The Tories are recalibrating their position on the political spectrum and some new ideas are starting to emerge, but they are still paralysed by the problems of the welfare state. There is an entrenched belief that Tories are selfish individualists who don’t care about the poor, which means they are not fully trusted to reform… [Read More]