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Apologies for the absence of blog. Nothing to do with a ban of silence imposed by the Whips. A back injury caused by a parachuting accident thirty years ago has laid me low. I get about on sticks but slowly, so most of my time is spent sitting like a retired major watching the world
In Tessa’s case it’s to the wolves. Mills and Boone it ain’t. Mills and Campbell it may be. Italian Prosecutors go on forever (Garibaldi is probably still being indicted) so the flow of mud would never stop. Which makes disassociation, temporary or permanent, a sensible course. It’s a shame to give up her husband of thirty years, but giving up the principles of three decades ago has always been obligatory for Cabinet membership so it’s only a small step to spouses too. Still, I’m a fan and Tessa deserves to stay.
The great retreat on the Education Bill has gone a long way. It will now divide the "rebels" between the grey rebels, the Chaytors, Whiteheads, Denhams and other sages who’ll declare that they can now vote for it and the reds, mainly Campaign Group, who argue that Tony’s tactic of flinging himself off every available cliff and demanding that the party catch him is no way of governing. Particularly now that the Tories are prepared to do the catching for us. That absolves us from catching duty and should entitle them, at the very least, to a consultation committee with Tony. If we’re stealing their clothes they should have a say about which. We don’t deserve consultation because the stolen clothes aren’t ours.
Which makes it an even worse Bill. I’ve still not had the promised meeting to put my views but they are:
- We should abolish the remaining grammar schools. Each day about 150 kids go into Lincolnshire for selective education. That weakens Grimsby schools.
- We should pay governors out of council or national funds. The work is now too great to rely on volunteers who are very difficult to get in Grimsby.
- LEAs should control admissions policy for all, to ensure that all take a fair proportion of SEN and free dinner kids and have a common policy on expulsions and exclusions. Local banding would be the best way.
- Extra funding, more teachers and assistants and more personal tuition for schools in the most deprived areas as measured by super output areas.
- Abolish league tables except for value added.
- Staffing levels and class sizes in deprived schools to be brought up to public school levels.
All in all there’s not much in it for Grimsby. A lot for pushy parent power in London but we don’t have too much of that. Not even pushy MPs these days. I don’t see a rush of big firms wanting to take over Grimsby schools as trusts. Microsoft ain’t going to come, KPMG will want us to become a tax haven, the Banks all prefer to take money out of Grimsby rather than put it in, and Imperial Tobacco would be frowned on, even though we have a higher proportion of smokers than most parts of the country. So the Universities of Hull and Lincoln are our best hopes and they’re strapped for cash.
How to vote on the Bill is worrying. I voted against all this when Kenneth Baker first introduced the Bill in 1988 and against John Patten’s revision to it in 1992. So did the Labour Party and Tony Blair. I don’t see that enough has changed to justify standing on my head now, though Tony seems to like the position. Poor old Ruth. |
