Melissa Benn
@Melissa_Benn
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Reader, writer, listener, speaker. Author of Public Lives, One of Us, School Wars, Life Lessons, and others! Currently RLF Fellow at Lucy Cavendish, Cambridge.
London
Joined August 2011
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If he were still alive my father Tony Benn would not have condoned personal attacks by, or on, anyone within the Labour family and certainly not in his name. That wasn't his style. He understood: there are always bigger issues and more powerful enemies to fight!
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One of his most passionate Parliamentary speeches. Despite being on the brink of tears during most of it, he still manages a joke half way through. I miss that wry humour!
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For Father's Day, an amusing trip down memory lane. My first time voting: the 1975 referendum on Europe. Thinking a lot about my dear Dad's political/personal legacy atm, esp as I am writing the intro to his selected 'works' to be published next year, the centenary of his birth.
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For the record, from the minute she took on the education brief
@RLong_Bailey
worked incredibly hard behind the scenes to master the complexities of our system, link up to a wide range of groups, across the political spectrum. She was a listener, and anything but factional.
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“I’d trust her to look after my house while on holiday, but not my pets,” says one focus group member about Theresa May. Great line.
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And remembered today, ten years on, as a loving and much loved father.
#OnThisDay
in Labour history 10 years ago … 🌹
Tony Benn passed away at the age of 88
Benn was a former Cabinet Minister, one of Labour’s longest-serving MPs, and an inspirational figure on the Labour left for decades … he inspired me 🧵
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3. I am dismayed that Jeremy Corbyn remains suspended from the PLP and that attempts to settle this question appear to have been frustrated.
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How often does an entire nation listen spellbound to the wise words of a 74 year old woman?
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I talked to Jeremy Corbyn about his forty years in Parliament representing Islington North.
Melissa Benn: In Conversation With Jeremy Corbyn
Out now on Patreon 💷
Out 6pm Monday on YouTube 🎥
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4. Worst of all, there appears to be serious talk of putting up a Labour candidate against Jeremy at the next election. This would morally wrong, politically crass and will spectacularly backfire. Don't do it, Keir!
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1. I back
@johnmcdonnellMP
's call for Keir Starmer to sit down for a summit with the Labour left before Conference, to staunch the depressing and unnecessary loss of membership from, and morale within, Labour as a result of an apparent purge of many on the left.......
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Can’t believe it is eight years! Dad was much loved, and is much missed by all his family. He had many gifts, a fantastic sense of humour and an enormous amount of moral courage.
Tony Benn died 8 years ago today. He was someone I admired since my teens, and later had the pleasure of getting to know him a bit. Sadly missed 🌹
"Democracy transferred power from the wallet to the ballot. What people couldn't afford for themselves they could vote for instead"
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Lovely account given here by
@jeremycorbyn
of how he and my Dad put up the plaque to Emily Wilding Davison at eleven at night, sneaking into the chapel of the House of Commons with a power drill. The authorities never took it down.
That time Jeremy Corbyn and Tony Benn were stopped by a police officer as they sneaked into Parliament late at night:
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I have known
@selina_todd
for many years, admire her work on the history of welfare state and much else and am shocked to hear that there is pressure on her employers to sack her, for participating, in good faith, in one of the most agonising debates of our time.
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So Kent is one of the counties where white working class children have been let down for decades says
@BBCWorldatOne
. Nothing to do with it being a county where children are sorted into so called clever and not-so clever (but largely, poor and affluent)10 yrs old by any chance?
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Labour's pledge to phase out SATS will inevitably be represented as an attack on standards. Might be a good time to revisit the work of the Cambridge Primary Review, to reflect on what a genuinely rich primary education really looks like, and conditions needed to bring it about.
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Insider piece on government view of barriers to educational equality Apparently, the unions are the biggest problem, followed by too long a summer holiday. Absolutely no grasp of the real issues. Depressing.
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Islington North should have the democratic right to choose its own candidate for the next election.
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From a Tory MP for a highly selective area to recently elected parent governor for an inner London comprehensive, former speaker John Bercow calls time on the grammar school debate....
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Hearing some of the stories today coming out from local schools about withdrawn university places from incredibly hard working students who have overcome odds most of us have never even heard of, let alone faced, is making me weep.
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Touched by the fact that so many people are today remembering this anniversary. Hard to believe that it is four years.
Four years on from the death of Tony Benn:
"Every single generation must fight the same battle again and again and again. There is no final victory"
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2. Like many on the left, I voted for Keir Starmer as leader because I believed he had the capacity to bring elements of the party together. I hoped he might do a Biden, and work with the left to draft radical policies with broad appeal.
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I spoke at another conference ( organised by Ruskin itself) last Saturday commemorating 50th anniversary, and find this decision incomprehensible.
I recognise there is not much time left but I ask the event organisers to reconsider.
Just been no-platformed from this event commemorating 50 yrs since Ruskin WLM conference because of my connection w
@Womans_Place_UK
.
My mum and dad met at Ruskin. My mum is a proud feminist. So am I. My first academic article was about the WLM.
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The evidence on grammars boosting social mobility is non existent. If May does her homework, she should realise this
If you want to help a minority of mostly middle-class at the expense of working-class young people, secondary moderns are a good plan
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Urgently need to counter the argument that grammars promote choice. WRONG. Selective ed diminishes choice and chances for the majority.
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I mean, it's not as if most people didn't know exactly what Boris Johnson and his crew were like, when they voted him in last December. Just saying.
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Very glad that this campaign continues, including new legal/parliamentary strategies, and that interest in it is growing - thanks, in part, to pieces such as this by
@davidhencke
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Still puzzling, two days later, at the failure of Lindsay Hoyle to
call Diane Abbott - the woman subject to such disgraceful and worrying remarks - to speak for herself at PMQs?
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Consultants on track and trace are, we are told, paid £6000 a day: many public sector workers will not earn much more in a year than said consultant/s earn in a week. Surely one post pandemic conversation has to be on how we value different kinds of work?
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He would have been 92 yesterday and this very funny extract from his diary reminds me of what I miss. He told these stories so well.
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Seven unis call for scrapping of interest rates on loans for this crisis year.But interest rates on ALL student loans are scandalously high.If ever there was an area of public policy where political promises over the years have proved false it is on fees/ loans/ interest rates.
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@sturdyAlex
@MazzucatoM
@toadmeister
I liked her comment ( here paraphrased) ' Toby Young, not Jeremy Corbyn, represents the 1970s..'
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interesting that there is front page outrage about this story, but as a society we accept socially segregated schooling as a question of parental rights/choice. Hmmm....
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Proudly voted Labour early this morning (with my younger daughter) and then campaigned in a local marginal. People forget: this is not a Presidential election nor a vote for a perfect party. It is a choice between two fundamentally different visions of our country's future.
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Heartening to read thatJulian Barnes is in support “almost all of Jeremy Corbyn’s major policies: on nuclear disarmament, renationalising the railways, removing charitable status from public schools, taxing the rich."
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Please! Is respect shown by the size of your poppy or the kind of ( smart enough) coat that you wear?
@jeremycorbyn
looked respectable, serious and engaged in the ( much, much) larger matters at hand.
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Re tweet of one of yesterday's chance meetings! Lovely to talk over memories of my father with someone who knew, and loved, him so well.
Today marks four years since we lost Tony Benn. It was lovely to catch up with
@Melissa_Benn
to remember her father, a titan of our movement and a great friend of mine.
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Extraordinary reprimand from John Bercow to Michael Gove for his behaviour in the House of Commons tonight after the gov was defeated, invoking the fact that both men are parents at Holland Park school. 'He would not dare behave like that in front of Colin Hall' ( head of HP..)
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What a powerful and lucid intervention...
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@campbellclaret
@schooltruth
you both might be interested in this terrific discussion with Dominic Grieve - and sulphurous assault on the damage to the rule of law by Truss, Braverman and Raab. Deserves a retweet, to maximise its audience!
📖NEW EPISODE📖
Ken Macdonald and Tim Owen discuss the dangerous erosion of the rule of law under post-Brexit Conservative governments with former Attorney General Dominic Grieve KC
Listen to Episode 11 now👇
Apple:
Spotify:
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Our lost uncle. From his letters, sent to family members in the years before his death, he was clearly a remarkable young man.
Remembering my uncle - Michael J W Benn DFC - who died 80 years ago today after his RAF Mosquito crashed. He was 23 years old.
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What's really scary is thinking that someone's potential can be judged by their results at the age of 15., and that poverty has nothing to do with educational achievement.
No GCSEs above a D. Our shadow Secretary of State for Education.... Scary.
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This morning the
@gdnlongread
publish a long extract from my book Life Lessons: The Case for A National Education Service … which argues for a fresh conversation about a different kind of public education.
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He was a inspiring and lovely man, and I was was honoured to chair an event with him and
@OwenJones84
at
@SheldonianOxUni
in the autumn of 2014.
Very sad to hear of the death of Harry Leslie Smith. He was one of a kind who never wavered in his fight for equality and justice. We should all carry his passion, optimism and spirit forward.
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What I most want to see in a future Labour leader is a genuine ( not just a stated) lack of factionalism. I don't want a leader that despises, and works against, the left ( esp if done behind the scenes) but I do want a leader who can construct a broad church.
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Everyone should read this - wise, well informed - piece by
@steverichards14
on why Jeremy Corbyn's much derided position on Brexit offers us a last chance out of our dangerous morass.
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Morgan mocked by heads, Hunt and Goldsmith clear disaster. Tories riven by mass academisation and Europe.Yet the press close in on Labour.
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@OwenJones84
Cld you re-tweet my piece on difference in attitudes to NHS and state ed? Lot to do with selection. TA!
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The lack of attention given to the murder of sisters Bibaa and Nicole, and the behaviour of the police at the site of the crime,is still utterly shocking. Mina Smallman is a remarkable woman but,as she said today,her grieving for her daughters has just begun,and will never end.
RIP 2 sisters. 💔💔
Hearing their mother Mina Smallman's pain and bravery in the face of unbelievable cruelty-the police treatment the lack of press interest- unbearable and utterly heartbreaking. Let's make sure their names and faces are never forgotten.
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Way too much score settling and crowing on twitter tonight. This looks like a major victory for a particular brand of right wing politics - on a scale akin to 1979 - and that's a tragedy, with many causes, that needs thinking about. For now, it's devastating.
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Terribly powerful speech. Another example - there are so many! - of how women in politics change the narrative, change the debate....
"I'm not scared. I'm not a victim. I'm a survivor."
Scottish MP Michelle Thomson speaks in Parliament about her experience of rape aged 14.
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Given that the whole point of selection is to tell 75% of children that they are not up to it, why would anyone who backs the 11 +worry about lack of working class achievement, white or otherwise, in those counties? You can't call it a 'disgrace' if you back the structural divide
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@DamonMercy
@RhonddaBryant
I very much doubt you will find
@hilarybennmp
resorting to personal insults. Political differences are something else.
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Mick Lynch was excellent on
@BBCr4today
As he implied, it’s not easy being a trade union leader in this country/climate. Relentlessly under attack ……yet he keeps calm and clear.
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The pandemic has deepened public understanding of how our education system works, and created a chance for a real debate on overdue changes to our exam system. My piece in today's paper.
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'4 of 5 areas where disadvantaged children perform worst are in areas where secondary education is selective.'
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Is the tide turning on Jeremy Corbyn's Brexit stance? 'Corbyn has, much to the frustration of some, doggedly pursued an attempt to unite people across the Brexit divide.'
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Every single day the damage that austerity wreaked on our public services - and our country - becomes clearer.
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This is terrific - for so many reasons.... including asinine questions from the male interviewer, but Astor deals with them all beautifully.... and she is v funny about men and flattery...
"It was like going into a members' club... an all-male club" Nancy Astor, the first woman MP to take her seat, recalled the experience on Panorama in 1959.
#InternationalWomensDay
#IWD2019
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Why do we undervalue the act of care, when it is so central to our society? Why are carers paid so little when we rely on them so much? As we await the gov's proposals on social care, join this conversation at our brilliant local books festival.
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Corbyn makes fair point about Thatcher talking secretly to Irish republicans, and he defended Paisley for pointing it out in Parl.
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It's been said often but as we move into a crucial period, politically speaking,can we STOP calling the PM 'Boris' as if he is, at best, a mate or, at worst, a kind of annoying old uncle and call him 'Johnson' which puts proper distance between him and the media/electorate.
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58,000 plus comments on this piece from last Friday. That indicates a passionate interest in the various inequalities of our current education system, I'd say.
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Two things I find bizarre in today's discussions about how to fund social care 1) Not a whisper of the fact that pensioners have contributed to the tax pool their entire working life 2) Absolutely no discussion of a graduated income tax, asking higher earners to pay more.
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A particular bug bear of mine: when parents - or anyone for that matter - talks about choice between 'comps' and grammars in authorities like Kent. If you live in a selective authority you are not getting the benefit of a comprehensive education. End of.
Angry mums take to Mumsnet to discuss the "uneven playing field" created by the 11-plus, and the unfairness caused by parents who "tutor their kids to the max". All of this is so unnecessary!
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NEW: Boris Johnson's Rule Of 6 has a controversial exemption - for grouse shooting and similar field sports.
What further comment is actually needed?
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Could any politician dare to talk about education with a different vocabulary, invoking the need for engagement and enjoyment rather than the old faves ambition and aspiration? BP does name check ‘joylessness’ in the current system. Surely one major reason for chronic absence?
Labour’s plan for education means high and rising standards for all our children in all our schools.
A country where background is no barrier to opportunity.
Yesterday I set out the challenge we face & the change we need.
You can read my speech here: 👇🏻
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A great evening. An incredible range of poetry - both political and personal - read from both the stage and the floor. An evening full of the famed Liverpudlian wit and friendliness. Thanks to all for such a warm welcome.
@alexnunns
Wonderful evening at The Casa with
@LenMckuskie
and
@Melissa_Benn
reading and discussing poetry with wonderful audience!
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Here's a fact worth repeating.20 million children were told they were educational failures at just 11 yrs old between 1945-76.Heartbreaking.
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The government knows that it is essentially preserving a middle class privilege within state education while presenting themselves as champions of the deserving poor. It's disingenuous-verging-on-cynical.
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Given today's strong Guardian editorial and the launch last week of Labour Against Private Schools
@AbolishEton
this seems a good time to remind people of this extract from my book Life Lessons, making the case for integration of state and private schools.
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Details of my Dad's funeral on Thursday, for all the people who have asked how they can pay their last respects.
http://t.co/774C4txEso
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Given how well so many state school students have always done, and still do, on a range of ( ever shifting) measures, and seeing that more conservatives now understand that, what's the problem with educating all our children together?
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Every other public exam cancelled except the 11+ But the emerging gaps in schooling between better off and disadvantaged make it even more blatantly unfair this year. Will be interesting to see if this crisis helps finish off selection.
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If this year of chaos and deepening chasms between families, and the brutal clarification of how our education system really works, doesn't bring radical change - what will? My piece from earlier this week....
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Off to Parl Square to honour Jo Cox.The lack of any monument there marking women's contribution to politics seems particularly stark today.
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@OwenJones84
Please re-tweet details of our new campaign to stop widespread return of 11 plus exam, and grammars.
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This is such a lovely piece - on the politics of caring, and on the meaning of love itself. 'And those that engaged with her, knew her, loved her ....grew to learn, inexorably and unalterably, that our spirits exist far more tangibly than our abilities'.
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Yes, read - or listen to - speeches from key figures of the 50s, 60s and 70s, tough and effective Labour figures like Barbara Castle called themselves 'socialists' without self-consciousness.Socialism became a dirty word - when? The Thatcherite period? Under New Labour? Curious.
OTD 70 years ago, Tony Benn made his maiden speech in the House of Commons
"We on this side are a Socialist Party—we have been for some time. We have never made any secret of the fact. In 1945, when our election programme was published, we made no secret of it"
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This is surely the slowest, most drawn out, agonising self-immolation in political history…..
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And how many would choose a secondary modern? I find these surveys absurd.
@GillianHargreav
@policy_uk
@Melissa_Benn
Actually, 67% of parents would send their children to a grammar school. The YouGov poll is here.
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For the record - if from a very back bench position - I opposed the government motion.
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Why is it that so often we only hear good word/s about someone - or get a glimpse of what they done and who they really were, as a rounded human being - when they have died. What stops us appreciating people more fully when they are alive?
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As you read all the coverage - and handwringing - over grade inflation in the hard pressed state sector please refer back to this article which confirms that the bigger leap in grades has taken place in the far better resourced private sector
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Hate to state the obvious Justine but you won't find a better example of a 'social mobility cold spot' than a sec mod in a selective area.
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Actually Friday, but still worth a retweet.
Today would have been Tony Benn's 95th birthday. We remember his contributions to the Labour Party, democracy and socialism.
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Why did the BBC use 3 year old footage of Johnson laying a wreath at the Cenotaph instead of pictures from last Sunday? The only possible answer is that someone in the BBC wanted to help Johnson look more prime ministerial in the run up to an election. Is that impartial? Exactly.
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I am really honoured to be part of this inquiry which will examine accountability through a fresh lens: how do we support, sustain and improve schools without creating undue stress - or worse - for those charged with educating our children?
Today sees the launch of 'Beyond Ofsted' - a new inquiry which aims to develop a new set of principles for underpinning a better inspection system and proposals for a new approach.
Please visit our website and complete the survey:
#Ofsted
#education
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No, you give it up. It's an outdated and unjust system. Parents want very good schools. You can have that without prioritising admission for the children of the largely affluent.
@Melissa_Benn
Give it up Melissa. Many parents adore grammar schools which is why they are so oversubscribed. Funnily enough many parents dont want to send their children to schools with an anti or even non-learning bias.
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Downing Street must be behind this disaster but they will get rid of Gavin Williamson and pretend he was the problem. Meanwhile They must be desperate to find a way through. With GCSE results looming this is a real crisis. Every politician knows: beware angry parents!
Now how are they going to resolve this national scandal? It cannot be left as it is.
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I missed this first time round but it reminds me of going to speak at the Swedish embassy about free schools and feeling something of a pariah for expressing reservations about them when surrounded by English enthusiasts for the model. I had to screw up my courage that day.
Sweden has declared a “system failure” in the country’s free schools, pledging the biggest shake-up in 30 years and calling into question a model in which profit-making companies run state education.
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'Yes or no?' I hate the way that these broadcasters manage the big issues during these Labour Leadership debates. It's not only unintelligent. It's infantilising of the participants, and politics in general. Glad the candidates are rebelling!
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But tell us what you really think, TB! 😉
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Excited and just a little trepidatious as I am about to go and address / discuss politics and education with assembled secondary headteachers of Tower Hamlets. 'Miss Benn, you can come in now...' Eeek!
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The most extraordinary turnout on the streets of H and K for
@TulipSiddiq
today. Labour canvassers wherever you look. Fingers crossed!
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@Broilster
@RLong_Bailey
I don't think I'd dare try to tell John Rentoul anything! Then again, I didn't see him listening patiently on the hours long zoom discussions with parents and teachers around the country on a warm Saturday afternoon:: just one example of RLB's diligence.
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