Gove does it again!

Apparently so, when the French downgrade happened, the city traders were trading assuming the banks had already been downgraded for months so it was just a matter of it being "official".

Yes, apparently so. I don't spend enough time keeping up with the news in detail, I just listen to headlines, so I didn't know.

Yes Claig although I think to be fair the downgrade has been on the burner for ages.

I was in the first year of GCSEs it was a complete mess.

If we are going back to 'O' levels then I suspect that we will also be going back to the bell curve.

What fun.

Whatever spin doctor came up with this has served an ace. This'll be batted about for days, and everything else will fade into the background.

Just heard on Channel 4 that Moodys might be downgrading some British banks. That is not good news. O levels will be better news.

I think you'll find the BBC 10 o'clock news have pricked up their ears now Clegg is weighing in to the argument from Brazil. He's not happy. It could turn in to a bit of a political bun fight.

Channel 4 News, which is also very good, has exam shake-up as number 1 item. I felt that the quality news such as Newsnight and Channel 4 News would have that as number 1.

Josephine when an MP loses their seat through incompetence, uselessness or general ignorance usually they are given a severance package of approximately £12,000. Not many people get that kind of money for effectively being sacked (which is what they are when the electorate decide they're not doing their job properly)

Josephine - what is your problem with public 'servants'?

MPs are only guaranteed jobs for a maximum of 5 years at a time. As opposed to most public sector jobs which are jobs with a few exceptions.

Maybe if public sector people had to reapply for their jobs every 5 years we might get a better quality of public servant?

Seeing MrsDeVere's posts always cheers me up.

The Guardian would be terribly upset at your view of them as an Establishment Organ, claig. They think they are for the people.

The Daily Mail is for control of the great unwashed through manipulation ie inducing Guilt/Witchunts (see feckless scroungers on the dole costing us all a fortune, disgusting career women who have had the temerity to reproduce, etc etc)

Thanks, good Guardian link.

Has some info on MPs' pension stoo, seemimgly in repsonse to obvious public interest on twitter feeds, which are increasingly difficult for establishment mainstream media to ignore.

'MPs' pensions
Several people on Twitter have asked about MPs' pensions and how they compare. The MPs scheme is a funded scheme, unlike the NHS scheme - that means it can only pay out money that has been paid in. It is not quite a final salary scheme - benefits are accrued each year according to how much the member is earning them. For example, they might earn 1/60 of a normal MP's salary one year, and 1/60 of a minister's salary the next.

Contributions went up in April 2012, as with the other schemes, and are based on accrual rates which the MP can choose. An MP who chooses to accrue benefits at 1/40 their salary will contribute 13.75% of salary, at 1/50 they pay 9.75% of salary and at 1/60 they pay 7.75%. In 2010 MPs were paid just over £65,000, so that would suggest MPs are paying less for their pensions than doctors.'

I don't fully understand it, but it doesn't seem as bad as I thought it would be.

Because Abra1d there are such a thing as equality laws.
Because disabled children not only deserve an equal playing field, they are entitled to one.

Because low expectations of disabled children = low attainment
Because my son is capable of getting a handful of GCSEs with the correct support, this doesnt mean anyone is going to do it for him. It means that he can achieve and meet his potential.

That is why.

No, I like the Guardian and I like Newsnight and I like the Daily Mail, but I think that the Guardian and the BBC are establishment organs, and the Daily Mail slightly less, being more for the people. I know that the Guardian told its readers that it "enthusiastically" backed Nick Clegg, so I don't expect the Guardian to fully back the doctors or the people.

Claig You seem very down on The Guardian especially as you said it was one of only 3 sources of news that counted :o

Many doctors have added comments on here... always good to hear it straight from the horses mouth

Imagine if they told us of the doctors' stress and their high rates of alcoholism and the effect on their own health. Then there would be sympathy for the doctors. But of course, none of them will do that either.

Exactly. I don't know any of teh ins and outs about how long they need to be elected for before they can claim them etc., but I can just imagine.

Imagine if the Guardian told us the facts and told us how many hours doctors work and how many lives they save and how many years they train and how they never complain and at what age they are expected to retire. Then it would be a different story. But of course, the Guardian won't do that and nor will Newsnight.

I wonder if MPs ever lost their final salary scheme, whether we'd ever see them striking. Marching on Whitehall... to an empty chamber :o

Claig oh God, the MPs pension is absolutely amazing. Gold plated and needless to say untouchable.

'Blimey Claig, I'll go home now then'

OK, there are some other ones too

As an aside, when I heard what the pension for a doctor was, I immediately googled to find out what the pension for an MP was, since none of our media seem to have informed us of that.

If they asked Daily Mail readers who they think deserves a pension of £68,000 more, then I think we know what the result would be hands down, which is probably why the Daily Mail didn't give us all the facts.

longtalljosie aren't they talking about the first exams being sat in 2016? That's after the next general election.

Blimey Claig, I'll go home now then :o

Claig, stop beating yourself up. Yes, this may have been a convenient moment to break this story but I do work in the media and I'm as sure as I can be it's going to happen. Yes, it's an idea at the moment, and will need to go through green paper / white paper / passage of bill etc but the story was detailed and said implementation before the next election. As far as I can see that means it's a goer.