PMs change and lol we're all gonna die (but brexit will never end)

The USA steadfastly refuses to let any corporation die, no matter how corrupt or incompetent. I am not sure this is a better approach.

Anyone have any idea how the "ensure universities admit the same proportion of private school students as in the wider population" bit could possibly work?

You could do quotas with financial penalties tied to not hitting them, too.

tbf abolishing private schools is a good first step to improving the education system, not an end goal

you can do grades as a percentage of each school’s entrants. so top 10% of each school gets an A etc.

Leading to middle-class parents moving into the catchment areas of terrible schools? Ha!

They already live in those places, particularly in Central London (some of my well-off local friends have/had kids at Bedales, City of London Boys, Westminster, St Pauls).

I was hoping it was something we could implement for ilx

xp state schools in London are much better than the national average (there's a "London effect" on school quality apparently to do with the type of teachers who work in London), so if you live in e.g. Hackney or Tower Hamlets you are likely post-abolition to be able to send your children to a school that is good by any measure, even if it's not Westminster

apparently the London effect is more down to the make-up of the children being schooled: https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2018/mar/29/real-reason-why-london-schools-do-better-than-the-rest-of-the-country

Most of the people I know who send their kids private are sending them to board because of how much time they spend away on business (arguably the fees cost as much as having the live-in childcare to cover absences).

the state holding-pens will take care of that when we are in Crumbyn's Red Dictatorship

Feel like in the shakeout this policy will end up being tax on private school fees, which is what everyone saying this is outrageous is posing as more reasonable alternative, and what they were all shitting themselves about last time.

Yeah, I think abolishing private schools is probably unworkable, but ending the VAT exemption now looks reasonable. Yesterday I saw someone point out that an Eton education was not subject to VAT, but tampons were.

and eton has charity status as well iirc.

Yep! That’s why they don’t pay VAT.

unison are opposing the NEC to back remain !

on today programme this morning mcD was asked exasperatedly when Labour will finally unequivocally back Remain, which i just found extraordinary. how many times must mcD and crobaryn explain that they aspire to bring Leavers and Remainers together? that they're not content to just represent 52% of the electorate, or 48%, or whatever it is? it's wild how difficult this appears to be to grasp

feels like 2010-15 again where every interviewer would ask about nothing except the deficit #noonetellsuswhattothink

To be fair, on the repeated question thing. He may have answered the question many times, and the interviewer may have asked many times, but should assume the viewer is seeing it for first time, and always answer questions accordingly.

Its the viewer that matters, not the interviewer

ED MILIBAND DIDNT EVEN MENTION THE DEFICIT IN HIS CONFERENCE SPEECH

Somehow, centrism is good not bad when it comes to Brexit.

or alternatively the best route towards remain or the least worst WA doesn't lie thru painting your face blue and shouting "THEY WILL NEVER TAKE OUR EUDOM" at the top of your lungs

Note how free movement isn't even one of the 'five pillars' of Corbyn's alternate deal with the EU. Truly my enthusiasm for this potentially better option knows no bounds.

see the private school defenders have logged on, with their callipers out already

Nah, I’m state educated at the US equivalent to a well-resourced comprehensive in a leafy but all-walks-of-life suburb. We sent as many graduates to top universities as the local private schools. In my childhood the only people going private in my relatively egalitarian suburb were a) at fee-paying Catholic schools or b) behavioural cases whose parents felt private = strict.

I haven’t looked at Twitter yet but I’m imagining a lot of privately educated RW commentators and gammons dogpiling Diane Abbott for taking her kid private.

Most Remainers would have happily taken the current Labour position even a year ago, it's just a wedge issue for the anti-Corbyn factions now, as well as point of distinction in what is already looking like an extended leadership hustings.

It doesn't make any difference what Corbyn thinks about Brexit as long as follows a genuinely democratic path on the issue. It might actually be better for him to sit any referendum campaign out but there'll be a circus around him either way.

What the party leader thinks makes a difference by default.

In the event of a referendum how does it make a differ-- oh who gives a shit life's too short.

Influence? You're right, though, who gives a shit.

It's your country, after all, not mine. As has been repeatedly made clear.

as long as follows a genuinely democratic path on the issue

approach to this decision looks to be a shambles going from jon lansman’s tweets on the matter

It’s inevitable when you’ve got a massive party representing lots of interests.

shambles sounds like democracy

What the party leader thinks makes a difference by default.

― pomenitul, Monday, 23 September 2019 bookmarkflaglink

Labour is membership lead. Not to say it doesn't matter but there are more tensions between PLP and the members.

mcd's conference speech appears to be a barnstormer

what's it like when you turn the sound up tho

watching things with the sound up is the old politics, i'm reading on the grauniad's livestream like a true centrist

Labour is membership lead. Not to say it doesn't matter but there are more tensions between PLP and the members.

Fair. I do agree that it's a bigger deal at the other end of the political spectrum.

32-hour week? I’m gonna need to work harder in this socialist utopia wtf

Still too long tbf

Is that allowing for tea breaks?

29h in the Netherlands so it's no pie-in-the-sky proposal. Which gives the lie to the Protestant ethic, somewhat.

lot of good policies announced this week - next manifesto will be 👌🏻👌🏻👌🏻

Camilla Tominey having a meltdown about ‘abolishing’ private schools on Politics Live, Laura Pidcock wondering if she has personal reasons for that, LOL.

hi i'm ed conway of sky news and i don't understand what the word 'most' means

John McDonnell claims UK workers work longer hours than most other countries but I’d be v wary of this claim. OECD recently found it had been overstating the UK numbers. Actually the avg UK worker works fewer hours (38.4 hrs a wk) than the French (39) and the Americans (39.4)

— Ed Conway (@EdConwaySky) September 23, 2019

for those on here who think freedom of movement for EU citizens is a worthwhile sacrifice for whatever benefits your Lexit will have, do you do so because you think British jobs should be for British people, rather than foreigners? or do you do so because you think immigration from outside the EU will benefit Britain more than than EU immigration does?

has anyone here expressed any positive opinion about ending freedom of movement?

Indirectly, yes.

jamie vardy iirc

I didn’t know we even had any Lexiteers here, it’s a busted flush