Education secretary Michael Gove considers fast-track plan Michael Gove is considering plans to allow the brightest pupils to skip GCSEs and start studying for A-levels at 14. The education secretary wants to encourage schools to fast-track their cleverest students on to the most taxing courses as soon as they are ready. At the moment a school would fall down the league tables if some of its brightest pupils did not take GCSEs. Gove is in discussions about introducing a new qualification – an advanced baccalaureate – for pupils who are bright enough to bypass GCSEs and start their A-level courses early. League tables would measure the number of pupils taking this qualification, which would require the equivalent of at least a grade C in English literature, biology, chemistry and physics. A Department for Education source is reported in the Times Educational Supplement as stating that England should look to copy Singapore, where about a fifth of pupils take A-levels without having sat GCSEs or their equivalents. “We are considering much greater freedom for schools to accelerate bright kids past GCSEs to do either A-levels or pre-Us [an alternative to A-levels] and introducing league table measures that capture that and reward schools for it, not penalise them,” the source said. “We want a league table system that doesn’t disincentivise schools from doing what they think is in the best interests of the kid. If, for example, you said a group of pupils in the top set in maths were going to skip GCSE and go straight to AS-level [the first year of A-levels], then we want to make it clear that they have done a great job. At the moment, they would all score zero.” The Department for Education confirmed that ministers were considering the idea. Schools could be measured on the advanced baccalaureate as early as next year. Stephen Gorard, professor of education at Birmingham University, said ministers should be careful not to create friendship problems for the cleverest pupils. “There is nothing more tedious than being held back when you can easily do the work you are set, but we have to think about the effect this might have on pupils. How many children are going to be bypassing GCSEs in any one school and are they going to be able to mix with their age group or with older children?” Chris Howard, headteacher of Lewis School, Pengam, south Wales, and immediate past president of the National Association of Head Teachers, said GCSEs were an “unnecessary staging post” and that students should just be tested at 18. “Teaching unions have argued for many years that GCSEs have become an ineffective benchmark and a barrier to progress. The general gist of these plans are correct.” He said there may be problems implementing them in schools. “Some schools will wonder how they can get around the fact that some courses are going to be regarded with higher esteem than others, but I think that many will say they can get over that.” Teachers have criticised Gove for assessing pupils’ performance according to the proportion who obtain GCSEs in English, maths, a science, a foreign language and a humanity, such as history or geography, at grade C or above. Gove retrospectively introduced what is now known as the English baccalaureate into this year’s league tables. Education policy GCSEs Schools A-levels Jessica Shepherd guardian.co.uk
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Click here to view this media Via the Christian Science Monitor : Shortly before midnight, the streets of Libya’s de facto rebel capital, Benghazi, were quiet, nearly deserted. A few minutes after midnight, tracer bullets and celebratory machine-gun fire were racing into the air from every direction and residents piled into their cars for a massive street party. In between, the United Nations Security Council voted by 10-0 to not only impose a no-fly zone over eastern Libya but to allow for “all necessary measures” short of an occupation to protect the country’s civilians from Col. Muammar Qaddafi, the dictator who’s ruled Libya for nearly 42 years. …. Music blared, young men danced, and volley after volley of heavy machine gun and anti-aircraft fire was released skyward, tracer bullets mixing in with the fireworks erupting over downtown. Overlooking the intersection is a billboard put up in late February that reads: “No to foreign intervention. The Libyan people will do this on their own.” This morning, Benghazi was a city filled with residents preparing themselves for death, worried about Muammar Qaddafi’s forces 90 miles away and spooked by airstrikes today and yesterday that did severe damage to the city’s airport. Tonight, there was only conviction that they will succeed, a collective exhalation of relief that the US, France and others had essentially said to Qaddafi “you will go no further.”
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Click here to view this media Via the Christian Science Monitor : Shortly before midnight, the streets of Libya’s de facto rebel capital, Benghazi, were quiet, nearly deserted. A few minutes after midnight, tracer bullets and celebratory machine-gun fire were racing into the air from every direction and residents piled into their cars for a massive street party. In between, the United Nations Security Council voted by 10-0 to not only impose a no-fly zone over eastern Libya but to allow for “all necessary measures” short of an occupation to protect the country’s civilians from Col. Muammar Qaddafi, the dictator who’s ruled Libya for nearly 42 years. …. Music blared, young men danced, and volley after volley of heavy machine gun and anti-aircraft fire was released skyward, tracer bullets mixing in with the fireworks erupting over downtown. Overlooking the intersection is a billboard put up in late February that reads: “No to foreign intervention. The Libyan people will do this on their own.” This morning, Benghazi was a city filled with residents preparing themselves for death, worried about Muammar Qaddafi’s forces 90 miles away and spooked by airstrikes today and yesterday that did severe damage to the city’s airport. Tonight, there was only conviction that they will succeed, a collective exhalation of relief that the US, France and others had essentially said to Qaddafi “you will go no further.”
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Following the March 8 release of an undercover sting video of NPR executive Ron Schiller calling Tea Party members “racist,” CBS initially gave no coverage to the ensuing scandal and resignations of him and NPR President Vivian Schiller. However, it turns out that the controversy was covered by a CBS News broadcast, the barely-watched 4 A.M. Morning News. On Thursday's CBS Evening News, anchor Katie Couric did a news brief on House Republicans voting to de-fund NPR: “Republicans say NPR does well enough to fund itself, but Democrats say a cutoff of federal money would cripple some 600 public radio stations.” She failed to make any mention of the scandal that preceded the vote. On the March 10 CBS Morning News at 4 A.M. ET, anchor Betty Nguyen did only a slightly longer news brief on the release of the sting video: 4:11AM ET
Continue reading …Following the March 8 release of an undercover sting video of NPR executive Ron Schiller calling Tea Party members “racist,” CBS initially gave no coverage to the ensuing scandal and resignations of him and NPR President Vivian Schiller. However, it turns out that the controversy was covered by a CBS News broadcast, the barely-watched 4 A.M. Morning News. On Thursday's CBS Evening News, anchor Katie Couric did a news brief on House Republicans voting to de-fund NPR: “Republicans say NPR does well enough to fund itself, but Democrats say a cutoff of federal money would cripple some 600 public radio stations.” She failed to make any mention of the scandal that preceded the vote. On the March 10 CBS Morning News at 4 A.M. ET, anchor Betty Nguyen did only a slightly longer news brief on the release of the sting video: 4:11AM ET
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What are your favourite funny bits from Red Nose day? We start you off with our most memorable 10 Tonight Comic Relief will take over BBC1 for another night of sketches, boybands, special one-off episodes, hastily written scripts, “Davina McCall holding the hand of an African boy while crouching down and saying a phone number ” and over-sized cheques. Last time around the charitython raised £82m for initiatives and projects to help vulnerable people in the UK and around the world – enough to gladden even the hearts of those currently being bullied into “doing something funny for money” in the office when they’d rather be “avoiding eye contact with their colleagues for money”. So over 23 years Red Nose day has brought us plenty of memorable moments and helped a great many people. Here are our favourite 10. Which have we missed? Add your funniest moments in the comments (and while you’re laughing, don’t forget to donate ). Wayne and Waynetta Slob (1997) Funniest bit: Waynetta’s revelation that Jonathan Ross has made her “quite wet”. Ricky Gervais’s fake trip to Kenya (2007) Funniest bit: Stephen Merchant asking if he could join in too. Smithy meets the England team (2009) Funniest bit: Advice to Crouchy to “let the Robot fear you”. Lying to Michael Jackson (2003) Funniest bit: Jacko’s spending spree in the “exquisite shop”. Tony Ferrino and Björk (1997) Funniest bit: The line “the memory still lingers/you cooking the kids’ fish fingers”. The Prime Minister meets Catherine Tate (2007) Funniest bit: “Lauren? Am I bothered?” Ali G meets Posh and Becks (2001) Funniest bit: “Is your little boy starting to put sentences together?” Alan Partridge and Peter Kay at the boxing gym (2001) Funniest bit: Those tight red shorts. French and Saunders talk sex (1988) Funniest bit: “Have you ever seen a man’s toilet parts?” Ted and Ralph meet Robbie Williams (2001) Funniest bit: Ralph’s awkward introduction: “I’m Ralph the loner, er, the owner.” Comic Relief Comedy Entertainment Television BBC Johnny Dee guardian.co.uk
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Suspicious package forces terminal to close for an hour while bomb disposal experts investigate Edinburgh airport was evacuated and its access roads closed after a suspicious package was found in the main terminal building, although no flights were disrupted. A tweet sent by the airport’s operator, BAA, at 11.30am on Friday said: “We’re closed until 3pm due to an ongoing incident. Please do not travel to the airport as the roads are closed. We’ll update when we can.” Passengers and staff were evacuated from the terminal building while police and bomb disposal experts investigated. The package was declared safe and the airport reopened fully at about 12.30pm. A spokeswoman for Lothian and Borders police said: “The package has been examined and deemed safe and everybody has been stood down.” Edinburgh Transport Scotland Severin Carrell guardian.co.uk
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Missing chef’s murderer may already have spoken to police, says head of inquiry team as father appeals to killer’s conscience Police and relatives have made a new attempt to increase pressure on the presumed killer of Claudia Lawrence, the university chef who disappeared two years ago. The murder inquiry has been scaled down after repeated frustrations over the fate of the 37-year-old, but detectives believe their quarry may retain links with York, where she vanished on her usual walk to work, and could be among hundreds of people already interviewed. The head of the investigation, Detective Superintendent Ray Galloway, said on Friday that there was “a real potential” that he and his team might have spoken to the killer. The North Yorkshire force believes that Lawrence’s “complex and mysterious” connections to a number of male friends hold the answer to the riddle. “I have a knowledge and understanding and context of Claudia’s life and her relationships,” said Galloway. “I just need somebody to make sense of elements of that information. There are certain people in particular that I need further information about.” Suggestions that some of these may be married men unwilling to give information about any friendship with Lawrence have been part of the inquiry’s frustrations. But Galloway said he was encouraged by unflagging public interest in the case. “I think about the investigation day in, day out. I think people expect me to continue working on it, on behalf of Claudia’s family and the wider community,” he said. “Until Claudia’s killer is brought to justice there is a danger and we need to resolve it.” The original inquiry team is no longer working full-time on the case but Galloway said officers could be recalled at short notice to deal with fresh developments. Meanwhile, Lawrence’s father appealed to the conscience of both the presumed killer and anyone who might be shielding them. Speaking at the University of York, where Lawrence failed to arrive at her college kitchen on 19 March 2009, after being seen the previous evening close to her home in the suburb of Heworth, Peter Lawrence said the family was “distraught” at the continuing failure to resolve the case. “I have said continuously throughout the past two years there is someone out there who does know what happened to Claudia,” he said. “There’s someone who knows a member of their family or a neighbour or a workmate or a friend who they know has some information about Claudia’s disappearance. “If they have any conscience at all, they must come forward. They must know what we are going through and we really do need to be put out of this anguish which has plagued the family for the past two years.” Lawrence’s mother, Joan, who is divorced from Peter Lawrence, said this week that she believed her daughter was alive, and dismissed talk of multiple boyfriends as “not the Claudia I know”. Galloway said that if Claudia walked through the door it would be “the best birthday present ever” but admitted that finding her alive was unlikely. Crime Martin Wainwright guardian.co.uk
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Christopher Grady, who tried to kill six-year-old son in same incident, faces life sentence A father is facing a life sentence after being convicted of murdering his five-year-old daughter by deliberately driving his car into a freezing river with her inside. Christopher Grady, 42, was also found guilty of attempting to murder his son, then six, who was also in the car. Birmingham crown court heard that Grady drove to the house of his estranged partner, Kim Smith, in Evesham, Worcestershire, in February last year, telling her: “You’ve got 10 seconds to say goodbye to your kids, and then they are dead.” With his daughter, Gabrielle, and son, Ryan, inside the Vauxhall Vectra, Grady circled a field before driving at speed into the river Avon. Two police officers pulled Ryan from the water but Gabrielle was trapped inside the vehicle for two hours. She died in hospital three days later. The jury took five hours to deliver an 11-1 majority verdict that he intended to kill his children. The judge, Mr Justice Lindblom, adjourned sentencing until next week but told Grady that he faced a mandatory life sentence. The court heard that Grady, who had regular access to his children following the breakdown of his seven-year relationship with Smith, faced personal and financial difficulties and had been evicted from his flat. West Mercia police were contacted six times about Grady’s behaviour before the murder. However, an investigation overseen by the Independent Police Complaints Commission ruled that officers could not have prevented the tragedy. Smith, reading a brief statement on the steps of the court, said: “Although Christopher Grady is facing a deserved jail term, this does not take away the fact that myself and my family were robbed of our Gabby just over one year ago and that will stay. We are still living with the loss and devastation. “What must also not be forgotten is what my son Ryan also went through on that day – not only the trauma of the events but that he also lost his sister, who was also his best friend.” Asked about the morning of the murder, Smith said: “Horrifying, the worst experience ever, absolutely shook to the core. He said, ‘Be outside, you have 10 seconds to say ta-ra to the children, the kids’.” Grady’s mother, Valerie Hubbarb, said: “Unfortunately there are no winners in this case. We are all losers, as our darling Gabby is no longer with us.” The officer in charge of the case, Superintendent Steve Cullen, praised the two officers who rescued Ryan, adding: “I would like to mention the force’s admiration for Gabby and Ryan’s mum, Kim, and the rest of their family for the dignity and strength they have shown.” Crime Peter Walker guardian.co.uk
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Activists to swamp US arms giant with Twitter storm and email messages to protest at firm’s £150m census contract Protesters urging a boycott of this year’s census are holding a day of internet or e-action to kickstart two days of campaigning amid increasing fears about data security and the involvement of global arms manufacturer Lockheed Martin. The campaigners are angry that the £150m contract to run the census has been awarded to the US arms giant, while others claim the legal safeguards to prevent breaches in data security are inadequate. Activists are aiming to swamp Lockheed Martin with a “Twitter storm” and email messages detailing the minutiae of their day. Hundreds more are expected to take part in protests in towns and cities across the country on Saturday, with many saying they are willing to risk a criminal record and a £1,000 fine by refusing to fill in the 32-page questionnaire. A small group of protesters demonstrated outside Lockheed Martin’s offices in central London at 8.30am on Friday. About a dozen people – some dressed as weapons and others as arms dealers – attempted to enter the offices to voice their concerns but they were turned back by security guards. Chris Browne, from the Count Me Out campaign , said: “I strongly believe that the more people who find out about the involvement of the world’s largest arms producer in our census, the more civil dissent we will witness, and the bigger the campaign will get.” Emma Draper, an anti-arms trade campaigner from London, said: “I have no objection to the census itself because I recognise that it has served an important purpose historically. However, I think it is outrageous that the government can get away with paying a huge arms company millions of pounds in order to process data which is supposed to be of benefit to public services and people’s welfare.” Draper, 25, added: “I live my life trying not to get involved with companies who profit from destruction and selling weapons to oppressive regimes and building nuclear weapons and I really don’t see how the government can make people comply with this.” Lockheed Martin, which makes Trident nuclear missiles and F-16 fighter jets, won the £150m contract in 2008. A spokesman for the Office of National Statistics (ONS) insisted all data was securely held and defended the involvement of Lockheed Martin, stating it was “a major supplier of non-defence related services for the public sector”. “The contract for census processing was awarded to Lockheed Martin UK – not Lockheed Martin US – in August 2008,” said an ONS spokesman. “Lockheed Martin UK offered best value for money in an open procurement under European law and the EU procurement directives were satisfied.” Data from the census, which needs to be completed by 27 March, is sent to a secure plant in Manchester and then to Titchfield, Hampshire, for analysis. It is owned by ONS and a spokesman said it remains confidential for 100 years. However, Symon Hill, writer and associate director of the Christian thinktank Ekklesia, said many people remained deeply unhappy about Lockheed Martin’s involvement, adding that he would be among a growing number not filling out this year’s census. “I have reflected at great length. I have not taken this decision lightly but I feel that being asked to fill in the census is being asked to co-operate with an arms company and, as a Christian and as a pacifist, that is something that I feel I cannot do in conscience.” Census Arms trade Internet Twitter Email Computing Matthew Taylor guardian.co.uk
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