I had a fun outing on Tuesday this week \u2013 I visited The Treehouse School<\/a>, a free, alternative primary school founded by some friends, and delivered a personalised playchute produced for them by Ms Playchute. The Head of the school, Lee Ryman, I\u2019ve known for many years. She was a headteacher at an Oxfordshire school and I worked with her on many occasions and her sister, Jo, was one of my colleagues at the ICT Centre. Lee became increasingly fed-up with government mismanagement of state education and decided that she could do better. So, she and another colleague resigned their posts and set about trying to raise sufficient funding to get an alternative school off the ground. They applied, I gather, to found a Free School along the lines championed by the current Education Secretary, Michael Gove. However, when the Department for Education read in their submission that they did not propose to enter their pupils for the much-maligned and heavily criticised standard tests for children, they were informed that they would not be receiving any further consideration. And one wonders whether the current government\u2019s education policy is based on evidence or ideology?<\/p>\n In spite of numerous obstacles the school opened this term with a handful of students and much good will. Since they are determined that the school should be \u201cfree\u201d to those who use it, I do wonder how they are going to be able to sustain it moving forward but good luck to them.<\/p>\n As you can imagine, the playchute, complete with school logo, was a huge success.<\/p>\n [portfolio_slideshow id=3681 loop=”true”]<\/p>\n I\u2019ve decided not to have a rant this week \u2013 I had material for two! It seems that the government has sent a memo to all unemployment call centres<\/a> instructing staff to keep unemployed callers on hold while they listen to a recorded message encouraging them to use online services. The fact that many unemployed are unable to access online services surely has nothing to do with it.<\/p>\n Second rant which you will have to do without this week \u2013 in spite of receiving a detailed report from his own advisers<\/strong> enumerating reasons why the current government\u2019s welfare reforms won\u2019t work<\/a>, the minister in charge says he is determined to see them through regardless. Now what was I saying about an evidence-based approach as opposed to ideology? (Interestingly, the minister in charge, Iain Duncan Smith, refused to be re-shuffled in David Cameron\u2019s latest cabinet reorganisation. What does that say about Cameron\u2019s authority?)<\/p>\n So, consider yourself fortunate \u2013 two rants avoided this week. But, finally, spare a thought for our Chancellor, poor Osborne, the Tit. The latest borrowing figures show that the deficit, that pesky inconvenience that Osborne committed to reducing by 4.6% this year, has actually increased by 22%<\/a> due to his austerity programme and the double-dip recession his actions have created. Poor old George.<\/p>\n And finally, finally we\u2019ve had several enquiries in recent weeks asking if we would be publishing any of the photographs of the royal family in, shall we say, various stages of undress. Some of you, it seems, want to see Prince Harry in the altogether in Las Vegas while others of you are more interested in seeing the former Kate Middleton topless. Well, I am pleased to say that we will not be publishing such scandalous and obscene photographs which serve no purpose other than to invade the privacy of these imminently popular public figures. You want photos of naked Royals, search elsewhere!<\/p>\n We won\u2019t publish photographs of a naked Prince Harry or a topless Duchess of Cambridge. Instead, we have secured the following image which shows the entire royal family in a state of undress. Enjoy.<\/p>\n Love to you all,<\/p>\n Greg<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Good morning on what looks like it might be a somewhat disappointing day after the gloriousness which was yesterday \u2013 bright, bright, bright blue skies with not a cloud in sight and a wonderful autumnal crispness. Today is overcast with a forecast of rain for this afternoon. Oh well, it\u2019s a good job we have … <\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.stragnell.com\/befoulednews\/\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/topless_royals.jpg?resize=525%2C386\" "\\"The")
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