American glee over the death of the “Wicked Witch of the East” is understandable, but unattractive to many in the rest of the world, writes Geoffrey Robertson in the Daily Beast . It would have been so much better to skip the apparent “cold-blooded assassination” of the unarmed terror master and…
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Five academy schools in financial deficit received extra government funds last year, with one needing almost £5m A government quango spent almost £7m last year bailing out academy schools in financial deficit, official figures reveal. One academy – Richard Rose Central in Carlisle – needed a cash injection of nearly £5m. Four others – Gloucester, Manchester Enterprise, Paddington and Westminster academies – received between £850,000 and £250,000. State schools rely on local authorities to give them extra funds if they run into a serious shortfall. But academies operate outside of local authority control and so a quango – the Young People’s Learning Agency (YPLA) – gives them extra funds if they are in urgent need of them. Inspectors judged Richard Rose Central academy to be failing in 2009 and put it in special measures – an emergency category. The school came out of special measures this year and was deemed “satisfactory”. The academy was formed from a merger between two local schools – St Aidan’s county high school and North Cumbria technology college. Mike Gibbons, chief executive of the Richard Rose Federation, the umbrella organisation that covers the academy, said the school was “probably the most troubled in the country” before he took his post in February 2009. He said the merger had forced the school to move to a temporary site and that he had inherited “huge” financial problems. The school is now “doing well”, he said. Some £3.9m of the emergency funds have already been paid to the school, while just over an extra £1m are due. The YPLA’s total budget for academies in England is £1.9bn and it has up to £8m to award to academies in urgent financial need. A spokesman from the quango said many academies had taken over schools that were in “long-term educational and financial failure”. “Putting this legacy right will take time, often several years. During that period, the YPLA, on behalf of the Department for Education, works with academies to support them in their recovery.” He said academies were not allowed to run with regular deficits, unlike state schools under local authority control. The YPLA figures come after 23 councils in England filed a claim in the high court for a judicial review against the government in protest at funds that are being diverted from town halls to be used to expand academies. The government has reduced local authorities’ funds because councils no longer have control over as many schools as they used to. There are now 600 academies – three times as many as last May. But councils said that the cut of £148m has been calculated wrongly and that they will now have to deliver services to state schools with less money. The claim is expected to be heard by the summer. Academies Schools Education policy Local government Jessica Shepherd guardian.co.uk
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Guardian/ICM survey shows further slump in support for electoral change in major setback for Nick Clegg Voters look set to deal a crushing blow to Nick Clegg by rejecting the alternative vote by a two to one majority, an end of campaign Guardian/ICM poll shows. The survey predicts a 68% no vote against just 32% for yesand, in line with other recent polls, suggests support for electoral change has slumped further since a Guardian/ICM poll last month revealed the growing size of the no lead. The lead then was 16 points, compared with 36 now. That suggests the campaign has been overwhelmingly lost by the Yes to AV alliance, which began the year with an apparent lead in the polls. In February, a Guardian/ICM poll put the yes camp ahead by two points. The latest poll, carried out by telephone and including a representative sample of voters in Northern Ireland, finds opposition to AV has grown among most types of voters. A majority of Labour supporters now say they will vote against AV despite Ed Miliband’s endorsement of change. So will almost nine in 10 Conservatives and more than a quarter of definite Lib Dem voters, whose lukewarm support seems confirmed by the fact that they are now less likely than Conservative or Labour voters to say they will turn out. Young voters remain in favour of AV, but are the least likely to be certain to vote. Among all voters, before adjustment for likely turnout, 28% said they were for change, with 52% against and 20% who said they didn’t know. After adjustment, among voters who say they are likely to vote, 32% back yes, down from 42% in April. Meanwhile 68% say no – up from 58%. The poll was carried out over Monday and Tuesday this week. The bank holiday made it more difficult to reach some voters, but figures for the state of the parties have been adjusted to take account of any imbalance in the sample. In a hypothetical immediate general election, Labour has 37%, unchanged from April. The Conservatives are on 36%, up one. The Liberal Democrats are on 15%, unchanged, and others on a combined 11%, down two. • ICM Research interviewed a random sample of 1035 adults aged 18+ by telephone on 2-3rd May 2011. Interviews were conducted across the country and the results have been weighted to the profile of all adults. Alternative vote AV referendum Electoral reform Opinion polls Nick Clegg Ed Miliband David Cameron Liberal Democrats Conservatives Labour Julian Glover guardian.co.uk
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Facebook is still trying to think like a start-up. The AP takes an exclusive video tour of the Technology juggernaut’s newly-opened Washington, DC office, complete with truly unique features. (May 4)
Continue reading …Hard-Left Radio Host Mike Malloy: When Will Navy SEALs Take Out Death-Dealing George W. Bush?
May 4, 2011 No Comment
If any American with a patriotic pulse listened to the Mike Malloy radio show, they would have been shocked on Monday night when Malloy outrageously suggested that Navy SEALs should have shot former president George W. Bush, and not Osama bin Laden. (MP3 audio clip here .) MIKE MALLOY: I have heard some commentators talk about the fact that, all the lives that have been lost in this war on terror, and now the summary execution of the person responsible. But as soon as I heard that, I thought, well, bin Laden really didn't have anything to do — did he? — with Iraq. And I think his only relationship with Afghanistan was geographical. But Iraq — all the death in Iraq was not caused by bin Laden. The death in Iraq was caused by George W. Bush. Five thousand Americans, tens of thousands permanently damaged and shot to pieces, a million Iraqis dead — that wasn't bin Laden. That was George Bush. S o when does Seal Unit 6, or whatever it's called, drop in on George Bush? Bush was responsible for a lot more death, innocent death, than bin Laden. Wasn't he, or am I wrong here? You're wrong here. Will the Secret Service be paying a visit to Malloy's studio for a little talk about inciting assassins? A million Iraqis dead? Where does that come from? It's not a body count, it's a mathematical guess. From Reuters in 2008: More than one million Iraqis have died as a result of the conflict in their country since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, according to research conducted by one of Britain's leading polling groups. The survey, conducted by Opinion Research Business (ORB) with 2,414 adults in face-to-face interviews, found that 20 percent of people had had at least one death in their household as a result of the conflict, rather than natural causes.
Continue reading …A seemingly apt Martin Luther King Jr. comment quoted by people responding to the killing of Osama bin Laden quickly went viral via Facebook and Twitter. Just one problem: it wasn’t accurate. The quote beginning “I mourn the loss of thousands of precious lives, but I will not rejoice in…
Continue reading …24-year-old was looking for shortcut to park when security door of Hilldesheim jail closed behind him A 24-year-old man who was looking for a shortcut to a nearby park became trapped in a women’s prison in central Germany on Monday. The unnamed man found himself shut inside the walls of Hilldesheim jail near Hannover after entering a metal door on the outside of the prison, only for it to close behind him. He was eventually rescued after a passing cyclist heard his cries for help. The town’s mayor, who also happened to be passing, called the police, but prison officials initially feared the two men were trying to help a prisoner escape – until one of them recognised the mayor and arranged for the “prisoner” to be freed. Officials at the prison mounted an investigation and discovered that one of three bolts in the door was loose, meaning that it had not closed properly. “The doors had recently been repaired and one of the bolts was wobbly. These things sometimes happen,” said Georg Wessling, spokesman for the ministry of justice in Lower Saxony. “The man wasn’t really locked into the jail,” said Wessling. “He just got into an internal courtyard which leads to two further secure prison walls. It’s the area visitors pass through, or prison officers when they start their shifts. There was no danger of him encountering any criminals – or of any criminals escaping. He was only in there for a matter of minutes.” The man told prison officials he had made a “blunder” while strolling to a local park, said Wessling. “He said he had been looking for a shortcut.” No crime had been committed, said Wessling. The prison wasn’t too embarrassed about the security breach, he insisted. “We see this more as something to laugh about than get angry over.” Germany Helen Pidd guardian.co.uk
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Shares soar as company becomes one of first social networks to go public in US – despite it continuing to make a loss Renren, China’s answer to Facebook, raised $743m (£448m) with its eagerly awaited flotation on the New York Stock Exchange on Wednesday, as shares in the social network rocketed in early trading. Investors scrambled to bet huge sums on the Chinese social media giant, set at $14 a share for its market debut – about 50% higher than the expected price range posted last week. The company’s share price had settled at just under $19 a share by 4pm London time, about 35% up on its opening level. Renren becomes the latest Chinese internet giant to make its debut on the New York Stock Exchange, capitalising on investor clamour for the new generation of internet companies. Recent flotations from China’s booming internet market include the online video company Youku and the dating website Jiayuan. The loss-making social network, which has about 5 million monthly users, sold 53.1m US depositary shares for $14 each, raising $743.3m, according to its underwriters. Renren chief executive, Joseph Chen, vowed to report a profit “definitely very soon”. Chen added: “I believe this will enhance our brand and further validate our position as the leading real-name social networking internet platform in China. This listing brings us an important step closer to realising our vision to define social networking experience and to revolutionise the way that people in China connect, communicate, entertain and shop.” Renren posted a net loss of $64.2m last year, down from $70.1m in 2009. The company reported revenues of $76.5m last year. Renren’s largest backer is Japan’s SoftBank, which owns a 40% stake. Investor demand for the site proved strong despite concerns over its prospectus, its internal financial structure, and government influence over the Chinese internet market. Renren’s already-delayed initial public offering was thrown into question on Tuesday as Derek Palaschuk, a board member who heads the company’s audit committee, resigned over allegations of fraud against a separate company – Longtop Financial Technologies – of which he is chief financial officer. The six-year-old company also revised its prospectus to potential investors after observers pointed out potential inaccuracies with its user figures. Initially, Renren said its user base had grown 29% in the first quarter of this year. It later revised that figure to 19%. Renren is one of the first social networking companies to float on the New York Stock Exchange, just five months after the popular social network for business professionals, LinkedIn, declared its intention to go public. Facebook, the world’s most popular social network which has attracted a $70bn valuation, is expected to go public next year, with fellow social media sites Twitter and Zynga expected to follow suit. Morgan Stanley, Deutsche Bank and Credit Suisse were lead underwriters on Renren’s IPO. •
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Jennifer Lopez celebrates the release of her seventh studio album, “Love?,” by meeting-and-greeting fans in Hollywood. (May 4)
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American Sarah Shourd, captured with two other hikers on the Iran-Iraq border then later released, says she has been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress. Because of this, Shourd says she is not returning to Iran for trial. (May 4)
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