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Saturday 28th January 2012
Guardian attacks Michael Gove again β and scores spectacular own goalOh Dear. The Guardian is so intent on doing down Michael Gove that it has scored a spectacular own goal. In today's paper, there's a report that Gove, in his capacity as Secretary of State for Education, has awarded a Β£2m grant to the Community Security Trust, a charity that provides security to Britain's Jewish communities. The reason this is a "story" is because Gove has been on the "advisory board" of CST since 2007. (To read more, click here.)
Friday 27th January 2012
The BBC's next director-general should be a ToryI've been thinking about who should be the next director-general of the BBC, now that Mark Thompson has announced he'll step down after the Olympics, and one thing is clear: he should be a Tory. Not necessarily an "out" Tory β that would play into the hands of those on the left who accuse the BBC of giving the Coalition an easy ride _β but a Tory nevertheless. (To read more, click here.)
Tuesday 24th January 2012
The Tories' poll lead is bad news for Cameron because it may seal Miliband's fateI'm a little nervous about the opinion poll lead that's opened up for the Conservatives. This morning's ICM poll in the Guardian puts the Tories on 40% and Labour on 35%. That echoes the Sunday Times/YouGov poll that had the Conservatives on 41% and Labour on 36%. Admittedly, the latest YouGov daily tracker in this morning's Sun gives Labour a one-point lead, but UKPollingReport's rolling average for the last 20 days has the Tories on 39% and Labour on 38%. Whichever way you cut it, the Conservatives are out in front. (To read more, click here.)
Sunday 22nd January 2012
The Observer uncritically regurgitates Trotskyist smears against Katharine BirbalsinghThere's a disgraceful attempt to smear Katharine Birbalsingh in this morning's Observer. Under the headline "Katharine Birbalsingh criticised over 'wasteful' free school project", the paper's policy editor Daniel Boffey tries to create the impression that there's growing local opposition to the Michaela Community School β Birbalsingh's free school β which is due to open in Wandsworth this September. (To read more, click here.)
Friday 20th January 2012
Will bringing back grammar schools boost social mobility?The possibility that England may shortly see its first new grammar school in over 50 years has, predictably enough, re-opened the debate about selective education. Yesterday, for instance, Alison Pearson came down firmly in favour, while Fiona Millar shot back with an instant rebuttal. (To read more, click here.)
Wednesday 18th January 2012
It wasn't 'ageist' of David Cameron to call Dennis Skinner a 'dinosaur'Dennis Skinner is trending on Twitter, thanks to an orchestrated campaign by Labour MPs to brand David Cameron as "ageist" for referring to the 80-year-old MP as a "dinosaur" at Prime Minister's Questions today. After answering Skinner's question about when he would appear before the Leveson Inquiry, Cameron then made the following joke: "It's good to see the honourable gentleman on such good form. I often say to my children, 'No need to go to the Natural History Museum to see a dinosaur. Come to the House of Commons at about half past twelve.'" (To read more, click here.)
Tuesday 17th January 2012
If the captain of the Costa Concordia had been British, would he have abandoned ship?According to an Italian news agency, Captain Francesco Schettino abandoned the Costa Concordia more than four hours before the evacuation was complete in spite of being ordered by the Coast Guard to return to his ship. If true, his behaviour is unforgivable. According to the law of the sea β an ancient code of conduct that all sailors are bound by β it is the duty of a ship's captain to remain with a stricken vessel until all the passengers and crew are accounted for. Under no circumstances must he leave the ship before them. (To read more, click here.)
Monday 16th January 2012
Ricky Gervais bombs at the GlobesFor almost 12 months Ricky Gervais has been telling anyone who'll listen that he really doesn't care about the Golden Globes, a point made by Andrew Anthony in a recent profile in the Guardian. Two months ago, he told an interviewer: "I do the Golden Globes like some people play golf. Win, lose or draw, it doesn't affect me. I'm not beholden to anyone. I don't have to be nice to directors. I don't have to be nice to anyone." Last week he added: "Maybe I'll be a bit more chilled about it this year. Or not. Whatever. I don't care." Well, judging from last night's performance, this isn't an affectation. He really doesn't care. His jokes were so feeble β and his delivery so lacklustre β that the audience didn't know where to look. Last year, he succeeded in embarrassing the Hollywood A-list; this year, they looked embarrassed for him. It made for uncomfortable viewing, like watching a slightly sleazy uncle making an inappropriate speech at a wedding. (To read more, click here.)
Saturday 14th January 2012
Ed Balls's extraordinary volte-faceThere's a jaw-dropping interview with Ed Balls in this morning's Guardian in which he says Labour would not reverse any of the public spending cuts made by George Osborne. Here's the key passage: My starting point is, I am afraid, we are going to have keep all these cuts. There is a big squeeze happening on budgets across the piece. The squeeze on defence spending, for instance, is Β£15bn by 2015. We are going to have to start from that being the baseline. At this stage, we can make no commitments to reverse any of that, on spending or on tax. So I am being absolutely clear about that. (To read more, click here.)
Friday 13th January 2012
At last, Michael Gove is going to make it possible to sack bad teachersThereβs a great story in the Daily Mail this morning saying that Michael Gove has pledged to make it easier for schools to sack bad teachers. At present, head teachers in maintained schools find it almost impossible to get rid of under-performing teachers, so great is the power of the teaching unions. In 2010, Panorama investigated this phenomenon and found that only 18 teachers in the UK has been struck off for incompetence by the General Teaching Council in the past 40 years. (To read more, click here.)
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