Parish Notice: Server Upgrade

Due to ongoing internal server problems, Green’s Diary will be undergoing a major upgrade over the next few weeks. Due to the nature of the upgrade, there will be times when parts of or the whole site is unavailable.

I won’t bother to bore yuo with the details of what is happening, but basically the whole wesite has to be re-coded and then the existing art of the blog imported to the ‘new’ site. This could be quite straightforward, but as anyone who knows anything about these things, it’s bound to run into some problems at some point.

Full service will be resumed ASAP.

A Day To Forget

Thank goodness it’s the end of the day. It been a terrible day and really not a great day, especially if your name is David Cameron and or Nick Clegg.

It started with a below average performance from Clegg at PMQs as he stepped in for daddy Dave who is talking to Uncle Barack over the pond. Firstly, he waffled his way through the Sheffield steel company issue, claiming that he didn’t write letters that he did. When questioned on the government’s apparent u-turn on the matter, he only needed to apologise for making a mistake and the whole line of questioning from Jack Straw would have been substantially reduced in strength. But he didn’t, he continued to refute the claims by talking about… Yup, you guessed it Mandy Memoirs.

Secondly Michael Howard has been criticising the ‘prison doesn’t work’ policy of the new Justice Secretary, Ken Clarke.

Thirdly, Andrew Lansley has come under attack from Tory backbenchers for reversing the policy on the death tax.

Fourthly, and this is where the huge mistake was made: David Cameron is quoted as saying. “I think it’s important in life to speak as it is, and the fact is that we are a very effective partner of the US, but we are the junior partner. We were the junior partner in 1940 when we were fighting the Nazis.”
He said this despite the US joining the war a year later in 41 after the attack on Pearl Harbour! Now I now Dave is a special man, but I don’t think he possesses the power to rewrite history!

Clearly, in government when it’s a bad day, it’s a very bad day and this is no exception. Perhaps what we see here are the first inevitable cracks appearing in the coalition, however I still think it will go on for the full term by which time maybe there will be a reunited Labour Party, or something else that catches the public’s eye.

Of course much more than is necessary is always made of bad days by the media as good news is not news and so the coverage these ‘issues’ are receiving can only be expected.

Still, just imagine what the Tories would be saying if this sort of day happened under the previous administration…

Pointless Reforms

So Parliament’s best friend, John Bercow wants to push ahead with reforms of PMQs. He is convinced that the public don’t like the current ‘punch and judy’ antics of the party leaders as abuse is hurled across the theatre of debate to the backdrop of MPs of all sides roaring with excitement.
Some say it’s good to give an opportunity for MPs to let off steam, but Bercow is far from convinced. Almost every week he interrupts to tell MPs to quieten down as, “the public don’t like it and neither do I”. Well, no that’s not really the point. For starters most of the general public do not watch PMQs, it’s only politically interested members ofthe public who bother – and that is sadly a very small minority of people. Indeed I know of quite a few people who have stopped watching it because it has become very formulaic and monotone.
Amongst the proposed reforms, the speaker wants to double the length of PMQs to an hour, the justification given that it will provide more time for backbench members to ask questions. Good, that sounds like a reasonable idea, however, maybe not so reasonable when you mix it with the second proposal: He wants to lessen the number of questions the leader of the opposition can ask the Prime Minister, the reason again? Yup, to give more time for backbench questions.
The problem here is that 6 questions might appear a lot in a half hour session, but in an hour long session there would surely be space for more questions, not less. There’s accountability for you.
The idea of question time is to hold the government to account. PMQs does not do this successfully because the questions are preprepared and the answers are prepared in the PM’s briefing folder.
So to summarise, Mr Bercow wants to increase the length of PMQs, lessen the number of questions the leader of the opposition can ask and to dull down the whole affair by making it horrendously boring, not just for the MPs but for the viewer as well.

If Bercow was going to properly reform PMQs he would have two half hour sessions a week where the leader of the opposition can ask four questions at each sitting and the questions are not seen beforehand.

Unfortunately Bercow seems intent on ruining parliament with his pathetic ‘modernisation’ agenda. I agree that changes do need to happen, but his proposals will make PMQs that bit more pointless and so the only natural conclusion one can make of the proposed reforms is that they too are pointless.
I always get concerned when I hear the word ‘modernisation’ as it usually means ‘to ruin a reasonable system that needs tweaking’ and this case is no exception.

Vince: Don’t Muck Around with Student Finance Again, Just Stop Funding Pointless Degrees

I am rather baffled by Vince Cable’s remarks on University funding today. It seems he wants to change things by protecting the status quo and in so doing, nit actually change anything.
The main issue with Higher Education funding is that there are too many people in it and too many useless degrees.
Whatever funding structure is in place will never satisfy everyone. The problem we have is that the government is telling everyone to go to University, but no one seems to want to pay for it. With every change to the tuition fees and loan system it basically shifts more costs onto the government from the student or vice versa. In the 60s and 70s you only went to university to do a proper degree that either led directly to job or gave you the skills necessary to compete in your chosen field. Now the Market is over inflated and as a result it is too expensive. I am yet to find a complete solution, however for fear of rambling on endlessly here, I will simply quote Fraser Nelson who as per usual hits the nail right on the head:

There are plenty hard questions to ask. The main one is what I regard as a national scandal: young people being missold useless degrees that benefit neither students nor society. They get fed this line, about how graduates earn more, and are led to believe that the letters MA after your name mean an extra £7k or more, for life. You can bet such studies merge together Oxford degrees in Science with media studies courses to claim that the degree – not the subject or institution – is what matters.

Media studies is a particular bugbear of mine. I was talking to the head of a large newspaper company the other day (not one I write for) who said that no media studies graduates worked anywhere in the whole company. In my own case, no employer has ever asked even if I have a degree – let alone if it was a 2:1 or what it was in. Two of The Spectator’s (excellent) staff started out as PAs. Journalism is a trade, people are judged by their output. You really are only as good as your last story.

And yet you now get some unis offering an MA in Political Journalism – as if, armed with this degree, you go off to work in the lobby. Similar cons operate everywhere in higher education. The college heads pick a job people want to do, offer a course in it, all on the often false basis that a degree in the subject will better enable you to do the job.

UPDATE: letters in Friday’s Telegraph also make a couple of very valid and important points on this matter:

SIR – The news that 225,000 people will miss out on university this autumn (report, July 16) is an opportunity to take a serious look at alternative options.

By positioning university as a cure-all for the nation’s skills deficit, successive governments have created a “university or bust” mindset that casts on-the-job training as a poor relation.

Campuses are filled with students who would learn more outside the academic sphere. Not everyone benefits from a degree; it is time that young people, their families and educational establishments considered the alternatives.

By improving vocational qualifications we can have a more balanced workforce of both graduates and apprentices. Businesses will then get what they want most: well-trained staff who are up to the task of rebuilding our economy.

Another says:

“SIR – A graduate tax (report, July 16) should not even be contemplated. It will make no difference to the fiscal crisis, and it will not produce a desirable restructuring of the education system.

The proposition that an individual will now earn more after taking a degree is dubious. It was true for earlier generations, when only a small proportion went to university. When half the population goes to university, a degree, as such, becomes meaningless.

Persuading half our young people that they should go to university on this basis is fraudulent.”

And finally one correspondent proves just how unfair a graduate tax would be:

“SIR – Is not one of the dangers of a graduate tax that those going into occupations where formal qualifications are not essential, such as the media and the arts, will just avoid graduation?

A tax might lead to employers being happy to take on a likely-looking prospect just before their finals when, presumably, they would not be liable for Vince Cable’s tax. Two people could then perform similar jobs, but with one taxed at a higher rate than the other.”

Solved: The Chicken DID Come Before the Egg

It’s a topic that’s been subject to widespread debate for generations: what came first, chicken or the egg?
Now, it seems that science has found the answer. British researchers say that it must be the chicken because the egg shell is made using a protein only present in chickens called OC-17. This protein is required to form the casing around the baby chick which goes solid to form the shell which we call the egg.
Scientists had to use a super computer to see the protein to prove to theory. Sources close the research team say that their next debate crushing research will seek to answer the question, why did the chicken cross the road?

Hat-tip: Metro

Yet more lower standards over at the Beeb

Via Conservative Home’s excellent blog, Centre Right, I learn today that the BBC is to cut it’s news programme Straight Talk.

Straight Talk has been one of the BBC’s last standing decent news productions. Almost all of the hourly bulletins have been sensationalised and politicians are very rarely questioned to the level if detail they are o. Straight talk. But that’s not all, as it is a 30minute programme with just one interview, it provides an excellent opportunity for the politician being interviewed to actually take the time to explain their answer fully rather than rolling off a few soundbites that they’ve been told to say by a higher power.

The BBC likes to think of it’s news production as the best there is on offer and in many ways it probably still is when compared to it’s closet competitors, the perpetual breaking news (whatever that is) channel owned by that Australian lad.

So it’s a sad day for quality news in the UK, but a great day for the childish politician who is not really interested in answering the media’s questions properly. From now on it’s just the soundbites that matter. I very much doubt that is a situation most people who are interested in politics are happy with.

EXCLUSIVE: George Kynoch Re-Elected Scottish Conservative Party Deputy Chairman

News reaches me this afternoon that George Kynoch has been re-elected Deputy Chairman of the Scottish Conservative Party to serve a second two year term. He won the ballot by 2173 to 1500, a majority of 673 over Richard Cook, the defeated Conservative Candidate in East Renfrewshire.

It’s a bit of a shame as Richard is one of the few decent people in the Scottish Party who really has the right ideas about where the party needs to go after such a devastating performance at the General Election. Many in the party see George Kynoch as part of the problem in Scotland for the Conservatives so I’m not particularly sure how the party will rebuild itself now it’s stuck with him for another two years.

Someone in the Scottish Conservative Party needs to take responsibility for the dismal showing. The fact the the party only slightly increased the national share of the vote and gained no seats is an utter disgrace. One, preferably all of Anabel Goldie (leader), Andrew Fulton (Chairman), George Kynoch (Deputy Chairman) and Mark McInnes (Party Director) need to take the wrap. Put simply, they were the ones who designed the election strategy of 11 target seats (only 4-5 of which were realistic), they were the ones that claimed the party had emerged from it’s dark days and they are the ones who are now rallying around each other to save their own skin. The interests of the party are not to be found, the interests of the country is not to be found and frankly, with the same team in place at the Scottish Parliament elections next May, I struggle to see how the current group of 16 MSPs will get bigger, or even remain the same size given that Bill Aitken has announced he is not standing again and also that the party clearly has no idea how to go forward from here.

Without changes at the top, there will be no improvement and the party north of the border will continue to be the laughing stock of Scottish politics.

Gone Fishing…

… Or something of the sort.

There are two very good reasons why this blog has not been updated since 6th April 2010:

1. I was incredibly busy with the general and local election campaigns so had no time to post anything of worth that hadn’t already been mentioned elsewhere in the blogsphere.
2. I am now recovering from yet another hip operation. As is the case with these things a fair amount of pain is involved and I’m therefore on high level prescription pain killers which effects my ability to concentrate and therefore write meaningful articles.

However, fear not, Green’s Diary is only on sabbatical and full service will return just as soon as I’m recovered enough. Obviously with such major surgery taking place, I have more things to worry about than running a blog.

When it returns in it’s fullness, GD will be changing form slightly. Instead of just being a political blog that focusses almost entirely on politics I will write about other subjects as well so that it will become a bit more of a true “Green’s Diary” than the current form.

The Green Show will also recommence. I trialled a few episodes of this a while ago using the Audioboo application on the iPhone and it proved to be incredibly simple to use. I’m looking to develop this podcast further and more details will be available soon.

I’ll be making a few changes to the blog’s interface, but nothing major. The first change is already in place and it means you can now log in with Facebook, Twitter, Google,etc. to post a comment. This is a very easy way to verify you are who you say you are and saves you having to create yet another account just for this blog.

I expect to restart blogging around September time, so don’t go far away from your screen.