I think the government is deliberately undermining the monarchy. It seems quite happy to let the uncertainty continue over the legality of Prince Charles' marriage to Camilla, and for our future king to suffer the inconvenience and indignity of being married in a public registry office.
It would not be difficult for Parliament to pass an Act putting the legitimacy of Charles' wedding beyond doubt, and enabling him to have the civil ceremony at Windsor Castle as originally intended, but without making the Queens' home a wedding venue for everyone else.
It is not enough for our second rate Lord Chancellor to make a statement of his advice: the trouble is that if there is any question over the legality of Charles' marriage, it may give rise to serious constitutional and legal questions in the future, affecting not only Charles' family and heirs, but the country.
We owe it to the family who bear the burden of being Britain's constitutional keystone, and to ourselves, to sort this out properly.
February 24, 2005
February 22, 2005
Labour Plays Politics With Election Court
The Times reports on Labour's attempt to delay the trial of three Labour councillors accused of using postal ballots to rig elections to seats in the Bordesley Green and Aston wards in Birmingham in June 2004.
When Richard Mawrey, QC, the judge, refused an application to delay the trial until after May 5th, the Labour party withdrew legal funding from its accused councillors, presumably attempting to distance itself from them, but at the same time revealing its real interest in the case.
Doubtless without the case Labour would also find it easier to press ahead with introducing their contentious system of postal voting for the general election.
Another example of Labour's total cynicism, and contempt for the legal process.
When Richard Mawrey, QC, the judge, refused an application to delay the trial until after May 5th, the Labour party withdrew legal funding from its accused councillors, presumably attempting to distance itself from them, but at the same time revealing its real interest in the case.
Doubtless without the case Labour would also find it easier to press ahead with introducing their contentious system of postal voting for the general election.
Another example of Labour's total cynicism, and contempt for the legal process.
Power To Parents
Anyone who doubts the decline in British education standards should look at the figures at the end of a report in the Telegraph.
Geoff Parks, director of admissions at Cambridge said the university admitted 140 fewer undergraduates this year than last because of an increase in the number of four year degrees, now common in engineering and the sciences, a result of pupils knowing less than they used to.
This despite, of course, repeated government assertions that things have never been better, as evidenced by the ever higher grades achieved by ever more pupils in ever more subjects. Nothing to do with grade inflation, naturally. Blatant lies, and part of Britain's Sovietisation.
The Telegraph also mentions that the numbers obtaining at least three As at A level or the "vocational equivalent" (as the university admissions service regards hairdressing) increased by 68% last year to 128,000 (or around one in six of the entire year group). And yet pupils know less than they used to and degree course get longer in consequence. It doesn't add up.
I don't see how Britain's education system can ever improve so long as it remains a political football, and a vehicle for social engineering. Stop pretending the academic and the non-academic are the same. Get the politicians, the civil servants, and the inspectors out, and let parents make the decisions.
Geoff Parks, director of admissions at Cambridge said the university admitted 140 fewer undergraduates this year than last because of an increase in the number of four year degrees, now common in engineering and the sciences, a result of pupils knowing less than they used to.
This despite, of course, repeated government assertions that things have never been better, as evidenced by the ever higher grades achieved by ever more pupils in ever more subjects. Nothing to do with grade inflation, naturally. Blatant lies, and part of Britain's Sovietisation.
The Telegraph also mentions that the numbers obtaining at least three As at A level or the "vocational equivalent" (as the university admissions service regards hairdressing) increased by 68% last year to 128,000 (or around one in six of the entire year group). And yet pupils know less than they used to and degree course get longer in consequence. It doesn't add up.
I don't see how Britain's education system can ever improve so long as it remains a political football, and a vehicle for social engineering. Stop pretending the academic and the non-academic are the same. Get the politicians, the civil servants, and the inspectors out, and let parents make the decisions.
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