Derek Evans Thoughts

The announcement concerning the availability of so called extra places in popular university courses is naturally a method to ensure that those people who could be excluded due to possible diversity/mix requirements that could be imposed on universities can be circumvented to some extent by those students who I would assume would still need to get the grades as any other but has access to full tuition fee funds (£20k instead of £9k) and can pay it up front due to either wealthy parents or those who have made significant savings or has connections to trusts/businesses who are willing to sponsor (with possible tax advantages) including intern availability that means that they go to a good/top university but deprives probably those without that funding availability to go to somewhere like Oxford/Cambriged/London/Durham etc.

Watching this commitee in action, in this case with Dame Helen Ghosh, Permanent Secretary at the Home Office, and Matthew Coates and Jonathan Sedgwich of the UK Borders Agency, it is to some extent surprising how few there are of members on this committee. It is however, well chaired by Margaret Hodge and you have the idiosyncratic observations and questioning by Austin Mitchell which is at least amusing. I was a little impressed by the input of Jackie Doyle-Price and also of Stephen Barclay. I was surprised by the lack of confidence and quality of questioning (just looking at basic difference in figures which was explained by them relating to different time periods) by Jo Johnson, who is a younger brother of Boris Johnson. I looked him up on Wikepedia and again with his education and background would have given to a better expectation. Getting onto this actual event, I am amazed that as usual basic, to me, IT projects are not properly project managed and do not seem to be being deli...

Found this on Euronews website and have tweeted it as well. This is the extent of protectionism that maybe we thought was ending at least in what we consider the developed capitalistic world. Well there you go. When the going gets tough the Italians seem to be called foul. But then is the authority of what we Brits also despise, the precedence of European Union law above national edicts and a requirement to come into line, going to prevent this. Somehow I doubt this. But consider this. If the UK took the same view at least of its companies that it considers strategic, would it allow foreign ownership of say Cadbury's, and American CEOs at places such as Barclays. Oh and naturally when the US considers its company's it has certainly blocked takeovers by Chinese companies of US businesses so do not think that in reality the US is nearly as open as we are because that is not the case. Whether you like him or loath him, Murdoch had to become a US resident and committed to that co...

Terrific profile of @Ed_Miliband in the Guardian magazine today by Andy Beckett, who (almost literally) puts most of the Lobby to shame This was a statement I saw on a tweet by Stefan Stern yesterday. So I looked it up on the Guardian's website. If you are at all interested in politics in the UK then look at both Stefan's tweets, I use to really enjoy reading him in the FT but that is no more, and also the appraisal made of Ed Milliband. Just like many politicians before him you really do not know the heart and soul of a person usually until he has gone. I got this when watching Brown. Most people around me use to be a little unkind about him but the fact was and is, that Brown, though imperfect was at heart a deeply commited man who was determined to undertake what he believed in but based on logic and rationality. The price he paid was that like most perfectionists around the world, toleration of those who do not show that commitment or a desire to learn and from that learn...

Just a short question. What is the difference between David Cameron today concerning actions in Libya with David Cameron on Iraq (to some extent) and Afganistan. Answer: The beauty of power but now the opposition can now say that his ability to hold double standards increases by the day - and see the u-turn on plane requirements to post July 2011 etc following on from the so called cuts that they believe will get the country out of the central government deficit.

So today is the last day and what a contest it has been so far. In a few minutes we have the Scotland v Italy game from Edinburgh. The former must win to prevent a whitewash and dare one say it but the next worse team, whoever that could be would have two wins more. The only thing is Scotland's favour is that Italy do not play well when away from their home ground. The next game in today's schedule is Ireland v England. England are going for the grand slam and therefore win all their games. Ireland need to regain some pride after last week's defeat to Wales. This game is probably the most important one of the three as it will either confirm England's progress towards the World Cup that will take place in New Zealand starting in September, or re-invigorate the planning being made for the same reason by Ireland. An Ireland defeat would bring back concerns about the playing and backroom staff and the impact it would have on expectations at the World Cup. The final game...

The publication of school performance tables has been well publiscised and the edition concerning 2010 has been available for a little while. The relevancy for secondary eduction relates to examination results at what is now called GCSE and equivalent which is generally at the age of 16, together with Key Stage 5 which is commonly referred to as A Levels at age 18. These two performance quotes are therefore relevant for academically capable children, and generally those schools which are selective in the students that enrol achieve higher percentages. However, what should also be looked at is the results published at Key Stage 2 which is at Year 2 in Primary school. Again the results are dependent upon the general capability of the children in each year. Therefore, if a particular year has a higher than normal number of children with a statement of special education needs and that if there is an environment where children are not encouraged in their learning outside of school hours t...