Wednesday, October 03, 2007
Minister baulks at picket line..
Nothing online on this yet, but BBC Radio Ulster news at 1pm reported that a planned visit from the Education minister to a school in Londonderry today, affected by the classroom assistants strike, has been cancelled. According to the report a spokesman for the minister said that the visit was cancelled due to the striking classroom assistants.. or rather, the picket line which, on “a point of principle”, the minister is refusing to cross.. Now, about that dose of realism.. Adds Belfast Telegraph report
From the added report
A DfE spokeswoman said: “The Minister is disappointed that the school visit did not go ahead, but she was not prepared to cross any picket line. She hopes that the visit will go a head at a later date.
“Her refusal to cross the picket line was a point of principal and not specifically related to this action.”
“a point of principal”?!? Is that the same Department of Education spokeswoman as noted here? [or just the Telegraph’s error? - Ed]
Pete Baker @ 12:24 PM
Is Catriona secretly moonlighting as a classroom assistant? Might explain why she’s so rubbish as Minister.
After all, that would be the only reason she wouldn’t cross the picket line wouldn’t it? Otherwise then she’s tacitly criticising teachers for going to work.
Not that she’d have got a hard time off the strikers of course..... reminds me of the placard at last weeks protest “When will my day come Catriona?”
Its classic Ruane stuff though - avoid substance at all costs and deal only in hushed platitudes in a vain attempt that people wont notice that you don’t have a clue. Good luck with that one Minister.
Posted by on Oct 03, 2007 @ 01:05 PMAre we still harping on about this? What about Irish Medium education? Back to important issue people.
Posted by on Oct 03, 2007 @ 01:54 PMavoid substance at all costs and deal only in hushed platitudes in a vain attempt that people wont notice that you don’t have a clue
Catriona made an important statement on the future of primary education today. It went:
I believe that children are our future. Teach them well and let them lead the way. Show them all the beauty they possess inside. Give them a sense of pride to make it easier. Let the children’s laughter remind us how we used to be.
I decided long ago never to walk in anyone’s shadows. If I fail, if I succeed, at least I’ll live as I believe.
This is just typical Catriona waffle. If she thinks the strikers are right, she should give them their pay award; if she thinks they’re wrong, she shouldn’t have a problem crossing the picket line. Either way, she’s in charge and the bourgeois lefty gesture politics don’t actually mean anything. If you have a problem, Catriona, you’re, you know like, the Minister and all so do something about it instead of whingeing.
As a former civil service union member, I went out on several strikes which I personally thought were silly because I felt myself to be bound by collective responsibility. I never thought any the worse of any Minister crossing a picket line to do the job the electorate put them in to do. Oh, and perhaps Catriona might like to do a Google search on the phrase “collective responsibility” in the time she saves from cancelling school visits.
Posted by on Oct 03, 2007 @ 04:02 PMCatriona is a disaster.
Posted by on Oct 03, 2007 @ 04:18 PMThis is the problem with extremists in government. Here we have a leftie minister who wont deal with the unions. A while ago we had a rightie minister insulting the gay community.
Posted by on Oct 03, 2007 @ 04:33 PMMaybe she just doesn’t have the (tennis) balls to meet them face-to-face on the line.
Posted by on Oct 03, 2007 @ 04:48 PMI believe that children are our future. Teach them well and let them lead the way. Show them all the beauty they possess inside. Give them a sense of pride to make it easier. Let the children’s laughter remind us how we used to be.
I decided long ago never to walk in anyone’s shadows.
Sammy, that’s the funniest thing I’ve read in weeks. I thought that you were using twee Michael Jackson or such lyrics to parody the Minister along with botched Indian proverbs - until I realised that she actually said that!
Posted by on Oct 03, 2007 @ 04:56 PMShe didn’t say that! It’s a wind up.
I just wish she would wake up some morning and realise “Hey, I’m the Minister for Education! I’m going to use this position to do something useful for all the school children”!
Posted by on Oct 03, 2007 @ 05:31 PMAye, isn’t it desperate to have a minister who won’t do the decent thing and abandon her principles on the altar of craven expediency!?
Sammy
BY which “collective responsibility” is Catriona bound? On what basis? I can’t see how that convention can be said to apply to the devolved power-sharing Executive. Certainly, it cannot be assumed to have such a convention ab initio.
I think what I mean is, give your mouth a chance.
Posted by on Oct 03, 2007 @ 05:39 PMOh, that’s disappointing. That would have been Quote of the Year in my book. I’ll go with my first guess about it being corny song lyric, then.
Posted by on Oct 03, 2007 @ 05:40 PM“If she thinks the strikers are right, she should give them their pay award; if she thinks they’re wrong, she shouldn’t have a problem crossing the picket line.”
Where’s the money coming from Sammy?
If it was that simple you could run the economy by computer and Communism would have worked.
Posted by on Oct 03, 2007 @ 05:43 PM“BY which “collective responsibility” is Catriona bound? On what basis? I can’t see how that convention can be said to apply to the devolved power-sharing Executive.”
Also, when did the cabinet make a collective decision either way on giving more money to the strikers?
Posted by on Oct 03, 2007 @ 05:45 PM“ I believe that children are our future. Teach them well and let them lead the way. Show them all the beauty they possess inside. Give them a sense of pride to make it easier. Let the children’s laughter remind us how we used to be.
I decided long ago never to walk in anyone’s shadows. “
Even Dana at her cringeworthy worst wasn’t that bad !
Posted by on Oct 03, 2007 @ 06:51 PMI believe the children are our are future
Teach them well and let them lead the way
Show them all the beauty they possess inside
Give them a sense of pride to make it easier
Let the children’s laughter remind us how we used to be
Everybody searching for a hero
People need someone to look up to
I never found anyone who fulfill my needs
A lonely place to be
So I learned to depend on meChorus:
I decided long ago, never to walk in anyone’s shadows
If I fail, if I succeed
At least I’ll live as I believe
No matter what they take from me
They can’t take away my dignity
Because the greatest love of all
Is happening to me
I found the greatest love of all
Inside of me
The greatest love of all
Is easy to achieve
Learning to love yourself
It is the greatest love of allPosted by on Oct 03, 2007 @ 07:03 PMThat was Whitney (Ruane) Houston’s lyrics, btw
Posted by on Oct 03, 2007 @ 07:04 PMThe ‘I believe the children are our future-but scrub them, I’m away unless I get a few more quid’ line has been played all week by the unions.
The current public apathy over the NIPSA strike will shortly turn into outright hostility if the weans continue to miss out on schooling.
Posted by on Oct 03, 2007 @ 07:12 PMCatriona is doing what is called having her cake and eating it.
It’s in her interests for the employers not to bow to the unions on this one to save money , so she engages in a totally pathetic and empty gesture of support.
If she suppported the classroom assistants , their demands would have been met by now.
She’s gone down big time in my esteem on this one.
Not so sure either that the picket was a good move by NIPSA today,( I’m a member by the way) did the principal not say that his classroom assistants were not actually on strike and the picket line was not related to his school?
Embarassing the minister, causing disruption and aggravation to a school not in the dispute and getting criticised by the principal of a special school does not good headlines make!
Posted by on Oct 03, 2007 @ 08:10 PMand Communism would have worked.
Posted by kensei on Oct 03, 2007 @ 06:43 PM“Would have worked”. Why has anybody ever tried it?
Apart from him they crucified 2000 years ago, and that was hardly a fair trial, as he was never in power.
Posted by on Oct 04, 2007 @ 12:27 AMInteresting report in the Telegraph,
it appears the minister believes it is proper for latino’s to strike and for her to travel thousands of miles to support them but, God help the underpaid in her own country who she has the power to assist; as I pointed out on another (related) thread get the money by reducing the dreadful overspend in administration.Posted by on Oct 04, 2007 @ 08:21 AM““Would have worked”. Why has anybody ever tried it?”
As an economic theory, yes.
Posted by on Oct 04, 2007 @ 08:38 AM“I believe the children are our are future...” Classic song, anyone remember the Sexual Chocolate version?
Posted by on Oct 04, 2007 @ 12:52 PMBY which “collective responsibility” is Catriona bound? On what basis? I can’t see how that convention can be said to apply to the devolved power-sharing Executive.
If you have no collective responsibility, then what you have is a government running a series of policy fiefdoms with no co-ordination, no proper financial planning and no cognisance of the fact that real world problems cut across neat bureaucratic silos. It’s a recipe for bad government, poor services, and chronic budget problems. This should not be a remotely controversial issues.
Where’s the money coming from Sammy?
You’re going to be really pissed off at me for saying this, but what about the cost of segregation? How much could you save in all the villages where a primary school with 50 pupils sits next to a primary school with 30 pupils, when both buildings were built for 200 pupils in the days when people had lots of children? On the heating and lighting costs alone?
How much could you save by making it possible for children to attend the school in the town they actually live in, rather than bussing them down the road to a single identity school and co-incidentally sending the message that they aren’t really welcome in their own town (like, every Catholic secondary and grammar pupil in Antrim Town is bussed to Randalstown, Ballymena or Belfast for post-Primary education)?
Or you could not decide to dump the Bain criteria out the window when the schools under threat came from a sector you personally supported.
Or, moving away from that particular issue, how much money could you save by looking at why a department whose “customer base” is shrinking by the year is probably even more expensive and heavily staffed than in the past?
Or, you could just tap Peter Robinson on the shoulder and ask him for a million or two.
No evidence that she’s done any of these things.
I remember when Catriona first came here, before she was in Sinn FĂ©in and I think before she was even involved with the West Belfast Festival, she’d just come off with streams of stupid Marxist platitudes about every issue under the sun. 15 years or so later and nothing has changed, except that she actually has power which she clearly doesn’t have a clue how to use.
Posted by on Oct 04, 2007 @ 02:53 PMSexual Chocolate version?
Eddie Murphy at his best.
Posted by on Oct 04, 2007 @ 03:06 PM“According to the report a spokesman for the minister said that the visit was cancelled due to the striking classroom assistants.. or rather, the picket line which, on “a point of principle”, the minister is refusing to cross...”
Is Ruane for real? “On a point of principle” she won’t cross a picket-line that her department is the cause of, yet she can represent a party whose “cutting edge” bombed and butchered, with and without success, in countries as far afield as Germany and the island of Gibraltar, to closer at home throughout the United Kingdom.
The world has gone mad…
Sectarian
Demonisation
Loyalist
PeoplePosted by on Oct 04, 2007 @ 03:55 PMDoesn’t take the SDLP to demonise the loyalist people, the UDA are doing a good enough job of that themselves without need of much assistance .
Posted by on Oct 04, 2007 @ 07:29 PM
