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Tom Richmond: Minister gives a lesson in passing the buck
SCHOOLS Minister and Hull MP Diana Johnson has taken the art of buck-passing to a new level, I'm sad to report.
After it emerged that the number of pupils leaving primary school with a basic grasp of numeracy and literacy had fallen by a fifth, she went on the offensive.
She said the onus, in future, would be placed on local authorities to raise their game. "After years of the necessary top-down approach, it's now down to local authorities to get all schools making progress all of the time – no ifs or buts."
She's wrong.
The reason that school standards are slipping, and the teaching profession is bereft of confidence or inspiration, is because of this Government's busybody approach.
Not a week goes by without a new edict from Whitehall asking for another "pet" issue to be crammed into the curriculum, including yesterday's directive. This isn't the fault of councils; they're the poor people tasked with making sense of New Labour's muddled messages.
Is it any wonder, for example, that children cannot read or write if they're having to be subjected to lessons on gender at such a young age?
Furthermore, the Government has, for too long, paid insufficient attention to a fundamental fault that runs throughout education policy.
If 11-year-olds cannot command the three Rs when they finish their primary education, how can they be expected to prosper – and succeed – at secondary school? They cannot. And, furthermore, many do not worry – particularly in cities like Hull – because they know that a life on benefits, with a child and council house, is quite an enticing career prospect.
Perhaps that would not be the case, however, if youngsters were forced to remain in primary school until they had reached a certain standard, and any underlying social and family issues had been tackled? Over to you, Minister. And no ifs or buts.
LIKE the incumbent Pudsey MP Paul Truswell, the seat's Tory candidate Stuart Andrew believes in cramming his election material with as many photographs of himself. I counted 17 in his latest missive; or 18 if you include the garish photo of him plastered on the side of his campaign caravan.
He made several references to his party's success in the constituency, though failing to point out that people often vote differently at local and General Elections. Yet, if the Tories are doing so well locally, why was no mention made of the bin strike that blighted Leeds for the best part of three months – and why was there no defence of the way that the Conservative and Lib Dem coalition at City Hall handled this dispute?
That's what voters want to hear and will be bearing in mind when they consider whether their local councillor can be trusted with national and international issues.
COULD that great political imponderable – luck – be swinging Gordon Brown's way just in time for the election?
I refer to the five British yachts-men – including Yorkshire sailor Sam Usher – who were freed by Tehran this week after a week of intense diplomatic negotiations when their vessel The Kingdom of Bahrain, owned by millionaire Scarborough businessman Andrew Pindar, drifted into Iranian territorial waters.
Six months ago, there's every prospect that this would have been a disaster for Brown and the Iranians would have revelled in the PM's discomfort.
For once, the Foreign Office's quiet diplomacy has paid off – and silenced the unimpressive Tory foreign affairs spokesman who was seeking to make political capital out of this issue on Monday night.
NICE to see an embittered Greg Mulholland getting his priorities right in the Commons!
With Carlsberg threatening to close the Tetley's brewery in Leeds, and move production out of the city, he wants a debate on "honesty in product promotion". Speaking from experience, he said: "Tetley's can only be a Leeds beer if brewed in Leeds with Leeds water: anything else would not be Tetley's." A shame, therefore, that Commons leader Harriet Harman did not enter into the spirit. "I will ask Business Ministers to liaise with the honourable Gentleman about whether anything could or should be done about this," she said sourly.
This is, of course, political-speak for doing nothing.
IF Harriet Harman disagrees with my interpretation of her remarks, she should perhaps take up the issue of the misuse of political language with David Blunkett, the Sheffield Brightside MP. The former Home Secretary said this week that the language used by his civil servants was perplexing.
"They had wonderful phrases like 'stand ready' which actually means 'we're doing nothing about this unless we're absolutely forced to do so'."
Now we know.
HOW times change. Ten years ago, David, now Lord Trimble was one of Britain's most recognisable politicians when he was at the heart of the negotiations surrounding the Northern Ireland peace process. Yet he cut an almost anonymous figure the other day on Leeds station, carrying a very modest bag, as he waited to be collected prior to various functions in the area. No hangers-on frantically talking into mobile phones to look important – just the man himself.
WHY does this country have such an aversion to winners and greatness?
Tony McCoy is the 14 times champion National Hunt jockey. He's odds-on to win the title for a 15th successive year. He's ridden more than 3,000 horses to victory – many of which had no right to enter the winner's enclosure.
Yet he's overlooked for the BBC Sports Personality of the Year shortlist by a tennis player, often surly, who has yet to win a "major" – and a money-obsessed car driver who struggled to win the Formula One championship, even though he had the best machine at
his disposal.
Any explanations?
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Friday 25 May 2012
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