tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22974616.post5686249874523923624..comments2023-10-02T14:33:18.136+01:00Comments on The Very Fluffy Diary of Millennium Dome, Elephant: Day 3550: Freak SchoolsMillennium Domehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08430269096817934037noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22974616.post-38169015613913765972010-10-01T11:10:09.187+01:002010-10-01T11:10:09.187+01:00Daddy Richard is right - I wish he'd been able...Daddy Richard is right - I wish he'd been able to make that speech. (I also wish I'd been able to make mine!) I think Alix has rather hit the nail on the head: the problem of being a party of councillors is that we can sometimes unthinkingly equate the council with local people. Lib Dems living in one-party states like Newham borough or Fenland in Cambridgeshire might disagree.<br /><br />As Joe and Alix say, the issue was not properly debated. Most of the speakers for the motion can be divided into two categories: 1) "I'm worried about the same things that the motion's authors are worried about" and 2) "Here's some horrible things that happened with an academy being opened where I lived".<br /><br />There was essentially no discussion of whether we could learn from other countries to implement free schools in a way that ensures maximum opportunity and minimal room for schools to engage in social engineering. The only person to mention real evidence was Michael Atkins (who also gave the funniest speech and so was thrust in front of TV cameras afterwards!).<br /><br />You can tell Daddy Richard that I'll send him my speech that didn't get to be heard either :)Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11171985623642790407noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22974616.post-2836695678576465532010-09-28T18:33:13.375+01:002010-09-28T18:33:13.375+01:00"...contrary to our much-proclaimed localism...."...contrary to our much-proclaimed localism."<br /><br />I read a piece somewhere recently commenting on the contrasting ways the Tories and Lib Dems "do" localism. One trait pointed out was the fact that a lot of Lib Dems equate "localism" with "local authority", whereas the Tories historically distrust LAs as loonie left organs (until they started winning fistfuls of seats on them, of course, at which point they started morphing into staunch bastions of democracy...)<br /><br />That's clearly what lies behind a lot of the disquiet about freak schools - securing the role of LAs had a very prominent place in the motion. Of course, I agree that LAs are totally bound up with localism, inasmuch as they're the democratically elected bodies so logically first in line for devolved powers. But maybe some people in the party have stopped seeing the wood for the trees a bit if they've started fixating on LAs to the exclusion of arguably even more "localist" groups.<br /><br />Seem to remember this theme about the separation between LAs and "real people" comes up in various Yes (Prime) Ministers!Alixhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08579998688536737861noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22974616.post-17077647414684846272010-09-26T16:08:48.519+01:002010-09-26T16:08:48.519+01:00I wish he'd got to make that speech - I was ve...I wish he'd got to make that speech - I was very uncomfortable with what seemed to be an anti-choice atmosphere in the hall and an unwillingness to trust parents to do the right thing if given more responsibility. Both attitudes seemed rather illiberal to me, and contrary to our much-proclaimed localism.lizwhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06401131361183004457noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22974616.post-13108337687510166182010-09-26T12:43:23.304+01:002010-09-26T12:43:23.304+01:00There are two kinds of conference debate - the sho...There are two kinds of conference debate - the showpiece where almost everyone agrees, and the serious debate, where speakers for and against are allowed in roughly equal numbers.<br /><br />This was a showpiece and therefore the vote is meaningless.Joe Ottenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18380362092159905533noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22974616.post-54546572676447794772010-09-26T08:40:17.346+01:002010-09-26T08:40:17.346+01:00I don't see how freak schools are anything but...I don't see how freak schools are anything but divisive. In the end a freak school is just a shiny new building and an ISO9001 organisation - what're they to do with education? Be radical and talk of free subjects - now that has mileage!JohnMhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12880436007058091917noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22974616.post-44071086457558734422010-09-26T00:27:40.989+01:002010-09-26T00:27:40.989+01:00I share your daddy's general unease. Yes, it w...I share your daddy's general unease. Yes, it was cultural glue and all that, and yes, I suppose I *can* just tell conference to fuck off and not obey their silly instruction. But is this motion the best we could do to set out our stall? Really? What about the more obvious injustices of coalition policy, like some of the expected benefit cuts?<br /><br />I didn't listen to the whole debate, but I certainly didn't get the sense a complex issue was having justice done to it. And there's a good whiff of small-c conservatism coming off that motion text. I could wish people had chosen something more Obviously Wrong to get upset about.Alixhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08579998688536737861noreply@blogger.com