Thanks Gordy

[sherry_d]

If the money was used effectively then we wouldnt moan. NHS for a start has its funding triple BUT no improvement in healthcare. UK has one of the lowest cancer expectancy rate in Europe so that tells me solution isn't just more money. Infact its paying more managers which make me rather angry. We had the worst NHS manager here being paid over £175K, caused many deaths and yet she still thinks she is entitled to more. I know a lot of people in the NHS who cry how much understaffed it is working on the wards. That money should have been used for more nurses NOT managers.

The current state schools are screwed to favour the rich, you need to live in a prosperous area to get a decent education and I really think primary education is the cornerstone. Once a child misses out in these early important stages, they have missed for life. It irkes me where I live you have to pay a **** lot more to be nearer any good primaries. So where is the improvement here for us lot who cant afford to be near these good schools? It makes me angry that I am having to work my gut out to get my daughter's standard to something acceptable because the school she is is a mediocre school saying the least. In my DD'school the bullies rule and its affects everyone else and why should that happen? What about the many who dont get this help anywhere else?

Gordon raves about childcare and yet I crinch when I hear him say that. I think you need to have a household income of under £25K to get help with childcare. If both work and are even on minimum wage then you will hit that threshold. Most have to give up work simply because its just not worth paying childcare. There is a surestart here I occassionally go to in whats called a disadvantaged area and its free to go the playgroups but its always empty. There are hardly any tenage moms they were targetting. Once again providing something not required. They should have asked them what they wanted and its certainly not sure surestart.

I could go on here, they are building an academy on my doorstep for £35million yet the current school is one of the worst in and out of special measures. Currently half empty because no one wants it yet its the same school being expanded. Why not expand what people want, not necessarily grammars. Infact one of the most subscribed school in my neck of woods is a comp, why cant they expand it? Once again some privately educated whitehall official making decisions for us in the comfort of their fancy pot planted offices who know nothing about what we are talking about.

I really dont have too much faith in all the politics but seeing Labour has failed to provide me with something decent, its time to look elsewhere. My vote is on who I think may provide decent education and instill discipline and encourage our children to aspire to do well nomatter how poor they are or where they come from. I still have no faith in all the three of them but I just have to exercise my right.

Rant Over

[Cats12]

Agree with much of what you say Sherry'd,
Voting this time does seem more difficult than ever - unhappy with labour, vote tory - but have they ditched their callous, elitist credentials? so vote Lib dem - but they're scary too - would eventually take us into the euro, laisser faire on immigaration, spend more on just about everything but with what?
It's a tough call.
I think we need to cut back - i know this will be painful - otherwise we won't be far off Greece's predicament.

[sherry_d]

This article is the Telegraph sums it up nicely

Ofsted's latest assessment of the effectiveness of the Government's flagship education policy, the "National Strategies", exposes its fundamental flaw. The intention was noble: to force up standards of literacy and numeracy, especially in primary schools. The money was certainly available: about £4.5 billion was poured in over a decade. It was the implementation that proved hopelessly misguided. Instead of schools being empowered to deliver the programme, it was implemented in a top-down fashion by Whitehall. That was bad enough. What made it worse was that responsibility for running the project was put in the hands of Capita, the Government's favourite consultancy. The Ofsted report suggests that its involvement was meddlesome and counter-productive. One school was visited by officials no fewer than 55 times over two years. A local authority official had 26 meetings with National Strategies staff in her diary in a 12-month period. Councils were deluged with reports that offered "no useful information".

[Loopyloulou]

Mrs T

Please don't be too harsh on Lady T. I saw her recently and it really was a sorry sight, mindlessly hobbling around on an NHS zimmer frame. How the mighty have fallen.

The problem we've got is that as a country we're living beyond our means, and no one wants to pay for it themselves, we all think someone else should fork out. Those in work want national insurance kept down, those on benefits want those benefits protected, those with private means want rid of the 50% tax. We'll all vote accordingly, won't we.