Third of calls to 24-hour helpline related to redundancies amid fears new English bac will lead to more losses Schools are preparing to make up to a fifth of their staff redundant in anticipation of huge budget cuts, it has emerged. The number of senior teachers seeking advice on how to dismiss colleagues – and keep their own jobs – has hit a peak last seen in the late 1990s, a headteachers’ association has warned. The Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL), which represents 15,000 heads and deputies, said some of its members planned to make 15 or 20 redundancies out of a workforce of about 100. A third of calls to a 24-hour helpline for senior teachers set up by the association are now related to redundancies – a big rise on a year ago, the association said. ASCL has run five courses on how to make redundancies in the last year, and all have been fully subscribed. Schools across the country are waiting to hear their budgets for the financial year starting on 1 April. Cuts to local authority budgets, in some cases falling numbers of pupils, and reductions to central government education grants will mean many schools are worse off. ASCL’s legal consultant, Richard Bird, warned that the government’s flagship new qualification – the English baccalaureate – would compound the problem. The qualification is awarded to pupils who achieve at least a C in their GCSEs in English, maths, two sciences, history or geography and a language. Schools are now measured on the proportion of pupils who obtain this and it is published in national league tables. Bird said teachers of some vocational courses or non-English bac subjects would be more likely to face redundancy. “If there is going to be a shift in the curriculum because of the English bac, it will quite likely cause restructuring and inevitably create redundancies,” he said. He said senior teachers were also at risk because making them redundant saved a school more money. Brian Lightman, ASCL’s general secretary, said: “People might, in a few years, say, ‘What’s happened to teachers in those subjects [that aren't in the English bac]?’” He added that his association had seen “massive demand for advice about redundancies”. The Department for Education has said no school will see reductions in funding of more than 1.5% per pupil. This does not include the extra they will receive for each pupil on free school meals. The department has promised local authorities that they will not face a cut of more than 2%, even if they have a falling number of pupils. A spokesman for the DfE said: “Ministers are clear that this is the best possible settlement for schools considering the dire public finances. It protects cash levels nationally for every single pupil to cover rising numbers and demand for places, with the pupil premium on top for those that need the most support. “We know that hard decisions may have to be made locally – that’s why we’ve put in additional budget protections at school and local authority level. “Heads know the needs of their school and where their money needs to be spent to have the biggest impact on schools – that’s why we’re expanding the academy programme to give them complete autonomy over their budgets and stripping out ringfences from local authority schools funding so they can target cash where it is most needed.” Education policy Teaching Schools English baccalaureate GCSEs Public sector cuts Jessica Shepherd guardian.co.uk
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US senators who fled state are cheered by thousands despite Republicans removing collective bargaining rights Fourteen Democratic senators from Wisconsin have returned home from exile in Illinois at the end of a bruising clash with the Republicans in which the state capitol in Madison became a virtual battleground in a dispute over trade union rights. The senators had fled for three weeks across state lines in an attempt to prevent the new Republican governor Scott Walker from passing a bill to strip 175,000 public sector workers of almost all collective bargaining rights. Their ploy, designed to block the bill going to vote by making it impossible for the Republicans to gain a quorum, ultimately failed when the bill was signed into law on Friday. But the senators, dubbed the “Fab 14″, returned to a heroes’ welcome. Up to 70,000 trade union and Democratic supporters gathered in Capitol Square, chanting “Thank you! Thank you!” The crowd included many farmers who came into Madison to join the protest in a “tractorcade”. Local paper the Journal Sentinel spotted Tod Pulvermacher, a dairy farmer, driving a John Deere tractor with a sign attached to its rear manure spreader, saying “Walker’s bill belongs here”. Dave Hansen, the Democratic senator from Green Bay, told the crowd: “We lost the battle, but we’re going to win the war. I think we’ve got the momentum on our side.” However, Scott Fitzgerald, the leader of the Republicans in the Wisconsin senate, who orchestrated the passage of the bill, said the senators were “the most shameful 14 people in the state of Wisconsin”. He said: “To the senate Democrats: when you smile for the cameras today and pretend you’re heroes, I hope you look at that beautiful Capitol building you insulted and are embarrassed.” Although the bill has been passed – restricting public sector unions to negotations only over pay increases up to the rate of inflation – the battle in Wisconsin is far from over. Democrats across the country have vowed to use the scenes there as a stick with which to beat Republicans in next year’s presidential election. Democrats and Republicans in the state have declared their intention to seek revenge against each other in recall elections that will seek to unseat incumbent Wisconsin senators. Up to 16 senators, eight from each party, are vulnerable to such an attack, which can be triggered by a petition of voters. US politics United States Wisconsin Democrats Republicans Ed Pilkington guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …The Boss’ hit “Born in the USA” greeted President Obama as he took the stage for the first Gridiron Dinner of his presidency, and the jokes went on from there, reports Politico . A rundown of the highlights (or lowlights) of the posh annual media dinner: On Haley Barbour’s heft: “Haley,…
Continue reading …In the latest domino to fall for Libya’s ragtag rebels , state television is reporting that Moammar Gadhafi’s forces have retaken the oil town of Brega in eastern Libya. State television has issued faulty reports in the past, notes the AP , but Gadhafi’s forces were reportedly 25 miles outside the town…
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500 more homes to be built in West Bank in response to the murder of five members of a Jewish settler family Israel is to build hundreds of homes in West Bank settlements in response to the murder of five members of a Jewish settler family, including two children and a baby, believed to be the work of Palestinian militants. The events of the weekend are likely to further push back the prospects of renewed peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians. The decision to approve 500 housing units was taken on Saturday night, less than 24 hours after the Fogel family were attacked with knives as they slept in their home in the isolated settlement of Itamar, deep in the West Bank. All five had their throats slit. Thousands of people attended their funeral in Jerusalem on Sunday. Three children in the family survived. The homes are to be built in the large settlement blocks which Israel expects to keep under any peace agreement with the Palestinians. It is the biggest tranche of construction announced since the end of the settlement freeze almost six months ago. Some members of the Israeli cabinet pushed for a more radical response to the family’s murder. Interior minister Eli Yishai, of the pro-settlement, rightwing Shas party, said Israel should build “at least a thousand new homes for each person murdered”. Housing minister Ariel Atias, also of Shas, said: “We must strengthen the settlement, and the time is now.” The move signals a stiffening of the Israeli government’s stance in the face of international pressure for a gesture to encourage peace talks to resume. The prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, had been expected to propose an interim Palestinian state on temporary borders, but analysts suggested that may now be shelved. The Palestinian Authority said the construction announcement was aimed at addressing Netanyahu’s domestic political problems within his fragile coalition. It would not “cause the Palestinians to forego their right to independence and freedom,” said a spokesman, Ahmad Assaf. Further details of Friday night’s attack emerged amid criticism that security procedures at the settlement had not been properly observed. The attacker or attackers scaled Itamar’s perimeter fence, triggering an alarm. Settlement security investigated but failed to notify the Israeli military. The intruders waited inside the settlement for some time after identifying their target, then entered the Fogels’ house through a window. Two children were killed first, then the father, who was asleep with his baby daughter, and then the mother, who, it was reported, attempted to shoot the attackers with the family’s gun. The attackers then escaped over the perimeter fence, triggering a second alarm. The bodies were discovered by the Fogels’ 12-year-old daughter, who had been attending a youth event in the settlement. Two other children in the house were physically unharmed. The surviving children were being cared for by their grandparents and social workers. Graphic photographs of the bloodsoaked bodies were yesterday emailed to journalists by the settlers’ Yesha council and a Jerusalem public relations firm. Government officials considered distributing the photographs, but decided against the move. The hunt for the attackers continued for a second daywith a heavy police and military presence in Palestinian towns and villages around Itamar. At least 20 men were arrested in the nearby village of Awarta. Security forces were also on alert against reprisal attacks by hardline settlers. The defence minister, Ehud Barak, said the “iron fist of the IDF [Israeli Defence Force] and the Shin Bet [intelligence service] will quickly land on the murderers”. They will be caught, brought to justice and made to pay, he added. The funeral of the five victims drew thousands of people to a cemetery on the edge of Jerusalem, causing gridlock as hundreds tried to get to the burial site up to an hour after the scheduled start of the service. Helicopters passed overhead as Chief rabbi Yona Metzger told the crowd that the attackers had only succeeded in uniting Israelis. Settlement expansion should accelerate in response to the murders, he added. “Another neighbourhood, that’s the answer. More building, that’s the answer,” he said. Reuven Rivlin, the Knesset speaker, said: “We will live, we will continue to build and to plant, we will continue to grip on to the land of Israel. More construction, more life, more hanging on to the land. This is our answer to the murderers.” The Palestinian news agency, Maan, reported a number of incidents in the West Bank on Saturday night after the end of the Jewish sabbath, in which settlers attacked or harassed people in villages and towns. Itamar, which is home to about 100 families, is a deeply nationalist and religious settlement near the Palestinian city of Nablus. The area has seen frequent clashes in the past. Israel Middle East Palestinian territories Harriet Sherwood guardian.co.uk
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Thousands of demonstrators cut off financial district of Manama as some warn country may be heading for sectarian conflict Thousands of anti-government demonstrators cut off Bahrain’s financial centre and drove back police trying to push them from the capital’s central square in the most disruptive protests since unrest erupted a month ago. Demonstrators clashed with security forces and government supporters on the campus of the main university in the Gulf kingdom. The clashes led some to warn that Bahrain could be heading toward open sectarian conflict between Sunnis and Shiites, who account for 70% of the country’s 525,000 people. Thousands of protesters blocked King Faisal Highway, a four-lane road leading to the financial district of the capital, Manama. Security forces dispersed about 350 by using teargas, the government said. Police moved in on Pearl Square, occupied by members of the Shiite majority calling for an elected government and equality with Sunnis. Witnesses said security forces surrounded the tents, shooting teargas and rubber bullets at activists. Bahrain Middle East Arab and Middle East protests Protest guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Whereas some people might give up alcohol for Lent, a 38-year-old Iowa man is existing on nothing but, reports the Chicago Tribune . J. Wilson, a beer aficionado and blogger, said he came up with the idea when reading about German monks who did not eat during Lent, but who drank…
Continue reading …The mythical, ancient city of Atlantis was probably located just north of what is now Cadiz, on the southern coast of Spain, before it was swamped by a massive tsunami, according to a team of American researchers. Using a satellite photo of the marshlands of Dona Ana Park, along with…
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Liberal Democrat leader rejects ‘tribalism of left and right’ after party votes to affirm commitment to social democracy Nick Clegg has told Liberal Democrat delegates they are now the party of the “radical centre”, hours after the party voted to commit itself to the traditions and beliefs of social democracy. In his address wrapping up the party’s two-day conference, Clegg pushed ahead in his attempt to redefine the Lib Dems. Clegg’s speech rejected the “tribalism of left and right” and instead cast his pitch to middle-income earners – “alarm clock Britain” – as a uniquely Liberal position. Clegg said: “We are liberals and we own the freehold to the centre ground of British politics. Our politics is the politics of the radical centre. We are governing from the middle, for the middle. “Lloyd George’s ‘people’s budget’ to make the wealthy pay their fair share and give a pension to all those who had worked hard. Keynes’s plans to make our economy work for everyone and provide jobs for all. Beveridge’s radical blueprint for a welfare state to give security and dignity to every citizen. They may not have called it alarm clock Britain but they had the same people in mind. “We are not the heirs to Thatcher. We are not the heirs to Blair. We are the heirs to Mill, Lloyd George, Keynes, Beveridge, Grimond. We are the true radicals of British politics.” The two other traditions in British politics had failed middle-income earners, he said. “Failed because both of those political traditions forget about people and place their faith in institutions. For the left, an obsession with the state. For the right, a worship of the market. But, as liberals, we place our faith in people.” While he sought to persuade his party that they were now on the centre of British politics, in the morning delegates passed a strategy paper that called for the Lib Dems to fight as a party of social democracy. The motion that was passed said: “The UK Liberal Democrats are based firmly in the historical and global traditions of the liberal and social democratic philosophy and beliefs.” At the opening rally on Friday night, the party president, Tim Farron, said: “In the old days, some people would say the Lib Dems are a party of the centre left. That is the party I still belong to.” And on Sunday morning the party’s deputy leader, Simon Hughes, said: “Our job is to be, yes, an alternative to the Tories. But our job is to replace Labour as the radical alternative to the Tories in Britain.” The public pronouncements by Hughes and Farron are slightly at odds with some ministers who have come to accept they may fight the next election on the centre, and possibly even from the centre-right, against Labour. They believe that some leftwing supporters may not in future come back to the Lib Dems. The motion passed on Sunday morning also called on Lib Dem MPs, peers and ministers to spell out much more clearly “those policies which derive from the Liberal Democrats’ existing and emerging policy platform” and “those aspects of government policy which originated from the Conservative party policy platform”. The motion also said the party would fight the election as an independent party “with no preference for future coalition partners”. In his speech, Clegg said: “The old political establishment, on the left and on the right, hate what’s happening to our politics. The old left screaming betrayal every time politicians work across party lines or make a compromise. The old right simply horrified to see Liberal Democrats in government at all. We are showing that new politics, plural politics, coalition politics, can work for this country. And it terrifies them. There are enemies of reason across the political spectrum.” The concept of “alarm clock Britain” has surprised some who believe it is an odd formulation that requires too much explaining. In his speech, Clegg set out again what he meant by alarm clock Britain: “Everyone who wants to get up and get on. People who, unlike the wealthy, have no choice but to work hard to make ends meet. People who are proud to support themselves but are only ever one pay cheque from their overdraft. People who believe in self-reliance but who don’t want to live in a dog-eat-dog world. Who want everyone who can to work hard but want children, the elderly and the vulnerable to be looked after, too.” Clegg also raised an allegation that Labour-run Manchester council was making deeper cuts than the Lib Dem council in Sheffield and as such the scale of cuts being brought in may be politically motivated. He said: “I cannot tell you how proud I am that not a single Liberal Democrat-led council is closing a single Sure Start children’s centre. Sheffield has had a budget cut of more than 8%. Every lost job is a loss we all feel keenly, but the Liberal Democrat council here has kept compulsory redundancies down to 270. And they have kept open every children’s centre, library and swimming pool. But cross the Pennines into Manchester, a council having to make almost identical savings, you’ll find a Labour council letting nearly 2,000 people go. So don’t let Labour take the moral high ground.” Nick Clegg Liberal Democrats Liberal Democrat conference Allegra Stratton Patrick Wintour guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Police investigate horrific bus crash on New York highway Police were investigating a bus driver’s claim that he was driven off the highway before his bus slid into a sign pole that sheared it end to end, killing 14 people and leaving others injured in a horrific scene of blood, jumbled bodies and shattered glass. Ophadell Williams told police that a lorry clipped his World Wide Tours bus just as it entered New York City on a trip from the Mohegan Sun casino in Connecticut. But state police said witnesses told them Williams was speeding before Saturday morning’s crash on Interstate 95. The 31 passengers were returning to New York’s Chinatown from an overnight trip to the casino. Captain Matthew Galvin of the NYPD’s emergency service unit was one of the first rescuers on the scene. He said officers found “bodies everywhere”.clambered into the wreckage. “People were moaning and screaming for help,” he said Galvin said that in his 22 years on the job, “it’s probably the worst accident I’ve ever seen in terms of the human toll”. Around 20 passengers were treated at hospitals. Eight were in a serious condition. The crash happened at 5.35am on Saturday, while some of the 31 passengers were still asleep. The bus scraped along the highway’s guard rail for 90 metres, then toppled and crashed into the support pole for a highway sign indicating the exit for the Hutchinson Parkway. The pole peeled off the roof of the bus all the way to the back tyres. Most passengers were hurled to the front of the bus on impact, fire department chief Edward Kilduff said. The southbound lanes of the I-95 highway were closed for hours while emergency workers tended to survivors and removed bodies. Major Michael Kopy, of the state police, told news media on Saturday night that the crash was being handled “as if it is a criminal investigation”, adding: “It will take a long period of time to determine what, if any, criminal acts may have occurred here.” Kopy said witnesses reported that the bus driver had been speeding on the I-95 highway, where the limit is 55mph (90kph). He said the driver, Williams, 40, from Brooklyn in New York, was treated for non-life-threatening injuries and blood had been drawn for analysis. Kopy said state police were working with authorities in Connecticut and officials at Mohegan Sun to determine what the driver’s activities were before the accident. “At this point it appears that the operator lost control of the vehicle for what is as yet an undetermined reason,” Kopy said. He declined to identify the passengers or to describe their injuries, but added: “The pole did go through the top half of the bus.” Chung Ninh, 59, told the New York Times and NY1 News that he had been asleep, then suddenly found himself hanging upside-down from his seat belt. He described one man bleeding from a severed arm. Ninh said that when he tried to help one bloodied woman, the driver told him to stop, because she was dead. “Help another one,” he said the driver told him. Another passenger, Jose Hernandez, 49, said he also was asleep. “We tried to help people, but there was twisted metal in the way,” he told the Times. The NYPD’s Commissioner Raymond Kelly said on Saturday that the lorry, which did not stop after the crash, was in the lane to the left of the bus, although it was unclear whether the two vehicles touched. Homer Martinez was at the scene moments after the incident and said other drivers ran from their cars to help the injured. State police said they were interviewing the driver of a lorry that was in the area at the time of the crash. They said the trailer had been found on Long Island, New York State, and the tractor was in Westchester County, about 50 miles away. Both were being inspected. The bus, a 1999 Prevost , was being inspected at a New York state police barracks. Video from a camera on the bus had been obtained by authorities, but not yet analysed, Kopy said. He said investigators were trying to determine the speed the bus was travelling at and that a device that can record such information, similar to a flight data recorder, was expected to be examined overnight. “People were saying, ‘Oh my God. Oh my God,’ holding their hands on their heads,” Martinez said. “I saw people telling other people not to go there, ‘You don’t want to see this’.” Christopher Hart, the vice chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board, said an investigation team would be looking at the bus company’s safety programmes, including those involving driver fatigue, as well as highway design and the bus itself. Many of the passengers were from Chinatown, ranging in age from 20 to 50. Fifteen were being treated at Jacobi Medical Centre in the Bronx. A hospital spokeswoman, Barbara DeIorio, said some injuries were serious but she gave no numbers. Five more were taken to St Barnabas hospital where two were breathing with the help of machines. “We’ve had skull fractures, rib fractures … internal bleeding, we’ve had lung contusions,” said Dr Ernest Patti, adding that the bus driver was “awake and conscious”. World Wide Travel of Greater New York, the operator of the bus, said it in a statement that the company was “heartbroken” and co-operating with investigators. “We are a family-owned company and realise words cannot begin to express our sorrow to the families of those who lost their lives or were injured in this tragic accident. Our thoughts and prayers are with them,” it said. Federal records showed that World Wide Travel had at least two other accidents in the past 24 months in which people were injured. The company was also flagged for possible extra scrutiny due to violations involving driver fatigue regulations. The bus was one of scores that travel daily between Chinatown, in Manhattan, and the Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun casinos in south-eastern Connecticut. Mohegan Sun, in Uncasville, Connecticut, has estimated 20% of its business comes from Asian spending and caters to Chinese-American gamblers. Its website has a Chinese-language section offering gaming and bus promotions. ___ David Caruso and Cristian Salazar also contributed to this report. New York United States guardian.co.uk
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