Off Topic The Politics Thread

[Stroller]

U.K. Gambling spend £6.8bn 2013/14, excluding the National Lottery, which looks like it will be £7.2bn 2015/16. So £14bn a year (probably more, I think gambling is growing exponentially). Which is £269m a week. I don't gamble much myself, just a flutter with cash I am prepared to lose when I'm actually at the races, which is hardly ever. I don't have a problem with gamblers though, their choice. Of course for some it is the road to ruin, but you could say that about dozens of things. The amount of gambling advertising is another matter, very aesthetically unpleasing. Plus high streets full of betting shops and pawn/loan shark shops next to each other. Horrible.

High street betting shops exist in their high numbers primarily as sites for the highly addictive roulette and casino game machines (FOBTs or fixed-odds betting terminals) which have been described as the crack cocaine of gambling. I suspect that the vast majority of the profits made by betting shops come from these machines. The government should legislate to reduce the numbers of them and the maximum stake, which is currently £100 per spin. These things are a scourge on society.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-33566034

http://www.stopthefobts.org/

 

[sb_73]

Johnson has been touting the Canadian trade agreement with the EU as a model,for the UK to follow. This is 1400 page document, 700 of which are devoted to things excluded from free trade, including all services. Canada negotiates all of its trade agreements, it has a dedicated, experienced and skilled negotiation capacity. This agreement took seven years to reach a conclusion.

 

[GoldhawkRoad]

Important elections in Germany tomorrow, which will be a bellweather on the rise of the Far Right. If the anti-immigration Alternative fur Deutschland party wins a fifth of the vote in parts of the country as predicted, it will surely mark an unsettling watershed.

Interestingly, the AFD are accusing Merkel of fascism. A spokesman said:

“It’s like we’re living in the final phase of the Third Reich, Merkel’s sitting in the Wolf’s Lair or the Führer bunker. She’s redefining the laws of Germany without consulting anyone.”

 

[sb_73]

Looks like the energy made be running out of the debate, you have to wade through a lot of newsprint/pixels to get to the EU stuff in the Sunday Times. Good, it's very boring.

Actually contains the Bank of England 'plausible worst case scenario on exit' though. Inflation up to 6.7%, unemployment put to 12%, house prices down 35% plunging millions into negative equity. Even if these are extreme and say we only get half of these effects, the question has to be asked if we have got 1% inflation, 5% unemployment, insane house price inflation (though why this is good is beyond me), and the fantastic achievement of 5th biggest global economy as part of the EU, why would you risk leaving?

 

[rangercol]

Looks like the energy made be running out of the debate, you have to wade through a lot of newsprint/pixels to get to the EU stuff in the Sunday Times. Good, it's very boring.

Actually contains the Bank of England 'plausible worst case scenario on exit' though. Inflation up to 6.7%, unemployment put to 12%, house prices down 35% plunging millions into negative equity. Even if these are extreme and say we only get half of these effects, the question has to be asked if we have got 1% inflation, 5% unemployment, insane house price inflation (though why this is good is beyond me), and the fantastic achievement of 5th biggest global economy as part of the EU, why would you risk leaving?

A bit of inflation can be a good thing.
I won't mind house prices tumbling or interest rates rising.
The unemployment figures could be a concern for my family however.

 

[sb_73]

A bit of inflation can be a good thing.
I won't mind house prices tumbling or interest rates rising.
The unemployment figures could be a concern for my family however.

It's probably all bollocks Col, these blokes can't predict anything. Carney said interest rates would rise when unemployment was down to 7%, then they would rise at the beginning of this year, now, oh err, not sure missus.

 

[Chaz]

A bit of inflation can be a good thing.
I won't mind house prices tumbling or interest rates rising.
The unemployment figures could be a concern for my family however.

As someone with a house and a mortgage, I would definitely not want either of these things to happen. If the price of an exit is my losing 150k of the value of my house, and it costing me more each month to own, then an Exit vote would be a disaster - not just for me, but for pretty much everyone.

 

[sb_73]

Budget day, again, we seem to have these every 3 weeks or so now. Georgie will probably want to ramp up the austerity again since his economic predictions from the Autumn have gone tits up.

One policy I genuinely don't understand, and have no opinion on, is the decision to 'force' all schools to become academies. Is this a financial or an ideological thing (even though academies were a Blairite idea)? What are the benefits? There seem to be good academies and bad ones, just as there seem to be good LEA run schools and bad ones. Can anyone enlighten me?

 

[TWGWTDT]

I am appalled again during this stint back in the UK .... At St Hellier hospital this morning to have my face rebuilt . The amount of new cars in the car park I am guessing most on tick and the amount of moaning about being ill ... It's enough to make you sick ... The smell of debt , feral kids and DOH receptionists acting like little Pat Butcher gods ... Tutting that I am a smoker and asking if I want to give up ... Shocked when I said it took me ages to take it up
This is one lost culture it's deserves itself so no longer worried which way the circus votes go. People are only really into themselves anyway so what difference does it make?

 

[GoldhawkRoad]

One policy I genuinely don't understand, and have no opinion on, is the decision to 'force' all schools to become academies. Is this a financial or an ideological thing (even though academies were a Blairite idea)? What are the benefits? There seem to be good academies and bad ones, just as there seem to be good LEA run schools and bad ones. Can anyone enlighten me?

Doesn't it cut out the middle man ie the local authority? Money goes straight to the schools, that then have the freedom to use as they think fit, and be accountable thereafter for the progress of their pupils. I'm no expert on schools, but the concept seems sound to me.

 

[GoldhawkRoad]

Important elections in Germany tomorrow, which will be a bellweather on the rise of the Far Right. If the anti-immigration Alternative fur Deutschland party wins a fifth of the vote in parts of the country as predicted, it will surely mark an unsettling watershed.

Interestingly, the AFD are accusing Merkel of fascism. A spokesman said:

“It’s like we’re living in the final phase of the Third Reich, Merkel’s sitting in the Wolf’s Lair or the Führer bunker. She’s redefining the laws of Germany without consulting anyone.”

We're seeing a gradual polarization of voters in Germany. For the first time since 1945, it's acceptable to be right wing. Normal people are flocking under that banner, while others are flocking under the left wing Greens. Meanwhile, Merkel shows no interest in deviating from her uncontrolled immigration policy - at least, so she says

Unsettling

 

[TheBigDipper]

For sb_73, here's what the Bournemouth Echo printed about academies this very morning.

/starts/
Academies are independent, state-funded schools, which receive their funding directly from central government, rather than through a local authority. The day-to-day running of the school is the responsibility of the head teacher or principal, overseen by individual charitable bodies called academy trusts. The trusts provide advice, support and expertise.

They have more freedom than other state schools over their finances and curriculum, and do not need to follow national pay and conditions for teachers. They are obliged to provide core curriculum subjects but can specialise in areas such as art or science if they choose to do so. They can choose their own holiday dates.

Types of academy:
Sponsored academies have been forced to convert to academy status following intervention from the government. Many failing schools fall into this bracket.
Converter academies have voluntarily become academies because they believe there will be benefits to the school. Most academies in Dorset and Hampshire are converter academies.
Free schools, set up in recent years, have always been academies and have never fallen under local authority control.
/ends/

All I can add to this is that the money spent on an academy in your local area will be taken away from the money given to the local authority to run its schools. No new money, just redistribution. Not needing to follow national pay and conditions may mean lower wages for some and higher wages for others (similar to the way the best teachers often end up working in private schools on higher salaries).

So, I would suggest it's an ideological change rather than a financial one. The same amount of public money is spent. I'm not quite sure how it works, but there are organisations - possibly even private companies - which run more than one academy in more than one area.

 

[TootingExcess]

We're seeing a gradual polarization of voters in Germany. For the first time since 1945, it's acceptable to be right wing. Normal people are flocking under that banner, while others are flocking under the left wing Greens. Meanwhile, Merkel shows no interest in deviating from her uncontrolled immigration policy - at least, so she says

Unsettling

Having said that Goldie; Come July (and a No vote) we could have the same choice here, when Cameron (I'll be generous and call him a centre-right leader) has to resign and we get a choice of

A Hard-Right winger like Gove or IDS, and a Trot in Corbyn.

If you are a one nation tory or a social democrat - which one of those fackers can you vote for? You can't.

Similarly in the US, it was very nearly Trump and Sanders as choice. It's happening all over.

 

[sb_73]

Doesn't it cut out the middle man ie the local authority? Money goes straight to the schools, that then have the freedom to use as they think fit, and be accountable thereafter for the progress of their pupils. I'm no expert on schools, but the concept seems sound to me.

LEAs are doubtless inefficient and talking shops, but they do bring accountability locally. Who does the planning for local education needs, someone in Westminster? Surely not the heads of the academies, they have schools to run. The Tories like to centralise though, so it's not that surprising.

 

[Chaz]

LEAs are doubtless inefficient and talking shops, but they do bring accountability locally. Who does the planning for local education needs, someone in Westminster? Surely not the heads of the academies, they have schools to run. The Tories like to centralise though, so it's not that surprising.

Actually, the Tories like to devolve power away from Central Government to the local level. It's the socialist Labour people that want Big Government, control by the state and a firm grip on all the power.

Easy mistake for you to make though...

 

[GoldhawkRoad]

Having said that Goldie; Come July (and a No vote) we could have the same choice here, when Cameron (I'll be generous and call him a centre-right leader) has to resign and we get a choice of

A Hard-Right winger like Gove or IDS, and a Trot in Corbyn.

If you are a one nation tory or a social democrat - which one of those fackers can you vote for? You can't.

Similarly in the US, it was very nearly Trump and Sanders as choice. It's happening all over.

Absolutely right, Tooting. There seems to be an groundswell of anti-establishment in the US and Europe, and moves left and right politically that we haven't seen for some years. It may make politics more interesting in some ways, but there are dangers

If there's an OUT vote here, I think Boris may be the shoe in. I've no real idea what he stands for.

 

[GoldhawkRoad]

LEAs are doubtless inefficient and talking shops, but they do bring accountability locally. Who does the planning for local education needs, someone in Westminster? Surely not the heads of the academies, they have schools to run. The Tories like to centralise though, so it's not that surprising.

I agree with Chaz about the Tory's inclination to de-centralise. There will clearly have to be some educational planning by local authorities, based upon national criteria. But the heads of the academies will run their schools more like a private school acting within budget, hiring who they like, deciding on teacher's pay etc. It seems to place the power in the hands of teachers, and taking it from local bureaucrats

 

[TheBigDipper]

I agree with Chaz about the Tory's inclination to de-centralise. There will clearly have to be some educational planning by local authorities, based upon national criteria. But the heads of the academies will run their schools more like a private school acting within budget, hiring who they like, deciding on teacher's pay etc. It seems to place the power in the hands of teachers, and taking it from local bureaucrats

I don't think so. Teachers are not the people running these places, any more than doctors and nurses are the people running hospitals. They're run by managers, who report to their board (or the trustees) and take their guidance and objectives from them. Once you have a contract (or permit) to have the right of exclusive supply of a service in an area, local peoples views no longer matter. If your first point of complaint as a customer is to central government, then it's not de-centralisation, is it?

Private schools never forget they have competition and must answer to the parents of their pupils, who always have a choice about where to send their child to school. Academies will not have competition, nor will they be locally accountable.

 

[Chaz]

I don't think so. Teachers are not the people running these places, any more than doctors and nurses are the people running hospitals. They're run by managers, who report to their board (or the trustees) and take their guidance and objectives from them. Once you have a contract (or permit) to have the right of exclusive supply of a service in an area, local peoples views no longer matter. If your first point of complaint as a customer is to central government, then it's not de-centralisation, is it?

Private schools never forget they have competition and must answer to the parents of their pupils, who always have a choice about where to send their child to school. Academies will not have competition, nor will they be locally accountable.

Academies will have competition, of course they will. Far more so than the current scheme of parents giving their preferences but being allocated a school by the local authority based on arbitrary rules and with little regard for the best interests of the actual child concerned.

 

[GoldhawkRoad]

I don't think so. Teachers are not the people running these places, any more than doctors and nurses are the people running hospitals. They're run by managers, who report to their board (or the trustees) and take their guidance and objectives from them. Once you have a contract (or permit) to have the right of exclusive supply of a service in an area, local peoples views no longer matter. If your first point of complaint as a customer is to central government, then it's not de-centralisation, is it?

Private schools never forget they have competition and must answer to the parents of their pupils, who always have a choice about where to send their child to school. Academies will not have competition, nor will they be locally accountable.

My understanding is that academies put more power in the hands of head teachers over such stuff as pay, length of school day, term time dates etc. So day to day, the head runs it, but using public money so they have to be overseen by an academy trust and OFSTED

I would have thought there's competition, because there's usually more than one academy in an area, and the good ones will be hugely oversubscribed, which will come to the attention of overseeing bodies. Successful ones will expand, those failing will be closed or be subject to special measures