England young 'among most tested'

I'm occasionally heard to joke that we love to have standards - after all, we have so many of them - but nowhere does this seem to be more apparent in the regime of tests and standards which is currently commented on in the news today.

My daughter, who is eight, going on forty seven, seems relatively casual about the tests and SATs that she currently has to go through, but maybe I'm just showing my age at remembering the old reports that were current when I was her age - a single sheet of paper with the subjects, an estimated grade and a terse comment such as 'Could do with writing more in his answers' (This usually translated to - he knows the answers, puts them down, but doesn't necessarily always demonstrate how he got to them)

These days we apparently have 'a system uniquely "preoccupied" with national standards and accountability'

This sounds to me like someone trying to wriggle out of saying - "we've used education so much as a political football that we can't find a graceful way of admitting its screwed up." Maybe that's just my being cynical

Privacy Law Musings

One of the more amusing (to me, anyway) stories to break at the weekend was that of the alleged bugging of an MP under terror laws introduced by this government. Oh, the shock and horror and public wringing of hands..! God forbid that politicians should be as subject to the same laws and lack of privacy that have been fostered on the rest of us.

Welcome to our world - do you now understand why we get a little annoyed at increased surveillance and simultaneous losing of personal data on a seemingly daily basis?

I have no sympathy.

I also note that the BBC ran a poll about this issue and roughly 75% of the 7-8000 respondents did not agree that politicians should continue to be exempt from monitoring...

There's a phrase about chickens and roosting that springs to mind...

In The News

So, RIP Heath Ledger and hello the UK Police Force marching in protest over pay.

One is a sad event that has come as a great shock to us all, and the other is the unexplained and unexpected death of a young actor.

I'll no doubt upset people by saying this but who will be policing the police march? It seems worrying on a huge number of levels to have people who do such a dangerous and thankless job being screwed over by the Home Office. I'm rather more worried about this than the tragic death of a talented actor who I've enjoyed watching and will enjoy watching through the wonders of film and DVD for years to come.

Priorities people!

Could these be related?

From the weekend's local government clippings service:

HOME SECRETARY SCARED TO WALK ALONE Jacqui Smith has admitted she’s too frightened to walk around the streets of London late at night. Her comments follow Labour claims that crime is down compared to the 1990s when the Tories were in power.S.Mail p5, S.Mirror p6, S.Indp p23, S.Times p1, S.Express p15, NOTW p2 and Monday papers

and

KNIFE SCANNERS AT SCHOOL GATES TO CURB CRIME Airport-style metal detectors will be installed at hundreds of school gates under sweeping measures to confront the growing problem of teenage knife crime. Their introduction at the toughest secondary schools will be announced next month by the Home Secretary Jacqui Smith and forms a core element of the government’s new violent crime action plan. Meanwhile, the S.Telegraph reports violent youth crime is up a third in three years. Observer p1&5, S.Telegraph p1&5 and Monday papers Independent p6, Express p22

surely the two couldn't possibly be interlinked? *cough*

The Spectre of Hamlet with Rolled Up Newspaper..?

POLICE BAN ACTORS' SWORDS

Devon and Cornwall Police have classed actors' plastic swords and guns as dangerous weapons and banned them from a production of Robinson Crusoe. A spokesperson admitted that the case was 'unusual' but maintained that replica weapons are used to carry out crimes. Reported in: Express p37, Mail p29, Telegraph p8

Am I alone in being utterly bewildered by the stupidity of this decision? I'm sure there's more to it, but reading this in this morning's LGA news clippings makes me despair...

Planes, Trains and, well if you live in West London you know the rest

I seem to have been one of the last people in the Heathrow/Hounslow area to know about the plane crash landing this afternoon. I mention this only because I work under the approach path (though not as close as my wife), and because my youngest brother was heading that way to see his girlfriend off to australia (long story).

So you can imagine the *hmph* feeling of calling out to the wife when she got in from picking up our daughter from her after-school art club only to get a dismissive "oh that, yes - not really a crash that."

Its like throwing a Schadenfreude party and finding you haven't invited yourself...