IntenseDebate - jamesc

3 years ago @ http://www.conservativ... - Why Conservative MPs s... · 0 replies · +1 points

That's funny - I thought he had won the election and had a majority of 80, when he signed the withdrawal agreement.

3 years ago @ http://www.conservativ... - Why Conservative MPs s... · 3 replies · +1 points

The UK is in this mess for only one reason, which is that Boris Johnson has promised one thing to the public and agreed to something else to the EU.

3 years ago @ http://www.conservativ... - Why Conservative MPs s... · 0 replies · +1 points

What would you have preferred Lewis to have said? He was asked whether the Bill would break international law, which it clearly does. Maybe you think otherwise, but he could hardly say that it didn't.

3 years ago @ http://www.conservativ... - Why Conservative MPs s... · 0 replies · +1 points

His remarks were hardly off the cuff. He was prepared for the question.

3 years ago @ http://www.conservativ... - Why Conservative MPs s... · 0 replies · +1 points

People reading what you have written will, I suggest, have the impression that you have chosen a position, namely that the Bill does not breach international law, and are doing your best to convince yourself that you are right.
Maybe you accept that, but if you don't - how long did it take you to decide that the bill did not break international law? Was it after reading the opinions of several leading QCs online - or was it an immediate, instinctive reaction?
I think we all know the answer to that - you believe this because you want it to be true, not because it is.

3 years ago @ http://www.conservativ... - Paul Bristow: Home-wor... · 0 replies · +1 points

The landlords are getting very nervous.

3 years ago @ http://www.conservativ... - Nick Gibb: Fair grades... · 0 replies · +1 points

Maybe you don't understand what the issue is - schools are allocated grades based on their results from 2019, 2018 and 2017.

Whatever the 2020 pupils have done makes absolutely no difference. They could have been asleep or working really hard - their school is getting the same results as from previous years.

In some schools that might mean no A* in a particular subject .

So, the pupil who worked really hard, trying to meet an offer to read medicine or go to Oxbridge has been prevented by the government from getting the required grade.

3 years ago @ http://www.conservativ... - Nick Gibb: Fair grades... · 0 replies · +1 points

I wonder how many people here understand what the government has done. Nick Gibb is not at all clear in this article and really does not explain the situation.

What has happened is that the government has decided to allocate grades to schools based on how the school did in previous years. That might be 30 A* in maths or none - it all depends on the results from 2019, 2018 and 2017.

The effect of that, is that some very clever candidates, who might have got brilliant results in an exam, have been prevented from getting top grades. They are being given As or Bs and missing their university offers, not because of anything that they have done, but because of the schools that they attend.

As if that is not bad enough, the govt has exempted subjects where there are less than 15 candidates at a school and instead relied on teacher's assessments.

So, the pupils at independent schools who studied niche subjects, such as classics, theology and the like - they are
exempt and get their teacher assessed grades.

Hence, we have the situation of many would be medics and Oxbridge candidates from the state sector losing out, while the numbers from independent schools have increased.

5 years ago @ http://www.conservativ... - Robert Halfon: I agree... · 0 replies · +1 points

I really do wonder at the strange adulation of John McCain.
His father was a truly dreadful man, responsible for the cover up of the attack by Israel on the USS Liberty.
His son had a long career of serving the interests of the unsavoury.
Rememember his lobbying for Charles Keating?
Then his support for the neo-con wars in the Middle east.
His disappearing act as the US financial system went into meltdown during the election campaign on 2008.
Not to forget his dreadful choice of Sarah Palin as running mate.
Finally, his Vietnam record has been challenged by those who were with him. There is no denying that he collaborated with the Viet Cong. Far from being kept in cruel conditions he was given special privileges in return for his cooperation.
Anyway - don't take my word for it, do your own research. Obviously use contemporaneous sources, to avoid the fake news phenomenon.
Then, when you understand who the man was, ask yourself who he served and who promoted his image.

5 years ago @ http://www.conservativ... - John McCain, hero of t... · 0 replies · +1 points

Seriously?
There are plenty of people who think otherwise.

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