Time for a right-wing educational experiment?

Rather than close the Ridings School in Halifax, "the worst school in the Country", after ten years of failed Labour gimmicks such as "new buildings, experiments with "superheads", Ofsted "hit squads" and a stream of ministerial visits", wouldn't it be better if right-wing educationalists were given a chance to prove what works!?!

Predicatably, the National Union of Teachers would rather condemn another generation of pupils to a poor education rather than lose some of it's members!

Go and search?

If "Black people were almost seven times more likely than white people to be stopped and searched by police last year", why isn't the arrest rate seven times lower if they are being unfairly targeted!?!

"Of those black people stopped, 13% were subsequently arrested. This compares to 12% of stops leading to arrest across all ethnic groups."

Recycled Rubbish?

Did Welsh and Scottish MPs vote on whether English councils should be given the power of "pay-as-you-throw" rubbish charges?

Whatever happened to the BBC 'exclusive' that such plans had been shelved just one week earlier!?!

Child Poverty Unit

Should the new Child Poverty Unit focus on why 69% of UK Muslims of Pakistani and Bangladeshi origin live in poverty yet have the highest number of live births per female by age 45 at 4.0 and 3.7 !?!

Thought crunching!

Conservative proposals for an "English Grand Committee" threaten then Union.

Gordon Brown's proposals for "Commons committees for each English region" strengthen the Union!?!

PS Why is Harriet Harman doing Gordon's dirty work!?!

Sour sixteen?

Should sixteen year olds be allowed to vote when they cannot be trusted to have a credit card or drive a car!?!

The violence of not smacking?

If "three and four-year-olds are more physically aggressive than most adults", is the children's commissioner right when he calls for a total ban on smacking!?!

"Those [children] who do not [learn to regulate their use of violence] are more likely to become aggressive adults."

At least we will know who to blame in a decade when the violent crime rate soars!

School tax?

As a Scottish constituency MP, why is Gordon Brown deciding how surplus school budgets should be "taxed" at 5% and re-distributed to other schools only in England!?!

GPs see the future?

Are 87% of GPs worried about the future as 57% of them know they are being overpaid and expect it to end!?!

Why stop at obesity?

Should parents receive a letter from their child's school to warn if the school is not providing a satisfactory education!?!

Shawshank hotel?

How does anyone manage to smuggle - and hide - plasma TVs or budgies in prison cells!?!

"[ ] his call prompted a massive search of jails, uncovering a large haul of contraband including mobile phones, plasma televisions and pet budgies."

What would a massive search of jails in the UK discover!?!

Ending child poverty

What is being done to discourage the poor from having so many children!?!

Childhood obesity

Should bullying of obese children be encouraged until they are a normal weight!?!

Where are the Greens?

What will be the environmental impact of increasing Britain's population by 15m between now and 2051?

Will the Green lobby condemn "Rising immigration, increased longevity and higher birth rates among migrant families"!?!

When will Gordon Brown introduce a green tax on immigration!?!

How refreshing!

Last night's assembled pub crowd booed when Gordon Brown appeared on TV as we waited for the start of the Rugby World Cup Final!

No stopping stop-and-search!

What would Ken Livingstone's reaction be if a senior white police officer said that blacks should expect more "stop-and-search" than the white community!?!

Good news for the middle classes!

Your future's bright!

"The gap between [] independent and comprehensive schools is growing among the highest achieving pupils".

As no political party is prepared to remedy the situation by creating more grammar schools, there will be fewer candidates competing for higher paying jobs in the future!

Alan Coren

The BBC are to make 1,800 1,799 staff redundant!

Safe as gangs?

How safe are "safe houses" once more than a few 'former' gang members know where it is!?!

Who can trust them not to leak details of the location to anyone else!?!

Working for us?

MPs will have 91 days - 18 working weeks - holiday in 2008!

"MPs are reported to have written to the Senior Salaries Review Board saying the rise is needed to bring them into line with senior civil servants and GPs." - BBC News Online, December 2006.

How many senior civil servants or GPs have as much holiday!?!

Deprived Classes?

Are the deprived responsible for being deprived!?!

How many private pupils leave primary school unable to read or write?

"It cannot be right that 20% of pupils leave primary school without a solid foundation in literacy and numeracy" - Chief Inspector Christine Gilbert

The Student Pound?

If student welfare officers have noted a "growing trend for students to see themselves as customers - threatening legal action if they feel that universities are failing to deliver adequate courses", why does a new Government minister need to be appointed to make sure the market for student pounds is working?

The market is efficient and free, Government interference is expensive and prone to error!

Will the Minister allow universities to fail if they are not providing students with value for money!?!

EU knows

When will the UK follow the European Union's policy on freezing payments to regions with poor management and control systems and freeze UK contributions to the European Union?

"An English region could be fined heavily by the European Commission over its handling of £500m worth of European Union regeneration funding.

When the UK Government failed to put its house in order, Brussels decided to freeze further payments to the six English regions concerned. "

Auditors give EU accounts their 12th qualification
"The court said much EU spending in 2005 had not involved proper invoices, correctly paid bills and the selection of best-value suppliers.

Indeed, using random sampling methods, it found errors - from delayed payments and incomplete documentation to outright fraud in transactions - affecting 66% of the 115bn euro EU budget."

Migration good for votes?

As long as 58% of migrants support Labour, is the party concerned that "almost every UK region has difficulties in housing, health, education and crime because of increased migration"?

Labour is merely growing it's electoral base!

Would Labour be so keen on migration if 58% of migrants supported the Conservative Party!?!

Sir Menzies "no scandal" Campbell !

If only there had been a whiff of scandal, would Sir Menzies Campbell still be leader of the Lberal Democrats!?!

He didn't have an affair with his secretary (so far as I'm aware!) unlike Paddy "Pantsdown" Ashdown nor was he a drunkard (so far as I'm aware!) unlike his immediate predecessor Charles Kennedy!

Position vacant

Will Charles Kennedy sip from the poisoned chalice of the Liberal Democrat leadership again or is he no longer a drinker!?!

Migrant rights and wrongs!

Should the UK hope to be at the top or bottom of a European league table of migrant rights?

The UK came out fifth best for how it allows settled migrants to put down long-term roots - but then fell short on quality of life issues, such as bringing in family members.

Researchers said that migrants living in the UK could face long delays to getting a permanent right to stay. But they added that once that wait was over, migrants did not face language tests or integration courses.

The UK lost marks because of a specific law to strip nationality from immigrants - a measure used only once so far in relation to jailed radical cleric Abu Hamza.

The UK was also criticised for not consulting specialist migrant bodies, unlike some other European nations.

Let's hope we sink down the table next year!

Schadenfreude is....

Apply for your jobs, BBC stars told.
"Corrie Corfield, Charlotte Green and Brian Perkins are among more than 80 radio staff who have signed a letter to the BBC trust opposing the job losses."

Is the media bubble about to burst!?!

From The Politician's Mouth!

Are there any parts of the country where it is easy to access an NHS dentist?

"We have got 4,000 more than we had in 1997, but I entirely accept that in some parts of the country it is still really difficult." - Ben Bradshaw, health minister.

If 58% of dentists believe the quality of care has deteriorated since the introduction of the contract, why have only 15% of patients noticed and gone private!?!

Crystal balls?

"I predict that when I come back on this programme in six months or a year's time, people will be saying 'wouldn't it be great to have that Blair back because we can't stand that Gordon Brown'" - Environment minister David Miliband, 8 February 2007.

Did Miliband mean MPs or people!?!

Ministers rally round for Brown
One opinion poll has given the Tories a seven-point lead over Labour, its biggest lead for 15 years.

Still no need for electoral reform?

2005 General Election Results:
Labour had 35.3% share of the vote, winning 356 seats with a 66 seat majority.
Conservatives had a 32.3% share of the vote and won just 198 seats.

2009(?) General Election results based on Sunday Telegraph poll!
Conservatives have 43% share of the vote, winning 327* seats with low single number majority.
Labour has 36% share of the vote and win 249 (?) seats!

*324 seats needed to win.

Labour Grammar Schools?

Will Labour be promising a grammar school in every town next week!?!

Lurching to economic growth and prosperity?

Hong Kong tax cut to boost growth:
Leader Donald Tsang said taxes would be cut by 1 percentage point, to 16.5% for firms and 15% for individuals "in a move to promote further growth and lure foreign investment".

When Conservatives call for tax cuts to "promote further growth and lure foreign investment", it's condemned as lurching to the right!

How will Alistair Darling's tax increases promote growth and foreign investment!?!

Downing Street Petition for a General Election in 2007

"He [David Cameron] talks about a clamour for an election, I looked at the Downing Street website this morning. Certainly there is a petition calling for an election. It is signed by 26 people and not one of them are the Conservative front bench." - Gordon Brown, 10th October 2007.

The petition can be found here!

Virtuous house prices?

Why should a first time buyer buy a house this month when they could wait one month, pay a lower price and have an extra month's salary too!?!

Conservative bounce?

Was the Conservative bounce in the polls caused by a promise to cut inheritance tax or "substantially lower" immigration?

Has Labour copied the wrong Conservative policy!?!

Alistair Darling on Inheritance Tax

If 96% of estates pay no inheritance tax and Conservative proposals to raise the threshold to £1m were "an example of where the Tories are making promises on tax which they can't afford to pay for", how can Alistair Darling now afford to increase the limit for married couples just one week later!?!

Another Brown vision?

Why does the BBC omit reporting that Gordon Brown was the architect of the "harsh and unfair" tax credits system?

Would the Conservative abolition of tax credits and an increase in everyones personal tax allowance be electorally popular if half of claimaints were put off making future claims?

Anti-Muslim Legislation?

Will Muslims be exempt from Government plans to outlaw inciting gay hate as Islam condemns homosexuality!?!

Disposable Income

Tightest squeeze on wallets in a decade, unless you're an MP!

"The pair [Ed Balls and Yvette Cooper, the husband-and-wife team in Gordon Brown's Cabinet], who have three children, aged eight, six and three, have a joint income of nearly £240,000 a year."

Another three years to be squeezed!

"I want the chance in the next phase of my premiership to develop and show people the policies that are going to make a huge difference " - Gordon Brown, Prime Minister

Tightest squeeze on wallets in a decade

Islam is peace, not health!

Can alcoholics or those infected with STDs ask to be treated by non-muslim GPs!?!

"To learn about alcohol, to learn about sexually transmitted disease, to learn about abortion, it gives us more evidence to campaign against it. There is a difference between learning and practising. It is obligatory for Muslim doctors and students to learn about everything. The prophet said, ‘Learn about witchcraft, but don’t practise it’". - Dr Abdul Majid Katme, of the Islamic Medical Association.

Islam is Peace.

Gordon Bennett Brown!

Does Gordon really think he has a better chance of winning a General Election in two years when people have had a chance to see how successful his policies have been?

Halifax sees house prices slowing

Darling 'to lower 2008 forecasts'

PS When 62% of Labour voters believe Labour has done a bad job on immigration, why will Gordon only focus on "housing, health and education"!?!

Political Inheritances

Why do incoming Conservative governments always inherit a failing UK economy and then have to spend their first term in office fixing it!?!

Non-smoking taxes?

How will the Chancellor recoup the tax revenues lost following the introduction of the smoking ban in England?

Conservative Canutes?

How can the Conservative Party reduce immigration from within the European Union!?!

"unchecked immigration is not inevitable...not the irresistible result of globalisation. We can control it. We will control it" - David Davis, shadow home secretary.

"Canute is legendary for his apparent attempt to "hold back the tide". Canute deliberately placed his throne on the beach and used his evident inability to order the tide to roll back to display to his courtiers the limitations of a king's power to command the seas."

UK deportations

If asylum seekers face torture if deported back to Darfur or Sudan if they come to the UK, wouldn't it be safer if they fled to the neighbouring countries of the Central African Republic, Chad, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Libya or Uganda instead!?!

School Fees

Should failing independent schools be supported by the state?

If parents vote with their wallets and consider the quality of education provided not sufficient to merit the school fees, wouldn't it be better to close the school or replace the existing staff rather than let the school become another failure in the state sector!?!

Number crunching

£3.5bn -The cost of Conservative proposals to reduce Inheritance tax - "an example of where the Tories are making promises on tax which they can't afford to pay for" - Alistair Darling, Chancellor of the Exchequer.

£9.1bn - August's Public Sector Net Borrowing - An example of where Labour are making policies they can't afford to pay for!?!

Islam is Peace?

If stereotyping a racial group is a no no, are Muslims allowed to be stereotyped as being peaceful!?!

Conservative Tax Increases

Why do the Conservatives insist on paying for tax cuts by increasing taxes elsewhere rather than promising to cut welfare benefits and make work pay!?!

If promised cuts in stamp duty for first time buyers means increased taxes elsewhere, the Conservatives are promising to increase taxes for the vast majority of the electorate!