Its all going to be sorted out…

Schoolchildren should swear oaths of allegiance in a bid to tackle a “diminution in national pride”, former Attorney General Lord Goldsmith has said.

The peer insisted such measures were needed because Britain had become a more “divided country” with less sense of “belonging” over recent years. Not enough was currently being done in schools to encourage young people to take a constructive role in society, he said.

The recommendation for expanding citizenship ceremonies features in a wide-ranging review carried out by Lord Goldsmith for Prime Minister Gordon Brown. “I have looked with the aid of research at what the situation is,” Lord Goldsmith told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme.

“Certainly there is not a crisis of national identity — I’m sure we would all see it if there were. But certainly the research does tend to show that there has been a diminution in national pride in the sense of belonging and it is a particularly generational thing. The citizenship ceremonies, which is one of the many things that I have suggested, are a way of marking that passage from being a student of citizenship to being a citizen in practice.”

Lord Goldsmith said the UK had always “done well” out of immigration, but that and other factors were affecting the fabric of society. “We are a more individualist society — in some respects, we are a more divided country,” he said. “Increased mobility within the country, as well as between countries, tends to that sense as well.”

He continued: “It’s something that has happened, you can’t turn the clock back. But I do think it makes sense to look at ways to promote a sense of shared belonging, that you are part of a community with a common venture, to integrate better new members to our society.”

Lord Goldsmith said the ceremonies need not necessarily involve an oath of allegiance to the Queen, which could prove a sticking point for republicans. “It can be a pledge of commitment to the country, it can be a statement of what the rights and responsibilities of citizens are,” he added.

Lord Goldsmith’s report is expected to suggest that the content of citizenship ceremonies — which are currently attended by foreigners taking British nationality — should be “re-energised”.

The study is also likely to clarify the legal rights and responsibilities associated with citizenship, and call for a major overhaul of “archaic” treason legislation. Laws such as sleeping with the wife of the heir to the throne, which carries life imprisonment, would be scrapped or reformed because they are regarded as outdated.

Lord Goldsmith has also hinted at updating the National Anthem by removing verses which are rarely performed.

“Red red wine, stay close to me now. All i can do i’ve done, but memories won’t go, no memories won’t go.”

Teachers have threatened Gordon Brown with a rolling campaign of industrial action over pay and excessive class sizes.

The National Union of Teachers (NUT) will prepare for a ballot of members on a series of possible strikes in England and Wales.

Delegates at the NUT’s annual conference in Manchester condemned the Prime Minster’s approach to limiting public sector workers’ pay.

Ian Murch, from the NUT’s ruling executive, told the conference: “If I were you Mr Brown I would be doing my sums again. You wouldn’t like us when we are angry — and we are getting a bit angry now.”

Mr Murch told Schools Secretary Ed Balls, the Prime Minister’s closest Cabinet ally, to prepare for a fight. “If I were you Mr Balls, I would put my tin hat on right now.”

The union is already balloting members on a one-day strike over pay, provisionally scheduled for April 24.

The motion delegates passed authorises a ballot “at the earliest opportunity” after next month’s planned strike for further industrial action.

Ministers have announced a 2.45% rise for teachers in England and Wales this year, with further rises of 2.3% in 2009 and 2010.

The NUT claims the offer represents a real-terms pay cut as it is below the rate of inflation.

NUT president Bill Greenshields said: “Teachers’ pay is not something separate from the fight for education. Only with decent pay will we attract the best to be teachers. We don’t do the job for money, but we can’t do it without.”

http://news.aol.co.uk/strike-threat-teachers-plan-vote/article/20080322114509990003

“Red red wine, stay close to me now. All i can do i’ve done, but memories won’t go, no memories won’t go.”

Working class ‘has lower IQ’

The working classes have lower IQs than those from wealthier backgrounds and should not be expected to win places at top universities, an academic has claimed.

Bruce Charlton, reader in evolutionary psychiatry at Newcastle University, suggested that the low numbers of working-class students at elite universities was the “natural outcome” of IQ differences between classes.

In a paper shown to the Times Higher Education magazine, Dr Charlton questioned the Government’s drive to get more students from poor backgrounds into top universities like Oxford and Cambridge.

He said: “The UK Government has spent a great deal of time and effort in asserting that universities, especially Oxford and Cambridge, are unfairly excluding people from low social class backgrounds and privileging those from higher social classes.

“Yet in all this debate a simple and vital fact has been missed: higher social classes have a significantly higher average IQ than lower social classes.”

The fact that so few students from poor families get into Oxbridge is not down to “prejudice” but “meritocracy”, he said.

The Government criticised Dr Charlton’s comments. Higher education minister Bill Rammell said: “These arguments have a definite tone of ‘people should know their place’.

“There are young people with talent, ability and the potential to benefit from higher education who do not currently do so. That should concern us all.”

Sally Hunt, general secretary of the University and College Union, said: “It should come as little surprise that people who enjoy a more privileged upbringing have a better start in life.

“It is up to all of us to ensure that not having access to the social and educational benefits that money provides is not a barrier to achieving one’s full potential.”

http://news.aol.co.uk/working-class-has-lower-iq/article/20080521233209990001

“Red red wine, stay close to me now. All i can do i’ve done, but memories won’t go, no memories won’t go.”

WOULDN’T YOU FIND it a bit fucking odd if you were told 19 British Prime Ministers went to the same school? Well… they did… they all went to Eton the poshest public school in the country. It would have been 20 but Tony Blair went to Fettes public school – described as ‘the Eton of the North’. But don’t worry…there’ll be another one along in a

minute.

David Cameron went to Eton… then the well trod path to Oxbridge and government. 15 of his Tory front benchers also went to Eton including chums George Osborne and Boris Johnson… then on to Oxbridge. But apparently talk of an upper class elite running the

country is out of date! Under the last five years of New Labour Old Etonians

using the old school tie to get into Oxford has increased by 70%!!

Recent surveys have shown that the privately educated dominate practically every aspect of our

lives… government, civil service, education, television, newspapers, culture, finance, public services, private companies, corporations… even fucking comedy.

Listen to Daniel Wright director of ‘Hot Fuzz’ talking about his days as a ‘Bluecoat Boy’… or Tory Toffs like Guy Ritchie passing himself off as a “well’ard” type geezer… or David Baddiel and the rest of the class tourists eulogising over football like no one had heard

about it before they got their class credentials by association.

There is no aspect of our lives they have not colonised from where we live to what we fucking eat. Even the alleged opposition to the government in the anti-war movement is led by Oxbridge toffs like Tony Benn, Tariq Ali and Ken Loach

The Class war is ongoing and we’re fucking losing it. When Douglas Hurd lost the Tory party leadership to John Major he blamed his Old Etonian past saying the days were gone when an Old Etonian could be Prime Minister in a modern democracy. How wrong he was! The class divide is as strong as ever despite David Cameron’s attempts to pass himself off as an ordinary

decent bloke.

From class war No. 92

“Red red wine, stay close to me now. All i can do i’ve done, but memories won’t go, no memories won’t go.”

Conservatives have branded the educational inequality gap in English schools “a national disgrace” after figures showed that almost half of children from deprived backgrounds fail to get a single good GCSE.

Some 45% of children eligible for free school meals failed to get a GCSE at grade C or better in 2006/07, compared to 24% of pupils generally, according to official statistics released by the Department for Children, Schools and Families in response to Tory questions.

Only one in 16 of the 80,000 children receiving free school meals stayed on in education after the age of 16 in 2006/07 — a total of just over 5,000 young people.

And just 176 young people from deprived backgrounds — about 0.2% of the total in that age group — gained the three As at A-level which are needed to get into the top universities.

Children on free school meals were 193 times more likely to leave school without a GCSE at a good grade than to stay on and gain three As at A-level.

Shadow children’s secretary Michael Gove said: “For all Gordon Brown’s talk of creating a fair society with opportunity for all, the reality is very different.

“A child from a deprived background is 193 times more likely to leave school without a single good GCSE than they are to get three As at A-level.

“This level of inequality is a national disgrace and a block on opportunity. Reforming our schools and strengthening our families is the key to building a better, happier and fairer society.”

Mr Gove was speaking ahead of a speech he is due to give on Monday about strengthening the family.

http://news.aol.co.uk/tories-claim-student-inequality-gap/article/20080802215331103520040