NPR

One in 10 Conservative peers are big donors to the party, giving almost £50m in total, new analysis shows, amid controversy over more financial backers believed to have been put forward on Boris Johnson’s resignation honours list.

tabascoboy wrote: ↑Wed Jan 04, 2023 5:44 pm

SaintK wrote: ↑Wed Jan 04, 2023 12:36 pm Yep, not a happy bunny
Delusionally she thinks she was part of a "progressive" government for the past 3 years
You only need to read the pile in below to see how that comment's gone down

Paddington Bear wrote: ↑Wed Jan 04, 2023 5:59 pm I’m deeply sceptical of the value of keeping people in education until 18 as it is, but standards of numeracy among Britain’s professional class are nothing short of embarrassing, both on an objective scale but also compared to comparable countries. So I’m all ears as to how to improve it for future generations.

Paddington Bear wrote: ↑Wed Jan 04, 2023 5:59 pm I’m deeply sceptical of the value of keeping people in education until 18 as it is, but standards of numeracy among Britain’s professional class are nothing short of embarrassing, both on an objective scale but also compared to comparable countries. So I’m all ears as to how to improve it for future generations.

sockwithaticket wrote: ↑Wed Jan 04, 2023 6:57 pm

Paddington Bear wrote: ↑Wed Jan 04, 2023 5:59 pm I’m deeply sceptical of the value of keeping people in education until 18 as it is, but standards of numeracy among Britain’s professional class are nothing short of embarrassing, both on an objective scale but also compared to comparable countries. So I’m all ears as to how to improve it for future generations.

I'd start by addressing literacy. The number of kids I taught who were just barely literate or were years behind their age never ceased to upset or amaze me and it has a huge knock on impact in their ability to engage with almost every subject on the curriculum. Whether it's text books, work sheets, revision guides or whatever there's still loads of content even in a subject like maths that requires them to read in order to understand.

Honestly, holding them back 'til they're at the right level may be the right thing to do because the alternative is massive investment in support services at secondary schools to try and get the kids up to speed. That's sub-optimal if you're also trying to keep them on the regular curriculum as the problem of how effectively they can engage with it remains until they are caught up and that's not a quick process, to say nothing of trying to timetabling.

fishfoodie wrote: ↑Wed Jan 04, 2023 10:38 pm What has always been particularly insane, & idiotic about screwing with primary & secondary education, is that any money saved, is small beans compared with the losses the entire society over the rest of that childs life !

You can argue the toss about the ROI for 3rd level education; often because society puts a premium on a University education, at the expense of vocational, & other training; but you never save money when you defund education.

Focusing on the correct answer in maths ‘is racist’
May 20 2021, The Times


There is a new frontier in the war on racism: maths.
In California a state education panel is to consider curriculum reforms designed to support “equitable” mathematics instruction for all six million schoolchildren outside the public sector. If approved, getting the “right answer” in a maths problem may no longer be a pupil’s main objective.

The framework sets out to tackle the ways that students’ “mathematics identities are shaped in part by a culture of societal and institutionalised racism”. It argues that this partly explains the history of underrepresentation of black, Hispanic and indigenous people, as well as women and low income students, in “mathematics and mathematics-related domains”.

Opponents of the attempt to root out “white supremacy” in maths argue that ethnic minority and low income students will be disproportionately harmed by accompanying proposals to cut back on algebra teaching.

The framework draws on a manual developed last year by educationalists in California. It claimed that maths teaching methods perpetuated racist discrimination and needed to be overhauled so that non-white pupils could “reclaim their mathematical ancestry”.

The indicators of “white supremacy culture in the mathematics classroom” identified by the guide included a focus on “getting the right answer” at the expense of understanding concepts and reasoning.

Teachers who uphold “the idea that there are always right and wrong answers perpetuate objectivity as well as fear of open conflict”, two characteristics of racist systems in organisations, according to the manual.

“If this framework spreads it could condemn a generation of children to irrelevance in science, technology, engineering and math fields, where the right answer is not a matter of opinion,” wrote James Robbins, a senior fellow at the American Foreign Policy Council, in USA Today.
Williamson Evers, a former assistant secretary of education under President Obama, wrote in The Wall Street Journal that “encouraging those gifted in math to shine will be a distant memory”.

Ymx wrote: ↑Thu Jan 05, 2023 11:22 am I believe the correct answer is, no we shouldn’t because Maths is racist.

Instead for the answers, we should always accept people’s lived experience/truths.

*gets coat

Focusing on the correct answer in maths ‘is racist’
May 20 2021, The Times


There is a new frontier in the war on racism: maths.
In California a state education panel is to consider curriculum reforms designed to support “equitable” mathematics instruction for all six million schoolchildren outside the public sector. If approved, getting the “right answer” in a maths problem may no longer be a pupil’s main objective.

The framework sets out to tackle the ways that students’ “mathematics identities are shaped in part by a culture of societal and institutionalised racism”. It argues that this partly explains the history of underrepresentation of black, Hispanic and indigenous people, as well as women and low income students, in “mathematics and mathematics-related domains”.

Opponents of the attempt to root out “white supremacy” in maths argue that ethnic minority and low income students will be disproportionately harmed by accompanying proposals to cut back on algebra teaching.

The framework draws on a manual developed last year by educationalists in California. It claimed that maths teaching methods perpetuated racist discrimination and needed to be overhauled so that non-white pupils could “reclaim their mathematical ancestry”.

The indicators of “white supremacy culture in the mathematics classroom” identified by the guide included a focus on “getting the right answer” at the expense of understanding concepts and reasoning.

Teachers who uphold “the idea that there are always right and wrong answers perpetuate objectivity as well as fear of open conflict”, two characteristics of racist systems in organisations, according to the manual.

“If this framework spreads it could condemn a generation of children to irrelevance in science, technology, engineering and math fields, where the right answer is not a matter of opinion,” wrote James Robbins, a senior fellow at the American Foreign Policy Council, in USA Today.
Williamson Evers, a former assistant secretary of education under President Obama, wrote in The Wall Street Journal that “encouraging those gifted in math to shine will be a distant memory”.

I like neeps wrote: ↑Thu Jan 05, 2023 11:24 am

Ymx wrote: ↑Thu Jan 05, 2023 11:22 am I believe the correct answer is, no we shouldn’t because Maths is racist.

Instead for the answers, we should always accept people’s lived experience/truths.

*gets coat

Focusing on the correct answer in maths ‘is racist’
May 20 2021, The Times


There is a new frontier in the war on racism: maths.
In California a state education panel is to consider curriculum reforms designed to support “equitable” mathematics instruction for all six million schoolchildren outside the public sector. If approved, getting the “right answer” in a maths problem may no longer be a pupil’s main objective.

The framework sets out to tackle the ways that students’ “mathematics identities are shaped in part by a culture of societal and institutionalised racism”. It argues that this partly explains the history of underrepresentation of black, Hispanic and indigenous people, as well as women and low income students, in “mathematics and mathematics-related domains”.

Opponents of the attempt to root out “white supremacy” in maths argue that ethnic minority and low income students will be disproportionately harmed by accompanying proposals to cut back on algebra teaching.

The framework draws on a manual developed last year by educationalists in California. It claimed that maths teaching methods perpetuated racist discrimination and needed to be overhauled so that non-white pupils could “reclaim their mathematical ancestry”.

The indicators of “white supremacy culture in the mathematics classroom” identified by the guide included a focus on “getting the right answer” at the expense of understanding concepts and reasoning.

Teachers who uphold “the idea that there are always right and wrong answers perpetuate objectivity as well as fear of open conflict”, two characteristics of racist systems in organisations, according to the manual.

“If this framework spreads it could condemn a generation of children to irrelevance in science, technology, engineering and math fields, where the right answer is not a matter of opinion,” wrote James Robbins, a senior fellow at the American Foreign Policy Council, in USA Today.
Williamson Evers, a former assistant secretary of education under President Obama, wrote in The Wall Street Journal that “encouraging those gifted in math to shine will be a distant memory”.

Literally nobody has even come close to mentioning this in the UK in the "maths" discussion and nobody will either.

Boring culture war bait attempt here I'm afraid, not your best.

PCPhil wrote: ↑Thu Jan 05, 2023 12:25 pm It’s now official news. “Nad was a dangerous waste of space”

Sandstorm wrote: ↑Thu Jan 05, 2023 12:36 pm

PCPhil wrote: ↑Thu Jan 05, 2023 12:25 pm It’s now official news. “Nad was a dangerous waste of space”

They make great amplifiers.

sockwithaticket wrote: ↑Thu Jan 05, 2023 12:53 pm Sunak really trying to go ahead with restricting strike rights and empowering employers to sue and fire strikers.

Despicable, but not surprising.

Short of rioting all you can do is write to your MP and make sure they're aware of how unacceptable this is. If they receive enough blowback, they'll reign things in.

dpedin wrote: ↑Thu Jan 05, 2023 4:29 pm

sockwithaticket wrote: ↑Thu Jan 05, 2023 12:53 pm Sunak really trying to go ahead with restricting strike rights and empowering employers to sue and fire strikers.

Despicable, but not surprising.

Short of rioting all you can do is write to your MP and make sure they're aware of how unacceptable this is. If they receive enough blowback, they'll reign things in.

No-one wants this including employer organisations. Imagine taking the right to strike away or to reduce their ability to take action from workers, all that would happen would be that they would take any number of other less obvious actions to make their point and harm employers even more. This is suicidal from the Tories, it grabs the headlines but is completely inoperable and would create havoc in industrial relations world. Last pathetic gasps from a Gov devoid of any ideas and control over the agenda, whilst the UK burns they fiddle about with maths for 18 year olds and trying to ban strikes. Trying to stoke a them v us agenda and it aint working. Pathetic.

dpedin wrote: ↑Thu Jan 05, 2023 4:29 pm

sockwithaticket wrote: ↑Thu Jan 05, 2023 12:53 pm Sunak really trying to go ahead with restricting strike rights and empowering employers to sue and fire strikers.

Despicable, but not surprising.

Short of rioting all you can do is write to your MP and make sure they're aware of how unacceptable this is. If they receive enough blowback, they'll reign things in.

No-one wants this including employer organisations. Imagine taking the right to strike away or to reduce their ability to take action from workers, all that would happen would be that they would take any number of other less obvious actions to make their point and harm employers even more. This is suicidal from the Tories, it grabs the headlines but is completely inoperable and would create havoc in industrial relations world. Last pathetic gasps from a Gov devoid of any ideas and control over the agenda, whilst the UK burns they fiddle about with maths for 18 year olds and trying to ban strikes. Trying to stoke a them v us agenda and it aint working. Pathetic.

dpedin wrote: ↑Thu Jan 05, 2023 4:29 pm

sockwithaticket wrote: ↑Thu Jan 05, 2023 12:53 pm Sunak really trying to go ahead with restricting strike rights and empowering employers to sue and fire strikers.

Despicable, but not surprising.

Short of rioting all you can do is write to your MP and make sure they're aware of how unacceptable this is. If they receive enough blowback, they'll reign things in.

No-one wants this including employer organisations. Imagine taking the right to strike away or to reduce their ability to take action from workers, all that would happen would be that they would take any number of other less obvious actions to make their point and harm employers even more. This is suicidal from the Tories, it grabs the headlines but is completely inoperable and would create havoc in industrial relations world. Last pathetic gasps from a Gov devoid of any ideas and control over the agenda, whilst the UK burns they fiddle about with maths for 18 year olds and trying to ban strikes. Trying to stoke a them v us agenda and it aint working. Pathetic.

Tichtheid wrote: ↑Thu Jan 05, 2023 12:58 pm

Sandstorm wrote: ↑Thu Jan 05, 2023 12:36 pm

PCPhil wrote: ↑Thu Jan 05, 2023 12:25 pm It’s now official news. “Nad was a dangerous waste of space”

They make great amplifiers.

My brother had the NAD 3020B - the one with the MM/MC cartridge option.

A classic of its kind, it punched way above its price weight.

He also had a Rega Planar 3 turntable with the S-shaped arm, I replaced the arm and my daughter now uses it.

Biffer wrote: ↑Mon Jan 09, 2023 10:55 pm The worst thing about this is that these Tory fuckers don’t actually understand what productivity is.

fishfoodie wrote: ↑Mon Jan 09, 2023 11:49 pm

Biffer wrote: ↑Mon Jan 09, 2023 10:55 pm The worst thing about this is that these Tory fuckers don’t actually understand what productivity is.

Sure they do !

It's other people working harder, for less money (relatively), while those same MPs, get paid more, for less work.

How many days work did those Tory MPs do, while they were fucking about to elect a new Leader who lasted as long as an Election promise ?

The Conservative MP Andrew Bridgen has been suspended from the House of Commons for five days after being found to have breached rules on paid lobbying and declaring interests.

The MP for north-west Leicestershire was found to have repeatedly broken the MPs’ code of conduct by a cross-party committee, which endorsed findings from Kathryn Stone, the parliamentary commissioner for standards.

Insane_Homer wrote: ↑Tue Jan 10, 2023 6:54 am

The Conservative MP Andrew Bridgen has been suspended from the House of Commons for five days after being found to have breached rules on paid lobbying and declaring interests.

The MP for north-west Leicestershire was found to have repeatedly broken the MPs’ code of conduct by a cross-party committee, which endorsed findings from Kathryn Stone, the parliamentary commissioner for standards.

Several sources reveal the incredulity inside Number 10 at his initial absolute denials to Parliament on December 8 2021, the day after the mock press conference was aired, when he said: “I am sure that whatever happened, the guidance was followed and the rules were followed at all times.”
One source recalls: “We all watched it live and we were just gobsmacked. We all looked at each other and thought ‘why the hell is he saying this?’ We all know it had happened, he knew it happened - he was there.
“We were all just shocked that he would even deny it. He was there. We were there. We were all there together. And suddenly he’s denying it.”