General Election 7th May 2015

[fitz]

The problem lies with deciding what is and isn't useful or higher level. Some don't think the arts should be valid degrees, some will think English majors may be but not the classics. Do you tie it entirely do the relevance of a job afterwards?

I think that's the problem, what is a degree? For some it's a reward for doing shitloads of work for 3-4 years with assessments galore and for others it's 1 year of 6 hour lectures (sometimes with non-compulsory additional lectures) followed by a piece of coursework.

 

[Mawsley]

I honestly think that's a bit hard on kids. Leicester Uni is a very successful traditional university, but De Montfort has got a really record of getting people in to jobs with business skills that the trad uni often overlooks a bit. It is also good at getting people through a degree who have been out of education for a few years and didn't do well in the traditional school environment. I remember they were my back up option, needing two Ds at A level if I didn't get in to dirty Leeds (BBC). Without the culture of retakes that we had at GCSE (now thankfully stamped out), it's possible for a student to have a few bad days on their exams and need a back up like that.

Also, a lot of funny-subject stories that appear in the press end up to just be regarding a course or module within a degree (for context, my degree contained 32 modules and a major project)

Universities do need to make money, but the only way they can make anything close to break-even is through overseas students who are charged a lot more.

Having said all that though, I certainly remember kids at my university who were there because they didn't have anything better to do. Generally they didn't work at it and either dropped out or eked out poor degrees, and didn't get great jobs. There's no way they were close to a majority though, and I wouldn't want to see a clampdown that would just as likely stop other people going.

If you look at what "jobs" they manage to get their students the statistics cease to look as impressive. But then that was never the point of a degree so why are business skills remotely important now?

While vice chancellors award themselves record salaries they employ the cheapest options for lecturers, arrange for teaching en masse and reduce contact hours. Foreign students are less important to the "we'll provide the results you are looking for" research paper production line.

It is beyond dispute that a degree is a vastly devalued commodity these days - not just here but in all major nations. I have more than my fair share of qualifications but I'll be encouraging my kids to skip going.

 

[David Gwilliam]

Since my last couple of posts have been a bit heavy I will adopt a flippant mode - though as always when trying to provoke I believe what I say.
The 2015 election may be decided by the randyness of a policeman.

This is part of the Cleopatra's Nose theory of History - if Cleopatra's Nose had been an inch longer the whole history of Europe would have been different - you cannot get more flippant than that. A more down to earth example is that if the weather in the English channel had been better in 1066 it would probably have been Hardrada the Viking rather than Duke William who conquered England.

So here goes. Most people expected that Gordon Brown would be succeeded by Alan Johnson (the Trade Union choice) or David Miliband (the Blairite choice) ; Ed was really an after thought. To people's surprise Alan Johnson did not stand. We now know that he was trying to save his marriage; unbelievably his police security officer had been having an affair with Johnson's wife.

Rightly or wrongly Ed Miliband polls very badly. There would have been a real contrast between the ex postman and the two posh boys. Alan Johnson would surely have won marginal seats that Ed Miliband will lose.

I accept that there are major forces at work such as the decades long decline of the Conservatives in Scotland and their loss of the salariat vote. But to be trivial if only that policeman had kept his flies done up Labour might just have got a working majority.

 

[Brown Nose]

Most people expected that Gordon Brown would be succeeded by Alan Johnson (the Trade Union choice) or David Miliband (the Blairite choice) ; Ed was really an after thought. To people's surprise Alan Johnson did not stand. We now know that he was trying to save his marriage; unbelievably his police security officer had been having an affair with Johnson's wife.

Rightly or wrongly Ed Miliband polls very badly. There would have been a real contrast between the ex postman and the two posh boys. Alan Johnson would surely have won marginal seats that Ed Miliband will lose.

Johnson's two autobiographies are worth a read. He comes across as a thoroughly decent man with real life experience and the sort of good sense that would be welcome in 10 Downing Street.

He's too real for us though. So we'll end up with one or other of the plastic twats.

 

[pork pie fox]

Johnson's two autobiographies are worth a read. He comes across as a thoroughly decent man with real life experience and the sort of good sense that would be welcome in 10 Downing Street.

He's too real for us though. So we'll end up with one or other of the plastic twats.

I was watching him being interviewed on TV the other day and he came across really well. Normal, even.

 

[Cate Fox]

The big puff

 

[Mawsley]

Be fair, it is easy to forget the name of the team you support. Quite often I find myself telling people to follow Chester City.

http://www.itv.com/news/2015-04-25/...a-fan-and-tells-audience-to-support-west-ham/

 

[TornadoShaunUK]

All I can say is **** Labour, I will be voting Tory as ever. We are now out of the recession that Labour caused, it would be madness to vote them back in. Plus Milliband is a bitchy little Weasel.

 

[Matt_B]

All I can say is f**k Labour, I will be voting Tory as ever. We are now out of the recession that Labour caused, it would be madness to vote them back in. Plus Milliband is a bitchy little Weasel.

I'll be voting Labour because Tories have screwed education over completely along with other public services like libraries. Not a surprise really.

 

[jb5000]

I'll be voting Labour because Tories have screwed education over completely along with other public services like libraries. Not a surprise really.

Libraries are run by the council. Remind me who runs Leicester?

I'll be voting Labour because Tories have screwed education over completely along with other public services like libraries. Not a surprise really.

 

[Matt_B]

Libraries are run by the council. Remind me who runs Leicester?

Funding across the country has been removed for services such as libraries.

 

[jb5000]

Funding across the country has been removed for services such as libraries.

Councils have less money, councils decide what to spend their money on. When libraries close it is because councils have decided to spend money on something else.

 

[Matt_B]

Councils have less money, councils decide what to spend their money on. When libraries close it is because councils have decided to spend money on something else.

Hence why I said other public services like libraries. I'm not sure you read my post. Regardless, the Tory attitude to education should mean that anyone with children should be really quite concerned about the prospect of them getting back in.

 

[jb5000]

Hence why I said other public services like libraries. I'm not sure you read my post. Regardless, the Tory attitude to education should mean that anyone with children should be really quite concerned about the prospect of them getting back in.

Yet they ring fenced school funding, and acceded to lib dem policies like free school meals and the pupil premium - which has seen more money go to Leicester schools?

 

[Matt_B]

Yet they ring fenced school funding, and acceded to lib dem policies like free school meals and the pupil premium - which has seen more money go to Leicester schools?

They also removed all resources for the old curriculum before taking nearly 5 years to replace it with their own. They also introduced a new curriculum at the same time as new levelling system that is inconsistent from school to school. They've also devalued the profession consistently and tore apart the pension scheme.

They want us to be achieving similar outcomes to schools in places like Singapore and South Korea but don't want to put in the work. Teachers over there get 2 or 3 days a week of continuous peer training and planning and assessment time. Over here we get 2 hours a week and Gove wanted to reduce that.

They also made it clear that they wanted a two tier education system that would benefit the wealthy.

Ring funding spending doesn't mean much when you practically force schools to become academies.

As for the free school meals, the school get little extra money for that but now have to provide the extra food. The school I work in is far worse off financially since these changes were made. Add to that an increasingly dispairing work force (nationally, not just the school I work in) due to ever increasing and unreasonable targets to satisfy a less and less transparent Ofsted and you are really risking a generation of children's future.

Unfortunately, unless you work in education it is hard to see the damage being caused.

 

[homer]

Stupid is as stupid does

 

[Matt_B]

Stupid is as stupid does

That's the main issue here, they all represent different grades of shit which is why it'll be another useless mix of parties who spend the whole time fighting rather than doing anything useful.

Hence why I'm voting purely for the party who will (hopefully) do the lease damage to my own personal circumstances and in the vain hope they'll somehow sneak a majority.

 

[spionfox]

Hence why I'm voting purely for the party who will (hopefully) do the lease damage to my own personal circumstances and in the vain hope they'll somehow sneak a majority.

I'd prefer to buy them outright.

 

[David Gwilliam]

Having been partisan in posts 22 and 25 . A previous post led the always colourful Macky to suggest I was pissing on Aneurin Bevan's headstone. I hope this will also stir the pot.

First a pet peeve of mine. Journalists will get the election wrong because they think in terms of weeks rather than decades. They will tell you on May 8th that the election was disappointing for UKIP and The Greens. They will be wrong. The 2015 election will be a huge step forward for both parties.

In every previous General Election UKIP and The Greens have got a derisory number of votes. In 2010 UKIP got about 3% and the Greens about 1%. In 2005 the Greens did not even contest most seats. This will be their first serious General Election. All new parties have a significant number of poor quality candidates. The crucible of a General Election will expose these. The local parties will learn a great deal.

No doubt some but not all the people who voted UKIP in the Euro election will switch back in this election. However, it is in the nature of UKIP that the European elections are especially important to them. They will recover. Their biggest problem it seems to me is to prove they are not a One Man Band.

For the Greens there is a danger they will think that replacing Natalie Bennett is enough. Their fundamental problem is that their system of producing policy is nowhere near rigorous enough. .A horse died in the Grand National; the next day they have a policy on horse racing. More seriously they come up with a housing policy which has not been properly costed. The great strength the Greens have is a very large membership. In the long run the members they have gained in the last five years may be more important than their total vote.

In Scotland the biggest change has been the collapse of the Conservative vote. This began before Mrs Thatcher. They used to be the Conservative and Unionist Party and the Unionist bit got a working class Protestant vote. They distanced themselves from Scottish sectarianism under Edward Heath. The Scots then reacted strongly against Mrs Thatcher and the Conservative vote in Scotland collapsed. Labour was the beneficiary especially with John Smith, Gordon Brown, Donald Dewar, Alistair Darling and Robin Cook. Many Scots feel that with no danger of electing a Conservative MP they have little reason to be loyal to Ed Miliband or Ed Balls.

 

[fitz]

The Greens making policies up on the spot is not what is holding them back. Labour have made shit loads of bollocks promises to left wing voters and they'll still get the votes. The Greens and any progressive 'people' party will be held back by voters sticking to traditional parties like sheep.