The banker loving, baby-eating Tory party thread (regenerated)

[blandy]

1 hour ago, ml1dch said:

It was more a comment on what it takes to shift an opinion poll and what needs to happen to push the Labour figure significantly up and the Tory figure significantly down.

Agreed. I think polls can mislead -  hypothetically people could think the Tories are/were doing a terrible job, but they could still be ahead of Labour, if people's impression of what Labour would have done/will do is even worse. It's not, in other words, an indication of approval for the Tories if they are ahead of Labour in a "who would you vote for" poll. And that's been the problem. Starmer is changing that at Leader level - people perceive him to be not just better than Corbyn (not hard) better also than Johnson. But when it comes to the rest of the Labour front bench people most people (me included) don't have a clue who they are or how capable they might be. It'll take time and events for it to develop. Labour still has to stop tearing itself apart and to consistently look more competent and more in control than the Tories.

[tonyh29]

3 minutes ago, Genie said:

My kids are due back in 13 days and we’ve not heard a peep from either the school or Government.

I expect it will go entirely as well as everything else the Tories have attempted this year.

Ours have been in touch ... Didn't say a huge amount but talked about year bubbles  and the tuck shop to be contactless   ..all the important stuff

 

[Genie]

Just now, tonyh29 said:

Ours have been in touch ... Didn't say a huge amount but talked about year bubbles  and the tuck shop to be contactless   ..all the important stuff

 

Then about 48 hours before they are due to arrive they’ll drop the bombshell that they don’t have enough class rooms to effectively socially distance the kids so they will do a 1 week on 1 week off system. 

[tonyh29]

1 minute ago, Genie said:

Then about 48 hours before they are due to arrive they’ll drop the bombshell that they don’t have enough class rooms to effectively socially distance the kids so they will do a 1 week on 1 week off system. 

If they want mine to do a week on week off then the headmaster can take them home to live with him , mine have eaten me out of house and home since March 

 

 

 

[Genie]

5 minutes ago, tonyh29 said:

If they want mine to do a week on week off then the headmaster can take them home to live with him , mine have eaten me out of house and home since March 

 

 

 

I know what you mean, mine have settled down a bit now.

On a normal school day they’d have breakfast at home (cereal and fruit), then just after registration they have access to bagels (a free snack the school provides to ensure all the kids have eaten), then they have break time about 10:30 and a snack which they take in or buy. Lunch at 12:00 (always 2 courses). Quick snack in afternoon break and then home, where they complain about how hungry they are until tea time (about 17:00). 

My lad is very active and naturally quite skinny. The daughter is not so lucky and has put some pounds on. We’ve had to cut right back on snacks and sweets to get then shed again.

Edited August 19, 2020 by Genie

[bickster]

8 minutes ago, tonyh29 said:

If they want mine to do a week on week off then the headmaster can take them home to live with him , mine have eaten me out of house and home since March 

 

 

 

To paraphrase Marie Antoinette, "Let them eat crisps" (but keep your paws off the toblerone)

[tonyh29]

3 hours ago, chrisp65 said:

Ah, I don’t do facebook. I opened an account in a false name 2 years ago to get info on an album release, haven’t used it since other than the Messenger app on my phone.

shit , who have i been sending those dick pics too then ?

 

[chrisp65]

1 minute ago, tonyh29 said:

shit , who have i been sending those dick pics too then ?

 

Twitter is the real deal.

 

 

[cheltenham_villa]

I always struggle to understand the difference between this thread and the labour party one.

[snowychap]

More shady business

Quote

Britain’s trade minister has reclassified recent meetings with a pro-hard Brexit think tank as personal discussions, removing them from the public record and sparking opposition allegations that she wants to conceal their influence on public policy.

The Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) is widely regarded as one of Britain’s most influential right-leaning think tanks. It promotes free-markets and has argued strongly for a clean break from the European Union since the 2016 Brexit referendum.

Two meetings with trade minister Liz Truss and the IEA had originally been included in quarterly transparency data published on the government’s website and described as discussing trade. They were removed on Wednesday with a note explaining they were personal meetings - the first such revision since the department was created in 2016.

...plus

Edited August 20, 2020 by snowychap

[bickster]

How can the Trade Minister having meetings with a RW Think Tank about... Trade be in a personal capacity? Does she own a large manufacturing company whereby she might need their advice? No, If she's the Trade Minister and she did own a large manufacturing company, wouldn't she be better in going right to the top and having a word with herself?

She certainly needs to be having a word with herself... trouble is, she wouldn't understand

[snowychap]

Thread on the Gov(e) 'Grounds of Resistance' to one of the proceedings issued against them in the Covid contracts stuff:

 

[snowychap]

On A Levels, Ofqual and Algorithms

Quote

A Level results day is always a hugely important day for students and teachers across the country; a day that can have profound impact on a student’s future. This year’s A Level results day, however, was a particularly noisy affair. Due to COVID-19, exams were cancelled and students’ grades were instead set by a controversial algorithm designed by Ofqual.

Since grades were released last week, there has been a huge amount of complaint about the process and outcomes, including amongst other things, criticism of the algorithm for promoting unfairness and increasing social inequality. This has ultimately culminated in Ofqual admitting fault and reverting back to using the grade predictions set by schools (called centre assessed grades, or CAGs for short).

From what has been reported on social media and in the press, it seemed clear to me that Ofqual’s algorithm was fraught with issues. However, the exact details of the algorithm, and the issues with it, remained vague to me. As a result, I’ve spent the past few days going through the 319 page report that Ofqual have released describing how the algorithm works, how it was validated, and how it was selected. It’s a long, somewhat arduous read, and I still have many unanswered questions about it all. However, I’ve attempted to summarise my current understanding of Ofqual’s algorithm below, along with my own commentary about its shortcomings in the hope that it might help others understand what was done without having to read through the entire document themselves.

...rest of blog

 

[HanoiVillan]

38 minutes ago, snowychap said:

Thread on the Gov(e) 'Grounds of Resistance' to one of the proceedings issued against them in the Covid contracts stuff:

 

I saw, but only had time to skim read, an article in the Guardian yesterday about Public First being awarded a contract related to the A levels algorithm as well. Will try to dig it out at some point.

[bickster]

Well, I'd never haver thought it, taken me completely by surprise

Quote

Back Ofqual or I quit, chair of regulator told Gavin Williamson

Exclusive: Roger Taylor demanded education secretary admit Ofqual was behind exams U-turn

The chair of Ofqual threatened to quit this week unless Gavin Williamson publicly backed the exams regulator and admitted it was behind the U-turn that salvaged millions of student grades, the Guardian has learned.

Roger Taylor’s ultimatum came after the education secretary tried to lay the blame for the exams fiasco at the door of Ofqual following a humiliating climbdown that scrapped A-levels and GCSEs awarded by algorithm.

Taylor went directly to Williamson to demand a public statement of support or he would resign. It came the day before hundreds of thousands of pupils in England received their GCSE results.

So serious was the threat of a void at the top of Ofqual that Amanda Spielman, Taylor’s predecessor and now chief inspector of the schools watchdog Ofsted, was being lined up to potentially step in and support the regulator, it is understood. She could still be called on if Taylor or Ofqual’s chief executive, Sally Collier, resigns....

 

Guardian (more on link)

[snowychap]

Yurt alert: how the holiday PM dodged the great British exams meltdown

Quote

Enormous thanks to the Daily Mail for tracking down Boris Johnson to a clifftop Scottish cottage, with some naff sort of yurt clinging on gamely in the garden. I thought it must be the chilliest place the prime minister had ever secluded himself, until I remembered he hid in a fridge during the general election.

Still, you’ll have been aware for some time now that Johnson is on holiday. The most nuanced rejoinder this deserves is: lol, a holiday from what? He really is the Tamara Ecclestone of government.

...

Of all the preposterous fairytales to have attached themselves to Boris Johnson during his long and relaxing career, then, perhaps the greatest is the myth of hard work. Ever since he first became an MP, Johnson has been accused of being overstretched, or spread too thinly, or run ragged by his various professional commitments. People have discussed him – admiringly or disapprovingly, but always seriously – as a man who is “working two jobs”. Whenever I read this I always shrieked with laughter. Do me a favour. One of those jobs was NEWSPAPER COLUMNIST.

Look: no one more than me understands the realities of a backbreaking few hours down the whimsy mine. But let’s be real here. Writing his longtime Monday Telegraph column would have involved Johnson getting up on a Sunday morning, locking himself away in his study because he’s working, so “can’t do the kids”, then spending a couple of hours tossing off some repetitive flimflam about this or that while someone else makes lunch. This is not “working two jobs” in any remotely recognisable sense.

Or, to put it differently, my attention was recently drawn to a way of distinguishing between white- and blue-collar work in the US – “the America that showers before work” and “the America that showers after work”. Newspaper columnists are very much the Britain that showers before work - but also sometimes during work. Even by the UK’s exacting standards, electing a newspaper columnist to run a country is still one of the maddest and most self-loathing things we’ve ever done.

...

Johnson is a strange beast. Mind of a show pony, body of a Shetland pony.

...more

[StefanAVFC]

Lined up for Parents of the year are the McCanns and Trumps

[Chindie]

Lots of talk of certain philanderers are making sure said philandering can't be officially discussed.

[HanoiVillan]

36 minutes ago, Chindie said:

Lots of talk of certain philanderers are making sure said philandering can't be officially discussed.

I'm arcurious to know what you're referring to.

[snowychap]

Edited August 25, 2020 by snowychap