Westministenders: Don't forget to stockpile. Again.

[RedToothBrush]

The government is telling pharmacists and drug manufactures to stockpile drugs ahead of the end of transition on 31st December.

In the middle of a pandemic.

What could go wrong?

but what does it say about this government that class/socio-economics don’t count.

Have they forgotten their Red Wall voters? These would appear to be disproportionately affected. I hope the young people concerned remember this at the next election, when what will be for many the first time they are able to cast a vote.

Some of the issues (esp. regarding the way the proposed system would affect poorer schools and pupils) were flagged up in May by the Sutton Trust and other analysts in written submissions to Pmt.

I could add a comment about how competently Williamson used those findings to adjust the system and avert such issues, but I'm too tired and jaded, TBH.

committees.parliament.uk/writtenevidence/5440/pdf/
committees.parliament.uk/writtenevidence/6379/pdf/

I'll yell my protest against racism wherever it occurs, but this wasn't about race,
just sheer bloody serial incompetence that hurts kids of all colours

I'm hoping for a U-turn, nothing to do with politics, but for all those thousands of kids whose future has been ripped away

I have real fellow feeling for those who worked so hard, but know that realistically this is their one chance to escape the poverty trap.
I escaped great poverty;
I almost certainly wouldn't have if I had lost my uni offers and my first step on the ladder - sometimes there is just no more effort to give and you fall back into the pit

Having 40 years experience of maths modelling,
reading reports of some schools having their worst result in many years, e.g. one head quoted as saying the worst since their school was found over 40 years ago,
this just screams of a model that was inadequate to predict individual results, only ok at the population level

I'm hoping for a U-turn, nothing to do with politics, but for all those thousands of kids whose future has been ripped away

When you add in the fact they are trapped on Fortress Britain too.

I certainly don't expect Williamson to be an expert in maths modelling, but merely to have the common sense to accept the model has screwed up
and the courage & honesty to admit and remedy this

If the heat rises too much, I expect BJ will dump him he will resign

This is my favourite picture of him, back when he was fucking up Defence

• they should have chosen the horse instead, this time:

.

I agree with DGRosetti
Our government may have unwittingly just minted a generation they will never be able to reach.
In the same way that compulsory RE in schools has created the most secular nation on the planet

breaking trust in exams and examiners and their political masters
is a lesson that will stay firmly in their brains.

Friends who graduated from Uni between 1979 and 1982 have remained firmly anti Tory their whole lives ....

I imagine some here will know of this channel, but a take on the Stilton situation ...

As always, the comments are well worth a read ... Is that her married name? Is she related to Grayling ... ?

@BigChocFrenzy

Having 40 years experience of maths modelling, reading reports of some schools having their worst result in many years, e.g. one head quoted as saying the worst since their school was found over 40 years ago, this just screams of a model that was inadequate to predict individual results, only ok at the population level

And when you look at the methodology of how they did it, highly predictable.

There's no way that it could do justice to individuals. Not when it was based on the past performance of the school and the demographics of the school.

The kid in the 'bad' school who worked their backside off to break the trend and get out of the area is always going to be shafted and not get the grades they meritted.

The whole algorithm should never have been signed off.

I don't know many in that age group, though one close friend had two sons affected. The elder one did A levels at a grammer school and got into his university. He got a A and B but the opposite way to be predicted. His younger brother was at college and got BBB in his AS levels. He's reasonably ok with it, as he still has another year but it will affect his university application - he needed ABB for his top choice. The college is not that prestigious and he's outperforming everyone by some distance so there is doubt in his and his parent's minds as to whether he's got the grades he deserves. And thats the nagging thing, he doesn't know. He could do a 're'sit in theory in November or he could just do full A levels next year in the hope he will get in. Its a bit up in the air about what he can do and whether the college is happy with their results in general. Its almost unhelpful for him to have any grades at all this year under the circumstances.

Its going to be interesting to see how this one plays out...

Sorry to drip poisonous cynicism everywhere, but none of this is remotely surprising or unexpected if you remember that the Department of Education is run for the benefit of the Department of Education. Educating kids is a nice to have, but not essential to it's day-to-day running.

See also: Department of Health, which is run for the benefit of the Department of Health. Patients getting better is also a nice to have. But certainly not essential to it's success or otherwise.

Johnson went to Northern Ireland yesterday and announced his imminent death. Apparently there will only be a border down the Irish sea over his dead body.

yorkshirebylines.co.uk/is-boris-johnson-losing-the-plot/?fbclid=IwAR29r-J46wJ822zmA8ofG2ZakQZMGenETTMHx4RbrwHwB-uG5r-CUf_VbDQ

Hohum, should have read before signing the WA then

On MN, posters who come a cropper, because they didn't read a contract properly, get their arse handed to them in AIBU

@BigChocFrenzy

Hohum, should have read before signing the WA then

On MN, posters who come a cropper, because they didn't read a contract properly, get their arse handed to them in AIBU

It's hard not to think that most of the Tories being so used to weasel "best endeavours" contracts genuinely though the WA was just another such piece of paper. Possibly trusting team Boris to have their back.

If nothing else, the idea of Tories being shafted for trusting the Tories does slightly ease the anger.

Anyway, at least we've seen a sharp decrease in the sunny uplands postings and pronouncements of a few months ago. We've gone from the easiest deal in history, to couldn't even sell cheese to a country with no dairy industry.

www.eu-japan.eu/sites/default/files/publications/docs/dairy_in_japan_report_min.pdf

Is fascinating. I bet no one in TeamUK even looked for it, let alone read it.

"The British are coming !"
"How can you tell ?"
"Their feet arrive half an hour before they do ..."

Well gosh, another week, another BrexiTory shitshow. Surely one of the faithful could come and cheer us all up with a squirrel or two? I mean, there has to be somewhere in the Universe that's doing worse than Brexitannia?

"Look there! Matter being torn into its fundamental particles at the event horizon of Sagittarius A*!"

I can remember when negotiating large (well, they were large to me: "only" €12 million ) contracts, the lawyers drumming into me not to include "best" endeavours as that meant that if it was physically possible, even if it cost an extortionate amount (eg to fix a problem), then we would be bound to do it Reasonable endeavours is what they made me negotiate.

But maybe I only worked with ethical lawyers

So more on the randomness of the algorithm..... his year very high performing in GCSE's in chemistry. Last 3 years - the lowest number of A*'s was 17 - he was in the top 10.
So although I don't have much sum for his "plight" - what the gov are saying they took into account in the algorithm seems to be phooey- which I am sure will surprise you all.....

I gather they are at the moment refusing to open the algorithm up to scrutiny ? Which like everything this gov does - stinks.

And as for Boris - that lie is really going to come back and bite him on the arse, and surely the northern Irish people can see it for what it is?
It's either a boarder down the Irish Sea or boarder in Ireland - based on the government's current stance

@prettybird

I can remember when negotiating large (well, they were large to me: "only" €12 million ) contracts, the lawyers drumming into me not to include "best" endeavours as that meant that if it was physically possible, even if it cost an extortionate amount (eg to fix a problem), then we would be bound to do it Reasonable endeavours is what they made me negotiate.

But maybe I only worked with ethical lawyers

I think I meant reasonable endeavours then. I've not really negotiated contracts as such, but I have been on a team picking them apart. I just remember sitting around a table, and one of our side noting with a sniff that the vendors approach was "reasonable endeavours" and a couple of the sales guys nodding sagely as they just said "so not worth anything then ..."

My experience of contract provision has been around SLAs and the systems to monitor them. And the ways to game them

Surely one of the faithful could come and cheer us all up with a squirrel or two? I mean, there has to be somewhere in the Universe that's doing worse than Brexitannia?

Well, to be fair, Belarus is doing spectacularly badly, what with mass strikes, dead demonstrators, police officers using live ammo and lobbing grenades at people standing on their own balconies and prisons overflowing with arrested and badly beaten demonstrators.

But since it's not an EU member state, and its leader is in under the direct and corrupt influence of the Russians (a topic probably best avoided by Brexit supporters just now...) that presumably makes it hard to use as a squirrel on these threads.

Boris Johnson made the extraordinary claim that there will be no border down the Irish Sea, saying if there is one it will be “over my dead body”.

He's such a tease, dangling promises like that.

And as for Boris - that lie is really going to come back and bite him on the arse, and surely the northern Irish people can see it for what it is?

(tired sigh)

He doesn't care. Why should he. He's in power. He's not going anywhere. Just because you care doesn't mean he does. He is our own Kim Jong-un.

his biographers will probably say that being the wrong side of the Brexit vote drove him mad. If you want a plot for a boxset, then I woudl go back to 2016, and imagine a landscape where Boris was promised by Team Brexit that they all knew they weren't going to win, but they needed him to back them to make it look convincing knowing all the while they'd win. I can just see that first phone call as the result was clear. Boris sounding off at Gove ... But you told me we'd lose. Now what the fuck are we to do ?

I can still see Gove eyeing up the premiership.

I thought Boris was supposed to be dead in a ditch somewhere.

That was one of his other promises from memory

But you told me we'd lose. Now what the fuck are we to do ?

That is definitely how they looked when the results were announced. Contrast that with the people of Sunderland who were jumping for joy.

It's a telling verdict on how well Brexit must be going that this week-long thread has been almost completely free of the usual suspects who sailed in to nit pick and cut and paste.

Anyone else feel slightly nostalgic ?

Peregrina I was thinking of Stalin.

Socioeconomic status is the big disadvantage that is barely allowed to be mentioned now. There are plenty of people telling us that it’s all biologically determined, unavoidable, fully legitimate and shut up because ‘life isn’t fair’ doncha know.