[Andy McDandy]

It's like Pickles and localism - greater decision making powers at local level as long as they're completely in line with central government thinking.

[Boiler]

A bit of me thinks Greenwich should just say two words:

"Bring it."

[Tubby Isaacs]

The DfE are scared stiff that a load of schools won't reopen in January if they allow any localism now. Schools being closed for prolonged periods is a serious problem, no argument there. But you're more likely to get Covid under control in London by taking the hit now. If schools are unreasonable in January, deal with it then.

[Malcolm Armsteen]

I'm hearing from a lot of teachers - the situation is out of control. The DfE has changed the definition of 'contact' to reduce isolation. Teachers are terrified, families are scared. Fuck knows what is going through the minds of kids bright enough to realise that they might cause granny to die. Or how we will put them back together if she does.

I never thought to see such callous incompetence as Williamson is imposing on the education world and our children. It is truly criminal negligence and abandonment of the duty of care.

[satnav]

I think ideally all schools would have closed last Friday in order to try and reduce the spread of the virus and to reduce the chances of pupils and staff passing on the virus to elderly relatives at Christmas. Staff and pupils are extremely exhausted and this is inevitably leading to mistakes being made.

We have had some very good systems in place since September but these systems are now under a lot of strain. We have relied heavily on seating plans to help identify any pupils who may have been in close contact with somebody who has tested positive for Covid but now that we have so many teachers off many of these seating plans are starting to fall apart. Today about a third of Year 8 pupils were off self isolating so some classes were extremely sparse leading to pupils wanting to move so that they were not feeling isolated or they were turning around to talk to pupils sat behind them, something that has been discouraged since September. We are getting more and more supply teachers coming to the school for the first time so they are struggling to adjust to school systems and learning pupils names. With supply staff moving around between different schools they have the potential to become super spreaders.

My daughter came home today and said that they had forty staff self-isolating. The head has gone to great lengths to keep the school open but it has meant some year groups will be missing a couple of days of school so that staff can be deployed but again this will cause problems where teachers are working with groups who they don't know from Adam.

[Malcolm Armsteen]

I have an unspeakable depth of contempt for people like Williamson, who wear the sacrifice of others as a badge of pride.

[Boiler]

https://davidallengreen.com/2020/12/the ... h-council/

First, let us look at the power on which the Secretary of State relies upon.

It would seem there is no general legal power for the Secretary of State to order that any school remain open (or close), and so the letter relies on a specific provision in the Coronavirus Act 2020.

[Andy McDandy]

So the setting out of stalls for the leadership contest begins. Williamson's card will be "I kept the schools open!", Handcock's will be the vaccine, Patel the farce that launched half a dozen gunboats, Sunak the guy who kept you paid (if you were lucky), and Liz Truss with her exciting new trade deals. I suspect Raab will be glad to be out along with Johnson.

[Bones McCoy]

So the setting out of stalls for the leadership contest begins. Williamson's card will be "I kept the schools open!", Handcock's will be the vaccine, Patel the farce that launched half a dozen gunboats, Sunak the guy who kept you paid (if you were lucky), and Liz Truss with her exciting new trade deals. I suspect Raab will be glad to be out along with Johnson.

I hate to say this, but Williamson's probably the front runner - on account of looking relatively normal.
And white - let's not forget this is the Tories.

It's a horrifying prospect, relieved only by the prospect of Starmer exterminating them weekly at PMQs.

[Malcolm Armsteen]

I would challenge the idea that Williamson looks normal.

He looks dim and unpleasant, at school he would bully the clever kids and harass the girls.

He has sociopath written all over him.

[Cyclist]

As Bones said, Malcolm, they *are* the Tories.

IDS, anyone?

[Malcolm Armsteen]

But they have to not repel the voters, see Robin Cook.

[Boiler]

I would challenge the idea that Williamson looks normal.

He looks dim and unpleasant, at school he would bully the clever kids and harass the girls.

He has sociopath written all over him.

Williamson embodies the "weirdo" that Cummings was so fond of.

Speaking of whom:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-55322985

Boris Johnson's former chief aide Dominic Cummings, who left No 10 last month after an internal power struggle, enjoyed a bumper pay rise earlier this year, new figures have revealed.

His basic salary rose by about £45,000 to between £140,000 and £144,999.

[Kreuzberger]

Note the "basic salary" bit. What he'll have creamed in the last nine months is anyone's guess. I doubt he'll be scratching around for work, anytime soon.

[satnav]

Stephen Barclay was dispatched to the TV statins this morning to try and argue the government's case but he just tried to hide behind the chief medical officer claiming that pupils had to be in school for the good of their mental health. Whilst pupils being out of school for months on end clearly is a bad thing missing a few days at the end of term is totally different.

When I was in school today I went into a couple of lessons where there were only 5 pupils in the lesson and none of them were particularly happy to be there. In contrast the pupils who joined the lessons on-line looked a lot more relaxed.

In the Summer on-line teaching was very patchy but schools have spent much of this term setting up good on-line teaching systems and pupils have had lots of guidance on how to log-in so things are very different now to how they were earlier in the year.