OK U-turn time, I met some *nice* OFSTED people today which was great. They sat about 6 of us down and asked questions about the state of the school, which was good because everyone was really positive on the whole. Although I did laugh when he described our multi-ethnicity as “smashing”.
I would also like to quote from a Guardian column today:
“To all those on the left who think Tony Blair is a Tory, I wish you had been here to see the real thing. Note that Michael Howard made no mention whatever of poverty. Compare that to Labour’s child-poverty pledge. He said nothing on childcare, nothing to woo back women voters. The whole array of policies on offer from the platform is strangely thin, with the feel of ideology devised in Central Office, lacking the substantial hard work Labour did to prepare for power. Labour is open to attack on various faltering policies, but the Tories do anecdotes, not killer research.
But when this party is eventually re-elected – and they will be back when they have done some of the above – it will show how far Labour has pushed the centre ground leftwards since Mrs Thatcher’s day. Something else Labour’s left might learn here: Blair’s snatching of “choice” really has dished the Tories’ best line. Conservatives’ “choice” is money taken out of public funds for the better-off to spend elsewhere: it only highlights Labour determination to make services more responsive to everyone within the welfare state. The “choice” coup is just another example of how the Tories did not jump down into these depths all by themselves: they were also pushed by Labour, which still holds them down there.”
That’s right, the Dementors have descended. They’ve killed any atmosphere, all the teachers are stressed and I have a feeling that the only people who become inspectors are failed teachers anyway.
No no – that’s unfair. After all, there’s a slight chance they might be reading this. I just get irked by the fact the *private company* which has been contracted to inspect is probably the lowest bidder, ‘we cut corners the most’ kind of company. It stinks of an organisation set up during the Tory years. Hey, wait a sec, it was. Surprise!
Talking of Tories, they’ve been having their party conference to try and decide the best way to commit further suicide. A fairly novel way has been by screening videos of Michael Howard talking about his first kiss. Guys, you aren’t supposed to SCARE the voters!
And Matthew got me looking into old school rap, starting out with Rapper’s Paradise (the original version) and ‘The Message’ by Grandmaster Flash. It’s surprisingly good, especially if you watch the unintentionally hilarious videos for free at Yahoo’s Launch service.
This morning I’ve completed my effort to validate this site in HTML 4.01 Transitional and CSS, which you can see by the little yellow buttons at the bottom of pages.
Incidentally, I know that the post pages still have 4 errors in. It’s Blogger’s fault, they’re putting “&” and missing the ‘amp;’ in their ‘Email this post’ scripts, and I’ve emailed them about it.
Not the most flattering pose either! But haha, meet Mr. Cooper, the systems admin at school. He’s nicer than he looks 
What happened today? Oh, how could I forget. THE TORIES CAME FOURTH! Oh, I was laughing heartily for a loooong time after I heard that. That’s right, the ‘official opposition’ came in fourth place in the Hartlepool by-election, despite a government that is in deep shit over Iraq. Serves you right, bunch of Thatcher’s loonies you. Shame.
“There is no point pretending otherwise. It is a blow,” said Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary David Willetts.
Nicholas Soames, the shadow defence secretary, was more honest.
“A fucking awful result.”
I had the opportunity, along with Tara Stroud, of interviewing Sarah Teather today, Liberal Democrat MP for my area – Brent East.
It was a very interesting and wide-ranging conversation, of which only a portion will be fitted into the local newspaper project I’m currently involved in via the school. I won’t post many spoilers here, but I can settle one issue straight away – Sarah Teather will not be launching a blog! Awww, yes I know, but she’s an honest person who is not afraid of answering any question which is thrown at her.
http://www.brentlibdems.org.uk/
(A Tory-supporter on MSN who I know recently had as his nickname, in block capitals, GET IT THROUGH YOUR THICK HEADS, THE LIB DEMS WILL NOT BECOME THE OFFICIAL OPPOSITION! I guess anger usually goes hand in hand with denial, hmmm? )
Helen on It’s (waiting) time.: “Fabulous news, congratulations to you both! X” Jun 8, 21:51
