As a BtEC student I just don’t see why these were phased in and BTECs were forced out.
Another MP and Education minister to boot without the first clue of Universities. The last decent one was Willetts.
You’d have thought with more MPs from less Russell group universities that this would improve? Nope as somewhere along the line Russell Group knows best has been drilled into them
As another ex-BTEC student, everything I've read about T-Levels reminds me of some management busybody looking to rearrange the furniture in the offices without any real plans as to what the different outcome, if any, is supposed to be. I suspect they'll go the way that GNVQs did.
Good piece on the current state of things, by Rafael Behr.
The winner in British elections tends to be the side that most appeals to that vast, amorphous constituency whose preferences are, by definition, ill-defined. There is an art in coming across as less intrusively political than the other side. The unspoken pitch is not to use up all the mental bandwidth that voters would rather spare for things other than politics.
This was the devious genius of the campaign slogan that won Boris Johnson his huge majority in 2019. “Get Brexit done” worked on two levels. It offered satisfaction to people who desperately wanted to leave the EU, but it also contained the lesser consolation of being left alone to the larger number, including remainers who hadn’t felt all that strongly about Europe in 2016 and wished the whole damned business would just go away.
But the Labour leader represented the opposite of “get Brexit done”, and not just on the thorny matter of relitigating the referendum. He was seen as a fanatic, the ringleader of lapel-grabbing, finger-jabbing cranks who think politics should be more in- your- face.
That stance, culturally rebarbative to many British voters, has now been adopted by the Conservative party. It stands out more grotesquely when you let politics drift past in the background. It is the face that leers from the crowd, eyes bulging, veins throbbing, fizzing with idiosyncratic fury: the Lee Anderson look.
Brexit is not now done in the way that Johnson promised, but it is subordinate to other issues. Even people who wish it could be reversed (and they are many) dream of that mission being accomplished by creeping consensus, because no one wants a reenactment of battles that bitterly divided the nation.
No one, that is, except those Conservatives who know no other way to conduct politics.
People who don’t follow politics closely might not be able to put their finger on why Labour should be given a go at government, but the idea that Britain needs another term under the Tories feels palpably weirder.
TL/DR: we need to remember that we're the minority - we take an active interest in politics. Most people don't give a shit. Hence, the Tories making everything a fight is turning people off, just as Labour positioning themselves as the only adults in the room is attracting support.
Re: Conservatives Generally
Posted: Thu Aug 24, 2023 1:32 am
by mattomac
It’s also a bit odd you’d try the dead air of summer to seize the agenda on two things you are doing terribly at
As a BtEC student I just don’t see why these were phased in and BTECs were forced out.
Another MP and Education minister to boot without the first clue of Universities. The last decent one was Willetts.
You’d have thought with more MPs from less Russell group universities that this would improve? Nope as somewhere along the line Russell Group knows best has been drilled into them
As another ex-BTEC student, everything I've read about T-Levels reminds me of some management busybody looking to rearrange the furniture in the offices without any real plans as to what the different outcome, if any, is supposed to be. I suspect they'll go the way that GNVQs did.
It feels a strange way a bit like TEF which was effectively a cheap version and a bit of stick to hit Universities with.
Now a lot of time and energy is out into satisfying Government who ultimately would happily see half of them disappear.
REF generated lots of money, TEF lots of paperwork.
REF is Research Excellence Framework
TEF is Teaching
Re: Conservatives Generally
Posted: Thu Aug 24, 2023 8:47 am
by satnav
Nick Gibb was despatched to the various Breakfast shows today to defend the governments record on education ahead of the release of GCSE's. His main arguments seem to be everything was going fine until COVID which isn't really true, he then went on about how 80% of schools are now good or excellent compared with 69% when the Tories came to power and then finally in dropped in the Michaela School as evidence of schools closing the attainment gap.
The 80% of schools being good or excellent is a fairly dodgy claim given that many schools listed as excellent have not been inspected for over 5 years so it is impossible to know if these schools are still excellent. Eve if a school is graded as excellent it doesn't mean that the school has closed the attainment gap.
Using Michaela as evidence that the government is closing the attainment gap is utter nonsense given that so far the head of the school has not been able to replicate her success at any other school.
Re: Conservatives Generally
Posted: Sun Aug 27, 2023 7:02 pm
by Tubby Isaacs
Time for another letter to Sir Keir.
Absolutely feeble argument too- there are and always have been different levels of government. Borough councillors have never had to a veto on everything that happens on their patch. They didn't give Tory councillors a veto on fracking or HS2 routes.
Re: Conservatives Generally
Posted: Sun Aug 27, 2023 8:33 pm
by davidjay
For a government with an 80 seat majority willofthepeople they seem remarkably incapable of doing anything.
Re: Conservatives Generally
Posted: Sun Aug 27, 2023 8:54 pm
by kreuzberger
They've been having their themed weeks recently.
"Boats Week" ended with Legionella, "NHS Week" yielded a slew of horrible metrics (and the odd whole-life-tariff). Christ knows what they will be highlighting in the week ahead.
Let's hope it has nothing to do with the Foreign Office or the MOD.
Re: Conservatives Generally
Posted: Sun Aug 27, 2023 8:58 pm
by Andy McDandy
MOD week will likely see them beaten up by rockers.
Re: Conservatives Generally
Posted: Sun Aug 27, 2023 9:56 pm
by Bones McCoy
Every week is "Buffing Mrs Sunak's Portfolio" week.
Maaaatron !!!!
Re: Conservatives Generally
Posted: Mon Aug 28, 2023 6:22 pm
by Boiler
Oh dear (2).
Re: Conservatives Generally
Posted: Mon Aug 28, 2023 6:36 pm
by Youngian
More people like Lee Anderson is probably all the Tories will be getting more of after he election under Braverman’s leadership.
Re: Conservatives Generally
Posted: Mon Aug 28, 2023 6:39 pm
by Andy McDandy
Yes Neil, and how are your friends Sargon of Akkad and Nazi dog guy doing with their dank memes and edgy tropes?
This is what I don't get; the Tories have gone about as far as they can go without generally being called far-right* and are, if the polls are correct, going to be in a massive minority. Pushing further right is not going to be a vote winner. The Boomer vote is literally dying out. But they are so convinced they are correct even with overwhelming evidence to the contrary.
*YMMV
Re: Conservatives Generally
Posted: Mon Aug 28, 2023 7:34 pm
by Tubby Isaacs
More genius from Danny Kruger.
As someone BTL says, "Great idea, Danny. Provided we make your voting base spend do a year on the council before they collect their pensions"
The rest of it is nonsense too. There are problems with banks, but they're preferable to Maduro banking which seems to be his preferred solution. Or maybe it's to force the executives to work for the council for a year, and it all fixes itself.
Re: Conservatives Generally
Posted: Tue Aug 29, 2023 1:14 am
by mattomac
I assume the government would fund this, otherwise it’s more wasted resource.
Re: Conservatives Generally
Posted: Tue Aug 29, 2023 6:43 am
by Youngian
As someone BTL says, "Great idea, Danny. Provided we make your voting base spend do a year on the council before they collect their pensions"
Picking up fly tipped mattresses with Lee Anderson.
