Michael Gove

[LadyBlaBlah]

Does anyone get the impression that the list detailing which school building projects were going to be axed wasn't given much thought?

Sounds like a bit of an arbitrary list done in a haphazard fashion.

Really, how could he make such a fundamental clerical error if the list had been given any thought at all?

Typical

Nah. If you cut staff enough then you will get mistakes being made. Or, it was a sweet deliberate effort behind the scenes to make him look even more inept and smarmy

HE DRIVES ME NUTS

I could never be a politician because I could never show my face again if I done such a fundamentally idiotic thing

Well apparently the list was drawn up by a quango called Partnership for Schools - a quango set up by Labour and apparently run by a Labour apparatchik type.

But that is no excuse. Ministers should still have checked the list, and checked and checked again, when such sensitive cuts are on the table.

LOL @ making it Labour's fault

It's not Labour's fault. It's Gove's fault.

But a lot of the fault comes in not dismantling Labour's shadow state quickly enough.

It's either Gove's fault or not. You can't say, but.....

I will be very interested to see if he really does take responsibility for it himself or if he fires some minion who he perceives has fucked it up for him

I said quite clearly it was Gove's fault.

My point is that the actual list was drawn up by a quango. Also, that quango has a vested interest - both immediate, because the administrators in the quango depend on the BSF programme, but also political, because of the views of the quango head.

If Gove didn't fully realise how foolish it was to trust data coming from this quango, then this partially explains his error - though by no means excuses it.

Michael needs to make sure he checks his work thoroughly...

Michael Gove is a nonsense. He has little man syndrome and knows nothing about education. That list contained schools listed as having their buildings stopped, when in fact they have already been in their new school for over a year - I spotted one at least like this. So it worked both ways (i.e. not a labour or quango conspiracy).

The quango might have supplied the list (don't know if they did or not personally), but Gove's civil servants should have checked and double-checked it, knowing what the repercussions would be.

Longfingernails - I'd be interested to know what you seem to be so against the BSF programme. Genuinely please, I know nothing of you or your politics.

He is quite pathetic to say the least. He should have checked the list, over and over and over again.

I am wondering if it is actually haphazard and he just played pin the tail on the donkey [stick a pin in a school on a map]willy nilly, when he decided which schools it would effect. What criteria have they given?

What I would like to see is a map of the UK and just where the schools affected are, for 'transparency' reasons of course.

I would also like to know how he can do this and at the same time want 'free schools' requiring new cash? How does that work?

MissM BSF is incredibly wasteful - estimates suggest it costs about 3 times more to complete a BSF project than the equivalent average private sector project. Also it is too prescriptive.

I also believe that whilst of course we need basically decent classrooms, there was far too much of a focus during the Labour years on fancy equipment and shiny award winning sparkly buildings over improving teacher quality.

I think Michael Gove is brilliant. The way he immediately apologised and took responsibility was very much to his credit.

One remembers the countless times Labour ministers blamed civil servants/police/teachers etc for f*ck-ups, saying that such underlings had full responsibility for 'operational matters' and the minister's responsibility extended only to setting policy.

A cck-up, most certainly, but a well-handled cck-up at that.

"brilliant" are you him ?

I think Michael Gove's policies are brilliant but his administrative skills are clearly deficient.

Fortunately administration and management skills can be acquired. Hopefully everyone in the government has learnt from this debacle, and will take extra care in their checks. They can't let vested Labourite interests in quangos undermine them in such a way again.

I suspect Partnership for Schools will be quietly scrapped in a month or so - and good riddance!

I am speechless that there are two people here than think his policies are "brilliant"

I am amazed I know not what to say...

third person here

Wow strike me down you are quite barking you know. It will all end in tears.

The education policies are totally barking imo. I haven't heard one word of sense from Michael Gove's mouth.

You do realise, don't you, that not only were there errors in the list issued, but that the apology and revised list STILL CONTAINED ERRORS!!!

I would imagine it would have been the job of a civil servant to check the list, not the minster's.
Which is not to say that the buck doesn't stop with him though.

The way the list of cancelled projects was handled was atrocious.

As I said, his management skills leave a lot to be desired.

That is different to the actual fundamentals of the policies. Breaking the stranglehold of the teaching unions, eliminating the waste in the local education authorities, creating competition amongst schools, and pupil premiums will all increase opportunity and social mobility.

Michael Gove would make a good mortician don't you think?

He doesn't seem to have policies, so much as announcements.

Say what you like, I think he's one of the brightest and articulate SoS we've had for a long time.

Now, if only he would introduce selection by ability and vouchers and we might once more have a world-class education system.

One can but hope...