Archive for michael gove
Michael Gove: man of genius today, broccoli recipe tomorrow
To the naïve, taken in by superficial politics, Michael Gove’s brief bid, rapidly sunk*, to get the Queen a new yacht may not have the hallmarks of political genius stamped firmly on it. But you would be wrong. Because think about it. What has Gove achieved today? He has got large numbers of people writing [...]
Lynne Featherstone vs Steve Hilton on maternity pay
From yesterday’s Observer: In a wide-ranging interview with the Observer, Featherstone said it was vital the coalition delivered on its family-friendly rhetoric … In a forthright attack on some of the advisers shaping government policy, she criticised the role of Adrian Beecroft, a venture capitalist tasked with reporting to the prime minister on how to [...]
The significant part of Tim Farron’s speech
Tim Farron is probably the Parliamentary Party’s best funny speech maker (though I’d pay good money to see him head-to-head in a laugh off with Alistair Carmichael), so it’s not a surprise that Tim’s speech to Liberal Democrat conference caught the headlines mostly for his humour and his stress-testing of political marriage analogies to destruction. [...]
Teaching union spokesman attacks Gove’s “licence for paedophiles”
It’s no surprise that Michael Gove’s call for parents to help out in strike-hit schools has caused a fair amount of controversy, but I didn’t expect a union spokesman to wheel out the old paedophile scare line: [Gove] suggested parents enlist to help out stricken schools and give children something constructive to do, adding that [...]
First Conservative MP to back Yes vote in AV referendum?
It looks as if Warrington MP David Mowat could be the first Conservative MP so far to back the alternative vote in May’s referendum. The Liverpool Daily Post reports: A Warrington MP is ready to defy David Cameron by voting to scrap the first-past-the- post voting system – potentially making him the only Conservative to [...]
Educational Maintenance Allowance: how hard is it for the new policy to be better?
Yesterday Michael Gove, finally, announced the government’s proposals for replacing the Educational Maintenance Allowance (EMA) scheme. As previously trailed, Liberal Democrat pressure has secured more than £100m extra for the plans. The £180m being spent on the new scheme compares to the £560m cost of the EMA. At first glance, that is a large cut. [...]
Educational Maintenance Allowance: more details of replacement emerge
It’s been rather a self-inflicted wound by the Coalition Government to leave such a long gap between announcing that it would abolish the Education Maintenance Allowance and publishing details of what will be introduced in its stead. I’m happy to wait until we know what the replacement will be like before judging whether the EMA [...]
Michael Gove encourages people to vote Liberal Democrat
From yesterday’s Hansard: Michael Gove: … In Liberal Democrat-controlled Hull, any student in receipt of education maintenance allowance also receives a travel grant to cope with the full cost— Mr David Blunkett (Sheffield, Brightside and Hillsborough) (Lab): They won’t now. Michael Gove: I suspect they won’t if a Labour council takes power, but if people [...]
Improving schools systems: the international lessons
How does a poor school system become good or a good school system become excellent? Those are the questions asked in a recently published McKinsey review of twenty school systems around the world, including both developed and developing countries. In school systems where there have been significant improvements in performance, McKinsey found that these were [...]
Dear Michael Gove…
Dear Michael,
You’re in the news today saying that the “novelty” of Nick Clegg will wear off when his policies come under further scrutiny.
Guess you must have missed last night’s TV debate then, with the two occasions when David Cameron directly put Liberal Democrat policies under scrutiny and said they wouldn’t work.
Only thing is, on both [...]
