Sandro Raniere

There can only be 1 national benchmark of talent though and that is A levels If back in 1982 when I took my driving test if I had failed and then said to my examiner "I win go kart races I really am a good driver" it would not get me very far, the reason being the driving test is the benchmark of talent and ability I would look at maybe some halfway house between 6th form/college and uni but I would not allow anyone on a uni course unless they scored AAA, AAB or in exceptional cases ABB As for courses it is right there is a pecking order, should medicine be of the same standing as media studies? absolutely not

Interesting facts, i stand corrected :)

The country cant afford to give free uni education to millions, its not practical, especially to courses that are considered 'soft options' I would be happy to have free education for courses that are vital to the country like medicine, nursing, sciences, pharmacy, engineering, aero engineering, MBA, finance etc, those sort of courses are necessary and should be free but if people want to study arts, media, sociology, golf course management etc then they should have to pay tuition fees as those sort of courses are not vital to the country With regards foundation courses, foundation courses are for people that are not bright enough to get into uni by traditional means, as i said in previous posts only the absolute brightest should be in uni imho

People change radically in many cases between university and middle age Portillo was a communist at university and then 20 years later was Maggie's attack dog until he lost his seat and his views became more mainstream, the ultra right wing Peter Hitchens was a communist in his 20s (he showed his members card in DM yesterday) so just because Robinson and Dimbleby were tories in their youth doesn't mean they are now, both are extremely impartial and fair broadcasters In the case of Portillo now, his show is balanced out by having left winger Diane Abbott as his co presenter

It is wrong on so many levels, it is effectively a free party political broadcast for labour on a non politiics show If they invite David Cameron on next week then great otherwise it lends further weight to the conspiracy theory that BBC is pro labour and biased towards them

In a bid to keep the unemployment rates down successive governments have lied to a whole generation and herded them sheep like into university, continual lowering of the entry standards, creation of more and more polytechnics into uni's, the growth in the number of courses that are not taken seriously by most employers, its a con, they are saddling youngsters with £20k worth of debt that in many cases will never be paid off Anyone who has gone through the uni system and graduated deserves credit, not knocking them as they have shown they can research, study, do a dissertation etc but they have been lied to that a uni degree of any sort is a fast track to big money, its bollocks Whole system needs reforming from top to bottom Raise the bar in terms of grades needed for uni, get rid of the pointless courses, get the numbers down in a big big way and then when we have an elite uni system again scrap loans and bring in grants

I am a tory but would describe myself as an independent one, i differ from the leadership on a number of issues, that being one of them I want to see the right people going to uni, By that i don't mean people from private schools or rich backgrounds but the academic elite, AAA AAB students for example should be the ones going to uni, you can get into uni on D's in some courses or even bypass the system altogether and get in via foundation courses There are not enough apprenticeships in Britain and that should be introduced more

I don't want to see a situation where paid workers get hours cut or don't get the overtime they rely on etc because someone on workfare is doing it for nothing, totally unacceptable and unfair on those in full time or part time paid work But I do support in principle the idea of someone doing full time work after 2 years for a voluntary organisation or the helping pensioners in the community etc

Problem is thanks to labour social engineering there are too many graduates now, many of them with degrees that are looked down on by employers (not yours, stuff like media studies and sociology and history of art) all chasing the same jobs plus the most important factor these days is experience 10-15 years ago a cv with a degree on it really made employers eyes open but now everyone has a degree and a degree just doesn't stand out any more Instead of 50%+ leaving school and going to uni it should be the elite 5-10% like it used to be so that a degree certificate means something again to employers

Schemes like this are nothing new though Maggie had YTS which involved working full time for 3 months for a company for no extra money than the 20 odd quid a week it was then Blair had New Deal which involved work placements for several weeks, you got an extra £15 on top of benefits I remember a friend who was on New Deal at the time said but even benefits plus £15 a week is waaaaay short of minimum wage, he also said that on New Deal you had to attend a centre full time every day where you were on the computers applying for jobs all the time I don't recall any protests and 'boycott new deal' websites and people claiming new deal was a breach of their 'uman rights Blair brings in New Deal - months of work experience plus attending a centre full time yet no fuss Cameron brings in workfare plus daily attendance of job centre and it is 'evil tories trying to bring back the workhouse' Unreal

I think 2 years is a very reasonable time to find a job, if someone has not got one in that time it is obvious they need to make themselves employable as employers are turning them down again and again Either they are applying for the wrong type of jobs, lack experience of work, have some difficulties like numeracy or literacy or aren't trying hard enough for jobs. Doing a few months of community work will show employers that they are employable and are not wasters, it will give some experience for those that lack experience, it will give something to put on the cv, it will give them a work ethic. Yes they are not getting paid above their JSA but interns who join a company to gain some experience aren't being paid at all or are being paid very little, they are working for a business to gain experience yet i never read about 'slave labour' applying to interns

The adult rate, think it is over 21 or 23 or something, is £71 a week which is what i was basing it on I suspect most of the long term unemployed (2 years plus) which are the only ones workfare applies to, will be on the £71 a week adult rate

They have got 104 weeks worth of £71 a week for no work (over £7k) so that is the equivalent of 1000+ hours at minimum wage already so needs factoring in

There is plenty they could do I do think it is wrong to send people to Tesco and Poundland etc as that is taking work away from existing workers but some of the following are what i would say are fair game 1) Working in charity shops 2) Snow clearing in their streets and surrounding streets, making the paths safe and clearing the drives of people especially the elderly 3) Filling potholes, yes people are already doing that but the existing workforce cant keep up with the number of potholes that need filling in winter 4) Doing shopping, gardening and other duties for elderly people, no one with a criminal record would do this obviously 5) Clearing graffiti and litter, again like potholes people are paid to do it but cant keep up with amount that needs doing The above 5 are for people who can read and write to an acceptable standard. I would also have compulsary full time education for long term unemployed who have literacy and numeracy problems to get them to a standard acceptable level where they are fit to work, likewise with immigrants claiming JSA should have compulsary English classes full time to learn English

I support the idea of workfare Not out of some sort of desire for punishment of those that are out of work a long time but out of support of the need to give them a work ethic again and a sense of routine It is easy imho to lose motivation if not getting up early to go to work and doing a shift, apathy and lethargy can set in, motivation hits rock bottom, the sense of routine and the sense of pride is lost and an ever increasing gap in the CV makes it even more likely they have nothing to offer employers Doing full time community work will give them a work ethic, get them waking up at 7am again to report for a shift at 9am, gives them something to show on their cv, gives them social interaction, win win situation for those that are out of work

Banged to rights on that one ;) long day

It has certainly made the cost of living a highly talked about thing again, and pushed it high up the agenda, Osbourne has kind of fought back by freezing fuel duty for 2 years

What it saves in money it will cost in increased crime, no doubt about that But I do think u25's should be living at home unless they are victims of physical or sexual abuse, they should not be entitled to housing benefit imho, exceptions being those in the 2 catergories I mentioned I also think that the tories have the right idea in preventing chavs from having a career on the dole, but someone who leaves school at say 16 and works for 7 years as a mechanic for example and gets made redundant should be entitled to JSA so I don't agree with the 'one size fits all' element of this But the up sides are that chavs might suddenly realise instead of dossing at school, leaving barely literate or numerate and churning out a couple of kids and spending a life on benefits, that it is worth putting in effort at school, paying attention in class, learning to read and write, getting good grades and being employable.

The energy bills thing while well meaning was probably the dumbest thing Ed has announced since he became leader, full of good intentions yes but energy companies will hike up bills before the election by way more than they normally would to make up the shortfall so what sounds good on paper wont save anyone any money But full of good intentions but clueless on economic realities sums Ed up

There were some very popular benefit announcements at our conference Long term unemployed being forced to do community work had 68% support according to one poll Banning the u25's from benefits although I can see some down sides to this is also very popular in the polls So those people you talk about are faced with a choice of reining in the welfare state by voting tory or handing more and more money to claimants by voting labour If benefits is what influences their vote they are best off voting tory

I suspect that the overall number of people voting will be down in 2015 compared with 2010, that would account for a lot of the 8%, many of the rest have already switched to Labour judging by Labour's poll lead atm But Labour's lead should be a lot bigger right now if they are to form the next government, Kinnock and Foot had far bigger leads than Ed has and lost and am pretty sure that Callaghan even had about an 8% lead and lost out massively to Maggie Nationally tories and labour probably have a hardcore of about 30% each who would vote for them no matter what, the rest, floating voters and disaffected lib dems are the key

It is a risk yes, but life is about risks You can take a chance in life and risk it might go pear shaped or you can sit on your hands, many are taking the chance, it is a chance worth taking imho

I am not talking about 2010, I am talking about the recent polls that put Lib Dems at 10-15%, the other 8% have been lost, probably forever, Lib Dems will do well to get 15%, I suspect they will get nearer 10%, with say 2% of those voting Tory and the other 3% voting Labour if Lib Dems were to get 10% at next election from their current 15% base

Clegg is a tory in all but name, the Lib Dem core vote is more left wing, more leaning towards Vince Cable, I know Lib Dems that can't stand Clegg, I can see many on the right of the lib dems voting tory as there is bugger all between them and Clegg

It makes financial sense to buy a house People renting a property in say Clapham are probably paying in rent a good £1000 a month, the money is vanishing into thin air By buying they are probably spending the same amount or less but physically owning something at the same time It makes complete sense to buy a property rather than rent