Gordon Brown on Mumsnet this Friday (16th October) lunchtime between 1-2 pm

[JustineMumsnet]

We're delighted to announce that the Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, will be logging on to Mumsnet for a live webchat on Friday (tomorrow) lunchtime from 1 to 2. The PM is ready to answer Mumsnetters' questions on a wide-range of policy issues from the economy to education and from childcare to climate change.

As you know we're not great ones for rule books here at MNHQ, but we'd like this to be as useful and enlightening an event as it can be, for all involved. We aren't going to pre-moderate or pre-select questions - the format will be as per usual - but given the likely popularity of this webchat, the sheer number of you all and our past experience of trying to fit everything in, we've come up with a few ground rules which we'd be very grateful if you'd follow.

Guidelines for MN webchat with PM

1. To allow as many folks as possible to be involved, please restrict your questions to one per member plus a follow up question if appropriate, i.e. once you've had a response. (NB don't even think about name changing to ask another, we'll be watching!).

1. Please keep your question reasonably brief (we'll not doing a word count but it will increase your chance of getting an answer, we suspect, if you don't bang on for paragraphs)

1. It's highly unlikely he'll be able to answer everyone's question but we'll make every effort to bring common themes to his attention. Please don't be too disappointed if your specific question doesn't get answered and do try not to keep posting "What about me?". He can't answer them all and he is the PM after all - so has a quite few time constraints.

1. Obviously you're free to voice your opinion but do be civil/polite - the PM is our guest on Mumsnet so, whatever your politics, please afford him the same cordiality you would if he stopped by your own house.

Many thanks - feel free to put your question up in advance if you can't make the live chat on Friday lunchtime.

Mr Brown - as a mum to an autistic boy, can I write to you too about autism? I love mainstream inclusion, but I think we should be using behavioural methods in our education of autistic kids, as they do in the US. Our current methods are outdated and don't work. Actually I think our "normal" schools could learn quite a lot from the behavioural methods of teaching too, as we have gone too far in praising our kids rather than telling them "no" to unacceptable behaviour and penalising it. I am not some awful disciplinarian, I just believe kids need more boundaries than we are giving them, and that's particularly true of my special needs son.

Well, as a practising qualitative researcher, I'm happy to moderate said focus group.....

bumbling- the bit about not feeling unlucky when at mumsnet. Those must be some damn fine biscuits up at the towers

I have to agree with Sagen's earlier point about not encourage people to uni, but offering vocational courses.
My degree seems to be forcing me out of the market for work, unless I want to return to teaching, which resulted in me having a breakdown.

Speaking of which, Mr Brown, there needs to be a drastic change with regard to excluded pupils. I taught for many years in Pupil Referral Units, and I have seen pupils rewarded for bad behaviour and not encouraged in any way ti respect each other or staff. How do you feel about that?

Why does the Building Schools for the Future plan penalise those areas that still retain Middle Schools? Because it is designed to provide funding based on a two-tier school system, students and children in Suffolk are being disrupted unnecessarily, highly rated schools are closing and teachers are either leaving the area or giving up teaching altogether. All of this is being foisted on parents under the premise that those children in Middle Schools are underachieving, when this is only true of a very small minority of children.

It is clear to parents, teachers and even the children that money would be better spent supporting those children/schools that do have problems rather than using a wrecking ball to fix a leaky pipe. Can the BSF programme of improvements not be flexible enough to support what is a well-established and very successful school system?

Dear Mr Brown, I would like to know how you plan to improve maternity services. So many of us have miserable and traumatic experiences in overstretched and understaffed maternity units year after year. We're promised more midwives and more birth choices but little changes.

Tambajam,
We want to encourage and support more and more mothers to initiate and continue breastfeeding.

Our advice is based on World Health Organisation guidance which recommends exclusive breastfeeding through its report Optimal duration of exclusive breastfeeding and this is backed up by the Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition in this country.
However, we promote informed choice for mothers and their partners in deciding how to feed their infants and we fully support mothers in their choice of feeding method.
Breastfeeding is the best way to feed your baby and it has positive benefits for mum's health too.
Thirty two local health trusts across the country will receive a share of £3 million to support mums, particularly those from less well off areas, to start breastfeeding and to keep breastfeeding for longer.

Prime Minister

Are you typing your own replies? I'm interested as I am keeping a record of Mumsnet Webchat guests' typing speed. You might be interested to know that Caroline Lucas is in the lead with a very impressive 170 wpm. And Alan Johnson is in last place with a very "not even second for the deputy PM role" poor performance of 0 wpm. Tsk.

"Some of the big issues I'm working on every day include beating cancer in this generation and protecting our planet for the next generation, so I'm really keen to have your views on those too."

Can you therefore ask your health minister to consider how extending genuine support for breastfeeding mothers within the NHS can help you acheive both these targets?

At the moment we have a lot of lipservice to 'breast is best' but very very little genuine support at even the first hurdle after women have their babies.

Mr Brown,

'Our reports suggest that is it better for children to start earlier than 6'.

If by that you mean that the IFS report found that children do better starting school earlier then I am sorry IT DIDN'T. The IFS research doesn't provide any evidence for this. If you have other research on this pls let us know.

I know this isn't allowed but my teeth are on edge concerning the midwife.

Mr Brown,
You can train a million midwives if it pleases you, but the trusts will not recruit them because they are independant finance driven managers who will cut corners to proved a safe service - not the good service women deserve.
I know of a midwife who is a receptionist, and 3 who work in supermarkets. Not through choice, becasue they cannot get work - or at least not full time work.

Who is paying for your solar panels on your property in Scotland Mr Brown? Presumably the tax payer?

Good afternoon Mr Brown, Is that lovely Mr Ben Bradshaw really as nice as he appears to be?

i second Lulu!!

have had my quota of questions,but this is something i also asked Ed Balls,but went unanswered!

SAVE OUR MIDDLE SCHOOLS

{grin] Swedes!

Gordon you need the Mumsnet focus group to steer you away from soundbites.

Gordon, I think that if you want to have the breastfeeding rate upped, then educate the health visitors, and make sure they're singing from the same hymn sheet, teaching the same methods, and that they STOP bullying vulnerable young mums and act professionally.

Don't know if you saw my question before, but what plans do you have to try and encourage entrepreneurship in the UK? At the moment, it seems that a lot of the regulation is geered towards discouraging success (lots of H&S requirements for businesses, high taxes etc.). Do you envision this being changed?

Mr. Brown

I like what you said re breastfeeding. You're a wise man .

Love
Megapixels

Thanks ILoveTIFFANY, it's totally pants isn't it!

WhispyWisp

Grants are available for everyone to have solar p[anels - approximately 1/4 of the cost from both central government and local council.

swedes!

Don't get me started on Ed Balls. He was due to visit one Referral Unit I worked in, but didn't show up. Not that he would have got a realisted view anyway as the kids had all be primed about what to say/do and the worse ones were hidden away.