Student fees
It was only a matter of time before this issue bubbled up and over the steaming cauldron. An attempt by Labour to get 50 per cent of young people into university was bound to come to grief in the end, mainly due to the fact we simply cannot afford it. University used to be for those who were academic and their qualifications recognised this talent and rewarded it. For those who were not of this persuasion, there were the highly respectable and effective polytechnics, with a more vocational bent aimed at training students for work. Yes, further education was two tier, but it recognised the fact we are not all the same, and never can be. The problem we have now is that many so-called universities are teaching degrees that really should not be. The gold standard has subsequently been watered down, leaving many students pursuing qualifications that do not guarantee jobs. Of course, if people want to aspire to university, they should be allowed to go, but why not later on in life when academic achievement might be easier to obtain following some life experience, not least in the job market. In the meantime, we should re-establish vocational colleges and place far more emphasis on apprenticeships.
Posted on 29 November 2010 by Richard Drax
Better education
I was lucky enough to be in the Chamber yesterday when Education Secretary Michael Gove made his excellent statement on the education White Paper. At last, a government is targeting the areas which have for so long needed reform. Higher academic standards, discipline, giving heads more control, protecting teachers from malicious complaints, reviewing teacher training and encouraging more competitive sport. I listening with incredulity to the Andy Burnham, the Opposition spokesman, as he attacked our plans as elitist. He was aghast that children from poorer backgrounds would be made to study the more academic subjects like the three sciences, maths, history and foreign languages. But this attitude is exactly what has betrayed thousands of youngsters over the generations. Why can't children from less well off areas do as well academically as those from better off areas? If we are to give every child in this country a chance, we must raise the bar on education to meet world standards, not just our own rather warped ones. This revolution in the classroom is not before time and I welcome it warmly.
Posted on 25 November 2010 by Richard Drax
Peaceful protest
Watching events unfurl today in central London, I was sickened by the sight of masked thugs attacking a police van, while others encouraged protesters to break the law. I am all for peaceful protest, but we should not tolerate the violent few whose only task in life is to cause harm to either property or people. I hope that anyone caught by the police acting violently will be arrested, charged and dealt with severely.
Posted on 24 November 2010 by Richard Drax
Euro madness
As political and financial chaos erupts around a faltering Ireland, the Coalition government announces it's considering lending the beleaguered country between £7 billion and £10 billion. I really don't know what more needs to happen before the whole EU edifice comes tumbling down and nations can once again claim back their sovereignty and face a competitive world with confidence and their own currency. The fly in the ointment, though, is that our banks have outstanding loans to Ireland of £140 billion, so it's being argued we can't let the country sink beneath the waves. Whatever happens, I see a thoroughly discredited attempt to create an EU superstate collapsing in front of our very eyes.
Posted on 23 November 2010 by Richard Drax
Islamic Extremism in Britain
An article by the imam of Oxford Islamic Congregation in today’s Daily Mail is instructive and alarming. Dr Taj Hargey writes that the weekend Islamic schools exposed in last night’s Panorama programme and attended by thousands of British Muslim schoolchildren are not the harmless equivalent of Sunday school at all. Instead, funded by Saudi Wahhabists, the most fundamentalist of Muslims, they preach misogyny, separatism and bigotry. Children are taught vicious intolerance against gays, woman and Jews. The harshest Sharia law – where women are executed for adultery, gays face the death penalty and changing your religion is a capital offence – is considered desirable. Dr Hargey says that such harshness is not stipulated in the Koran. In fact, he says, the Koran promises salvation to all who lead good lives in anticipation of the day of reckoning – which sounds familiar to Christians too. The reason these schools are even allowed to exist in this country is because tolerance is probably the most salient English characteristic. But for all our sakes, integration – not bigoted separatism – is what we should be teaching our children.
Posted on 23 November 2010 by Richard Drax
William was right
I could only agree with William Hague when he reminded his interviewer this morning that, ‘No one has pointed out more of the problems over the years than I have, in having a currency where you lock together the exchange rates and interest rates in countries with different economies.’ Back in 1998, when he was leader of the party, such euroscepticism cost him dear. Now we can see he was right all along. Ireland, Spain and Portugal are all, as he put it so memorably, ‘trapped in the economic equivalent of a burning building with no exits.’
Posted on 20 November 2010 by Richard Drax
Sticking to principles
Fascinating to see Vince Cable, once fantasy chancellor for the whole country, now scourge of British business, admitting that the Lib Dems have had to shelve some of their principles in order to get into power. When tackled over the Lib Dems’ shifting position on tuition fees, he explained that, as they didn’t win the election, their only binding agreement was with their coalition partners, the Conservatives. And they would stick to that!
Posted on 19 November 2010 by Richard Drax
Tinkering with parliament
We tinker with our constitution at our peril. It is for this reason, and others, that I am not happy with the idea of a fixed term parliament of five years. The cynic would say the Bill is being pushed through to ensure the Coalition survives five years. I couldn't possibly comment. I believe we must respect the Commons, which has been here for very much longer than we have, and it will continue long after we are gone. The system we have now works very well indeed. Indeed, the power that the Prime Minister has to call an Election whenever he wants to ensures we are all kept on our toes. This less defined time line also gives the electorate more influence on whether a rotten government remains in power or not. In my Maiden Speech, I said we must respect the governance of this place, and I intend to. This debate has opened a can of constitutional worms, with MPs calling for four and three year terms and others submitting amendment after amendment. It is wholly unsatisfactory.
Posted on 17 November 2010 by Richard Drax
Many congratulations
What fabulous news that Prince William is engaged to Kate Middleton. This is just the tonic the nation needs right now. I'm sure the reaction in the House will be mirrored across the world as two happy young people set out on their new and challenging path. Thank God we have a monarchy.
Posted on 16 November 2010 by Richard Drax
Irish bail-out
If ever there was another example of why the EU will never work, it's Ireland's financial plight. The papers report a bail-out of £77 billion is needed to keep the country afloat. This follows the debacle in Greece, and the continuing problems in Spain and Portugal. What we need to be aware of now is a request from the EU to help out financially. Thus must be rebutted in the strongest terms possible.
Posted on 16 November 2010 by Richard Drax
Well done, boys
Unable to watch the Australia/England last Saturday, I recorded it. When I eventually sat down on Sunday evening, I had heard we'd won, but not how, or by how much. As the match progressed, I sat open-mouthed as the England lion roared in a way I have not seen for years. At last, self belief, courage and passion saw the Aussies reduced to mere mortals. England played Southern hemisphere rugby, passing the ball wide and running whenever they had the chance. I cheered until I was hoarse. What a victory.
Posted on 16 November 2010 by Richard Drax
Al Qaeda and the Crusaders
Fascinated and concerned to see that Anwar al Awlaki, the new Al Qaeda bogeyman, is so well educated. The man thought to be the mastermind behind the cargo bombs intercepted on their way to Chicago last week is clearly a cultured man. His early ‘test’ packages contained, for example, a copy of Mill on the Floss. He has been quoted comparing George W. Bush to a Dickens character. But most telling of all is his decision to address the real bomb packages to Reynald Krak and Diego Deza. Krak was a Templar Knight – a Crusader – in the 12th century, who slaughtered Muslim pilgrims and was eventually beheaded by Saladin. Deza was the archbishop of Seville in the 15th century, responsible for his brutal interrogations of Muslims during the Inquisition.
Definitely a warped sense of humour, then. But also, a savage desire for retribution through jihad – holy war. These bombs were viable and set to go off over large cities. We underestimate these people at our peril.
Posted on 9 November 2010 by Richard Drax
Alaistair Campbell and Adam Boulton
Interesting to hear what happened after the riveting on-screen spat between Sky News political editor Adam Boulton and Labour spin doctor Alastair Campbell. It was five days after the election and Gordon Brown was considering resigning in order to kick start the ‘coalition of the losers’ – the farcical Labour-Lib Dem union. At the time, it came close to blows, with unfortunate presenter Jeremy Thompson acting as referee. In the end, both parties retired, having exchanged only insults.
But, typically of Campbell, it didn’t end there. He wrote to Boulton’s boss, Sky News supremo John Ryley, threatening to sue unless Boulton was disciplined. When nothing happened, he wrote again. And again. Finally he gave up when Ryley replied, saying that Boulton had expressed regret about the incident and that should be sufficient. Meanwhile, more than 1100 complaints had been directed to Ofcom in a campaign orchestrated by Campbell and John Prescott. In a rare victory for common sense, Ofcom said that overall, in terms of impartiality, all the relevant views and issues were aired and that to prevent transmission would have interfered with the broadcasters’ and viewers’ freedom of expression.
People have long complained about Campbell’s hardline tactics . Famously, reporter Andrew Gilligan lost his job at the BBC after reporting accurately that the weapons dossier had been sexed up – by Campbell and his cronies. Gilligan has written of the fury unleashed on him and his ex employers. I can hardly bear to think of the pressure brought on Dr David Kelly.
Let’s hope that with the demise of his political paymasters, Campbell is gone for good.
Radio Four aficionados had a tricky morning on Friday. The striking members of the NUJ had rendered the Today programme unrecogniseable. We woke up to a gentle and rather stately program about the wading birds of The Wash and moved onto an appreciation of Winston Churchill in one of the ‘Great Lives’ series. The news had all but disappeared and with it, much of the tension in getting up and out to face the day. Makes you think….
Fascinated and concerned to see that Anwar al Awlaki, the new Al Qaeda bogeyman, is so well educated. The man thought to be the mastermind behind the cargo bombs intercepted on their way to Chicago last week is clearly a cultured man. His early ‘test’ packages contained, for example, a copy of Mill on the Floss. He has been quoted comparing George W. Bush to a Dickens character. But most telling of all is his decision to address the real bomb packages to Reynald Krak and Diego Deza. Krak was a Templar Knight – a Crusader – in the 12th century, who slaughtered Muslim pilgrims and was eventually beheaded by Saladin. Deza was the archbishop of Seville in the 15th century, responsible for his brutal interrogations of Muslims during the Inquisition.
Definitely a warped sense of humour, then. But also, a savage desire for retribution through jihad – holy war. These bombs were viable and set to go off over large cities. We underestimate these people at our peril.
Posted on 7 November 2010 by Richard Drax
Today Programme Transformed
Radio Four aficionados had a tricky morning on Friday. The striking members of the NUJ had rendered the Today programme unrecognisable. We woke up to a gentle and rather stately program about the wading birds of The Wash and moved onto an appreciation of Winston Churchill in one of the ‘Great Lives’ series. The news had all but disappeared and, with it, much of the tension in getting up and out to face the day. Makes you think….
Posted on 5 November 2010 by Richard Drax
Voting rights
I rushed to the Chamber to attend an emergency question posed by Labour on giving prisoners the right to vote. I've heard of many silly things, but this caps them all. The decision is another example of EU meddling and one I totally oppose, as do most of my colleagues. If a man or woman cannot live within the law of the land, and is incarcerated in prison, they should lose their freedom in every sense of the word. This is common sense and forms part of the punishment. Imagine canvassing in prison, or worse, losing your Seat by one vote - the vote of a convicted murderer or rapist! I really don't kow for how much longer we can go on playing the subservient fool to the EU. Common sense fled the nest back in 1972 and ever since then we've been steadily emasculated by unelected bureaucrats. Enough is enough.
Posted on 2 November 2010 by Richard Drax
EU embassies
The figures are truly horrific as the EU juggernaut now unveils its new diplomatic army. Seven thousand staff, based in 137 embassies, costing £5.8 billion. This is madness and totally contrary to our own sovereign needs. And this at a time our own Foreign and Commonwealth Office has had its budget reduced by nearly 25 per cent. To be fair to our government, this new EU administration is due to the Lisbon Treaty, the one Labour promised to give us a referendum on and then reneged. It is utter madness and another nail in the EU's coffin, which will one day be carried shoulder high by right-thinking people to a deep hole in the ground and buried forever.
Posted on 1 November 2010 by Richard Drax
Sticks and stones ....
A row erupts after equalities' zealot Harriet Harman dared to to raise a laugh at her Party's annual Scottish conference. She called Treasury Minister Danny Alexander a 'ginger rodent', whereupon she was ordered to apologise by 'Red Ed', her new boss. This country was the birthplace of humour and self deprecation, but now the PC brigade - the most ardent supporter of which is Ms Harman, herself - watches, listens and indeed prosecutes if it feels the citizen has crossed the line. No days passes without offence being caused to someone or some group somewhere in the UK. But, that's life and we really should adopt a tougher hide and ignore name-calling of this kind. Frankly, the only person it hurts is the person who resorts to it.
Posted on 1 November 2010 by Richard Drax