The knives are out for Gordon Brown but is he really that bad? No he is not Brown was Chancellor for over 10-years and no one holds that position unless they are good at their job. It seems I am not the only one with doubts about the current press coverage, Conor Ryan of Conor’s Commentary points to Brown’s successes.

Brown is taking the right long-term decisions for schools, health, energy and welfare. On the latter, even
Fraser Nelson in the Spectator admitted that the Tories plan merely to claim credit for work begun by James Purnell. This week’s dreadful Tory health policy which failed to recognise the need for any maximum waiting times – because the BMA don’t like them – stands in stark contrast to the strong NHS reforms being introduced by Alan Johnson and the best of Brown’s imported ministers, Ali Darzi. The academies programme has been speeded up and a radical programme to lift the fifth of weakest schools is underway. He is being radical on the environment and energy policy. Other big reforms are on the way in the coming weeks. The Tories have yet the show a very convincing hand: despite the credulity of some, their schools’ policy lacks Labour’s practical and ambitious edge and their health policy is simply anti-patient.

The press, seemingly as one, took umbrage at the election that was not and have been gunning for Brown ever since – the public at large seem all too happy to tag along – hardly anyone is looking at the facts.

In a letter to The Guardian Zimbabwean, opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai calls for armed peacekeepers.

In the course of the last few tumultuous months, I have often had cause to consider what it is that makes a country. I believe a country is the sum of its many parts, and that this is embodied in one thing: its people. The people of my country, Zimbabwe, have borne more than any people should bear. They have been burdened by the world’s highest inflation rates, denied the basics of democracy, and are now suffering the worst form of intimidation and violence at the hand of a government purporting to be of and for the people. Zimbabwe will break if the world does not come to our aid.

Africa has seen this all before, of course. The scenario in Zimbabwe is numbingly familiar. A power-crazed despot holding his people hostage to his delusions, crushing the spirit of his country and casting the international community as fools. As we enter the final days of what has been a taxing period for all Zimbabweans, it is likely that Robert Mugabe will claim the presidency of our country and will seek to further deny its people a space to breath and feel the breeze of freedom.

I can no longer allow Zimbabwe’s people to suffer this torture, for I believe they can bear no more crushing force. This is why I decided not to run in the presidential run-off. This is not a political decision. The vote need not occur at all of course, as the Movement for Democratic Change won a majority in the previous election, held in March. This is undisputed even by the pro-Mugabe Zimbabwe electoral commission.

Our call now for intervention seeks to challenge standard procedure in international diplomacy. The quiet diplomacy of South African President Thabo Mbeki has been characteristic of this worn approach, as it sought to massage a defeated dictator rather than show him the door and prod him towards it.

We envision a more energetic and, indeed, activist strategy. Our proposal is one that aims to remove the often debilitating barriers of state sovereignty, which rests on a centuries-old foundation of the sanctity of governments, even those which have proven themselves illegitimate and decrepit. We ask for the UN to go further than its recent resolution, condemning the violence in Zimbabwe, to encompass an active isolation of the dictator Mugabe.

For this we need a force to protect the people. We do not want armed conflict, but the people of Zimbabwe need the words of indignation from global leaders to be backed by the moral rectitude of military force. Such a force would be in the role of peacekeepers, not trouble-makers. They would separate the people from their oppressors and cast the protective shield around the democratic process for which Zimbabwe yearns.

The next stage should be a new presidential election. This does indeed burden Zimbabwe and create an atmosphere of limbo. Yet there is hardly a scenario that does not carry an element of pain. The reality is that a new election, devoid of violence and intimidation, is the only way to put Zimbabwe right.

Part of this process would be the introduction of election monitors, from the African Union and the UN. This would also require a recognition of myself as a legitimate candidate. It would be the best chance the people of Zimbabwe would get to see their views recorded fairly and justly.

Intervention is a loaded concept in today’s world, of course. Yet, despite the difficulties inherent in certain high-profile interventions, decisions not to intervene have created similarly dire consequences. The battle in Zimbabwe today is a battle between democracy and dictatorship, justice and injustice, right and wrong. It is one in which the international community must become more than a moral participant. It must become mobilised.

It is time for us to act.

In today’s Guardian Zoe Williams reports

The Advertising Standards Authority has received nearly 200 complaints about the Heinz mayonnaise ad, which – assuming a higher final tally – should make it one of the five most offensive this year.

I know 200 does not sound a lot but in terms of people getting off their asses and making a complaint for the UK, that is a lot. Now what is so offensive you ask, well watch and see.

Guessed it? Two men kissing of course, this is why the ASA has received 200 complaints about a gay kiss. The thing is it is not a gay kiss, as Zoe writes

It is a joke about the mayonnaise being so authentic it is as if your mum has turned into a bloke from a New York deli.

The thrust of Zoe’s article is that we are too lazy to complain, and she is right here is an advert we should complain about.

In the Lancashire Evening Post Mike Lorimer, brand manager at Rustlers is reported as saying that:

We believe that the advert is tongue in cheek and empowers women, as it is the woman in the ad who has decided to take her clothes off, not the man…The whole theme is that you can get a tasty Rustlers snack in just 70 seconds, there’s no waiting round so you are fast forwarding to the best parts of life

What utter bollocks! As any fool can see, man enters code, women spins on sofa and her clothes come off, empowering women! Why is my TV polluted with such sexist crap?

Hat Tip: femmedium.

Today the BBC reports that in England more than 2,200 pupils are excluded everyday single school day with 8,680 permanent exclusions last year.

I am of the opinion that exclusions serve no purpose what so ever, certainly not for the pupil concerned and neither for society at large.

To my shame, I can speak as a parent of four who is sad to say that his eldest son after numerous short-term exclusions was permanently excluded at just 14, that proved to be the end of his education.

I am a parent who values education my three other children are doing extremely well, we are about to travel to Cambridge University where our second son has a realistic chance of success, our third son is looking to have a clean sweep of A-stars at GCSE and our daughter is doing very well too.

The trouble with the system of expulsions is it is attritional, constantly worrying and undermining attempts to get our son to attend school, only for us to succeed and then be faced with another exclusion, which re-enforced his opinion that he did not have to attend school it became a vicious circle with only one outcome.

For us was we had neither the financial resources nor the support of the school to change things, a visit by an educational welfare officer proved useless the officer described himself as powerless to help.

What did exclusion achieve, improved results for the school? I guess so. Certainly, nothing educationally for our eldest, only now, nearly five years later is he starting to piece together his life. Although he continues to make choices that I find challenging, at 19 he is about to become an all too young parent (and us all too young grandparents). However, he has held down a full-time job for almost 12 months albeit low-paid, then that is unsurprising given his educational achievement.

Anyway, I will stop diverging from my point, which is schools should not be allowed to abdicate their responsibilities by excluding pupils, instead they should remain responsible for the child and commission services to address the situation, be it special educational facilities, a pupil referral unit, counselling, parenting classes or other services. This would totally change the dynamics of schools and problem pupils with exclusion no longer available the school would maintain an interest in a pupils success even if that pupil is currently be being educated elsewhere.

Source: DCFS.

On Thursday, West Yorkshire Police released the following statement.

Police in Leeds have today issued a warning following a rise in thefts from motor vehicles in the area.

Thieves are particularly targeting stereos inside Ford Focus cars and owners are being warned to take extra precautions.

Detective Inspector Nick Wallen from North East Leeds Division said: “There has been an ongoing rumour for a number of years now that a chip within a stereo from a Ford Focus can be put into a Sky box and you receive free Sky television.

“Following previous enquiries to the suppliers this has been found to be completely untrue.

“We believe that the recent spate of thefts could be as a result of this rumour.

“I would like both car owners to ensure that their vehicle and its contents are secure as well as making thieves aware that this type of crime will not be tolerated and their pointless actions will result in them being put through the court systems.”

Peter Lewis, Sky Field Force Interface Manager said: “We’ve been asked about this urban myth in the past but there is absolutely no evidence it has any basis in truth”.

How stupid can people be? Even if it was true (which it would not ever be), which chip is it? How would you get the chip out? Where on earth would you stick it in the Skybox?

Still it’s not only thieves from Leeds in November 2006 a crime wave hit Wales targeted Ford Focus’ leaving police to believe the Sky rumour to again be responsible.

Source: West Yorkshire Police & Snopes.com.

A new government target that 30% of school pupils must obtain five good GCSEs including Maths and English by 2012 upsets the NUT.

What the NUT seems unable to accept is that these baseline targets have been very effective in raising standards particularly for those pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Instead the NUT cites that a quarter of the threatened schools where judged good by Ofsted inspectors and 16 outstanding. At the end of the day, employers are going to be looking at results and not a schools CVA score, which is factored to consider,

Pupil prior attainment
Gender
Special Educational Needs
First language (for given prior attainment)
Measures of pupil mobility
Age
An “In care” indicator
Ethnicity
Free School Meals (for given Ethnicity)
Income Deprivation Affecting Children Index (IDACI)
Average and range of prior attainment within the school (KS2-3, KS2-4 and KS3-4 only)

Yes, these are important considerations, however schools surely must turn their CVA scores into results if they cannot then surely, they are failing their pupils.

Source: BBC, here & here.

Ever received a file that you cannot open because you do not have the appropriate software, then try the free online conversion service at Zamzar to convert the file to a format you can use. If your file is over a 100Mb then you will have to pay. One of the best things about the site is it will convert pdf files – brilliant.

Hat Tip: A Blog from the backroom.

With the demise of Pandora the free music recommendation and internet radio service – at least for those of us outside the USA – I’d not found a comparable site (I know I could use a proxy and mask my IP address but I can’t be assed). However now we have the Deezer music on demand service, that is free and legal to use with over 2.5 million songs, from how I remember Pandora I actually think Deezer is better.

Hat Tip: A Blog from the backroom.

Try shopping with Sainsbury’s and you will see this.

Today the BBC reports.

Sainsbury’s customers face a second day without online grocery deliveries after a technical hitch hit its website.

The company said the problem had been identified and was being fixed but could not say whether the site would be back to normal on Friday.

The fault means Sainsbury’s is unable to access customers’ orders.

The supermarket giant estimates 20,000 people will be affected by the problem over Wednesday and Thursday, and they will be offered £10 compensation.

What does Sainsbury’s mean by “technical issue”. Idle speculation of what a “technical issue” might be leads to the thought “technical issue” is that a euphemism for security breach. Luckily, although I shop regularly at Sainsbury’s I have not been tempted to use their online shop so I do not have to worry, or do I? Maybe I should cancel my credit cards and contact my bank.

Closing the website is an embarrassing fault however describing the problem as a “technical issue” is a PR disaster well that is my opinion.

Husband and wife Tory MPs the Wintertons have been claiming their mortgage for a second home on expenses. When they finished paying the mortgage that meant no-more expenses. However, the Wintertons came up with a little wheeze – why not transfer the property to the family trust and then claim the rent instead – greedy bastards or what? Luckily, for us, albeit better late than never the standards committee concluded that the arrangement broke the rules.

Still we should not really expect much else Ann Winterton is a particularly nasty piece of work. She was sacked as Shadow Rural Affairs minister in 2001 for telling this joke.

An Englishman, a Cuban, a Japanese man and a Pakistani were all on a train.

The Cuban threw a fine Havana cigar out the window. When he was asked why, he replied: “They are ten a penny in my country.”

The Japanese man threw an expensive Nikon camera out of the carriage, adding: “These are ten a penny in my country.”

The Englishman then picked up the Pakistani and threw him out of the train window.

When the other travellers asked him to account for his actions, he said: “They are ten a penny in my country”.

Still she did not learn in 2004 she had the Tory whip removed until she apologised a month later for this joke (which alluded to the recent death of several dozen illegal immigrant Chinese cockle pickers in Morecambe Bay).

One shark turned to the other to say he was fed up chasing tuna and the other said, ‘Why don’t we go to Morecambe Bay and get some Chinese?’

Still they’re just jokes (sic) in 2005 she said

Crime is out of control … and where thousands of illegal immigrants are waved in with no checks on whether they are criminals or potential terrorists. [...] We live in times of tremendous change, but the United Kingdom is still, thankfully, a predominantly white, Christian country. [...] Some might say we are now paying the price for the so-called “benefits” of the multicultural society, the product of almost uncontrolled immigration and the abuse of asylum.

Why on earth anyone thinks the Tories have changed under Cameron, mystifies me, they are still the same self satisfied, xenophobic racists that they have always been, do not believe anything different.

Source: BBC & Wikipedia.