[kreuzberger]

"Kath, love, no one gives a toss about your cat nonsense and anyone with half a brain knows that it was, let's put this gently, a bit silly."

In picking a fight with Jess Phillips, I am struggling to identify the species of tree up which Birbalsingh is barking. Is she in the throes of a performative interview-cum-audition for Gbeebies or is Tufton Street drawing up its battlelines for after the next General Election and enlisting its foot soldiers?

[davidjay]

"Kath, love, no one gives a toss about your cat nonsense and anyone with half a brain knows that it was, let's put this gently, a bit silly."

In picking a fight with Jess Phillips, I am struggling to identify the species of tree up which Birbalsingh is barking. Is she in the throes of a performative interview-cum-audition for Gbeebies or is Tufton Street drawing up its battlelines for after the next General Election and enlisting its foot soldiers?

I'm in two minds about what she's up to - I don't know if she's looking for a safe Tory seat (some hopes of finding one) or a place in the Lords. Either way she's moving on from teaching.

[Bones McCoy]

It's been almost four decades since I left school.
But I never came across any of my teachers (nor those of 3 sons and a nephew) adopting pro -wrestling style monikers.

[Malcolm Armsteen]

Burble now denying she is political...

[Spoonman]

Given my online experience of her, Ms. Birbalsingh sounds like a person that would be very hard work to be around with, and not in a good way. Her latest "I'm not political" call is a corrupted play of the "I know you are but what am I?" card that unless you're accusing someone of projection is something most level-headed people leave behind in the school playground.

An archetypical example of the "Karen" stereotype, especially in playing the "racist" card.

[Tubby Isaacs]

She's now very obviously lying about time stamps on Twitter, not realising that you can check the original tweets.

She just says the first thing that comes into her head.

[davidjay]

She's now very obviously lying about time stamps on Twitter, not realising that you can check the original tweets.

She just says the first thing that comes into her head.

Surely the school governors should be taking action. Does anyone know who they are?

[Youngian]

She just says the first thing that comes into her head.

Her career blossomed in the slipstream of Johnson’s premiership.

Hope Jess isn’t wasting too much time on Kathy’s burbling sophistry. Could easily see her in court refusing to pay parking fines because of the Magna Carta.

[Andy McDandy]

Earlier than that as I recall. She came up the Toby Young way*, when Gove and Cummings were wreaking havoc in education. Posho with a can-do attitude and no time for any nonsense (or any of those boo-ring qualifications) says "How hard can it be?" and shows up all the moaning minnies with their pay rise demands and union representation. The Big Society - basically the 1926 General Strike breakers on a permanent basis. Spends most of her time since oscillating between "look at our amazing results!" and "results aren't everything!", depending on results.

*I hope you enjoy that image with your lunch...

[Malcolm Armsteen]

There's also a nuance: she's a very strict teacher of Jamaican heritage, and at one time all you heard from (some) Jamaican-educated parents was 'give them a belt' or 'hit them if you want to' or 'be as strict as you can, no laughing in school'. Seriously. I used to be sitting the other side of the desk, trying to explain why their kid was unhappy and that was what I heard. Some parents still think that 'strictness' is a predictor of success. (Note: It isn't)

I think she has plugged into that zeitgeist. I'd love to be a fly on the wall in one of her not-interviews of prospective parents.

I despise her and her thinking and her methods.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Earlier than that as I recall. She came up the Toby Young way*, when Gove and Cummings were wreaking havoc in education. Posho with a can-do attitude and no time for any nonsense (or any of those boo-ring qualifications) says "How hard can it be?" and shows up all the moaning minnies with their pay rise demands and union representation. The Big Society - basically the 1926 General Strike breakers on a permanent basis. Spends most of her time since oscillating between "look at our amazing results!" and "results aren't everything!", depending on results.

*I hope you enjoy that image with your lunch...

Yeah, she's been around a surprisingly long time. At one time I thought that the DfE would make sure she didn't get a school but she did. In London, near a station. Not in Bootle.

[Malcolm Armsteen]

Michaela is a free school, so outside the remit of the LA or, to a large extent, the DfE.

Michaela Community School was established in 2014 in a converted office block. It opened with 120 Year 7 pupils. It was named after Birbalsingh's former colleague Michaela Emanus, a West Indian teacher from Saint Lucia, who died of cancer in 2011.

The school was rated as "outstanding" in all categories by Ofsted in 2017. In 2018, it applied to the Department for Education to open a second free school in Stevenage, with a planned opening in 2023. It was approved in 2019, and plans were submitted in 2022.

The school has been called "contentious" and received significant media attention. It has been described as having an ethos generally associated with pre-1960s or Private schools and for a time marketed itself as “Private School Ethos—No Fees”. One commentator described the school as an example of a discipline-focused method of teaching children becoming increasingly popular in the UK.

The first chair of governors was one Swella Braverman...

One of the persistent complaints about the school has been that it selects its intake, whilst claiming to be comprehensive. This seems to be done through a 'suitability interview' in which the views of the parents (see above) and the ability of the pupil is assessed. I have seen accusations (but not hard evidence) of a policy of weeding out those not likely to make the grade academically.

Despite her West Indian ethos Birbalsingh was born in New Zealand and raised in Canada and Britain. Her mother was Jamaican.
Birbalsingh is an ex-member of the Socialist Workers Party.

She has some very odd ideas...

[Tubby Isaacs]

Is the Stevenage school happening? How much work is she putting in on it?

[Malcolm Armsteen]

I think it is; none.

[Killer Whale]

Birbalsingh is an ex-member of the Socialist Workers Party.

A surprising number of student SWiPpers go on to be reactionary weirdoes, don't they?

[Tubby Isaacs]

She got typically shirty when asked how she had the time for all this politicking stuff, saying that she would be hosting the Senior Management Team meeting at 7 o'clock this morning. This seems a very odd time for a meeting.

In any case, responsibilities to her school (and the second one, if that's happening) don't just include showing up at meetings. Reckon she's all over the working papers? I don't.

[Andy McDandy]

A surprising number of student SWiPpers go on to be reactionary weirdoes, don't they?

Student edgelords loudly hold contentious opinions in an effort to appear interesting. As time passes, they need to keep the gig going, so switch to an older crowd.

They're basically Rik from the Young Ones, becoming Richard from Bottom.

[Bones McCoy]

Birbalsingh is an ex-member of the Socialist Workers Party.

A surprising number of student SWiPpers go on to be reactionary weirdoes, don't they?

It's true of a lot of trots.
Back in the late 70s, a number of "conservative thinkers" had gut their teeth in the IS of the 1960s.
More recently the Spiked mob fail from the rump of the Revolutionary Communist Party.

You're almost inclined to give Stalin the benefit of the doubt on that one thing.

[Boiler]

A surprising number of student SWiPpers go on to be reactionary weirdoes, don't they?

Student edgelords loudly hold contentious opinions in an effort to appear interesting. As time passes, they need to keep the gig going, so switch to an older crowd.

They're basically Rik from the Young Ones, becoming Richard from Bottom.

ITYM Richie.

[kreuzberger]

ITYM Richie.

Yay! The return of the unintelligible acronyms. What?