PM must apologise over grade award "shambles" Ahead of the expected announcement that all A level and GCSE pupils in England are to get their teacher assessed grade, Liberal Democrat Education Spokesperson Layla Moran said: Despite the warnings, the Education Secretary's botched handling of grade awards has left countless young people stressed and anxious. The Prime Minister must show leadership and personally apologise for his Government's shambles. This expected U-turn is victory for common sense and rightly answers calls from Liberal Democrats and others, but it should never have gotten this far. While it is embarrassing for the Government, it ...
In 1989 Ken Livingstone made this television commercial for the National Dairy Council - thanks to Alwyn Turner for tweeting it. He has given me an excuse to say nice things about both Livingstone and Red Leicester. When Ken Livingstone was suspended by the Labour Party in 2017 because he wouldn't stop talking about Hitler I blogged:I am sad for Ken because I remember him as leader of the Greater London Council. It's not that I thought his policies were great, but the way he conducted himself was a model for any aspiring politician. Though this was the era in ...
In this time of Covid-19, restrictions have led us to do more shopping on-line with doorstep deliveries. At the beginning many stores experienced overload of this service and had to restrict delivery slots or refuse access altogether to people who weren't active existing customers. But the situation has eased, more staff have been taken [...]
Mon 17th
19:00
Castle View Terrace housing plans published - our town can't afford to lose this green field
Today, Shropshire Council published plans from Shropshire Homes to build housing on the green paddock on Castle View Terrace, off New Road. This is going to be the most controversial housing application in Ludlow since Richborough Estates announced that they wanted to build more than one hundred homes the green fields on Foldgate Lane. The scheme for Castle View Terrace proposed by Shropshire Homes for Castle View Terrace is small in comparison, seven homes. But it will destroy a rare area of greenfield in this area of Ludlow. It will also damage the character of the terrace and generate extra ...
We spent September 2007 pretty much in limbo waiting for word on B's future accommodation once she returned home after a couple of weeks' respite. At work my Italian intern V left (she went off to run refugee camps and is now raising her family) and was replaced by a Dane, also V (who charmed me on her arrival by revealing that as an exchange student at Michigan State University she had actually shaken hands with Gerald Ford). I had one trip to London, where
Embed from Getty ImagesChristopher Butler has been interviewing figures involved in the Liberal Democrats' decision to support an increase in tuition fees after entering government in 2010. His research is published (behind a paywall) in the academic journal British Politics, but he has also written a blog post for the London School of Economics' British Politics and Policy blog. There he quotes a 'former adviser' as saying that it turned out that a lot of Liberal Democrat support came from broadly public sector workers who were being hit in numerous different ways with the policy choices we were making. Fees ...
On day zero we heard of some horrendous downgrades. Perhaps that was just anecdote. No longer. Clearly now we are in the realm of overwhelming evidence that the awarded grades are not a fair indication. Every single FE college responding to a survey covering half of all colleges report lower grades than in previous years. Large numbers of independent schools are bragging about record high grades. The stolen A*s have been awarded to others and the top university places have therefore largely been taken. In principle, an algorithm could be fair from one school to the next, giving effectively each ...
I don't know about you but I become increasingly annoyed when I'm offered/given a single use plastic bag in a shop, there's really no excuse for them still being available when you consider the harm they do to our environment. So the Morrisons initiative below (see link) is welcome, although they are seemingly rather more preoccupied with customer reaction than promoting strong paper bags to their customers:- www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-53804248 The other day I had to pick up a prescription from a branch of Rowlands Pharmacy in Maghull and yes you've guessed it the items came in a small plastic bag. If ...
Last September I stood for election to the Federal Board because I was aware of things which had gone wrong and needed to be put right. I didn't expect my term of office, if elected, to start with picking up the pieces after a catastrophic general election. But it did. The Thornhill Review has called for change, including to the Federal Board: a huge, sprawling thing with 35 voting members, the influence of any one of whom is very dilute. The Board would be better if it were less than half its current size. But whose seats should go? It ...
Sun, 12:56: RT @NatalieZed: Who wants to look at a late night nightmare house with me?? There is a very, very SHARP turn this property takes. (endle... Sun, 13:51: Great stuff from Steve Mollmann (who doesn't seem to be on Twitter) analyzing the performance of No Award in this y... https://t.co/QevzlezOvF Sun, 13:55: Two died long before I was born (both in the 1940s; I was born in '67), one when I was 9, one when I was 12. My o... https://t.co/Q0awrlCtY1 Sun, 14:48: RT @archer_rs: Just spoke with an old friend who works in investment banking in the City ...
Mon 17th
09:29
What do you make of the Lib Dem leadership hustings? Take part in my latest mini-survey
Thanks to lockdown I'm not getting the chance to meet Liberal Democrat members and supporters at events in the way I'd usually do.
i) births and deaths 17th August 1990: death in a shooting accident of Graham Williams, producer of the 15th to 17th seasons of Doctor Who (the fourth to sixth Fourth Doctor seasons, from Horror of Fang Rock to Shada); also co-author of The Invasion of Time and City of Death, and author of the unbroadcast story The Nightmare Fair which brought back the Celestial Toymaker (and was released in audio format by Big Finish in 2009). ii) broadcast anniversary 17th August 1968: broadcast of episode 2 of The Dominators. The Doctor and Jamie are examined by the Dominators; Zoe goes ...
Does soul-searching over the 2010-15 coalition leave Liberal Democrats in danger of failing to take the credit for our real achievements in government and undermining our relevance by being reluctant to try again? Even before the arrival of Covid19 we were in turbulent times. British politics since the referendum has been highly dysfunctional. In the 2019 General Election, my sense was that the Tories and Labour had lurched to extremes. On the doorstep I found even Remain supporters switching from us to the Tories for fear of a Corbyn-led government. Labour seemed to have prioritised ideological purity over electability, which ...
Sky News wins our Headline of the Day Award for this exciting story from Strelley, which is famed throughout Nottinghamshire for its penguin farms.
A garden and wildlife planning meeting from Ninewells Community Garden is online this Wednesday at 6pm - all welcome! More details at www.facebook.com/events/344282919936818
She may want to introduce a stricter immigration policy, but it is the Home Secretary who is bandying around comments about other countries being racist. As the Guardian reports, Priti Patel has told Tory MPs that many asylum seekers are making the perilous journey across the Channel because they believe France is racist. Meanwhile, there are claims that the Black Lives Matter movement has generated a backlash, leading to far right groups becoming more openly racist. The Independent says that a report by Hope Not Hate, has concluded that years of dominance by Tommy Robinson and other figures focused on ...
