Gove the Twat does it again.

[John_fi_Skye]

Would anyone really care all that much if the whole Royal family died in some tragic accident?

Well I wouldn't wish that on any family, but the truth is that many British people Daily Mail readers hold them in high regard and status and have something like affection for them. So the answer sadly is yes.

Probably true today, but it isn't long ago that you could add Daily Mirror readers and you probably could add a fair percentage of Sun readers today. The working class, which has largely become the unemployed and underclass were not always as alienated from the mainstream as perhaps they have become.

I know what you both mean about readers of respective papers, but reading stuff written on paper is of course a dying art: a better guage of public opinion is seen in the broadcast media, and if you think about last year's royal weddings the fascination and affection amongst the public are still plain to see. I think your first statement was dead right, Rum.

Given that, and given that I also wouldn't wish sudden and violent death on anyone, I'd prefer to see a much-reduced royal family. Haven't places like the Scandinavian countries got monarchies that are more proportionate to reality these days?

[MrJonno]

Can't we give her that aircraft carrier we are building that won't have any aircraft for 20 years to her?. We have even named it after her.

Might as well get some use for it and even Obama doesnt get his own private 'aircraft' carrier so it would be getting one up on the Yanks

[Rum]

Yay! Gove puts his foot in it again! He has decided to have a go at school governors now. Now I used to work with them on so called 'school improvement' groups and a more committed and worthy lot is hard to imagine, even if they were occasionally a bit out of their depth. Also please note they are not paid. They are all volunteers and get their travel to meetings paid and no more. Anyway they don't like it and are slapping the twat, quite rightly too!


Governors hit back at Gove's 'badge of status' comments

Michael Gove The education secretary said there was a big difference between good and bad governors

Governors have hit back at the education secretary's claims that they can be "local worthies" who view their post as a "badge of status not of work".

Michael Gove said in a recent speech that he wanted to speed up reforms to school governance in England.

Head of the National Governors' Association Emma Knights said there was not status in being a governor.

Most governors volunteer because they want to give something back, she added.

She told BBC News: "There are very few people who do it for a badge of status. There isn't even any status in being a school governor.

"In fact what you find is that people volunteer because they want to give something back to their community. They're interested in children and whether children are getting a good deal."
'Local worthies'

She said her organisation was "incredibly disappointed by the language of the secretary of state", adding that she had been in discussions with his department over how governors could best be supported.

She said Mr Gove had focussed on the minority of governing bodies who do not do a good job.

Ms Knights was speaking after Mr Gove said in a speech in London that he wanted to speed up reforms to school governance.

"All too sadly", he said, people knew what bad governance looked like.

"A sprawling committee and proliferating sub-committees. Local worthies who see being a governor as a badge of status not a job of work.

"Discussions that ramble on about peripheral issues, influenced by fads and anecdote, not facts and analysis.

"A failure to be rigorous about performance. A failure to challenge heads forensically and also, when heads are doing a good job, support them authoritatively."
'Volunteers'

And he also described good governance, characterised by "smaller governing bodies, where people are there because they have a skill, not because they represent some political constituency".

"They concentrate on essentials such as leadership, standards, teaching and behaviour," he said

"Ofsted, in their new inspection framework, will now be asking searching questions on governance - including assessing how well governors hold the head and senior leader to account," he added.

An aide to Mr Gove said the secretary of state was not critical of all governors and that his intention was merely to improve standards in schools.

There are about 300,000 volunteer governors in England who sit on school governing bodies. They are responsible for working with the head teacher to ensure the school gives a good quality education.

As well as appointing and dismissing staff and deciding how budgets are spent, they act as a critical friend to the head teachers, holding them to account.

[John_fi_Skye]

Here, the corresponding bodies can sometimes be hi-jacked by folk with a particular agenda - eg fundies. Other than that, I always found the ones I worked with much as you describe, Rum.

If Gove has managed to provoke the throwing of yet another custard pie in his smug, shitty little face, I shall do nothing but applaud him. No - I'll laugh too.

[Rum]

He is of such minor consequence. That's what bugs me. Of little brain. All government policies are driven by ideology but sometimes a talented minister really gets hold of an agenda. Gove has actually been passionate about education for many years, but actually knows fuck all about it other than 'it was better in the 50s'.

He's a tosser.

[John_fi_Skye]

He is of such minor consequence. That's what bugs me. Of little brain. All government policies are driven by ideology but sometimes a talented minister really gets hold of an agenda. Gove has actually been passionate about education for many years, but actually knows fuck all about it other than 'it was better in the 50s'.

He's a tosser.

Yep.

[Audley Strange]

I'd hazard a guess that he's had more dealings with school governors than most other people. Gove's certainly a dick, but I get the feeling if Ken Livingstone said it and there was an outcry, you'd all be agreeing about posh blokes doing it for status getting upset about the old boys club being insulted.

I think his criticism has some merit, but it shows how oblivious he is to the fact that the public, particularly the politically engaged public, are a bunch of easily swayed, fickle goons whipped up into a frenzy for two minutes until their next opinion is spoon fed to them by the media.

[John_fi_Skye]

I'd hazard a guess that he's had more dealings with school governors than most other people. Gove's certainly a dick, but I get the feeling if Ken Livingstone said it and there was an outcry, you'd all be agreeing about posh blokes doing it for status getting upset about the old boys club being insulted.

I think his criticism has some merit, but it shows how oblivious he is to the fact that the public, particularly the politically engaged public, are a bunch of easily swayed, fickle goons whipped up into a frenzy for two minutes until their next opinion is spoon fed to them by the media.

Not me, Audley. I'm not terribly keen on Oor Ken either. I think there are lots of twats on the "left" of politics too. I generally dislike politicians. I have hated few people in politics as much as I hated Arthur Scargill for what he and Mad Maggie did between them to mining communities in the eighties: in my view, both of them were equally reprehensible. The fact that my political beliefs are closer to those of most people on the "left" of politics doesn't mean that I like or admire - or would vote for - anything like all of them.

[Rum]

Nor I. I am firmly to the left but I use my own brain and don't just follow ideology .. or whipped up hysteria for that matter.

[Atheist-Lite]

I think Gove is doing some things right myself. The system of the fifties focused on the successful at the expense of the failures rather than the other way around. It isn't easy to change a entire culture overnight but at least Gove is trying to change things with a clear idea of what he wants to achieve. Mediocrity needs to be punished. The bright applauded. For too long everything in education as been based on the socialist agenda of rushing for the lowest common denominator and ignoring excellence with grade inflation and so forth. Beyond education the results can be seen in the semi-literate innumerate population of celebrity culture obsessed idiots who comprise much of our our dumbed down society.

[John_fi_Skye]

I think Gove is doing some things right myself. The system of the fifties focused on the successful at the expense of the failures rather than the other way around. It isn't easy to change a entire culture overnight but at least Gove is trying to change things with a clear idea of what he wants to achieve. Mediocrity needs to be punished. The bright applauded. For too long everything in education as been based on the socialist agenda of rushing for the lowest common denominator and ignoring excellence with grade inflation and so forth. Beyond education the results can be seen in the semi-literate innumerate population of celebrity culture obsessed idiots who comprise much of our our dumbed down society.

In my view, education would be much better if:

1. Politicians fucked off and left the profession alone; and

2. It were made much easier to sack the relatively small number of teachers who are lazy, incompetent or not committed to young people.

[Rum]

I agree with #2 and I really wish I could agree with #1, especially having been in the position of being micro managed by the last Labour giovernment in the job I did until last year.

Sadly government do need to set the wider parameters and direction of the curriculum so that schools are accountable and kids are more or less (often less!) prepared for the world they will be going into.

The Tories have stated they want to be much less hands-on and to some extent they are being so from what I have seen. Some of the regulation has been slashed and guidance to schools in some areas has gone from several hundred page sort of size to pamphlets.

Gove however has a 'vision' and is doing his best to introduce it. Sadly his vision is of a world in the 1950s that never really existed in the first place.

[Atheist-Lite]

I agree with #2 and I really wish I could agree with #1, especially having been in the position of being micro managed by the last Labour giovernment in the job I did until last year.

Sadly government do need to set the wider parameters and direction of the curriculum so that schools are accountable and kids are more or less (often less!) prepared for the world they will be going into.

The Tories have stated they want to be much less hands-on and to some extent they are being so from what I have seen. Some of the regulation has been slashed and guidance to schools in some areas has gone from several hundred page sort of size to pamphlets.

Gove however has a 'vision' and is doing his best to introduce it. Sadly his vision is of a world in the 1950s that never really existed in the first place.

You complain of a world that didn't exist in the first place then? That almost makes sense you realize?

[Rum]

I agree with #2 and I really wish I could agree with #1, especially having been in the position of being micro managed by the last Labour giovernment in the job I did until last year.

Sadly government do need to set the wider parameters and direction of the curriculum so that schools are accountable and kids are more or less (often less!) prepared for the world they will be going into.

The Tories have stated they want to be much less hands-on and to some extent they are being so from what I have seen. Some of the regulation has been slashed and guidance to schools in some areas has gone from several hundred page sort of size to pamphlets.

Gove however has a 'vision' and is doing his best to introduce it. Sadly his vision is of a world in the 1950s that never really existed in the first place.

You complain of a world that didn't exist in the first place then? That almost makes sense you realize?

You are talking nonsense again.

[John_fi_Skye]

I agree with #2 and I really wish I could agree with #1, especially having been in the position of being micro managed by the last Labour giovernment in the job I did until last year.

Sadly government do need to set the wider parameters and direction of the curriculum so that schools are accountable and kids are more or less (often less!) prepared for the world they will be going into.

The Tories have stated they want to be much less hands-on and to some extent they are being so from what I have seen. Some of the regulation has been slashed and guidance to schools in some areas has gone from several hundred page sort of size to pamphlets.

Gove however has a 'vision' and is doing his best to introduce it. Sadly his vision is of a world in the 1950s that never really existed in the first place.

From what I read in the meeja, I think you're right in terms of England and Wales. I think what I said goes for Scotland. And by the way, no we don't want Gove back thanks. You can keep him.