John Simkin

Congratulations on doing such a good job. I assume that all participating institutions have to send in a copy to their national agency. If so, the British institutions will need to send the document to: ETG Department British Council 10 Spring Gardens, London, SW1A 2BN

It's amazing how often I hear that coming from UK-based teachers (my sister has recently broken out of a College of Education for many of the same reasons). When I taught in the UK at the end of the 1970s/beginning of the 1980s, I always thought that the powers-that-be ought to be a lot more concerned about the adverts in the TES from the 'teachers' escape committee', etc! Imagine if a modern industrial concern was faced with that phenomenon - they'd be a bit daft to just ignore it. I suppose that line manager could have felt "good, another bit of dead wood cut away". It strikes me, though, that the teachers with the kind of experience that Graham and John seem to have are precisely the kind the systems should be trying to retain … There is no doubt that those teachers trained in the 1960s and 1970s had a great deal of trouble adapting to the education system imposed on the profession since the 1980s. The more idealistic you were, the more problems you had with the reforms. That was also true of the most creative teachers who were attracted to the profession by the freedom that it gave them. These people may have left the classroom but many remained committed to their belief in the importance of education. Thanks to the internet people like Graham and myself have remained in education. In fact, I would argue that my influence over the educational process is greater now than it was as a classroom teacher or as a successful textbook author. Government agencies even pay me good money to produce subversive teaching materials.

It is true that the far right and the tabloid press are trying to exploit the issues of immigration and asylum seekers. However, I am not convinced by the economics arguments put forward by the left. The sort of jobs that are being done by this people cannot be exported. If they could, they would be. Capitalists know this is impossible so that is why they are currently advocating a system that allows them to import cheap labour. I was a printer in the 1960s. Our union always controlled the number of printers that could be trained. This enabled the union to control the number of people seeking work and in this way obtained high wages and full employment for its members. The decline in the power and status of print workers dates back to when the union gave away these rights in exchange for a big pay increase. I am surprised that the left are not concerned by the impact that the importation of foreign labour is having on British low-paid workers. While employers are allowed to import cheap labour unskilled workers will be unable to force up their wages. This is a strategy that capitalists have always adopted to reduce the power of trade unions. This is why the left in America has been traditionally in favour of immigration controls. It might not be very socialistic but it is a policy that favours the working class. People in skilled jobs, on good wages, living in privately owned houses in middle class areas with very few immigrants might not be too concerned about the numbers entering the country. However, the poor living in run down areas of Britain, have every reason to be concerned by these developments. My fear is that unless the major political parties address their legitimate concerns they will be tempted to vote for the Conservatives/BNP in future elections.

That is amazing. How does a modern company exist without a website? Details of the company can be found here: http://www.applegate.co.uk/company/coz/1194767.htm

Interesting article by David Goodhart that looks at the economic benefits of immigration. It includes the following: Supporters of large-scale immigration now focus on the quantifiable economic benefits, appealing to the self-interest rather than the idealism of the host population. While it is true that some immigration is beneficial - neither the NHS nor the building industry could survive without it - many of the claimed benefits of mass immigration are challenged by economists such as Adair Turner and Richard Layard. It is clear, for example, that immigration is no long-term solution to an ageing population for the simple reason that immigrants grow old, too. Keeping the current age structure constant over the next 50 years, and assuming today's birth rate, would require 60m immigrants. Managing an ageing society requires a package of later retirement, rising productivity and limited immigration. Large-scale immigration of unskilled workers does allow native workers to bypass the dirtiest and least rewarding jobs but it also increases inequality, does little for per capita growth, and skews benefits in the host population to employers and the better-off. http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,...1154693,00.html

Report from the BBC website: A GCHQ translator sacked for revealing a secret e-mail is cleared of an offence under the Official Secrets Act. Katharine Gun, 29, from Cheltenham, claimed the e-mail was from US spies asking British officers to tap phones of nations voting on war against Iraq. She walked free today when the prosecution offered no evidence. Mrs Gun had denied committing an offence under the Official Secrets Act, arguing she was acting to prevent the "illegal war" in Iraq. Mrs Gun, who was sacked from GCHQ in June and charged on 13 November, will soon be issuing a statement through her solicitor, with a news conference expected later. She pleaded not guilty on Wednesday, after which the prosecution announced it would not be going ahead with its case. Mark Ellison, for the prosecution, said: "The prosecution offer no evidence against the defendant on this indictment as there is no longer sufficient evidence for a realistic prospect of conviction. "It would not be appropriate to go into the reasons for this decision."

You can find a good collection of photographs of the Dardanelles campaign here: http://www.geocities.com/~worldwar1/default.html

Football and Fascism This documentary examines how Mussolini, Hitler and Franco used the game of football as a vehicle for propaganda. Well worth seeing. BB2 11.20 - 12.25

Peter Bradshaw has picked the top ten best films on education. 1. Mädchen in Uniform (Leontine Sagan, 1931) Classic German movie, set in Prussian all-girls' boarding establishment, where a girl forms a passionate crush on one of her teachers. 2. Zéro de Conduite (Jean Vigo, 1933) Vigo's brilliant comedy about a revolution at a boarding school. 3. The Belles of St Trinians (Frank Launder, 1954) A genial staple of English innocence, starring Alastair Sim, Joyce Grenfell and George Cole. 4. If... (Lindsay Anderson, 1968) Surreal and subversive, Anderson's satire of ghastly public school life is an image of England's fading pomp. 5. Kes (Ken Loach, 1969) At a tough 60s comprehensive, Billy Casper's life is transformed when he discovers a wild kestrel. 6. Fast Times at Ridgemont High (Amy Heckerling, 1982) There are almost too many high school comedies to nominate individually, but Heckerling, who went on to direct Clueless, and John Hughes, who made The Breakfast Club, almost invented the genre that gave teenagers an on-screen identity. 7. Election (Alexander Payne, 1999) Midlife crisis comedy, as a conscientious teacher becomes obsessed with an ambitious pupil: the Animal Farm of American politics in the Clinton/Lewinsky era. 8. The Clay Bird (Tareque Masud, 2002) Superb Bangladeshi movie about a young boy in late-60s East Pakistan, sent to a madrassah, or Islamic boarding school. 9. Etre et Avoir (Nicolas Philibert, 2002) Gentle and beautiful documentary about a year in the life of a French infant school. 10. Elephant (Gus Van Sant, 2003) Eerie, weightless nightmare recreating the Columbine killings - a Cannes Palme d'Or winner in 2003. http://education.guardian.co.uk/egweekly/s...1154102,00.html Any other suggestions?

I disagree completely with this point of view. Stephen should take as long as he needs to develop his ideas. He does this extremely well and should be congratulated for the intellectual rigour he applies to the subject.

I left the school classroom a few years ago. You could say that I am a full-time e-teacher. Anyway, I spend my day at home producing online educational materials. The main advantage of being an e-teacher is the freedom to decide on how you spend your time. True, I do work for commercial companies. However, I am very careful about the work I decide to do. Most of the work I do is based on my own creative instincts. This is in direct contrast to being a teacher in a school where you are controlled by timetables, bells, examination systems, government initiatives, etc. Now I just concentrate on teaching and when you can do that, it’s the best job in the world. However, I am under no illusions that e-teachers will become the norm. Schools are vitally important places for developing social skills. One could argue that the changes that have taken place in society makes this more important than ever. Teachers also have an important role in inspiring students to be interested in academic subjects. I believe that e-learning will grow in importance. It has several very important advantages over traditional forms of education. For one, it has the potential to be a very cheap way of providing education. A talented e-teacher has the ability to teach millions of people at the same time. Another major advantage is that e-learning can provide a large number of routes into a subject. In this way students will be able to personalize their education (I am willing to go into more detail about this if requested). I predict over the next few years the classroom teacher and the e-learning provider will develop the kind of relationship that will enable a major improvement to take place in the way students learn. Before the e-learning revolution takes place governments will need to increase its investment in both technology and the people producing online educational materials. It is of course not just about money. How you get good online educational materials is of major importance.

I left the classroom a few years ago. You could say that I am a full-time e-teacher. Anyway, I spend my day at home producing online educational materials. It is interesting to compare the two jobs. The main thing I miss is the personal interaction with the students and the other teachers. Now the only contact I have with them is via email and forums like this. If I had been younger, I think this would have been a major problem. However, overall, I prefer this new relationship. The main advantage of being an e-teacher is the freedom to decide on how you spend your time. True, I do work for commercial companies. However, I am very careful about the work I decide to do. Most of the work I do is based on my own creative instincts. This is in direct contrast to being a teacher in a school where you are controlled by timetables, bells, examination systems, government initiatives, etc. Now I just concentrate on teaching and when you can do that, it’s the best job in the world.

I am a member of a forum for history teachers. Yesterday a history teacher posted the following message: If you: -have a digital projector but no internet connection in your classroom; -suffer from an erratic connection at school; -want to retain control over web links etc., or -don't want your network administrator to get his/her hands on your machine, then it can be difficult, if not impossible, to work with entire websites in the classroom. I tried the WebWhacker Education Edition (which costs around $40) and found it to be unsatisfactory, but I persevered with it because there didn't seem to be anything else. There's another option now, which is elegant and free, and which I've been using to good effect. You need to use the Mozilla browser (download from http://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/moz...6-installer.exe for the Windoze version or get off a cover disc) or the Firefox browser (from http://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/fir...xSetup-0.8.exe) and then install the Spiderzilla extension (here http://spiderzilla.mozdev.org/). It works a treat, and IMHO the Mozilla setup is far superior to Internet Explorer, particularly when you consider it provides an email client with fewer holes than Outlook Express and a lot more flexibility. A word of warning - if you're using a dial-up connection choose your sites very carefully, and set the spidering limits low, otherwise you could spend a long time downloading a load of irrelevant stuff! I replied: Unless you have permission from the website owner (highly unlikely it will be given) this is an illegal activity. Some websites will have software that will indicate that you are downloading their site and you are likely to get into big trouble. I also pointed out that people produce free material for use on the Internet. The only reward they get for this work is the advertising the site carries or through sponsorship (based on page impressions). Once this material is downloaded for use on another platform these rewards come to an end. Therefore the copyright holder understandably sees this as theft. Some producers of educational material do it as a hobby and do not seek any reward for their work. They might well agree to have their website downloaded onto a school intranet. However, you will need to ask their permission first. They will especially concerned that this material is not then uploaded onto a school website and presented as the teacher’s own work (not an uncommon occurrence). He then came back with the argument: That WebWhacker did not come with any warnings about downloading sites without permission etc. - some disclaimer of the type that accompanies recordable/re-writable CDs might have been expected. I don't pretend to be as well-informed about these matters as you, particularly given your direct interest in the matter, and I would really like to know the ins and outs of this area. Also, we are allowed to copy a certain percentage of any book for use in school, are we not? Why then not allow us to copy a percentage of a website. I have found the BBC's history of the Troubles in Northern Ireland invaluable, for example, but it represents the tiniest fraction of the stuff that's to be found on BBCi (which carries no advertising, I think, so am I on safer ground there?) I replied: “You are allowed to photocopy parts of books in schools. However, this is an agreement that has been arranged with the government, Publishers Association and the Society of Authors. Every term schools are selected to keep a record of everything they photocopy. From these details authors and publishers are paid money for the materials they have had photocopied. Every six months I get a reasonable cheque for my work being photocopied. No such arrangement has been made for downloading websites.” I must say I was shocked that a teacher could believe that it was acceptable to download a whole website to an intranet without seeking permission. Has anyone else encountered this problem?

I would like to question the idea that the developed countries are really serious about bringing an end to world poverty. For example, Britain only donates 0.9% of GDP to the undeveloped world. Twenty years ago it was 1.2% of GNP. I am sure other countries show a similar pattern. It is true that giving help is given a much more higher profile. The image is one of how it is good to help the undeveloped world. The think tank, Civitas, recently published a report that sheds light on this situation. The report, entitled Conspicuous Compassion, points out that the general public is keen to wear red noses for the starving in Africa. However, these campaigns of “ostentatious caring is more about projecting one’s ego and informing others what a deeply caring individual you are.” In fact, these public outpourings of compassion reveals not how altruistic society has become, but how selfish we are. The report adds: "We live in a post-emotional age, one characterised by crocodile tears and manufactured emotion ... Mourning sickness is a religion for the lonely crowd that no longer subscribes to orthodox churches. Its flowers and teddies are its rites, its collective minutes' silence its liturgy and mass. But these bonds are phoney, ephemeral and cynical." Patrick West, the author of the report concludes: "If you do genuinely care about the poor and homeless, try talking to them ... Don't just wear an empathy ribbon, give money that might help cure life-threatening diseases. Most of all, next time you profess that you care about something, consider your motives and the consequences of your words and actions. Sometimes the only person you really care about is you." http://www.civitas.org.uk/hwu/prcs34.php

The point about the National Guard is not that it is the refuge of the rich. I was instead referring to how the rich and powerful exploited loopholes in the system to avoid doing military service in Vietnam. When George Bush applied to join the National Guard in Texas there was a waiting list of 500 people in front of him. He also failed the aptitude test to become a National Guard pilot. However, his powerful friends, including his father, were able to help him jump the waiting list and avoid service in Vietnam. John Kerry on the other hand fought in the war. His experiences convinced him that it was an immoral war. He also came to the conclusion that the war could not be won and that young Americans were being unnecessarily killed in Vietnam. He therefore campaigned to bring the war to an end. Eventually the American government saw sense and withdrew their troops. Although by this time 56,869 US troops had been killed. It of course took a terrible toll on the people living in the countries where the war was being fought. It has been estimated that between 1961 and 1975 around 10% of the people living in Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos died as a result of this war. What had it all been about? According to the American government its soldiers had to die in order to prevent Vietnam becoming a communist state. It clearly failed to do that. Was it such a disaster that Vietnam became a communist state? Did the other countries fall like dominos as Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon had predicted? Was the United States really threatened by the spread of communism? We now see the same thing happening in Iraq. According to Bush he is attempting to bring democracy to Iraq. That is what they said about Vietnam. But as President Eisenhower admitted, democratic elections were never really on the agenda. As he wrote later: “I have never talked or corresponded with a person knowledgeable in Indochinese affairs who did not agree that had elections been held at the time of the fighting, possibility 80 per cent of the population would have voted for the communist Ho Chi Minh.” The same is true of Iraq. Everybody knows that if free elections based on universal suffrage were held in Iraq an ant-American Muslim government would be elected. Therefore George Bush has no intention of allowing such an election to take place. The Iraq War, like the Vietnam War, was based on a lie. Most of the world knows that. Unfortunately, it is going to take longer for the majority of Americans to realise that. John Kerry realised that in Vietnam and returned to America and told the general public the truth. Maybe, he will eventually tell the American public the truth about the Iraq invasion. Howard Dead tried to do this but it appears he was unelectable. The best hope that we have is that Kerry will get elected and will bring an end to this disastrous foreign policy.

I have started a student debate on Nationalism and the School Curriculum. http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=420 I have also started the same debate in the main part of the forum for the teachers. http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=421 Please tell your students about the debate. Would you also tell your students to add details of their school and country in their signature. I think this is something we should insist upon (see board rules).

In his autobiography, Mein Kampf, Adolf Hitler explains how much he hated his school teachers. Only his history teacher, Leonard Potsch, is singled out for praise. Hitler explains in the book how he loved Potsch’s tales of heroism from the German past. Hitler admitted that Potsch had a tremendous influence on the development of his political philosophy and these history lessons were the origins of his German nationalism. Hitler was not alone in being influenced by the nationalism of his school teachers. It was fairly common for students leaving schools thinking that they were superior to those living in other countries. That was true of students in countries all over Europe. Those living in Britain and France had similar feelings and when they the First World War started they joined the armed forces thinking that it will all be over by Christmas. You only have to read the letters written by soldiers fighting on the Western Front during the first few months of the war to see how they genuinely believed that they were members of an army that was so superior to that of enemy that the war would only last a few weeks. The truth was that they were eventually matched and they had to endure four years of slaughter. I am an internationalist who believes that nationalism and patriotism poses a threat to world peace. For example, people in Britain tend to believe they are superior to French people. Politicians are aware of this feeling and if they are keen to get support from the general public they go in for some French bashing. Tony Blair and his government resorted to this tactic during the build up to the Iraq War. It was a successful strategy and helped to sway public opinion towards war. Individual people will often quote events from history in order to show that the British are superior to the French. A common reference is to the French surrendering in the summer of 1940. This is compared to the unwillingness of the British people to give in to Hitler. In reality, the situation was far more complex. There is considerable evidence that the British people also wanted to surrender in 1940. The fact that this did not happen was more to do with geography than some sort of national moral character. Where, for example, was this superior moral character in 1938 when Neville Chamberlain was desperately trying to appease Hitler by giving him permission to invade Czechoslovakia? It is of course a ridiculous idea that one country is anyway superior to any other. It is true that at different times individuals have made a significant impact on the economic, social or cultural development of the world. Britain has played its role in this. However, I would be a fool to believe that I have any right to take a nationalist pride in the achievements of people Tom Paine, Robert Owen, Charles Dickens or George Stephenson. People should be proud of what they have achieved in their life with their own efforts. No one should try to gain credit for being born in any particular country. Teachers play an important role in developing a pride in one’s country. I believe we should resist this pressure and instead teach internationalism. According to my dictionary, this is “an attitude that favours cooperation among nations”. This would involve both changing what we teach and how we teach it. One obvious example of how we develop nationalistic views is the way we teach about wars. In Britain, the study of the First and Second World Wars plays a prominent role in convincing people they are superior to other nations. The military battles that enabled the growth of the British Empire also play an important role in this. However, it is not only the way we teach history. We have to rethink other areas of the curriculum. I think we spent too much time studying the literature, the arts, music and science of our own country. Our curriculum should reflect the contribution that has been made by other countries in the development of our culture. In other words, our schools should teach internationalism, not nationalism.

In his autobiography, Mein Kampf, Adolf Hitler explains how much he hated his school teachers. Only his history teacher, Leonard Potsch, is singled out for praise. Hitler explains in the book how he loved Potsch’s tales of heroism from the German past. Hitler admitted that Potsch had a tremendous influence on the development of his political philosophy and these history lessons were the origins of his German nationalism. Hitler was not alone in being influenced by the nationalism of his school teachers. It was fairly common for students leaving schools thinking that they were superior to those living in other countries. That was true of students in countries all over Europe. Those living in Britain and France had similar feelings and when they the First World War started they joined the armed forces thinking that it will all be over by Christmas. You only have to read the letters written by soldiers fighting on the Western Front during the first few months of the war to see how they genuinely believed that they were members of an army that was so superior to that of enemy that the war would only last a few weeks. The truth was that they were eventually matched and they had to endure four years of slaughter. I am an internationalist who believes that nationalism and patriotism poses a threat to world peace. For example, people in Britain tend to believe they are superior to French people. Politicians are aware of this feeling and if they are keen to get support from the general public they go in for some French bashing. Tony Blair and his government resorted to this tactic during the build up to the Iraq War. It was a successful strategy and helped to sway public opinion towards war. Individual people will often quote events from history in order to show that the British are superior to the French. A common reference is to the French surrendering in the summer of 1940. This is compared to the unwillingness of the British people to give in to Hitler. In reality, the situation was far more complex. There is considerable evidence that the British people also wanted to surrender in 1940. The fact that this did not happen was more to do with geography than some sort of national moral character. Where, for example, was this superior moral character in 1938 when Neville Chamberlain was desperately trying to appease Hitler by giving him permission to invade Czechoslovakia? It is of course a ridiculous idea that one country is anyway superior to any other. It is true that at different times individuals have made a significant impact on the economic, social or cultural development of the world. Britain has played its role in this. However, I would be a fool to believe that I have any right to take a nationalist pride in the achievements of people Tom Paine, Robert Owen, Charles Dickens or George Stephenson. People should be proud of what they have achieved in their life with their own efforts. No one should try to gain credit for being born in any particular country. Teachers play an important role in developing a pride in one’s country. I believe we should resist this pressure and instead teach internationalism. According to my dictionary, this is “an attitude that favours cooperation among nations”. This would involve both changing what we teach and how we teach it. One obvious example of how we develop nationalistic views is the way we teach about wars. In Britain, the study of the First and Second World Wars plays a prominent role in convincing people they are superior to other nations. The military battles that enabled the growth of the British Empire also play an important role in this. However, it is not only the way we teach history. We have to rethink other areas of the curriculum. I think we spent too much time studying the literature, the arts, music and science of our own country. Our curriculum should reflect the contribution that has been made by other countries in the development of our culture. In other words, our schools should teach internationalism, not nationalism.

It works for me. As I have broadband it is no problem if you want to email me the document.

Newsletter 7 Kent and Medway SCITT/GTP Online Project Andy Walker, John Simkin and Janet Winder (Coordinator of Kent and Medway SCITT) will be developing an online project for the training and mentoring of school based teacher trainees. The Project will be hosted on the Education Forum. The aims of the project are as follows: 1. Online tutoring, teaching and mentoring of trainees 2. Establishing a support forum for school based trainees using the expertise of existing Forum members. 3. Encouraging trainees to network nationally/internationally with other trainees and more experienced colleagues. Andy Walker will be meeting with the Kent and Medway Consortium and the students on 4/3/04 to finalise details, preregister students and launch the project. Personal Messenger This will allow you to send a message to another member. If you have names in your contact list, you can choose a name from it - or you may choose to enter a name in the relevant form field. This will be automatically filled in if you clicked a 'PM' button on the board (from the member list or a post). If allowed, you may also be able to enter in multiple names in the box provided, will need to add one username per line. If the administrator allows, you may use BB Code and HTML in your private message. If you choose to check the 'Add a copy of this message to you sent items folder' box, a copy of the message will be saved for you for later reference. If you tick the 'Track this message?' box, then the details of the message will be available in your 'Message Tracker' where you will be able to see if/when it has been read. Cookies Using cookies is optional, but strongly recommended. Cookies are used to track topics, showing you which topics have new replies since your last visit and to automatically log you in when you return. If your computer is unable to use the cookie system to browse the board correctly, then the board will automatically add in a session ID to each link to track you around the board. You can clear the cookies at any time by clicking on the link found at the bottom of the main board page (the first page you see when returning to the board). If this does not work for you, you may need to remove the cookies manually. Membership We now have 420 members. Reading the biographies section it seems we now have members from Britain (67), France (11), USA (10), Spain (8), Australia (7), Sweden (5), Netherlands (5), Canada (4), Greece (3), Italy (4), Finland (2), Brazil (2), China (1), Denmark (1), Belgium (1), Germany (1), Poland (1), Serbia (1), Belarus (1), Israel (1), South Korea (1), Sudan (1), Ireland (1), Austria (1) and Hong Kong (1). Newsletters Past copies of newsletters can be found at: http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=163 Debates At the moment, the following issues provide opportunities for good debate. I would welcome your contributions to these and other debates taking place on the forum. Value Added http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=402 14-19 Reform http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=412 Schools and Obesity http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=384 Humourous Look at Retirement http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=310 The Ritalin Effect http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=316 Nationalism and History Teaching http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=44 Bombing of Dresden http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=357 Autistc Spectrum Disorder, http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=227 John Kerry v George Bush: Experience of War and Political Decision Making http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showforum=88 What is the Value of Homework? http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=330 Do We Live in a Democracy? http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=243

We now have 420 members. Reading the biographies section it seems we now have members from Britain (67), France (11), USA (10), Spain (8), Australia (7), Sweden (5), Netherlands (5), Canada (4), Greece (3), Italy (4), Finland (2), Brazil (2), China (1), Denmark (1), Belgium (1), Germany (1), Poland (1), Serbia (1), Belarus (1), Israel (1), South Korea (1), Sudan (1), Ireland (1), Austria (1) and Hong Kong (1).

Thanks for that Nico. A great website.

Katharine Gun, a translator at GCHQ, is due to appear at the Old Bailey next week. Gun is being charged with breaking the Official Secrets Act. She was arrested last March for providing information to the press on a US dirty tricks campaign against opponents of the Iraq War. However, the rumour is that that the case against Gun will be dropped. The reason being that Gun’s defence will be arguing that she acted in an attempt to prevent an illegal war. In order to prove this the defence team have demanded the disclosure of the full advice from the attorney general, Lord Goldsmith, on the legality of the war against Iraq. The government is concerned that this request will be granted and is therefore working behind the scenes to get the case dropped against Gun. The possibility of an embarrassing court case was also the same reason why legal action was not taken against David Kelly for breaking the Official Secrets Act.

Billy Bragg has recently launched a campaign to create a new second chamber. He is arguing that the new second chamber should be elected on the basis of the votes cast in a general election (based on a PR system). This seems a suggestion that might well get the support of the government. It would definitely be an improvement on the House of Lords. However, it has two major drawbacks. (1) It will give extra power to leaders of political parties as they would control the list of party nominees. (2) General election votes do not actually reflect overall support for parties. Voters often choose between those they see as the principal contenders in their voting region. This system would therefore result in an under-representation of minority parties.

There are several things to like about the initial proposal. In many ways the structure of the diploma will be like an OU degree. I particularly like the way that the academic and vocational will be integrated into the same qualification. I also like the idea of less coursework and more teacher assessment of pupils’ routine work. My main concern is about the future of certain academic subjects. At the moment the compulsory core only includes communication, maths, ICT plus a research project. (Skills such as problem-solving, independent learning and team working will also be assessed in each diploma). I would also like to see a citizenship course as part of the core (a combination of history, politics and sociology).