大象传媒

'Liz MacKean has been to Sweden to visit schools run independently of local council control, a scheme which the Conservatives hope to introduce in Britain if they win the next election. We'll be asking the shadow secretary of state for children, schools and families, Michael Gove, if they are really such a good idea.'

Whilst you're at it, why not ask him if privatising (PFI funding) the NHS, Criminal Justice System and everying else is 'a good idea'...?

Sweden has a small population, and not many people are allowed in. The language is quite hard too I believe.

Of course, we could butcher Britain into NI, Scotland, Wales, London etc so we became more like Sweden. Then we could hope for some global cooling to make it less attractive to people who say they want to come here to 'expand their education' etc. If we are so good at education, why do so many people seem to behave so stupidly?

the neocons still think we can conquer afghanistan and seal the border with pakistan with a fistful of troops?

how many innocents must be sacrificed before their idols? are they like the crazed priests of some lost jungle city in 1950 b movies demanding the 'blood price' to placate their false beliefs?

2. jauntycyclist - do you think Mr Ban's UN report on Friday will be 'defamatory'?

Jack Straw is back before the Iraq Inquiry, and in his earnest grilling by the panel over his not heeding the advice of the FCO legal advisors, it's important to pay attention to Straw's use of weasel-words to equivocate and then exonerate himself. Mr Straw kept using terms like 'view', 'interpretation' (and other nebulous judgmental terms) which nobody can rationally argue with, as they are notoriously not subject to that sort of thing. In fact, good law, be it scientific or legal strive to exclude these terms for this reason.

One comes away with the rather clear message that advisors may well provide Ministers with what are matters of fact, but politicians can and do ignore matters of fact, for political purposes, and do so with impunity.

Surely this is how despots behave, i.e. they are unaccountable? Surely our politicians (and experts) should only have power because they are competent in their fields, and are accountable ('transparently') in terms of the law?

What we are seeing in this Inquiry is the cynical opacity of 'transparency'.

CARRY ON REGARDLESS................

#4
In recent months there has been no attempt by government ministers to deny the very fact that indeed, 'Advisers advise, 'Ministers decide' (to ignore all advice that does not support or mandate their previously decided unadvised action)and carry on regardless :-.
鈥� Climate Science
鈥� Drug classification
鈥� WMD
鈥� Banking regulation
to name but a few

Perhaps some money could be saved by withdrawing any 'allowances' or funding made available for 'advisers'.

SO, the key word in this phrase
"....Surely our politicians (and experts) should only have power because they are competent in their fields, and are accountable ('transparently') in terms of the law?"

Is .................SHOULD!

# 4 - this was evident from Charlie Faloner's view that the UK cabinet could not have committed war crimes over the Iraq war becuase it did not intend to do anything illegal; it had a legal opinion that it was lawful. Easy, isn't it. If you are about to do something that might constitute a war crime, you find a lawyer and then twist his arm sufficiently to provide a legal opinion that what you are about to do is lawful(or may be two or three opinions if the initial ones don't say what yopu want them to), then you're off the hook. Brilliant, isn't it? And Charlie said all this with a straight face!

5. brightyangthing - A good list. A couple of decades ago, I believed that there was integrity in Whitehall/Westminster system and that the rogues were the exceptions. I no longer believe that is the case. I don't care much whether they abuse power by accident or by design. I just care about the consequences.

Today we hear much about interpretation and judgement, and that it is this which senior advisors etc are employed for. I think Jack Straw uttered the last straw on this myth when he compared what he does in his new capacity with what he did before in the FCO. In the Inquiry he spoke of how the perception of crime and the actual occurrence of crime were hard to disentangle. This is part of the modern myth. Events occur, we may be incompetent at recording them, but that does not make their occurrence a matter of interpretation. This nonsense began in the 50s and 60s when psychologists started saying that perception was reality etc, i.e when briefly shown images were misreported, but we were led to believe that this was evidence of the brain making reality rather than just getting things wrong!

People must be held accountable for their behaviour - i.e outcomes. They can not excuse their actions by appealing to their intent e.g. their beliefs, however sincerely those may be held. But that is exactly what we are hearing, and this mythology is now widely reinforced in our universities, our schools and families.

It has to be stopped.

One for ecolizzy and freemarketanarchy - 大象传媒 News is reporting that there is a 23% increase in university applications (570,000) on last year. Bearing in mind that an annual school cohort is about 1% of the population (i.e about 600,000), and even considering gap years and foreign students, just how normal/average does one have to be to get A levels and go to university these days?

I don't understand. I really don't. Is this New Labour's anti-elitism at work or is it the magic of education?

What would Winston Churchill have said?

#5

Ah, words of wisdom again from you, BYT. Why shouldn't advisers be accountable, especially if they are only interested in attaining some murkily selfish 'goals'?

I suppose all the ministeres could resign en masse in view of certain revelations now circulating the globe but, alas, it doesn't work like that and so the country needs to wait for the general election to have their say.

Despotic advisers or what? It's not that it is an excuse for those in power!

mim

OUR SUBJECTS FOR TONIGHT: POLITICS, EDUCATION, WAR - THREE 'GIVENS'.

Our politics: corrupt, self-serving, Westminster party-games.

Our education: an institutionalising service to Mammon.

Our wars, a legitimised tool of civilisation; the whim of a megalomaniac.

The symptoms of a culture in decline.

'is authentic the same as truthful?

Doesn't really matter - as always, one has to ask what they are honest/authentic about. Many mad/insane/nasty/whatever people are 'honest/authentic' etc. That's what's so scary about them!

How often must we suffer Urban obsessive admiration of soldiering?

KNAVES AND FOOLS AT THE CHILCOT

The Chilcot enquiry continues to spotlight the 'poor in spirit' character of the highest in British government.

Sadly, whilst the knave, Blair, has been debagged, I see no intent on Chilcot's part to call the fool: Iain Duncan Smith who, dazzled by the Master's charisma, gifted him his war.

High time for the gloves to be off after indeed all this state sponsored, politically motivated 'entertainment shows', including bogs, etc. Ah, the eyes that see and those that follow!

Rumours have it that a film is being made on a world cinema scale. Does anybody have any more details?

mim

#14 addendum

Another question?

Is it just one film that's being made in some kind of finished form or is there another one constantly on the run?

mim

#8

".....just how normal/average does one have to be to get A levels and go to university these days?"


a)VERY
b) in the TOP 50% of intelligence/exam passing ability. Or a cheat. Numbers of exam cheats seems to keep increasing.

Even I could have made it at that rate.

Oh Newsnight - how fabulous - you're now on Facebook :o)
Love it!

'WITH RESPECT' MR STRAW, I THINK THEY KNOW THEIR NAMES BY NOW.

Poor Jack, so tied up with the pre-adjustment of his syntax before speaking, he could hardly get his words out. Even then, the 'glottal strangle' was much in evidence. Only he knows what he was attempting to mask from view - but what a wally - THE ATTEMPT WAS ALL WE NEED TO SEE!

The use of 'If I may say so', and never-ending name-drops, became almost as tedious as his aura. Once again I have to say: "If this is one of our finest leaders, no wonder we just 'bottomed' in the foulest mud - right up the creek!"

Jack will have been elected as a rosette stand. The Labour Party found him to THEIR liking and stuck a rosette on him at election time. The voters voted 'rosette' without thought to the man. Most of them still have no idea what sort of person he is. Just look what we got! We have to stop doing this, or nothing will change - well - nothing for the good.

Did I hear Mr Straw refer to two of the historians on the Chilcot panel as 'distinguished' today? Did he also use terms like this to give credibility to other parties in these alleged evidence gathering proceedings?

I got the distinct uncomfortable impression that it was all baubles and honours, i.e fame and accolade/celebritism, not substance which cut the mustard in Mr Straw's view.

Where did he learn to think and talk like that? It certainly isn't logically sound. On the contrary. And there was me thinking that law and logic were closely tied! Is the Chilcot Inquiry having a laugh? Or is Mr Straw doing so at their/our expense?

Anyone know what I am talking about? I was rather expecting/hoping some 'sergeant at arms' would be called in, or at least, one of those music hall stage-hands with a hooked stick, to jeers 'get 'im off'..... but no...

#16

BYT

Good marks, even all A stars, don't mean that much. As you say, apart from cheating, some people are good at learning how to pass exams, how many particular items to study for a particular subject, how to cram info into one's head without even understanding what's being said, etc.

Not that I would discourage any teenager or student to try their best.

Even Einstein, apparently, wasn't particularly good at school though obviously we are not all geniuses and if marks can help in one's progression in order to achieve the goal of making it in this or that profession, then why not?

It seems also that quite a few famous actors, for example, by their own admission were quite crappy at school.

mim

#17

Mistress76uk

Yes, I'm pleased about it as well and am on my way to include them on my friends' list.

mim

#8 Statist

I just can't figure out the numbers either...they just don't make any sense.

Take my case as an example (and by no means am I boasting)...I got an A and two C grade 'A' levels, to obtain a place on an engineering course at a good engineering university, in 1984. This was when only approximately 5% of the school leaving 'cohort' went onto university education i.e. hardly great grades...in fact probably average to poor for my entrance year.
I know that the 'university' base was greatly expanded by recent governments over the last two decades....however!

As for Labour's anti-elitism...you are surely joking, when the gap between the rich and the poor has widened significantly over the past 12 years. I think this is what has really upset traditional Labour supporters in stuck in the craw; the fact that New Labour has accelerated the free-market fundamentalist ideology that has so blighted this country. New Labour are also responsible for making sure that entire generations of further education students, from mainly working class British backgrounds, graduate as newly spawned debt slaves.

Still, I suppose it's the price we all pay for becoming 'equal'...and what about this...
'Dancing on Wheels'
/programmes/b00pnsnq

Jeseus wept!..this is a step (or roll) too far as far as equality credibility goes.

My dear old mum (sadly recently deceased) would have chuckled at this one. As most can probably guess, she was not very 'politically correct'.

...and as for Churchill...he would just stuck two fingers up at this country if he could witness it's sad state today.

AND ABOVE ALL ELSE!...

Remember, that Mr Straw, who fretted...oh so much, about sending this nation's soldiers to war, is the son of a CO from the Second World War.

CO = Conscientous Objector for clarity....or a 'Conchie' as someone else put it!

'Jack Straw: Diplomatic hard man'

Iraq Inquiry

NN 6th of feb gets a mention. Maybe mention that on facebook?

facebook

didn't NN have a slot on February 24th, 2009 called
'鈥淪ocial websites harm children鈥檚 brains'? read more about the "Facebook causes cancer鈥� claim here



facebook pages are known for being hacked and defaced. you might need a mosquito. or asbos. have fun.

24. jauntycyclist - Good link.

We live in very strange times. Good science is made politically incorrect; telling it as it is can get one banned or sacked because it isn't popular, and those who shouldn't really be in science at all or have science higher degrees, nevertheless get to publicise science and are elevated as 'respectable' celebrities.

Is this a plan to get smart 'dissenters' to join EXIT?

'In Afghanistan they are preparing for what is being billed as a major offensive against the Taliban'

meanwhile, on 大象传媒2 Peter Taylor investigated 'Generation Jihad', which seemed to be pushing the line that Jihadists are disaffected young males no different in needing a cause or set of rules to live by than any other marginalised, quasi-autistic, group/gang whose members need to feel that they 'belong' - be they football 'hooligans', BNP 'animals', Orthodox Jewish 'isolationists', Neocons 'warmongers', Amish 'people', Evangelical 'Christians', EMOs, Goths etc etc etc etc?)...

Maybe if they just had a place in a nation state which wasn't in a constant state of flux/revolution (aka privatisation in pursuit of 'efficiency'...or is that plea all a bit Soviet or Nazi or... 'protectionist'?

I'm not a polce man, nor a detective and I've never watched 'Murder she wrote' but I always knew Ali Dizaie was a bent copper, he got to where he did at the MET - senior officer, Commander - because of political cowardice.

'The Iraq war inquiry is humouring the desire of the British public to 鈥渦ncover some great conspiracy鈥�, Tony Blair said on Monday, as the inquiry confirmed that it might recall him to testify.

The former prime minister鈥檚 comments on the 鈥渃urious habit鈥� of looking for some 鈥済reat deceit鈥� came as Jack Straw, the former foreign secretary, defended his decision to reject the arguments of his department鈥檚 legal experts over the basis for war.



That's a rather interesting view for the former PM to take is it not? Hans Blix is on HardTalk at 23:30pm on the 大象传媒 NEWS channel. The 大象传媒 NEWS banner today was reading how puzzled Blix was at Straw's first appearance; the FCO legal advisors expressed surprise at the reactions they got; Clare Short spoke her mind at the Inquiry and she was in The Cabinet.

Is everyone an unstable 'conspiracy theorist with an agenda' other than Blair, Straw and the Neocons? Why didn't Blair and Straw just say - 'In the Interests of National Security........'?

Emily Maitlis may be smart...but she is light-weight!

Mark Urban used to be a soldier...why not give him a go?

Emily asked tonight if there is anything we feel she has forgotten.

I would suggest her skirt. Please Emily, put something on.

#20 mimpromptu wrote:

'Even Einstein, apparently, wasn't particularly good at school...'

----------------------

Sorry Mim...not true! Lucky you are not on QI.



He was, btw, the son of an engineer!

LIKE CHILDREN THEY THINK WE CAN'T READ THEM (#19)

Straw is such an overt creep! If he were plying dim girls with cheap booze, his technique might get him a lay, but the Chilcot 5 must have been amazed at his pathetic efforts to ingratiate himself.
Blair, likewise. Could ANY average bloke come out with 'I feel the hand of fate on our shoulder' and not DIE of embarrassment? Then we have the Milibands, Gumby Bob and so on - too many to mention.

These are the crud de la crud of the Westminster swamp. The rest are just 'growth culture'.

HOW DID WE LET THIS HAPPEN?

This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.

#30 PENELOPE271

DAMN!....I was only looking at her face!

It's a pity it wasn't Jeremy tonight - Michael Gove didn't let Emily get a word in edgewise most of the time, and flatly contradicted her for the rest of it (having learnt his script and admitting of no discussion). Is that the kind of steam-roller behaviour desirable in a potential Minister of Education?

Loved the bit that came up when I had posted this - it finished by saying I had to wait minus 1 second before posting again. So I have.

LIKE CHILDREN THEY THINK WE CAN'T READ THEM (#19)

Straw is such an gauche ingratiator! If he were a teenager on the pull, his technique might be appropriate, but the Chilcot 5 must have been amazed at his pathetic efforts to snuggle up..
Blair, likewise. Could ANY average bloke come out with 'I feel the hand of fate on our shoulder' and not DIE of embarrassment? Then we have the Milibands, Gumby Bob and so on - too many to mention.

These are the crud de la crud of the Westminster swamp. The rest are just 'growth culture'.

HOW DID WE LET THIS HAPPEN?

WOW!

Just saw a 'must see' prog on 大象传媒2 tonight!

Bit slow at first but speeds up...it's worth it though!

'The Virtual Revolution'
/iplayer/episode/b00qsbvv/The_Virtual_Revolution_Enemy_of_the_State/

Keep with-it...it gives perspective of the bigger picture...and is not too partisan!

There's a guy in it called Paul Meijer [Verisign] who actually runs 'The Internet'...spooky!

look him up on Google....and there's next to nothing about him!...even spookier!

...so...the internet is either the ultimate weapon for the 'Free-Market Fundamentalists'....or the 'Statists'?

Which do you think?

Emily, Emily, Emily... get yourself a better briefing or spend more time on it please.
Michael Gove has just run rings around you even though he spent the interview spinning and spinning and spinning.
He is either scientifically challenged or beautifully mendacious.

We need definitions of: efficiency, idealistic, performance.
We need to ask him during the interview the serious scientific questions about disaggregating correlation and causation.
We need to ask Gove to explain the distinction between Professionals (Doctors, Lawyers...) and Teachers - Not Professionals?
We need to ask him if Crapita or Accidenture will be allowed to run schools.
We need to ask Gove whether he would support EVERY child's education being subsidised at the same level as an Eton education.
And we really need to ask him WHY he doesn't know the details about Ashcroft - does he not want to know? is he not allowed to know? or....
The 大象传媒 mission is "To enrich people's lives with programmes and services that inform, educate and entertain."
At the moment, I am feeling: misinformed via Gove's school debating society tactics; education has been attacked by Gove and not defended by the 大象传媒; not entertained because of Emily's lack of preparation.
If you think we should all be following Gove, should we go out and steal a traffic cone and join his party?
Michael, we know you too well.

The discussion tonight that Emily had with the representatives of the main parties reminded me of a post I'd written quite a few months ago stating that in some way it is not any particular party line that I follow these days but rather any given individual seems at least to represent as a human being and obviously their political quality of flexibility and ability to look at things afresh. This does not refer to the age itself, I'd like to add, and that's why I listened to Ben Bradshaw with interest and appreciated the quality of how he conveyed things he was saying.

And so, in this respect, I agree with David Cameron that new ways are needed for the political course in the UK to take shape which, in fact, has already started.

mim

This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.

Jeremy has done an appeal for Radio 4 for those suffering from TB

Source:

I've just seen Emily on tonight's show. What's wrong with her skirt? I consider it very stylish and love her shoes too.

politics under Labour has become "a demented branch of the entertainment industry"

All things considered, talking about politics, too.

It's enough to make you weep.

Curses... where's that edit suite when you need it?

A minor revision that I think says what I wanted to a tad better...

'..politics under Labour has become "a demented branch of the entertainment industry"

All things considered, talking about politics, too.

It's enough to make grown men cry. If to order.

35. RicardianLesley 'It's a pity it wasn't Jeremy tonight - Michael Gove didn't let Emily get a word in edgewise most of the time, and flatly contradicted her for the rest of it (having learnt his script and admitting of no discussion). Is that the kind of steam-roller behaviour desirable in a potential Minister of Education?'

No. But that won't matter sadly as he's hoping his 'steam-roller behaviour' will impress the less cognisant, and there are lots of them about these days.

40. MadnessOfCrowds 'He is either scientifically challenged or beautifully mendacious.'

Yes, neither qualities wanted in a Minister for Education. The Swedes clearly know it ia all a matter of school intake (i.e how kids are made well before anyone starts talking to them).

Lure more of the area's able kids to a shiny new school and dumber people will think it's the shiny school which is getting the better results, not the not the brighter intake! (NB... that's a pearl that is).

Charter Schools in the USA - look at the intakes and look at how they get rid of the low achievers. Look at how they spin their data in their reports.

Mr Gove, you should know better, but clearly you don't, shame on you (but do you do shame?).

The electorate - sunk. It has no real choice.....

BUT WHY AL GORE? (#38)

I have watched 10 minutes in the slow lane FMA - hard work with all the usual Son et Lumiere. I struggle to believe in anything to which Al gore as 'leant' his loom. What is his relevance, and if I jump forward does he drop out?

LOOK WHAT YOU HAVE DONE NEWSNIGHT - NOW STATIST HAS LOST HOPE (#47)

Before we get to media 'clamp down' for the election run-up, would it not be SUPER-EDGY to institute (as I have requested before) a regular dissection of the week's 'choice political utterances' in PSYCHOLOGICAL/LINGUISTIC terms?

49. barriesingleton - you wouldn't want me to be a deluded dreamer would you?

Show me a group of politicians which could credibly run what little is left of this country, and you'll see me expessing hope.

I think Barry Sheerman used to talk sense on education, John Denham on Home Affairs, Ann Widecombe on all sorts, and there are a few others too, including Vince Cable, but they are, it will be music to your ears, at their best as individuals, i.e. as independents, not as party people. Now, if we could pick from independents and force them all to work together once elected, we'd have, errrr...... something like China today or the old USSR?

See hope - Pandora.

'We're living in broken Britain, say most voters'


It suggests that 70 per cent believe that society is now broken, echoing a Conservative campaign theme of the past two years, while 68 per cent say people who play by the rules get a raw deal and 82 per cent think it is time for a change.
Women, working-class people and Tory voters were more likely to say that they hardly recognise their own country.

--------------------------------

Have they left out some important other groups who hardly recognise their own country?
/blogs/newsnight/fromthewebteam/2010/02/monday_8_february_2010.html

Now why isn't the 大象传媒 shouting about this research from the rooftops, I found it a very interesting article.

48. At 09:53am on 09 Feb 2010, barriesingleton wrote:
BUT WHY AL GORE? (#38)

I have watched 10 minutes in the slow lane FMA - hard work with all the usual Son et Lumiere. I struggle to believe in anything to which Al gore as 'leant' his loom. What is his relevance, and if I jump forward does he drop out?

---------------------

Barrie,

He makes a couple more very brief appearances, emphasising the internet as a tool for individual rights and democracy...you know, the usual Neo-Con crap.

What surprised me though was the extent to which the ideologues are using the internet as part of foreign policy. It's another front in the virtual war.

51 freemarketanarchy - maybe in the run-up to the election, all these socialist-international New Labourites will peel off their free-market costumes and cry 'openly and transparently' 'we were only kidding - we were just making you hate the exploiters - look...we're not like that really!'

On the other hand maybe the costumes have well and truly bonded?

If they did do that, would the USA say it didn't need UN approval to set about establishing 'regime change'? Or did they already do that back in the 50s?

52. ecolizzy 'Now why isn't the 大象传媒 shouting about this research from the rooftops, I found it a very interesting article.'

Sadly, because it isn't news.

This has been said over and over again in one place or another - albeit with temerity. Anything which has any hint of discrimination is frowned upon by those who are responsible for running public bodies for legal reasons (e.g. the 大象传媒) as they have a responsibility in law to actively promote good race relations. I think it's as simple as that. Can you blame those in positions of senior management? They are just doing their jobs. If they are fined, that is public money they are losing.

A dilemma or a stitch-up - you decide, just be careful how you voice it as that may be against House Rules, and everyone is just doing their job.

#51 FMA that's a very interesting article you found in the Times, I've just been reading the comments, most of them agree with my view of this broken country.

Knowing quite a few who work in the public sector, they are totally brainwashed or scared. They follow PC views to the letter, they are so frightened of saying the wrong thing. And as they have a cushy job, don't really understand how hard the private sector work, or what a benefit profiteer are like.

53. freemarketanarchy 'What surprised me though was the extent to which the ideologues are using the internet as part of foreign policy. It's another front in the virtual war.'

Why does it surprise you? It was in black and white in the was it not?

8. At 5:24pm on 08 Feb 2010, Statist wrote:

One for ecolizzy and freemarketanarchy - 大象传媒 News is reporting that there is a 23% increase in university applications (570,000) on last year. Bearing in mind that an annual school cohort is about 1% of the population (i.e about 600,000), and even considering gap years and foreign students, just how normal/average does one have to be to get A levels and go to university these days?

------------------------------------------------

This was addressed by ecolizzy in a recent blog...
You don't have to be just normal/average...it helps if you are foreign as well!

/blogs/newsnight/fromthewebteam/2010/01/friday_29_january_2010.html

#55 Statist A dilemma or a stitch-up - you decide, just be careful how you voice it as that may be against House Rules, and everyone is just doing their job.

An interesting account of this mans behaviour

59. ecolizzy - is it racism or is it just politics (idnetity politics?). Nobody described the conflicts in Irland as racism, just politics. This is much the same I suggest. No doubt there are Europeans who saw the attacks on the WTC buildings as politics.

I think we are all too quick label, i.e misattribute cause. That teacher would have been better off educating his kids in this respect. They are just kids after all, and boys, especially, talk like this the world over. They love the idea of guns, bombs, 'killing', war etc. Note, it's largely just play though, and it's harmless most of the time - it's just part of greowing up, and most good teachers know that and it's their job to shape it in the right, civilized, directions.

Given there is no such thing as a recognised nation building science is it any wonder that the uk lurches between disaster, crisis and cock up?

MP expenses

the tory says the public do not want action over the house flippers? which is a bit marie antionette?

market fundamentalism for schools

that the market is the best arranger of a state's affairs is often sold as choice but in the end leaves you with no choice and bad value. look at pfi, look at energy privatisation etc.

market fundamentalism appeals to politicians because they know there is no such thing they know as nation building science and even if there was they are ignorant of it so they wish to outsource to those whose only plan is to use national services as a tin opener to get at the tax money.

the uk does not have a state school system it has a child minding service. if any education happens there it is by accident.

as long as people deny that their is such a thing as the good they will never know what good is and continue to grop in the dark.

Gove says 'science' proves they are right. Like it does for climate change? Science reports these days are bought by those who have a need for it to help them get where they want to.

Emotions
Lying is hard work. telling the truth is simple. The fact the iraq questions appear like hard work to some would suggest one of those is going on?

As for political two faced acting Richard the Third anyone? Its a tradition.

weather.
another pregnant weather girl?

Almost 482,000 students gained places on degree courses last year. Numbers have been frozen at this level in 2010 and universities say there may actually be a slight reduction as some institutions over-recruited last summer.

According to figures from Ucas, some 570,556 applications had been made by the end of January. It was a rise of 106,389 or 22.9 per cent compared with the same period last year.

If demand continues at the present rate, between 750,000 and 800,000 may ultimately apply by the summer 鈥� potentially leaving as many as 300,000 without places.

Ucas said applications from foreign students were up almost 29 per cent. Demand from students aged 21 to 24 increased by 45 per cent, while interest among over-25s soared by 63 per cent.

More than eight per cent of applications are from those who missed out on places in 2009, compared with less than seven per cent a year earlier.

PREGNANT WEATHER - A NINE MONTH FORECAST? (#62)

Is 'pregnant weather' a euphemism for climate change?

KIDS AS COMMODOTIES (FREE MARKET OR OTHERWISE)

'Choice' and 'competition' are phrases all too often interchanged, incorrectly in my view. They are also rarely quantified. And they are universally applied as a virtual panacea to problems of quality service delivery. Of course, at the time it seems an easy option if compared to making and applying tough decisions that may upset a few sensitive souls who thought they had jobs for life. There are circumstances when offering 'choice' merely wastes money and resources. Education and Health are two classic cases in point.

The answer is to operate ALL delivery systems to the same HIGH standards.

You simply cannot apply the same mantra to such environments as one might to market stalls or shoe shops. In the latter examples competition (ergo three veg stalls in a town market) MAY serve to keep prices competitive but WILL NOT improve the quality across the board. Rotten vegetables will remain. The clever grower/stall holder recognises when to turn them into fertiliser for a better crop next time. Or his business fails.................... That is a sound marekt economy.

These rules cannot be applied or expected to operate within state run organisations.

What MAY occur is specialisation, but surely in an age where 鈥榚conomies of scale鈥� is a buzz phrase, that cannot be reconciled with good use of financial resources.

Freemarket #63 (Monday)

The increase in mature student applications perhaps opens the door to the way to go. Perhaps 25 should be a minimum entry age into University. By then most will have some better idea of the world outside education establishments, some idea as to what they want to/can realistically do with their talents and how far they can go WITHOUT the need for a degree in, say, Golf Course Management at both personal and tax payer's cost

What might that do the drop out rate, and many other costly requirements of the young and the restless.

Seems like University, under teh current government is being seen as the Panacea to the ills of the top 50% of the population, as the forces have so often been for the lower 50%.


Life, as Bill Gates once said, is NOT fair - get used to it!

Education, like many other aspects of modern life, is crying out for what I would refer to as 鈥淓xpectation Management鈥� rather than another set of choices.

65. brightyangthing - The simple (but profound, I'd like people to think) point, is that we don't have any evidence that people are not pretty much made the way they are at conception, that we should protect them from physical damage, but that if we are to help people find their place in the world, we need some stability in that world if we are to be able to do that. The free-market and all this talk of choice and efficiency etc is nonsense. It just makes the job of finding places for people that much more difficult. It's the worst type of 'levelling'...it's the sort that preaches that differences don't exist if you can confuse the hell out of people so much that they don't matter anymore. What sort of life is that?

....it's also known as 'permanent revolution' or evil incarnate. It's what brought Russia to her knees in 1917. It has just been repackaged.

THE TRUTH IS OUT THERE -
#66
I am not sure that I can fully accept what I think you are saying, that it is ALL nature and that no amount of positive nurture can change much from birth. But that is a sweeping simplification.

The truth (simple, profound but distasteful to so many) of the contentment of knowing one's place is liberating if only it can be grasped. But of course, contentment is not very good for the economy, which needs us to want more and more, newer, bigger, better..... .

There is much security in such a situation - but sadly too many fall into the trap of seeking satisfaction, happiness and reward way beyond that happy place. And as a consequence are never satisifed, always seeking the next experience.

Always, the 'Other Man's Grass is (always) Greener. Until, having obtained some of teh other man's grass, comes the uncomfortable realisation that keeping it green is now down to you - the other man is not going to spend his time and money keeping it that way for you to enjoy.

So, more and more 'decaying' grass is passed over (concreted or land filled) whilst the next 'best thing' is sampled. And so ad infinitum.

I have a brief outtake somewhere (posted previously I am sure) of a presentation I made to a school prize giving, which few even of the 'elite' recognised as a slight dig at the manner in which all are encouraged to aspire to the top of the tree, failling to recognise the necessity of trunks, branches and the detritus beneath in them getting and staying there.

I know my place..............

....BUT IT'S THE WRONG COLOUR/SHAPE/STYLE/FASHION/TROUSERS??

ONCE MIGHT BE ACCIDENTAL, BUT TWICE IS DEFINITELY INTENT (#66)

"The simple point is that we don't have any evidence that people are not pretty much made the way they are at conception,"

Aside from the confusing double negative and the 'diminisher' couplet, Statist, this is the second time you have popped this in lately. I take it this is a bald declaration of genes over environment, as moulding influence on the individual. Always worth a ponder.

If Dizaei had had an identical twin, who was not sent to an English boarding school - at 10 years old - while his parents remained in Iran, might not the two have been very different characters? Do we know quite what changes go on in the brain around puberty, and how environmental pressure impinges across all brain variants?

68. brightyangthing 'I am not sure that I can fully accept what I think you are saying, that it is ALL nature and that no amount of positive nurture can change much from birth. But that is a sweeping simplification.'

Well, what can one do but share? If someone says they can't accept what they are being told, what can one do? I'm just telling what the evidence base says. I'm sure, like you, I'd love it to be other than it is, but there you go. I'm being honest. You can find out for yourself if prefer to go looking, but will you?

Too much nonsense hides behind people saying things are more complicated. They are not. At least, not here. There are some people who endeavour to make people think otherwise, but they have no credible evidence. If they had any we'd all know about it. Just think about it.

#70

"..... You can find out for yourself if prefer to go looking, but will you?"

How nice it must be to be so certain.

Btw, my comment on sweeping simplification was noting that I had simplified my reply to YOUR content in order to respond. Not that your content was a simplification. Far from it.

Being in possession of an open and enquiring mind, I frequently, when time allows, investigate and enquire on all manner of issues that interest. TIME is my critical factor, being of an age and situation where I am required to dance to others tunes from time to time. All manner of restrictions may prevent me from ever getting to your point of certainty. The limits of my intellect may be among them. My desire to learn and understand won鈥檛.

If Scientific or mathematically 鈥榩roven/provable鈥� (current) facts are the only thing any actions or value should be based on................ then what exactly is the 鈥榩lace鈥� for those who do not or will not accept your current version of the truth? Perhaps we should all be born old (Benjamin Button)

What is truth? What is an irrefutable fact? What has stood the test of time and not been replaced by 鈥榞reater鈥� knowledge or new truth over the millennia?

BUT I have seldom if ever, upon investigation of many things, come across a fact so totally irrefutable as to convince to stop asking the next question. I find there is almost always 鈥榖ut what if??????鈥� to be applied.

Even 鈥檚cientists鈥� mandated with finding and presenting facts a will usually succumb to some sort of manipulation. ALL have a price. All have an angle. All, in sharing their fact will confuse with language, muddy with interpretation . Their theory only stands as truth in their heads or their notebooks 鈥� every time it is written or spoken elsewhere something will be lost or something added.

鈥淪end three and fourpence, we are going to a dance.鈥�

Theorists (which is what all scientists start out - and often end - as conspiracy or otherwise, merely focus on finding the facts/connections that uphold their theory and ignoring those that may close a door or bring it crashing down.

A little like the law does.

brightyangthing - Just to illustrate how radical the consequences would be of thinking this through: it would require an end to prizes for doing well at school, in sport etc. It would mean no more praise for being beautiful and no criticism for not being.

The simple fact is, the full consequences are just too shocking for the normal brain of most folk today to contemplate. But, it would make for a far better world - and one day soon it will happen - because what I say is true.

It's because it's true that I'm advocating it.

71. brightyangthing - What makes you think that experienced scientists don't post to blogs?

What is truth? Wrong question. Statements are either true or false, and those which are true assert matters of fact about observations (i.e. their relations) which have stood the test of falsification to date.

That, briefly, is what I'm asserting and I'm asserting something which is worth knowing.

#73
"....What makes you think that experienced scientists don't post to blogs?"

NOTHING. Because I haven't stated that.

71. brightyangthing 'If Scientific or mathematically 鈥榩roven/provable鈥� (current) facts are the only thing any actions or value should be based on................ then what exactly is the 鈥榩lace鈥� for those who do not or will not accept your current version of the truth?'

It depends. In this case, maybe just listen and follow up? There are many instances in life where one has do as one is told in one's best interest. That used to be a given in life. Today, life is far more equal/irrational.

Today, many people report what they don't know with a badge of honour, as if their ignorance is to be commended (even respected) as a right.

A subtle one that....