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Written by Austin Mitchell
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28 October 2005 |
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In the summer lull the Tonyite vandal squad has snook in and bashed a lot of structures around. Change has become the only constant for a Prime Minister in legacy mode, anxious to be remembered for something other than Iraq. Everything is being thrown up into the air before the last lot of changes have even settled in.
Primary Care Trusts are to be forcibly merged - ours with North Lincolnshire. No one wants this. No one’s been consulted. The council, the voluntary sector and the PCT itself are all opposed. But the Strategic Health Authority has been told to do it. Then kill itself.
The Humberside Police force is to be forcibly merged with any other force that comes to hand - North Yorkshire, South Yorkshire, West Yorkshire, or all three together.
Directors of Education have been abolished to be replaced by Directors of Child Services. The social service tradition will triumph over the great educationalists. No contrary educational philosophies will be allowed to check government’s restless maunderings. Clegg of the West Riding and all the other greats will now be impossible.
Regions are to be replaced by City Regions. Local Education Authorities are to be castrated. Power will be transferred to schools and parents. The Great Middle Class, who always do well for their own kids, will now do better. Selection will increase. Schools the middle class choose will expand, draining the disadvantaged and ignoring their problems. Comprehensive education is to die the death. All power to the pushy classes. |
