It's Exam Results Day and time for my annual rant about the academic/vocational divide. For a start, the results that have been announced today in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, are not just for A Levels, but also for a number of other Level 3 qualifications, though you could be forgiven for not noticing them. News media routinely refer to A Level Results Day, with only a cursory mention of the other qualifications. In fact there is a variety of Vocational Technical Qualifications at Level 3 – the equivalent of A Levels – the best known being BTEC Diplomas. Overall ...
A passing mention in this video has led me to a snippet from an Uncut interview with Richard Thompson: "Syd Barrett wasn't a great musician in the orthodox sense but he had a good instinct for the possibilities of music I recently learned that Syd's father's great-grandmother was a cousin of Elizabeth Garrett Anderson, Britain's first female doctor who was my mother's great-great-aunt. Syd and I were, in fact distant, cousins."
"The middle-income professionals in the seats we have just won will take a lot of persuading to pay more for better prisons, probation officers and children's services, even if told that alienated teenagers turn into rioters, and criminals without rehabilitation reoffend. Those saving to send their children to private schools will be reluctant to pay more tax for the state sector. Getting comfortably-off taxpayers in the home counties to contribute to regeneration of the north will be very difficult." William Wallace says the Liberal Democrats need to have a clear position on public spending. Alex Krasodomski argues that the UK ...
Michael's first ward surgeries after the school summer holidays take place today and every Thursday during school term time. They are as follows : Thursdays at 5.45pm prompt - West End Campus (come to reception area of St Joseph's RC and Victoria Park Primary Schools) Thursdays at 6.30pm prompt - Harris Academy reception area All welcome - no appointment necessary!
The Mirror reports on a warning by the charity Independent Age, that Labour's shake-up of winter fuel payments could be dangerous due to new data, which suggests that hundreds of thousands who are entitled to it could miss out. The paper says that stark new figures reveal a small drop in the number of people receiving Pension Credit in the past year, with Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) data showing that almost four in 10 of those entitled to the support are not claiming it: The Government has announced that only those receiving Pension Credit or means-tested benefits will ...
