Brown is the new Black

[London Calling]

After an hour with the Queen, Gorden Brown is our new PM, his opening speech refereed to change inthe NHS, Education, the community, his changes would lead to Britain being the global power for this century?!

His speech also had humility and again he refered to breaking down the divisions of politics and using the best people.

I had not liked Brown dictatorial exploitation of the Treasury in deciding policies over the last 10 years, but if he does aim to have a balanced Government using the best ideas and skills of Labour, Conservatives, Lib Dems and Greens.

Then he will lead a good Government.

I wondeer if he will lso pursue Proprtional Represention?

LC

 

[dougdeep]

They'll be out at the next election anyway, he should enjoy it while he can.

 

[Stinkers Bridge]

My 'dirt' was black the other day, NOT brown. Wierd huh?

Mind you, I had been drinking alot of Guinness

 

[crasher]

If I was taking over as PM today I'd do these things right away;

1 Scap ID cards. Terrible, illiberal idea which will do nothing to protect us.

2 Abolish private education. Only when the rich and powerful have to send their kids to state schools will we get a system where EVERYONE gets the chance of a decent education.

3 Cancel the replacement for Trident. There are literally thousands of things the money would be better spent on.

4 Announce an extra bank holiday. Tomorrow.

5 Say yes to Falmer.


Go on Gordon - be bold.

 

[Hornblower]

They'll be out at the next election anyway, he should enjoy it while he can.

There won't be a general election till 2009, Tories will be in disarray by then and Labour will walk it.

 

[Man of Harveys]

Get out of Iraq. Tomorrow.

 

[Blackadder]

If I was taking over as PM today I'd do these things right away;

1 Scap ID cards. Terrible, illiberal idea which will do nothing to protect us.

2 Abolish private education. Only when the rich and powerful have to send their kids to state schools will we get a system where EVERYONE gets the chance of a decent education.

3 Cancel the replacement for Trident. There are literally thousands of things the money would be better spent on.

4 Announce an extra bank holiday. Tomorrow.

5 Say yes to Falmer.


Go on Gordon - be bold.

No 5 is a bit radical isn't it?

 

[London Calling]

If I was taking over as PM today I'd do these things right away;

1 Scap ID cards. Terrible, illiberal idea which will do nothing to protect us.

2 Abolish private education. Only when the rich and powerful have to send their kids to state schools will we get a system where EVERYONE gets the chance of a decent education.

3 Cancel the replacement for Trident. There are literally thousands of things the money would be better spent on.

4 Announce an extra bank holiday. Tomorrow.

5 Say yes to Falmer.


Go on Gordon - be bold.

1. Great idea, will save 9 billlion £'s. A Blunkett IT fetish.
2. Whilst I support the priniciple, Labour needs middle England and these people want back it.
3. That will save us another £20 billion.
4 Great idea esepecially for tourism
5. Great idea for for supporting culture in the South East.

LC

 

[Hatterlovesbrighton]

If I was taking over as PM today I'd do these things right away;

1 Scap ID cards. Terrible, illiberal idea which will do nothing to protect us.

2 Abolish private education. Only when the rich and powerful have to send their kids to state schools will we get a system where EVERYONE gets the chance of a decent education.

3 Cancel the replacement for Trident. There are literally thousands of things the money would be better spent on.

4 Announce an extra bank holiday. Tomorrow.

5 Say yes to Falmer.


Go on Gordon - be bold.

Think Gordon will keep the ID cards. Would be embarassing to drop it now and the only people it would really please would be die hard labour supporters

Abolish private education? Do you want to explain how that will improve the abilities of those on poor incomes? Or are you just a bitter trot?

Could I suppose do this, but would be a sure fire vote losewr. Would also announce that we no longer considered ourself a world power.

A great idea.

Equally great and deserved.

 

[crasher]

Think Gordon will keep the ID cards. Would be embarassing to drop it now and the only people it would really please would be die hard labour supporters

Abolish private education? Do you want to explain how that will improve the abilities of those on poor incomes? Or are you just a bitter trot?

Could I suppose do this, but would be a sure fire vote losewr. Would also announce that we no longer considered ourself a world power.

A great idea.

Equally great and deserved.

I think accepting we are no longer a world power is something we should have faced up to many years ago. So dropping nukes would not only save billions, it would also show that our nation is waking up to reality.

No I'm not a bitter trot (well not a trot anyway). In fact, I was partly privately-educated. And having been in both state and private schools I'm well-placed to see that the divisions that run through our society are first and foremost down to our divisive education system. Imagine if judges, bankers, media executives and politicians (of all parties) had to send their children to state schools. Suddenly there would be the collective political will to MAKE them work and this would be to everyone's benefit because all of us would have a stake in the same game. It would be the single most effective way of starting to build a meritocracy in this country.

 

[Man of Harveys]

What Crasher said - excellent post, I couldn't agree more.

 

[cannedheat]

If people wish to send there children to private schools that is there God given democratic right, not even the Brown would attempt to ban private education, that would be a case for the European court of human rights.

 

[bailey]

My 'dirt' was black the other day, NOT brown. Wierd huh?

Mind you, I had been drinking alot of Guinness

That's usually a sign of liver damage. The liver's very good at self recovery if you stay off the sauce for a bit.

 

[crasher]

If people wish to send there children to private schools that is there God given democratic right, not even the Brown would attempt to ban private education, that would be a case for the European court of human rights.

You're right of course - it will never happen. But one small step would be to abolish the charitable status of private schools.

 

[cannedheat]

You're right of course - it will never happen. But one small step would be to abolish the charitable status of private schools.

I agree, the parents of children in private education should pay more.

 

[Superphil]

Putting the idea of scrapping private education to one side for a moment, how about the government (who gave us that Education Education Education nonsense 10 years ago) actually dealing with the current problems, sort out state education, then you would have a smaller division between private and public education. And by the £29 billion saving of scrapping ID cards and Trident, it should be acheivable.

 

[Superphil]

I agree, the parents of children in private education should pay more.

Fair enough, prividing their taxes can be adjusted (reduced) to take into account they are not using the state education system.

 

[Man of Harveys]

Fair enough, prividing their taxes can be adjusted (reduced) to take into account they are not using the state education system.

Fair enough, providing my taxes are readjusted for the fact that I haven't been to the doctor as much as, say, many older people do. Since when has it worked like that?

The sustaining of the massive private education sector in this country is, I believe, much more about snobbery as it is about educational standards. Make Stanley Deason (as was) far better than Eton but leave its product sporting an authentic 'hawker accent and the latter would still thrive, IMHO.

 

[crasher]

Putting the idea of scrapping private education to one side for a moment, how about the government (who gave us that Education Education Education nonsense 10 years ago) actually dealing with the current problems, sort out state education, then you would have a smaller division between private and public education. And by the £29 billion saving of scrapping ID cards and Trident, it should be acheivable.

I agree that no Government, and certainly not this one, has come up with any meaningful strategy to provide effective universal education.

But in my view you can't separate out the issue of private education. People who send their kids to private schools don't just want to buy a good education for their children. Crucially, they want to buy an advantage over the others. They're paying to have an edge over the majority and naturally this becomes a self-perpetuating system. The only way to remove this inequality would be to stop it.

 

[London Calling]

Putting the idea of scrapping private education to one side for a moment, how about the government (who gave us that Education Education Education nonsense 10 years ago) actually dealing with the current problems, sort out state education, then you would have a smaller division between private and public education. And by the £29 billion saving of scrapping ID cards and Trident, it should be acheivable.

Its that type of money that will be needed.

Basically the vast majority of children get a good education in the UK.

1. The problems rest within the inner city areas, where, pupils and their parents possess a huge amount of social, personal and educational barriers.

2. Plus in these schools and areas, it is very hard to recruit good teachers.

To solve my general point 2, only a weighting of "money in the pocket" can attract the teachers, who rather have an easier life and teach white kids in the subhurbs
than working class white kids. black, asians et al in the inner cities.

Locally where I live we have 4 City Academies being built, I believe this is so far the highest of all areas in the UK, It is the only education system in the Country not run by the Local Authority.

I hope the Academies work, the first one built Mossborough, certainly has impressive facilties and some great teachers.

But my first point 1 still remains. Hackney is the most deprived borough in the UK, with immense deprivation, health and social problems.

Stunningly, I recently discoverd, that 1 in 2 Londoners have the the maths ability of a 11 year old or below.

LC