England – Page 20 – Slugger O'Toole

GCSE reform: “It is unlikely that the Minister’s decision on this issue would stop the current position…”

Pete Baker on October 10, 2011, 5:25 pm

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In June this year the UK Government’s Education Secretary, Michael Gove, welcomed Ofqual’s proposals for making changes for GCSE courses and, on 27 September, a consultation was launched on changes to the current GCSE specifications in England. Today the Northern Ireland Education Minister, Sinn Féin’s John O’Dowd, launched a consultation on on making the same changes to current GCSE specifications here. In England the consultation ends on 4 November, here it continues until 30 December. According to the Northern Ireland consultation document [pdf file] It is …

Paterson on stand by for Defence?

Mick Fealty on October 9, 2011, 12:13 pm

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I know Liam Fox is in the job, and rumours of his immanent departure may be exaggerated, but as a fellowright winger in the cabinet, our own Secretary of State, Owen Paterson it seems is the favoured son of the right should the Secretary of State for Defence have to step down. They argue that he’s needed to maintain political balance within the coalition cabinet. It may also suit Mr Cameron to keep a right winger camped on the Military …

RWC – now it get’s a little bit exciting….

Dewi on October 3, 2011, 9:14 pm

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First on Carter: Eddie Butler in the Guardian: For all the encouraging noises that the wounded player and the team that he leaves behind were obliged to make, there was no hiding a sense of foreboding at his farewell session. All those present knew what three sets of World Cup opponents know, that the All Blacks without Carter are not the same. When he went down, New Zealand went down and not many on this bleak day felt like bouncing …

RWC – Final Group Games…

Dewi on September 30, 2011, 12:54 pm

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Ok – let’s eliminate absurdites and look at the more realistic scenarios for the Six Nation Teams: 1. In Pool D – Barring losing to Fiji by 62 39 points or more Wales are through the Group of Death in second behind South Africa. 2. In Pool B – Scotland need to beat England by 8 points and restrict England to less than 4 tries to get through in second. If they do Argentina win the group, providing they secure …

Metropolitan Police cave on their threat to use the Official Secrets Act…

Mick Fealty on September 21, 2011, 12:23 pm

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So the Met’s intended use of the Official Secrets Act has collapsed before it had begun… On reflection no doubt they will come to view it as a spectacularly stupid move, not least because it seems they did not even consult with Dominic Grieve, the UK Attorney General before making the threat… It contrasts with their strangely lax treatment of the initial hackgate lead… It’s a racing certainty that Mr Greive would have given them pretty short shrift… This one …

So just before you discount those Westminster seats?

Mick Fealty on September 14, 2011, 11:05 am

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Dewi was pretty hot off the starting gun (he either gets up earlier than the rest of us, or stays up much later) with the boundary change news. Nicholas Whyte’s analysis on the BBC is also well worth reading. But so too are these cautionary words from the gentlemanly Michael White: …cutting the number of MPs to save a theoretical £12m a year is likely to prove a trivial, possibly bad, reform where the laws of unintended consequences will have …

Friday morning, 9 o’clock- just a bit too early for N.Ireland’s MPs…

oneill on September 12, 2011, 2:47 pm

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I’ve written before about Harriett Baldwin’s Legislation (Territorial Extent) Bill and in particular Ian Paisley Jr’s opposition to its provisions, here. Amongst other things, the Bill relates to “the ‘West Lothian Question’, whereby Members representing constituencies in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland may vote on legislation that applies only to England. If this were addressed by having a special way of voting on ‘England only’ legislation, then this Bill would provide a means of identifying some of those Bills”. As …

“the failure of the British press to cover Northern Ireland properly”

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on September 12, 2011, 2:15 pm

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Roy Greenslade blog banner

The Guardian’s Roy Greenslade blogged again this morning about “the failure of the British press to cover Northern Ireland properly” and the consequential “absence of knowledge among [Great] British people about the realities of life there”. I doubt that many of you have ever heard of the Reverend David Latimer, a Presbyterian minister and former British army chaplain. And it would appear that Britain’s national newspapers are determined to ensure that he remains unknown to you. Yet Latimer made history …

Greenacre ‘slavery’ camp: They knew nothing and were just passing through…

Mick Fealty on September 12, 2011, 10:05 am

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Quite shocking news from Bedfordshire, that a large group of UK, Polish and other overseas citizens have been held captive on a travellers site. Two thoughts worth sharing from this mornings coverage. One, on Morning Ireland, a local radio news broadcaster noted that no one on the site that had spoken to would admit to knowing anything about it, that they were all just passing through (which of course is likely to have been the case). Secondly, on the Today …

UK Universities moving into unpredictable waters…

Mick Fealty on September 9, 2011, 9:49 am

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As an addendum to the local decision to peg tuition fees at the current level. Here’s a good video piece from the Daily Telegraph on the UK Government’s still rather nebulous proposal to rank Universities… The White Paper they are discussing was published earlier in the summer… It also contains an incentive measure to encourage universities to drop their fees from £9k to less than £7,500; ie they can bid for some of 20,000 extra under graduate places. Of course, …

NI University tuition fees to be kept at current levels, “subject only to an inflationary rise”

Pete Baker on September 8, 2011, 7:18 pm

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As the BBC reports, Northern Ireland Employment and Learning Minister, Stephen Farry, has confirmed that the bread promised by the First and deputy First Ministers in July, will be on the menu. But we’ll have to wait until Monday to see the details – the NI Assembly being the appropriate place to make such an announcement. [But we need headlines now! – Ed] Indeed. Those details would include whether or not the proposals include students from England, Scotland and Wales. Because there …

Tories struggle to maintain a political ecosphere beyond England…

Mick Fealty on September 5, 2011, 9:57 am

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The latest developments don’t mean the end of Conservatism in Scotland. But it is indicative of 1) the kind of fuzzy thinking that at times pervades some very well intentioned innovations within the Cameron kitchen cabinet; and 2) the dearth of committed Scots within the modern Conservative party. And it comes within a year of the failure of the UCU-NF project. I’m told over and over that David Cameron is committed to the Union, and to outreach to the outer …

Innocent nurses, landlords and trial by tabloid

Turgon on September 3, 2011, 5:46 pm

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I blogged some months ago about the case of Chris Jefferies who was landlord to Jo Yates. Mr. Jefferies was arrested over Ms. Yates’s murder and then became the target of frenzied media speculation. Essentially it seemed that he was a bit eccentric, had odd hair, was an elderly bachelor and, hence, must be guilty. He was also a leading Liberal Democrat and the local party representatives rapidly distanced themselves from him. After all that Mr. Jefferies was completely innocent …

Lembit Opik hasn’t gone away you know (PS: Brian Paddick’s the Lib Dem candidate for London mayor)

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on September 2, 2011, 9:36 pm

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While earlier this week ‘punk godfather’ Terri Hooley won the race to be elected as Lord Mayor of the Cathedral Quarter as part of Culture Night Belfast‘s celebrations, the competitors are only warming up on the starting line of the 2012 London Mayoral elections. This evening, London Lib Dem members voted to give former Metropolitan Police officer and 2008-candidate Brian Paddick a second chance, rather than hand the opportunity to ‘celebrity’ Lembit Opik. In an interview with London’s Evening Standard, …

Current World Athletic Championship Gold Medal Table

Dewi on September 1, 2011, 3:57 pm

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USA 7 Russia 4 Kenya 4 Wales 1 Germany 1 Jamiaca 1 China 1 Ethiopia 1 Botswana 1 Brazil 1 Grenada 1 Japan 1 New Zealand 1 Poland 1 Ukraine 1 England 0 Scotland 0 Ireland (South) 0 Ireland (North) 0 Ireland Combined 0 Just thought it worth a mention…. DewiWelsh Nationalist. Rugby Fan. Know a bit about History and Railways…

Long ‘hot’ summer makes little dent in the UK polls…

Mick Fealty on August 31, 2011, 4:23 pm

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Not sure I’m convinced by today’s Westminster gossip that David Cameron is getting a poll bounce (albeit a mini one) from Libya or his response to the Libya crisis. If you check out Anthony’s UK Polling Report tracker, you see the only clear pattern is the collapse of the Lib Dems, and the hovering of the Conservatives and Labour between mid thirties and forty. In truth, the changes haven’t really broken out of the three per cent error margin since …

Tories talking up a nationalist storm over ‘broken Kingdom’?

Mick Fealty on August 30, 2011, 4:24 pm

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It may be good party politics for the Tories to talk up the transfers from the exchequer to other parts of the UK, even if the numbers are relatively speaking pretty slight. But as noted on Tim Harford’s Radio Four programme the differential is not a significant disincentive to cessesation in the case of Scotland at least. Two points worth mentioning: it is strange that the numbers for London are never quoted in such debates; unnervingly perhaps for constitutional unionists, …

The British Blundering Corporation strikes once again…

oneill on August 30, 2011, 12:52 pm

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… or something altogether more sinister??! Whatever; licence payers in British Ulster have a right to know why they have been unilaterally handed over to the Republic without so much of a squeek about “consent principles”, “Belfast Agreements”….etc (Hat-tip to the Campaign for an English Parliament) Update: All now sorted, from a N.Irish point of view anyway: North Belfast DUP MP Nigel Dodds has received a letter from BBC Director General Mark Thompson apologising for the incorrect use of a Republic of Ireland tricolour to …

What do the GCSE Results tell us about employment propects?

Mick Fealty on August 25, 2011, 2:54 pm

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The truth is, probably not a great deal. The trend in Northern Ireland is pretty established: best top end performances in the UK; and the worst record of students leaving with no qualifications at all. Education Minister John O’Dowd has been questioned several times about a .5% drop in the NI performance; which, to be fair to the Minister, is probably neither here nor there. The real problem is that after four years of Education being devolved to Stormont we …

Ireland v England ODI

Pete Baker on August 25, 2011, 2:49 pm

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In a reduced overs innings [42 overs] Ireland restricted the Eoin Morgan led England One Day International side to 201 for 8 at Clontarf. Morgan made 59 from 65 balls. Ireland had won the toss and put England in to bat. Cricinfo scorecard. Radio Test Match Special live coverage. Or Guardian or BBC text commentary. Ireland require 202 from 42 overs. Duckworth-Lewis may come into play… Added D/L applied to England’s total. Ireland now require 203 from 42 overs. Apparently they were …