General secretary of University and College Union says coalition is ‘fundamental threat’, undermining work done in further and higher education Education spending cuts put the UK at risk of turning into “yesterday’s country”, the leader of the university lecturers’ union has warned. In a scathing attack on the government, Sally Hunt, the general secretary of the University and College Union (UCU) , says the coalition is a “fundamental threat”, undermining the work done in further and higher education. In a speech to delegates at the UCU’s annual conference in Harrogate, she will say that while all public services are facing cuts, universities and colleges have been “singled out for special treatment”, with spending slashed by 17% over the next two years. UCU represents more than 120,000 academics and other staff. “The cost to our country of this attack on education will be substantial,” Hunt will say, adding: “When you weigh the cost of keeping kids on benefit versus giving them a chance in life, it is ignorance that is the expensive option, not education.” She will tell delegates the UK is at risk of losing its place as a world leader for education. “Since the turn of the century, the UK’s qualification rates have been overtaken by Iceland, Poland, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, the Netherlands, Japan, Ireland, Portugal, the US, Sweden, Denmark and Norway,” she will add. “It is possible that all those countries are wrong to be investing more in education and we are right, but I doubt it. A country equipped with yesterday’s skills will soon become yesterday’s country. “If the legacy the coalition inherited was far from golden, what they have done in this area since May beggars belief. “Last year, UCU showed that the only league table the UK tops is that of the most expensive place to get a public education in the world – and that was before the tripling of university fees and the axing of the education maintenance allowance. “What an indictment of this government that, within six months, they had made it harder to go to college and more expensive to go to university. “They claim their goal is to promote social mobility, but we must judge them by what they do, not what they say. In reality, coalition policy is about putting barriers up, not pulling them down.” The universities and science minister, David Willetts, said: “We agree that education is critical for social mobility and economic growth. That is why we are funding 250,000 more apprenticeships over this parliament, improving careers advice and transforming university finance. “We estimate universities will receive 10% more teaching income by 2014/15. But, crucially, funding will follow the decisions of students so successful universities will thrive.” Higher education Further education Education policy Liberal-Conservative coalition David Willetts Trade unions guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …General secretary of University and College Union says coalition is ‘fundamental threat’, undermining work done in further and higher education Education spending cuts put the UK at risk of turning into “yesterday’s country”, the leader of the university lecturers’ union has warned. In a scathing attack on the government, Sally Hunt, the general secretary of the University and College Union (UCU) , says the coalition is a “fundamental threat”, undermining the work done in further and higher education. In a speech to delegates at the UCU’s annual conference in Harrogate, she will say that while all public services are facing cuts, universities and colleges have been “singled out for special treatment”, with spending slashed by 17% over the next two years. UCU represents more than 120,000 academics and other staff. “The cost to our country of this attack on education will be substantial,” Hunt will say, adding: “When you weigh the cost of keeping kids on benefit versus giving them a chance in life, it is ignorance that is the expensive option, not education.” She will tell delegates the UK is at risk of losing its place as a world leader for education. “Since the turn of the century, the UK’s qualification rates have been overtaken by Iceland, Poland, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, the Netherlands, Japan, Ireland, Portugal, the US, Sweden, Denmark and Norway,” she will add. “It is possible that all those countries are wrong to be investing more in education and we are right, but I doubt it. A country equipped with yesterday’s skills will soon become yesterday’s country. “If the legacy the coalition inherited was far from golden, what they have done in this area since May beggars belief. “Last year, UCU showed that the only league table the UK tops is that of the most expensive place to get a public education in the world – and that was before the tripling of university fees and the axing of the education maintenance allowance. “What an indictment of this government that, within six months, they had made it harder to go to college and more expensive to go to university. “They claim their goal is to promote social mobility, but we must judge them by what they do, not what they say. In reality, coalition policy is about putting barriers up, not pulling them down.” The universities and science minister, David Willetts, said: “We agree that education is critical for social mobility and economic growth. That is why we are funding 250,000 more apprenticeships over this parliament, improving careers advice and transforming university finance. “We estimate universities will receive 10% more teaching income by 2014/15. But, crucially, funding will follow the decisions of students so successful universities will thrive.” Higher education Further education Education policy Liberal-Conservative coalition David Willetts Trade unions guardian.co.uk
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• Bin Hammam withdraws from presidential election • ‘I will walk with my head held high,’ he says Mohamed bin Hammam has withdrawn from the race to become the next Fifa president and has vowed to clear his name when he appears before the body’s ethics committee. The president of the Asian Football Confederation is facing bribery allegations, alongside the Fifa vice-president Jack Warner, while the organisation’s current president Sepp Blatter is also being investigated for knowing about alleged bribery. Bin Hammam’s decision to pull out of the election means Blatter is currently unopposed in his attempt to secure a fourth term as the head of world football at Wednesday’s vote. Bin Hammam said: “I pray that my withdrawal will not be tied to the investigation held by the Fifa Ethics Committee as I will appear before the Ethics Committee to clear my name from the baseless allegations that have been made against me. “I promise those who stood by me that I will walk with my head held high and will continue to fight for the good of the game. “I have a special thank you to my friend and colleague Jack Warner for his unlimited support. I am sorry to see that he has to suffer because of me, but I am promising him that I will be with him all the way through thick and thin. “I look forward to working closely with my colleagues to restore Fifa’s reputation to what it should be – a protector of the game that has credibility through honesty, transparency and accountability.” Bin Hammam added: “It saddens me that standing up for the causes that I believed in has come at a great price – the degradation of FIFA’s reputation. This is not what I had in mind for FIFA and this is unacceptable. “I cannot allow the game that I love to be dragged more and more in the mud because of competition between two individuals. The game itself and the people who love it around the world must come first. It is for this reason that I announce my withdrawal from the presidential election.” Bin Hammam’s withdrawal from the Fifa presidential elections is only one hurdle for Blatter to overcome in his attempt to extend his tenure into a fourth term. The corruption allegations that have engulfed world football and destroyed Bin Hammam’s candidacy also threaten him: like the Qatari challenger, he faces an ethics committee hearing on Sunday. Blatter is accused of having given his approval to the payments allegedly arranged by Bin Hammam and Jack Warner for Caribbean Football Union officials. The ethics committee hearing arises after Bin Hammam and Warner were found in an inquiry conducted by the Concacaf confederation’s lawyer, John Collins, to have made $40,000 payments to Caribbean-based football federation officials. Both deny the charge. Collins’s inquiry also discovered that Warner had alleged Blatter was aware of the payments before the controversial CFU meeting took place. Bin Hammam subsequently raised the matter with Fifa’s general secretary, Jérôme Valcke, who referred it to the ethics committee as a matter of course. It is within the ethics committee’s power to ban all three men from all football activity if the charges are proven. However Warner warned he will blow the whistle on wider issues that beset Fifa, talking of a “football tsunami” . “The time has come when I must stop playing dead, it’s coming, trust me you’ll see it,” Warner told Trinidad and Tobago’s press. Mohamed bin Hammam Fifa Football politics Matt Scott guardian.co.uk
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On Saturday night (May 28) C-SPAN twice ran the Media Research Center’s “DisHonors Awards,” and presentation of the “William F. Buckley Jr. Award for Media Excellence,” which took place May 7 at the National Building Museum in Washington, DC. Before each airing, C-SPAN’s announcer warned: “This event contains language and comments that some viewers may find offensive.” I’d call that a good reason to watch. C-SPAN’s “ DisHonors Awards Ceremony” page now has video you can watch which matches what the network carried. It lasts one hour and forty minutes. Or, you can watch our own video clips of the event on our DisHonors page . Full event in a single video . What you’ll be able to see via C-SPAN.org or on the MRC's page: Neal Boortz, Ann Coulter, Andrew Klavan, Erick Erickson, Congressman Steve King and Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli highlighted the MRC's “2011 Gala featuring the DisHonors Awards: Roasting the Most Outrageously Biased Liberal Reporting” presented on Saturday night, May 7, before an audience of more than 800 at the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C.
Continue reading …Open Thread with The Professional Left Weekly Podcast: Can we ultimately undo GOP 2011′s shenanigans?
May 28, 2011 No Comment
enlarge Credit: The Professional Left Time for your weekly podcast with the Professional Left, otherwise known as our own Blue Gal and Driftglass . If you’d like to help them pay for their gas to make it to Netroots Nation this year, this is the last week before that event where they can be sure they access the money in time for their trip. You can listen to the archives or make a donation to help keep the podcasts going or with their fuel costs for the convention next month at http://professionalleft.blogspot.com/ . I hope everyone has a nice holiday weekend and enjoy the podcast.
Continue reading …Open Thread with The Professional Left Weekly Podcast: Can we ultimately undo GOP 2011′s shenanigans?
May 28, 2011 No Commentenlarge Credit: The Professional Left Time for your weekly podcast with the Professional Left, otherwise known as our own Blue Gal and Driftglass . If you’d like to help them pay for their gas to make it to Netroots Nation this year, this is the last week before that event where they can be sure they access the money in time for their trip. You can listen to the archives or make a donation to help keep the podcasts going or with their fuel costs for the convention next month at http://professionalleft.blogspot.com/ . I hope everyone has a nice holiday weekend and enjoy the podcast.
Continue reading …What? On Rosie O’Donnell Show, They Compare Post-Abortion Guilt to Blaming a Rape Victim for Her Outfit
May 28, 2011 No Comment
On Thursday’s edition of Rosie Radio on XM/Sirius, Rosie O’Donnell discussed talk show host and comedian Chelsea Handler's recent statement in a New York Times interview that she had an abortion when she was sixteen and still feels she made the right choice. Rosie and her executive producer Janette Barber agreed that it was courageous of Handler both to reveal the abortion and to say she doesn't regret it. But when the Rosie crew took a call from woman who had several abortions in her late thirties and early forties and feels guilty about it, Barber really lost it, and compared that guilt to blaming a rape victim’s outfit for rape: JANETTE BARBER: To me, it's almost like saying, 'Yeah, why were you in that alley in short shorts when you got raped?'
Continue reading …Title: The Revolution Will Not Be Televised Artist: Gill Scott-Heron Rest In Peace.
Continue reading …Title: The Revolution Will Not Be Televised Artist: Gill Scott-Heron Rest In Peace.
Continue reading …Title: The Revolution Will Not Be Televised Artist: Gill Scott-Heron Rest In Peace.
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