Rescuing Democracy in the United Kingdom from our current Elected Dictatorship

Spin, not face-to-face confrontations with the voters, is the Government's chosen method of communication.Ordinary people might ask a question which throws a politician 'off message'; the Cabinet member might reveal himself or herself to be a human being like us, and not a programmed android. Worse still, he or she might tell the truth. Ann Leslie - Daily Mail, September 16, 2004 Simon Heffer is right; only a damn good thrashing will teach school bullies that violence and intimidation have no place in civilised society. Phil Musk, Godalming, Surrey - Daily Mail 24/2/2005

WWW silentmajorityspeaks.com

Schools need books, not pregnancy kits for girls Plans for pregnancy testing for 11-year-olds at Leon Schol only confirm the stupidity of the headmaster and governors there. Although we live in Bletchley, I made sure my son was educated in Aylesbury as our local schools have such an appalling academic record. The headmaster should be concentrating on raising the standards of education and moral values, not dishing out pregnancy testing kits. the money spent on these could instead by used to buy more books and hire teachers who can inspire the children to learn. The law states that it is illegal for anyone under 16 to have sexual intercourse and this, as well as the dangers of sexually transmitted diseases, should be drummed into young heads. The Leon School headmaster's actions condone promiscuity and help young girls perpetuate the cycle of unmarried mothers' dependant on the state. Letter from Mrs. A Farrell, of Bletchley, Bucks. - Daily Mail 17/11/2005

November 15, 2007 (1598days since war ended)

Death Toll: 3865 US - 171 UK - >1,000,000? civilians - 25 media

Pass marks lowered in reformed school tests

Master classes at private schools for working class pupils

Wearing uniform is a smart decision, say pupils

Failure, failure, failure

Time to bring back the cane says expert

25% of secondary pupils 'coast' in class

Sure Start plan to help needy children is 'a £1bn disaster'

Banning the cane did for discipline, say parents

Wrong to close grammar schools, admits Blair's education guru, Lord Adonis

Ruth Kelly and Assisted Places Scheme

Labour's U-turn on direct grant schools

A lesson for us all

How Labour's schools policy has betrayed a generation, by Blair's teacher

Hain's class war

Marriage still best way to raise children

The untouchables

Has Labour's £17billion extra done any good for schools?

Pupils resit maths A-levels six times

Schools lose £1bn a year to town hall bureaucrats

Snap inspections fail more schools

Children 'lagging three years behind those of the 1990s'

Selection is the ONLY way to save our schools

How many sex offenders in schools? No idea

Bring back school blazers!

Prescott wants to make sure if one kid can't have it, nobody else will get it

Prescott wages class war over Tony Blair's school reforms

Four out of ten leave primary school without three Rs

Sex education policy is a disaster

Can we ALL learn to love our great heritage?

Coursework? Abolish it!

State schools let down their brightest pupils, says study

How Labour got it wrong on truancy

Labour bent the truth on college places

Betrayal of Primary Pupils

How the war on grammars deepened the class divide

More exams, less education says Anthony Seldon, Headmaster of Brighton College

Social mobility has declined under New Labour

Great teen pregnancy fiasco

Losers in classroom warfare - 700,000 pupils a year play truant

Education - Labour's terrible betrayal

CLASSROOM CHAOS - ".. mob rule in corridors, gangs running riot. I gave detention to a child and that afternoon I went out to find my tyres let down and a note saying next time my brakes would be cut "

143,000 'teachers' are really Town Hall staff and dinner ladies

One in four state teachers would educate their children privately

One million illiterate kids-- how many more will it take before this pernicious ideology is destroyed?

How schools are losing the war on the trouble-makers

Collapse of the classrooms as hooligans win power struggle

Kelly backs down on their own plan to foist yobs on best schools - and the Tories' £200m scheme to hive off problem pupils

STOP PRESS

School gets 100% pass rate in maths and English. So what does Ofsted to? Attacks it for concentrating on the 3Rs! Read about it.

Do you agree that primary and secondary schools should give priority to and spend more time on the three R's - Reading - Writing - Arithmetic? Agree strongly Agree Disagree Disagree strongly Don't know Don't care Please click one of the links above to cast your vote Current results

2004 Teenage truancy is now 50% greater than in 1997, when Labour pledged to cut truancy by 33%

A-levels: hurdle or walk-over?

Flawed obsession with exam reform

Why politicians should stay out of schools

Social engineers tighten squeeze Vote for university independence

Gap grows between state and private schools

Social mobility has declined under New Labour

Studies show there is now little difference in the cost of educating state and independent children. Much of the cash destined for state pupils is swallowed up in Whitehall and local Authority red tape.

Killed by kindness by James Bartholemew, Daily Mail, November 23, 2004. Few people today have any idea how widespread and rigorous education was before the great state takeover that Lloyd George himself set in motion as Prime Minister. By 1860, when Britain was far poorer than it is today, at least 95% of children attended schools for between 5 and 7 years. What is more, their numbers and the length of time they attended were rapidly increasing. This was all achieved without any significant government help. Most of the burden was shouldered by church schools like one attended by Lloyd George, but there were also commercial schools run on purely business lines. According to census statistics there were 3,754 of these private schools in 1860 - and they educated every-one, not just the rich, accounting for about a quarter of all working class children in elementary school. Poorer parents liked these schools because they were flexible and responsive to their wishes. Children spent their time on subjects which the parents wanted, rather than being taught what their middle class 'superiors' thought was good for them. Schools would accommodate hard-pressed families that needed their offspring at home for certain times of the day or year. As a result, the parents did not feel patronised or resentful. Education was something the showed their commitment to by paying for, and in return it was under their control. This was a nation with booming private education that was racing towards universal literacy. Yet, today, over a century later, the Department for Education and Skills says that one in five adults is 'functionally illiterate'. This is quite astonishing admission for a welfare state to make about itself. It can only be regarded as failure on a spectacular basis. After 11 long years in the state educational system, 20% of children today are emerging unable to read. "The Welfare State we're in" by James Bartholomew (Politico -£18.99)

More parents are opting for private school orgrammars

Report by Sarah Harris, Education Correspondent, Daily Mail, May 26, 2004

Half of parents would send their children to private school if they could afford it, a survey has revealed. They also back entrance exams to State Secondary Schools - signalling a demand for the 11 plus.

The findings of the Mori survey will be a blow to Education Secretary Charles Clarke, as they show private and grammar schools are more popular than ever among families. This is despite Mr Clarke's insistence that grammars are no better than comprehensives.

The study, commissioning by education charity The Sutton Trust, surveyed 644 parents across the country. Only 36% of them disagreed with academic selection at 11. But half believed pupils of differing academic ability should be selected either to private or state secondary schools on the basis of how well they do in entrance tests.

Fifty percent would also probably or definitely switch to the independent sector if they had the money. Only 15% said they definitely would not. And almost half believed that children should have the opportunity to go to private school at the expense of the Government regardless of family income.

The study concludes that parents are open to the idea of sending children to other types of school, perhaps further from home, when cost is not an issue.

Thousands of bright pupils are being penalised for doing well in new-look school league tables, academics revealed yesterday. Their achievements are not recognised in official lists designed to show which schools do most to raise standards for their pupils.

Durham University researchers discovered that the Government's so-called 'value-added' league tables did not allow schools to record the progress of the most able pupils. This could lead primary teachers to neglect classroom high-fliers in favour of less bright pupils who can help them climb the rankings.

Schools are ranked according to the progress pupils have made between the ages of seven and 11. The tables - published for the first time last year - show how well pupils performed at age 11 compared with expectations based on test results at age 7. But pupils who do not shine at age 7 earn more points as they make progress than those who are outstanding and simply maintaining their level.

"Michael Howard's promise on June17, 2004, to provide a grammar school place for every child qualified to have one deserves unqualified support," writes Simon Heffer. "There is no greater scandal in our country than the denial of the chance of a proper education to many gifted children who are, instead, forcibly dumbed-down in sink comprehensive schools."

Now we know Independent schools send just as many poor pupils to University as State schools - read the full story.

More exams, less education says Anthony Seldon, Headmaster of Brighton College

Top schools drop GCSE for O-level style exams

by Laura Clark, Education Reporter - Daily Mail, September 4, 2004

Leading public schools are switching from GCSE to an exam based on the old O-level out of growing frustration with 'mind-numbing course work'. The country's top school at GCSE will this month adopt the qualification for its maths students as it involves sitting only final examinations, it emerged yestereday.

The North London Collegiate School may also change to the new International GCSE in other subjects such as English and History. It is among growing numbers of fee-paying schools opting for the IGCSE as it involves only written papers with no compulsory course work. Oundle School in Peterborough and Cheltenham College became the first schools to enter pupuils for the IGSE this summer, putting nearly 200 candidates in for maths.

Teachers at Oundle have branded GCSE maths course work 'mind-numbing' because it involves tedious data collection. Now North London Collegiate is set to adopt the maths IGCSE for all 104 girls starting GCSE courses this term.

The move emerged as the £9,540-a-year girls' day school in Edgward clinched first place in this year's Daily Mail league table of GCSE results. Pupils passed 96.7% of exams at grades A* and A with no candidate gaining below a B in any subject.

The top ranked boys' school emerged as St Paul's in Barnes, West London, where pupils passed 92.6% of exams at the top two grades. Last night St Paul's high master, Dr Martin Stephen, joined the assault on GCSE course work, called for it to be scrapped in all subjects. He added that the web had made it too easy for pupils to cheat. He said: "With the resources now available on the Internet, plagiarism is virtually impossible to detect."

The IGCSE is akin to the old O-level - scapped in 1987 - as pupils are tested in a series of final exams at the end of a two-year course. North London Collegiate's deputy head, Oliver Blond, said: "GCSE maths course work is not always challenging but it is always time-consuming. This has started with maths but I believe the heads of the English and History departments will certainly have a look at what the difference is between the GCSE and IGCSE."

The Independent Schools Council yesterday revealed that pupils at fee-paying schools passed 55.5% of exams at the top two grades compared with 17.4% nationally.

As record numbers of sixth-formers achieve A at A-level, studies suggest papers are now easier than the old O-levels. Read this story here, then please cast your vote below.

The Parent Truth Campaign has claimed that lifesized 'gay dolls' are being used to teach children as young as three about same-sex relationships. It is being claimed that their use will escalate if Section 28 is repealed, especially since it has been reported that the Lesbian Mothers Scotland group was given a £4,819 lottery grant to supply the dolls to schools.

Medical schools win cash bonus to take on C-grade students

by Sarah Harris, Edication Correspondent, Daily Mail - August 5. 2004

Medical schools are being encouraged to admit students with sub-standard A-levels in a controversial New Labour scheme to widen access. Almost 600 students with fewer than three A-levels at grade C have gained places despite huge competition nationwide from more talented pupils.

Universities receive extra funds to support the low-performing students to help stop them dropping out of the demanding course which normally needs at least two A's and a B at A-level. Critics say the move raised serious questions about patient safety if standards are diluted.

Chris Gayling, the Conservative spokesman on higher education, condemned the move as social engineering which 'acts against the interests of the patients and the Health Service.  He said: "It is quite absurd that the Government is paying universities to admit students without the level of exam passes they would normally need to study medicine. We should not be compromising our standards for medical students just to help meet the government's political targets. This also means that top-quality students with good exam results are being denied the chance to study at leading medical schools simply because their social background doesn't fit the Government's plans."

Earlier this year, the Daily Mail revealed how one talented pupil, Lucy Barnett, 18, was rejected by Cambridge, Bristol, Newcastle and King's College London medical schools. This was despite predictions that the student from Charterhouse School, Surrey, would gain straight A's in her biology, chemistry and Spanish A-levels.

Universities which accept students with fewer than three grade Cs receive additional money from a quango, the Higher Education Funding Council for England  (HEFCE).

Parliamentary written answers obtained by the Tories show 480 full-time students earned university medical schools extra funding of £126,092 in 2003-4 under its improved retention scheme. Almost £22,000 has been earmarked for medical schools by the HEFCE to support another 80 full-time medical students who are not expected to make the grade in 2004-5. The 20 top university medical schools, including Oxford, Cambridge and University College, London, will this year receive part of a £159million funding pot to prevent students dropping out.

A HEFCE spokesman said:"Many Univesities with our support are committed to broadening the range of medical students to reflect better the needs of the diverse communities served by the NHS. Admission decisions are a matter for the universities. They will make these decisions in the light of the particular circumstances of individual applicants."

The Council of Heads of Medical Schools, a representative body, said: "Widening participation indicatives seek to identicy those students with the potential to become excellent doctors. They are students who have not had the advantage of some of their peers but they are no less able than others on the course."

Yesterday Cambridge and University College, London, denied making offers to medical students who achieved lower than three Cs at A-level.  A spokesman for Oxford University - which demands three As from medical students - said lower grades would only be accepted in exceptional cases, such as outstanding students who've suffered illness."

Applications to read medicine across the country have soared to 17,500 students a year. But places exist for less than half that number amid shortages of academic staff to teach them.

Current and prospective Parliamentary candidates of all Parties running for election could share a platform at public forums in every constituency. They would be presented with  the results of polls on this issue expressed by the majority of voters in that constituency.

The candidates could be asked if their own views and that of their Party manifesto corresponded with the polls, and if not, how they intended to represent the will of the majority of local voters.  Local and National Press, Radio and TV coverage would be arranged and the results published on this web site.

Here is another powerful strategy for using your vote effectively in the forthcoming General Election. Send your sitting and prospective MPs a letter defining your requirements if they want your vote. This example deals with the proposed EU Constitutional Treaty.

Your letters would end: "If you do not answer this letter, I shall take it that you intend to follow the Government line. I shall act accordingly in the forthcoming General Election. Here's on to force Tony Blair to resign:

 

Dear Despite his absolute and unequivocal assurances over the past year of the serious risk to our security of Saddam Hussein's 'weapons of mass destruction', Prime Minister Blair has admitted, that the threat was non-existent. For that critical error of judgement and for his gross incompetence in handling this very important issue, I ask you to take immediate steps to ensure that Tony Blair does the honourable thing and resign without delay.. I would therefore be much obliged if you would propose and help mobilise a Parliamentary vote of 'No Confidence' in Mr Blair which, despite Labour's huge majority, would leave the PM with no option but to resign. If I get no reply to this letter, I shall assume you will continue to support Mr Blair as our Prime Minister. In such circumstances I shall not vote for you in the forthcoming General Election. Signed:

Or why not create a questionnaire that you send to all the candidates in your constituency, getting them to give yes/no answers to questions of your choice, and ending it with the same paragraph(above).

Download a printable example of the questionnaire.

It is high time for the people of this United Kingdom to stop allowing themselves to be manipulated by politicians. We need our representatives in Parliament to genuinely reflect the view of the majority in their own constituency, even if this means going against their personal and/or their party's policy. While they may argue their case, hoping to change the minds of the majority in their constituency, they should ultimately be obliged to reflect the majority view of those who elect them. 

It will be argued by politicians of all parties that most voters don't have the knowledge necessary to express an opinion on important subjects at issue, and that our vote is a form of delegated democracy. We should argue that it is their duty to ensure that we voters do have ready access to such information as is necessary to form an intelligent opinion. That, after all, is one main purpose of Opposition Parties in our Parliamentary Democracy.

Most important of all, such proceedings would rekindle in voters their latent interest and obligation to cast their vote, knowing that the candidate of their choice would be more likely to act in accordance with their wishes. A much higher turnout in elections would be the result.

Contact your local Party Chairman. Gain his support for setting up public forums in your constituency on these, as well as any other relevant topics, well before the next General Election expected in 2005. You should then, depending on the integrity of the candidate of your choice, feel fairly certain that your view on any subject being debated in Parliament will more accurately be reflected by your representative in that assembly.

If you have suggestions for additional subjects, or material to include in the pages linked to the subjects listed, please contact the webmaster.