Laws: Balls must not gain power over exam reading lists

The Secretary of State for Schools, Ed Balls, is seeking new legal powers to dictate the basic content of every exam in England, including which books children study at GCSE or A-level, research by the Liberal Democrats has uncovered.

A clause in the Education Bill would undermine the independence of the exams watchdog OFQUAL and could allow ministers to interfere with the exams system for political gain.

Commenting, Liberal Democrat Shadow Schools Secretary, David Laws said:

"It is unbelievable that Ed Balls wants to give himself the power to dictate the detailed contents of the curriculum - including precisely which books should be taught at GCSE and A-level.

"What is taught in schools should not be dependent on the whim of some here today gone tomorrow politician. The idea of Ed Balls or Gordon Brown determining which parts of history children are taught or which books and poems they should read is a rather frightening one.

"This revelation shows that the Government's pretence of creating a more independent system of qualifications, curriculum development and oversight is a sham. What is actually happening is that ministers are retaining huge powers to meddle in both what is taught and how standards are measured."

Shoesmith sues Harringay and will make a fortune.

Grizzled Sharon Shoesmith, the former boss of childrens services at Harringay council has filed a claim at the employment tribunal for wrongful dismissal as predicted in the previous News Rage UK article, Guaranteed Wrongful Dismissal in Harringay . The thing that makes me mad here is that we know the outcome and we can start to predict the tabloid headlines already.

The fact is, Balls went in like Schwartznegger, in character on a revenge spree and sacked her in a flash. I can't pretend that I don't agree with what he did because I do...and he should have the power to do what he did in the circumstances, however there are procedures that need to be followed when you sack someone, anyone with whom you have given a contract of employment and I would be very surprised if they were followed.

Wronfully or rightly she was lynched and the law has developed to prevent lynchings in the workplace, in fact mostly courtesy of the Labour Party themselves. I would be surprised if she doesn't walk away with a nice sum as a result and again the rights of Baby P will be ignored.

Parents of Teenage Family Should be Jailed

I received a very strange email today about a boy called Alfie Patten who at the age of thirteen had become a father. As I read the story, I couldn't stop the feeling of dread, sadness and then sheer anger from engulfing me for a number of reasons.

This story which can be found in the Sun, http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/article2233878.ece highlights again the fact that children in this country are completely out of control. The mother in this scenario is 15 years old - under the legal age of consent to sexual relationship. The couple are unable to vote, buy cigarettes, drive a car, go to the pub, buy a lottery ticket, enter into a legally binding contract for financial services or leave school. The boy's voice hasn't even broken yet. How on earth can they be expected to raise another child responsibly when they are in fact children themselves. Who is going to pay for this child? I'll tell you who...

...We are, the British tax payer, that's who! The baby girl will be living in the council house with her mother, mother's mother & jobless father and five brothers who are all living on benefits. This birth will in fact boost the household income and in turn guarantee and perpetuate generational slobbery, underachievement and a real imbalance in social justice. I am not sure what the biggest tragedy is, the fact that the poor baby girl has been born into this situation, the fact that two children will loose their childhoods forever or that two sets of irresponsible parents will benefit financially for their utter negligence in the exercise of their responsibility as parents. What a poor example these two new parents have to follow. There is no equity in this situation whatsoever and something needs to be done. The irony is that the kids seem to be more worried about what people will say and therefore a greater grasp of morals than the parents.

Firstly, all benefits should be stopped immediately because it is wrong in every way that people should benefit financially from criminal activity. Both sets of parents of the two kids should be tried and when found guilty, jailed for child neglect and abuse. They should be charged with soliciting and conspiracy to commit rape, which is the crime that Alfie has technically committed against the under age mother of the baby apparently with all parents blessing and full acceptance. The mother of the baby is also perhaps a border line paedophile and if there is nothing legally wrong with what she's done then the ethical and moral wrong compensates for it.

The children should all be put into care and special attention should be given to finding the baby girl a loving and socially responsible family to bring her up. Her parents should be allowed supervised access to her as long as they want to see her. To do nothing in this situation would be criminal and send out entirely the wrong message to other children, who quite frankly are being bombarded with negative messages every day. To let this one slip would be yet another nail in the British coffin, and that makes me mad!!!

Hubble Bubble, Beware the Witches of Leftwick

I just wanted to wish Boris congratulations on his victory for Mayor of London. I hope he can turn his energy and excitement into something really positive as far as London is concerned.

After years of near hatred, I have to say that I was also a little sad to see Ken Livingstone go (but not a lot). He actually seemed to take it quite well. I had visions of him attacking Gordon Brown, the labour party and the public in the same way as we have seen him attack the London assembly over the years, but he was magnanimous in defeat. I nearly got angry when I was listening to LBC and a listener suggested that he should now look to run for leadership of the labour party and then to become PM. "God, no!!!" I thought to myself before I remembered that half of LBC's listeners are as raving mad and delusional as the people they support, this poor lady being one of them.


I have also been amused over the last couple of days by the Labour hierarchy telling us that the results mean it is time for them to listen and that what we need is strong leadership through hard times or in other words, as a public we don't actually know what we want and the government has to do what they want to do anyway whilst doing it with a sympathetic look on their faces and ruffled brow.


I also think that I have spotted something very interesting as a result of the labour defeat this week. Brown had his big guns out. If you like his rottweilers of war. A trio no less who flew the red standard and charged into battle for the leader....and the interesting thing is that they were all women. I think the chaps in the cabinet were around and about but the main muscle on all of the political commentary shows I was watching on TV were the ladies. Harriet, Tessa and Jacqui were all unfazed and almost maniacal in their belief in what they were trying to say (previous paragraph) and stand for.

They actually did a very good job of taking much of the flack that was flying about and I have to say that if I were married to either of them, the last thing I would be worried about would be whether they would support me in times of trouble. These are the type of women that successful men are made of. They also showed a strength and determination I associate with another lady politician of not too long ago. Yes...the great ginger one, the Iron Lady herself, old Mrs T. Imagine three Margaret Thatchers. It is an absolutely terrifying prospect but the possibility has been brewing in the labour party for years and under our very noses.

Look (as Tony Blair would say), forget about the chaps for New Labour. I mean, seriously, who have they got? The Two Camp Millibands or Ed Balls (John Prescott II). These three women singularly could eat any of the aforementioned for breakfast whilst reciting tracts from the Odyssey in reverse, standing on their heads and gargling Champagne. If they were to unite like Gordon and Tony did, they could be great and when Gordon falls they could inherit the earth (of the UK at least). There is an outside chance that they will all shave their heads, start wearing flowery mini dresses and chanting hippy love songs round the halls of Westminster, however it is more likely that they will be fundamental and vital to the future success of their party. I don't necessarily think that they would plot Gordon's demise themselves because they seem to be too loyal for that, but when he goes, I think that rivals from within and outside new labour will all need to start watching what what these three women will do even if they are unwise enough to be ignoring them today.