So Rishi Sunak thinks that maths should be taught to all young people up to the age of 18. Now I do have an O'level in Maths, plus one in Additional Maths, an A'Level in Maths, plus as part of my Economics degree did guide a lot of maths/statistics. So I would say I know a fair amount about the type of maths that is taught after the age of 16 as in some form or other I was being taught maths up until the age of 22. My late father also had a degree in maths. I have laid ...
Listening to Rishi Sunak speak today, you wouldn't think that the country is in the grip of economic turmoil and crisis in the NHS. You don't have to go far to read of NHS trusts and boards calling major incidents, or London Ambulance saying they will only wait 45 minutes before leaving patients in hospital corridors. Everywhere there are accounts of traumatised, stressed nurses, doctors and patients in A and E departments up and down the country. It is all very grim. Sunak's five priorities would fail the SMART objective test on any work training day. He could claim he ...
The application by Ludlow Rugby Club Limited is to licence the building and surrounding grounds for events from 7am to 2am seven days a week and be permitted to supply alcohol from 8am to 1am. It wants to serve hot food and hot drink from 11pm to 1am (a licence for this normally required). The application suggests alcohol and hot food and drink will be served "almost daily". The application also seeks permission for: "Regulated entertainment for both indoors and outdoors consists of plays, films, indoor sporting, live music, recorded music, performance of dance and anything similar to live, recorded ...
Wed 4th
15:48
Popcorn at 5pm - Will the House of Representatives elect a Speaker today, and at what cost?
If you thought that 2023 might be a less wild political year, you would have been proved wrong just 3 days in – at least on the other side of the Atlantic. The first act of any new session of Congress is for the House of Representatives to elect a new Speaker. Usually this is straightforward, with the leader of the party which holds the majority getting the job. Not this time. For the first time in a century, Republican Kevin McCarthy failed to achieve the required 218 votes. Which is a bit of a worry for him, seeing as ...
Rishi Sunak is setting out plans to force everyone in England to study Maths until they are 18. The BBC quotes the PM: In a world where data is everywhere and statistics underpin every job, our children's jobs will require more analytical skills than ever before," he will say. And letting our children out into the world without those skills, is letting our children down. Just half of 16 to 19-year-olds study maths, according to Mr Sunak – but this figure includes pupils doing science courses and those who are already doing compulsory GCSE resits in college. Apparently no new ...
A moment of humour from a 1970 edition of Softly Softly: Task Force. PC Snow is gently breaking in a new dog, Radar, after his previous one, Inky, had been shot. Inky had to appear on Blue Peter the following week to prove he hadn't been hurt in real life. Snow is played by Terence Rigby, who was one of Harold Pinter's favourite actors and played Roy Bland in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. With him is my early hero Detective Inspector Hawkins, played by Norman Bowler. I later discovered Bowler had been a member of the Soho set in the ...
Tue, 19:29: Filter House, by Nisi Shawl; The Knife of Never Letting Go, by Patrick Ness https://t.co/bknfYHzJ9m Tue, 20:05: I had totally missed the political meltdown in #Slovakia. Slovakia: Slovakia in chaos before Christmas: the collapse of the government is only the beginning https://t.co/Jp1anyxnml Wed, 11:59: RT @BoughtThatComic: Saddened to learn of the death of Suzy McKee Charnas at the age of 83. The Hugo, Nebula and Tiptree award winner wrote...
As if it was not bad enough that the Welsh First Minister and his officials went to the World Cup in Qatar in defiance of his own government's policies on human rights, it now emerges that they were put up in a five star hotel at the Qatari Government's expense. The BBC reports that two ministers and four officials stayed three nights in the Ritz-Carlton as guests of the host nation: The Liberal Democrats said by accepting the hospitality the Welsh government potentially undermined its commitment to human rights. The Welsh government said the trip was to strengthen Wales' links ...
As liberals we often dislike the word ban, but at times bans are needed. I along with many others in the party feel it's time that gambling adverts in football were banned. Football has a gambling problem. A game shown on TV can reference gambling firms 800 times with stadium advertising, shirt advertising and tv advertising. There is simply no way of escaping gambling related promotions. In the UK, gambling related harm costs the UK economy around £1.7 billion and it is believed that 450,000 people are considered problem gamblers. The craziest stat in this is that 45,000 children aged ...
Bus passenger numbers in Shropshire and elsewhere have not fully recovered since the pandemic. That has meant that buses have received extra bus subsidies from the Department for Transport (DfT) and local councils, including Shropshire Council, to keep the buses on the road. In a bid to increase passengers, the DfT has provided funding to cap single bus fares in England (outside London) at £2 until the end of March under a scheme it calls "Get Around for £2." This applies to most Shropshire services. It will have no impact in Ludlow, where the standard single fare on the 722 ...
In an article for Politics Home, Lib Dem spokesperson for climate change Wera Hobhouse argued that 2023 must be the year that the UK finally commits to a timescale for phasing down fossil fuels for good. This year we witnessed the consequences of climate change first hand. The British summer saw temperatures of over 40 degrees and Russia's illegal war in Ukraine left us exposed to volatile international markets, unveiling the true cost of our dependence on fossil fuels. Evidence shows the phasing down of fossil fuel production being vital to preventing temperatures rises above 1.5 degrees. But the United ...
From the City Council : Dundee City Council proposes to make an Order under Section 14(1) of the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984 for the purpose of facilitating SGN mains replacement works. The Order is expected to be in force for four weeks from 9 January 2023. Its maximum duration in terms of the Act is eighteen months. The effect of the Order is to prohibit temporarily all eastbound vehicular traffic in Glamis Drive from (1) Hazel Avenue to Glamis Road and (2) Invergowrie Drive to Hazel Avenue. Access for residents will be maintained. An alternative route will be available ...
The Voice profiles Josh Babarinde, saying there is a "high chance" that he will capture Eastbourne at the next election and become the first black MP elected as a Liberal Democrat: Babarinde, who has a Nigerian father, took an unconventional route into politics. As a volunteer youth worker in east London, he sought to turn around the lives of gang members by offering them a business opportunity fixing mobile phones. He explains: "I would go on to estates at stupid-O'clock at night. I would go wear a big black coat, and inside it there's all this phone repair paraphernalia. So ...
