[Malcolm Armsteen]

The fetishisation of the dreadful Palestine position still infects.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Syed again, luckily behind a paywall.

[Andy McDandy]

He thinks debate means people gruffly agreeing with him.

I'd say that he may have a point though, in that whenever the subject is raised in the media, the assumption is that it's bad, and how best to reduce it. I'd love to see the pro-immigration camp get equal exposure.

[The Weeping Angel]

This on the other hand is very funny

[Youngian]

He thinks debate means people gruffly agreeing with him.

I'd say that he may have a point though, in that whenever the subject is raised in the media, the assumption is that it's bad, and how best to reduce it. I'd love to see the pro-immigration camp get equal exposure.

James O’Brien in schadenfreude mode has tried to open a discussion as to why immigration from Muslim countries and Africa has boomed this decade. Strangely those who obsess about this subject don’t want to talk about it.

[davidjay]

He thinks debate means people gruffly agreeing with him.

I'd say that he may have a point though, in that whenever the subject is raised in the media, the assumption is that it's bad, and how best to reduce it. I'd love to see the pro-immigration camp get equal exposure.

We've been saying this since well before 2007. "Have a debate" = "There's too many of them here". I can't remember anyone ever having a proper pros and cons debate.

[Oboogie]

This on the other hand is very funny

I 'like' the bloody footprints.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Egghead Matthew Syed speaks. Fortunately behind a paywall.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Do Kris Guru-Murphy and Cathy Newman really bang on about diversity all the time? I've missed it if they do.

It's an election results show. It's got 3 people who've presented politics for years on other channels, plus 2 podcasters (one ex-Labour advisor, one ex-Tory MP) plus Claire Balding. That's not exactly a lefty GB News, is it? Why does it need Andrew Neil or Matthew Goodwin on as well?

[Andy McDandy]

It's just more "Aaaaaah, we're the real rebels" crap. The Times is awful for it.

[Abernathy]

Channel 4’s election night coverage sounds excellent. Must order up another case of prosecco.

[Tubby Isaacs]

I've always watched BBC on election night, and I don't recall them having what Syed seems to want. They have a presenting team who interview different people through the night. If it's OK for Kuensberg, Neil, David Dimbleby etc to present, then I've no idea why it isn't OK for Guru-Murphy, Maitlis and Newman to present.

[kreuzberger]

Channel 4’s election night coverage sounds excellent. Must order up another case of prosecco.

Emily cooing over the unfolding massacre and a seven-hour session of gentlemen's indulgence? Nailed on.

[Oboogie]

I'm not convinced that the political affiliations of the presenters of election night coverage matter. The polls are closed so they can have no influence. Apart from reading out the results and listening to the spin from the candidates about why it went so well/badly for them, the job amounts to filling the time in an engagingly enough to keep me from dozing off between results. I usually flick back and forth between BBC and Channel 4 depending who the guests in the studio are.
Is this a first for Clare Balding? I don't remember her being involved in political shows before (I know her best from her Ramblings programme on Radio 4).

[Youngian]

The presence of a current Tory to provide the excuses would provide extra entertainment on top of a night of schadenfreude from Rory Stewart or George Osborne (who’ll be smirking away on ITV).

[The Weeping Angel]

I'm not sure what was so succesful about the last 14 years tbh.

[satnav]

Sebastian Payne has spent far too much time in policy wonks and not enough time actually visiting schools.

In the general scheme of things Free schools are an utter irrelevance. One or two free schools have enjoyed relative success but most of tis success has been largely down to how they recruit their students. Katharine Birbalsingh has done well at one school but she has never tried to replicate her achievements elsewhere because she knows her methods are not transferable.

The emphasise on educational attainment often results in schools making every pupil sit 8 or 9 GCSE's even though they don't have a scooby of get a decent mark. Much of the rise in poor behaviour in schools is down to the fact that too many kids with SEN are stuck in lessons where the work is beyond their ability. About 15% of pupils in the school where I work have SEN but if you look at the figures for the isolation room and detention room about 50% of pupils receiving these sanctions have SEN.

The emphasis on attainment has seen the number of pupils requiring extra time or small rooms to do their exams in has risen dramatically in recent years. This costs a small fortune in extra invigilators and means that most Teaching Assistants spend 8 weeks of the year in exam rooms rather than supporting pupils in class.

The other thing that has become very common in recent years is for schools to keep switching exam bodies in the hope that the new exam board will be more generous with it's grades.

Payne seems to imply that things have been set in stone in recent years but this is simply not the case. The MAT I work in are constantly swapping and changing policies usually as a result of challenges in the court. The room where pupils go when misbehaving has been renamed three times in three years. It is currently known as the reflection room yet all the kids call it isolation.

[Andy McDandy]

Remember, it's common sense when you do it, politicisation when they do it.

Aside from being a twat, he's not concerned about the kids. He's selling an image of smartly dressed kids chanting out times tables and dates of English Kings.

Cunt.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Becky Francis is a perfectly mainstream educational figure. Seb Payne has just looked at some of her book titles and come up with some sort of Linda Bellos parody. The academic curriculum doesn't suit lots of people. The technical term for some of the people it doesn't suit is "boys". Lots of them white British, and all. Great sly bit about unnamed people who may have spoken to Francis not liking museum trips.

The Right keeps telling us how we need fewer people at university, how kids can't do anything practical these days. But when somebody suggests that the emphasis in schools could be a bit less academic, then the same people kick off at that.

Great bit about the new school report card there. "Undefined"- funnily enough, it won't start till next year, so this is what you'd expect. All that's been defined so far is that there won't be the silly single word headline judgement, which can massively overemphasize very small differences between schools.

[Tubby Isaacs]

He also objects to LAs being able to open schools! Jeez. He thinks it's sensible that an area with a shortage of places has to pray that an academy trust shows up to open one?