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Last week, Gavin Williamson watched as thousands of students and parents went through the anxiety / stress / anger of having their grades lowered by a computer algorithm that appeared to 'hard bake' discrimination against disadvantaged areas. Mr Williamson declared that the method used was 'fair and robust' and that there would be a 'triple lock' safety net through the appeals process.

On Saturday, Mr Williamson admitted that he no longer knew what the appeals process was.

On Sunday, Mr Williamson watched the anxiety / stress / anger that Boris Johnson was experiencing at the suggestion that he might need to cut short his holiday and 'get a grip'.

On Monday, Mr Williamson declared that the 'fair and robust' algorithm was 'unfair and unsuitable' and would be replaced with grades based on teacher predictions. If only this relatively simple course of action had been available to him, before now.

On Tuesday, Mr Williamson was asked 'what about the kids doing BTecs?'. Mr Williamson stared blankly into the distance...

#takebackcontrol

As sombody remarked, "An education minister who makes children cry is not a good look."
Williamson will probably spend a few months on the back benches with enough stories flying about to - theoretically - distract us from OFQUAL getting 99% of the blame.

And then there's Dildo Harding , a woman with no healthcare experience (except that gained from a husband, who runs a think tank that advocates privatising the NHS) taking over the "new" department that will replace Public Health England, who are being lined up to take the blame for as many COVID-19 balls-ups as the government can throw at it to see which ones stick.

It's Conservative Cover-Your-Arse-Jamboree time gang. Expect lies, half-truths, bullshit, bollocks, and all number of things designed to distract us from the shit that's actually going down, and how inept this government and its half-arsed so-called leader, actually is.

The fact that Matt Hancock has parachuted his pal Dildo Harding in to head up this new health institute thingy, despite her failings as boss of Talk Talk, having no health service expertise or experience, and despite her having already buggered up the NHS Test and Trace programme, will I'm sure, be of great interest to the PM’s Anti-Corruption Champion who is...

*checks notes*

Oh yes, John Penrose, Dildo Harding’s husband, who also sits on the advisory board of think tank 1828, whose manifesto recommends replacing the NHS with an insurance system.

You really can't make this stuff up.

Police arrive just too late to detain the elusive Boris Johnson on charges of fraud, and impersonating a Prime Minister.

England contact tracer: 'I haven't made one call in 12 weeks'
A worker in the north-west tells how she has not been given any cases since she started in May

“I was hired by a Serco sub-contractor to be a contact tracer in the north-west of England at the end of May, just as this supposedly world-beating national contact-tracing system began.

“In 12 weeks I have not made a single call despite working 42 hours a week for £10.12 an hour. One of my friends started at the same time and they haven’t been assigned any cases either. We are not alone: we have a WhatsApp group comparing notes with other call handlers and quite a few haven’t had even one job the entire time.

“My understanding was that we were going to be allocated local cases. Given that the north-west has seen some of the biggest spikes in infections you would think we would be especially busy but apparently not.

“At first it was quite exciting. I had been furloughed and was then made redundant and I was pleased to get a job where I felt I was doing my bit to prevent further outbreaks. I feel this is such a failure of the government, such a gap between what they say and what is the reality.

“Despite not being allocated any cases in three months I was offered an extension on my contract this morning. I had an email saying: “Call volumes have not been as high as we originally anticipated” but telling me I should “feel proud that you have done your bit”. But I haven’t done anything.”

A Serco spokesperson said: “Serco and its team of specialist subcontractors has played an important part in helping reaching hundreds of thousands of people who might otherwise have passed on the virus. We are 93% successful in persuading people to isolate where we have been able to have conversations.”

SOURCE

Not the best use of tax payers money but it's all the big contracts that have been handed out without scrutiny or the standard competitive bidding process that troubles me. Far too many, in fact the majority appear to have gone to friends of the cabinet and other senior Tory party members.
The rich and influential are loving the pandemic all the way to their discreet tax havens
Ps I never got a single task or job as one the of the GoodSAM volunteers. I signed up straight away, completed all the paperwork and then waited & waited.

UK trade minister accused by opponents of hiding think-tank meetings

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain’s trade minister (Liz Truss) has reclassified recent meetings with a pro-hard Brexit think tank as personal discussions, removing them from the public record and sparking opposition allegations that she wants to conceal their influence on public policy.

The Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) is widely regarded as one of Britain’s most influential right-leaning think tanks. It promotes free-markets and has argued strongly for a clean break from the European Union since the 2016 Brexit referendum.

Two meetings with trade minister Liz Truss and the IEA had originally been included in quarterly transparency data published on the government’s website and described as discussing trade. They were removed on Wednesday with a note explaining they were personal meetings - the first such revision since the department was created in 2016.

The Labour Party said Truss appeared to be evading rules designed to ensure integrity, transparency and honesty in public office. Government rules require meetings with external organisations that discuss official business to be declared.

“It makes no sense for Liz Truss now to claim that meetings on those issues had nothing to do with her ministerial role, and suggests instead that she has something to hide, whether in terms of who attended the meetings or what specifically was discussed,” said a spokesman for Emily Thornberry, head of Labour’s trade policy brief.

The Department for International Trade said the meetings were initially included due to an administrative error, and they held no information about them. They declined to comment when asked how a meeting on trade and investment could be considered a personal meeting.

The IEA said it regularly hosted events and meetings with ministers and others but did not provide any further details of the meetings with Truss.

“By definition, the private events we run do not involve the minuting or publication of the full, frank and free exchange of views which we try to ensure takes place,” a spokeswoman said.

SOURCE