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First we have Cherie Blair, wife of the former Prime Minister, saying that she fears for the safety of her children when they go out onto the streets. Government statistics, she tells us, dramatically underestimate the scale of knife crime amongst children in Britain and that she has found alarming evidence of rising violence involving knives. She has called for a new approach to get rid of what she calls “lethal fashion accessories” and says that official statistics fail to reflect the reality of how many young people carry knives believing that they offer protection. Mrs Blair told the Home Affairs Select Committee, “If young people think when they carry a knife that it’s going to be detected, that may well make a big difference in deterring them. As a parent I am concerned about what is happening when my children are on the street and I know that I am not unique in that by any means.” You are not unique in that thought at all Mrs Blair. What you may be unique in is that as a pare...

In the light of newspaper and online reports yesterday and my previous blog "Gaining marks for obscenities" I am posting AQA's response, in it's entirety as verified by them is appropriate and welcome. "If a candidate’s script contains obscenities, examiners are instructed to contact AQA’s offices who will advise them in accordance with JCQ (Joint Council for Qualifications) guidelines. As a result, an obscenity should either be disregarded, or action will be taken against the candidate, depending on the seriousness of the case. "The example cited was unique in the experience of the senior examiner concerned and was used in a pre-training session to emphasise the importance of adhering to the mark scheme: i.e. if a candidate makes any sort of response to a question then it must be at least given consideration to be awarded a mark. "We do not condone the use of obscenities in scripts: in the light of this incident we will be reviewing our instructions t...

Pupils are gaining marks for writing obscenities in their GCSE English exams even it has nothing to do with the question. A pupil who wrote “f*** off” has been given marks for correct spelling and successfully conveying meaning. More marks would have been given if he had put an exclamation mark after it, as this shows a grasp of very basic grammar.Peter Buckroyd, the chief examiner of English for the AQA - Assessment and Qualifications Alliance - is responsible for standards in exams taken by 780,000 candidates and for training for 3,000 examiners. He has instructed other examiners to mark in the same way adhering strictly to the mark scheme, to the extent that pupils who write only expletives on their papers should be awarded marks. 2 marks, out of a possible 27, where given for the 2- word expletive. As a marker of English papers myself, I do understand the idiosyncrasies of working to the criteria of a mark scheme and the difficulties of finding the "best fit" to mark posi...

The "papers" have varying reports of the Mandela concert on Friday, and last night's Glastonbury, of which I watched majority of both. As I have said before, I am not an Amy Winehouse fan at all, but have to say that she has a powerful and unique voice. But whilst the voice still seems to be strong, her overall appearance and demeanour does not seem to show a "well" person. The Daily Mail reporter who said that she was "glowing" must have been looking at someone different to me. What I saw at both concerts seemed to be a woman struggling with life itself. She is skeletal, plastered in make up which makes her look terribly ill (which she is) and she is clearly struggling with keeping up the facade of her "act". What are we that we watch this spectacle of a desperate, sick woman putting on a performance whilst accompanied by her doctors? I suppose we could say it's brave of her. I don't think this is the case. Her promoters have a lot t...

The old man of the village who was thought to be the wisest, had a visit from his neighbour one day, who asked to borrow his donkey. The old man didn’t like this neighbour much and not wanting to loan the donkey said, “I would love to loan you my donkey, but my brother came only yesterday and borrowed it. The donkey, sadly, is not here.” The neighbour was disappointed but thanked the old man and began to walk away. Just then the donkey, which was in the old man’s garden, let out a loud bray.The neighbour turned to the old man and said, “I thought you told me that the donkey was not here!” The old man looked at the neighbour. “My friend,” he said, “Who are you going to believe? Me or the donkey?” Living in Maltby at the moment, it is very easy to feel like that neighbour. Who are we to believe and who’s lead do we follow when we are presented with divisions and disputes which appear to increase as each day goes by ? Those who have been elected and presumably strive towards the betterme...

After the exposure of the divisions and dispute within Maltby Town Council at the Annual General Meeting on 21st May, it was difficult to believe that further disruption, accusations and splits could be possible. A letter from Kevin Barron MP, had already criticised the council for delaying a cheque to the Maltby Festival Committee and complained about the way in which the council was being run. But more allegations were possible. And they were shown at the Town Council Meeting, held on 18th June at Addison Day Centre. The meeting began with questions from the public, which were related to the Maltby Master Plan Consultation Document, Tarran estate, and the green space of the former Craggs School site. A member of the public then accused Cllr K Stringer of casting aspersions on his fellow council members, through his recent publication of a poem in a local newspaper and demanded that Cllr Stringer either resign or be dismissed. Cllr Stringer responded with the words “who gives a damn” ...

Just when we were hoping British troops might be returning from the Middle East, more are to be deployed to the south of Afghanistan bringing the total to more than 8,000 by next spring. The plan is that this increase will provide better protection and further the training of local security forces as well as developing projects already in operation. That this increase in soldiers in Afghanistan will likely coincide with less troops in Iraq, is coincidental, I think ! The move will involve troops manning new armoured vehicles and Chinook and Apache helicopters. Tornados will replace Harriers as planes and crews show the strain of almost four years of engagement. "It does not mean our mission is expanding” says the defence secretary Des Browne. “We are taking the steps necessary to take our mission forward as effectively as we can." The Taliban leadership, he says, have turned "their ambition from insurgency to terrorism" referring to the suicide attacks last week wh...