The Glass Box for Wednesday
The Glass Box is the place where you can comment on what you heard on PM, interact with other listeners and get responses from the people who make the programme.
Just click on the "comment" link.
The Glass Box is named after the booth outside the PM studio where we all discuss the programme at 18.00 every weeknight. We try to be honest and constructive. Sometimes there is criticism, and the criticised get a chance to explain themselves.
The people who make PM will read the comments posted, and will sometimes respond.
If you want to post a comment about something that is on your mind but was not on the programme - use the link on the right to The Furrowed Brow. Also on the right, you'll find FAQ: try it. And why not visit The Beach?
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That's better!
Grim in Gaza, that's for sure.
:-(
ed
If GCSE home coursework is to be scrapped in favour of coursework completed under supervision in school, what provision will be made for children who are home educated? An increasing number of children are leaving school because of bullying or poor teaching, or have never attended school, but they don't all want to opt out of the exam system altogether.
My own son. who is thirteen, has recently left school after two years of intolerable bullying to study for his GCSEs at home, but will return to the system to study for his A levels at our local college. Will the exam boards take my word for it that his coursework is his own work?
Haha,
I quite liked Eddie reading the FTSE index - stands out from the bulletin more!
The surgeon you interviewed talked of financial incentives being an answer. Bearing in mind the level of consultant pay surely financial disincentives would be more appropriate?
Astonishing that cctv evidence on the tube was not made available in the case of the high court judge accused of exposing himself. Am i the only one who finds this just a little difficult to swallow in light of all the supposed incresaed surveillance and security surrounding the tube.
I wish to complain about the item concerning David Hatch.
I am stupified that you had the temerity to play the "S***thorpe" gag from I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue.
It'll take me ages to mop up the tea all over my desk you rotten swines...
Oh yes, and ... *grin*
Nice one Eddie and Team, worthy of Angus Prune.
I was sorry to hear of the death of Sir David Hatch, and glad to hear your tribute. I hope for a fuller one on R4 in time.
President Sarkozy was recently accused by Belgian TV of being drunk at a press conference. (He's a teetotaller incidentally).
it's a relief to know that no such hideous accusation can be levelled at Lady Thatcher whose slurred speech and weary tones are of course attibutable to emotion recollected in tranquillity.
Well that's settled anyway.
Do we really have to give her the oxygen of publicity? Sleepless night for many tonight.
Unless doctors are allowed to use new state of the art medication medicine in this country will never advance. We will be stuck with 30 year old treatments and patients will suffer and some will die. If this government has money for wars, round the world tours for politicans, olympics etc then they should fund proper treatments for their population.
Jennie
Great programme tonight, I thought (or at least the last 46 minutes or so that I heard). Both the QC and the consultant were interesting and articulate - and you gave them the space in which they could tell their stories. The 'listen-in' on the PCT making its budgetary judgements of Solomon was a useful insight and a similar excercise with NICE itself would be worth doing too.
Forced myself to listen to Thatcher at the end. Old politicians usually acquire a patina of respect and affection when they have been out of office for a while. Not her. I still threaten my children that if they aren't good Thatcher will get them...
I too would like a there to be a tribute to Dave the Rave on the Radio Wave. Never met him, sadly, but he was responsible for brightening my life on many occasions.
Jennie (9): Sorry for being pedantic but whether the patients suffer or not, they will ALL die. It is the only certainty.
I do agree with the point you are making, though. A local lady has a lung condition that needed a particular treatment. It is allegedly the result of living all her life in the vicinity of a brake lining works. The local health trust would not provide her with the treatment. If she lived a couple of miles up the road the neighbouring health trust fund it routinely.
After much fuss and the interventions of a national charity the local health trust agreed to fund it because of particular circumstances unique to her case which they wouldn't expand on (the "no precedent set" gambit).
A cynical man would say this health trust won't routinely fund the treatment because they have many thousands of potential sufferers of the condition all living in the vicinity of the works whereas the neighbouring one does not...
What a great mix of items on tonight's programme, and a commendable amount of reporting ''from the horse's mouth''.
My biggest frustration was the inability of Eddie's interviewees to answer the question about what we can do about the situation in Palestine. How many individuals would Eddie have to put that question to, before finding anyone who could answer that, I wonder?
Never mind GCSE cousework, what about A level coursework?
Whatever the coursework, everyone knows that half of the pupils if not more have it written by someone else or with a lot more help than allowed by the rules. As a teacher of A level French I planned on following the rules only to feel that, as practically nobody else did, I was being unfair to my students.
As long as there is any form of testing other than by exam, be it coursework or continuous assessment, there will be some form of unfairness involved.
I just wanted to say how sad I was to hear of the death of David Hatch, what a lovely man. I remember as a teenager going to the recordings of "I'm sorry I'll read that again"/"Sorry I haven't a clue" at the theatre the ´óÏó´«Ã½ then owned near Embankment tube and he always used to "warm up" the live audience with a few jokes and witty remarks, always very smartly dressed and always letting us know about how the recordings would be made,when it would go out etc. Thoughts are with his family (couldn't find anywhere else to post this) R.I.P.
So sad about Gaza, last thing they need is more violence and just wondering where Alan Johnston is amongst all that is going on.
Thanks for the comments. The story we wrestled with most was Gaza. I find it hard to know how much knowleged/interest to assume. I worked at the World Service for years so I'm painfully aware that I might be too close to the story. When we talk about 'Gaza' and 'the West Bank' sometimes I worry we are assuming a map with political breakdowns and historical context instantly pops into people's heads. We miss Alan J too.
What is this word used so often by the weather presenters? It sounds like ‘fringlanderwales’...
Peter (17),
I was very pleased that the Gaza piece placed the trouble in the context of the terrible conditions in which such distressing conflict arises, in particular the contribution of "the west's" misguided policies. I note with relief that this was also the case in most reporting of the tragic outcome elsewhere.
My best regards to all involved and I'm sure we all hope for better times and for Alan's return.
In hope despite experience,
ed
Dr. H - Have you checked your Flickr mail? There is info of interest to you there ....
Why doesn't PM clear five minutes of this afternoon's schedule to repeat the item on Ascension Island just broadcast on From Our Own Correspondent? A sad comment on the 25th anniversary of the Falklands conflict.
Tom (21),
I'll second that.
Peter Rippon,
Nobody does it better!
Salaam/Shalom
ed
jonnie(3)
Well- I REALLY like Eddie reading the FTSE.
I like Eddie reading anything.....
Hope your little dog is bright- eyed and bushy- tailed again.
Reminds me- where's Silver Fox these days?
Mollyxx
Paul Wood (up at 5)
CCTV footage from the tube wouldn't be much use as evidence of a crime having or not having been committed not on the tube at all but on a commuter train, unfortunately. So that is probably why they didn't use it.
I was sorry to learn of the death of David Hatch. My husband and I met David on a Med cruise in April 1998 and he made a real impression on us both. He was one of nine on our dinner table and we all had so much fun. He created his own daily cruise paper and we persuaded him to dress up as the front end of a donkey to take part with us dressed as 4 sets of donkeys in a fancy dress parade. We all won second prize. We didnt know then of his involvement with the ´óÏó´«Ã½ nor with the Cambridge footlights such was his modesty. He was great fun and very generous. I am sure he will sadly missed by many other people.