Education secretary Bridget Phillipson briefed to the Guardian this afternoon that following the broadcast of the series Adolescence “she will start monitoring a group of schools to understand the effectiveness of the guidance” on smartphone bans. The paper breathlessly reports that “the education department will also, for the first time, do an in-depth analysis of the national behaviour survey in schools to look at the most successful ways of policing the bans, and the challenges schools are facing.” Finally tough action is being taken against – checks notes – the most deprived demographic in the UK, white working class boys…
Busy Bridget is following the lead of the PM who said in the Commons yesterday: “At home we are watching Adolescence. I’ve got a 16-year-old boy and a 14-year-old girl, and it’s a very good drama to watch. This violence carried out by young men, influenced by what they see online, is a real problem. It’s abhorrent, and we have to tackle it.” The drama is said to be disturbing and a “tough watch” for all…
All four episodes of the show are officially classified by the BBFC as 15. That means that no one under that age should be watching them, even if accompanied by a parent or an over-18. Starmer’s 14-year-old wouldn’t be allowed to watch the show in the cinema under any circumstances. The BBFC stresses that “guidelines are the product of extensive public consultation, research and the accumulated experience of the BBFC over many years.“ Starmer has flagrantly violated them…
For a show which is about children viewing inappropriate disturbing content Starmer’s violation of clear BBFC rules takes the biscuit. A memorable moment in his long catalogue of left-wing hypocrisy…
President Trump is gearing up to sign an executive order to abolish the Department of Education this evening, directing Secretary Linda McMahon “to take all necessary steps to facilitate the closure (of) the Department of Education to return education authority to the States.” Though Congress has to approve its abolition – which seems unlikely – White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt promised the department “will be much smaller”…
Last week Trump sacked nearly half the staff in the department with over 1,300 civil servants handed termination notices and nearly 600 taking voluntary resignation offers. One employee who “survived” the culling said it was like “funeral”, lamenting:
“People were crying, breaking down at the human toll. These people are not bureaucratic bloat: they’re vital to helping improve educational outcomes for our nation’s children, and to ensuring states comply with the law. It’s death by a thousand cuts.”
A lesson from the President in getting things done…
Lord Coe won’t become the head of the International Olympic Committee after being beaten in the vote by a swimmer from Zimbabwe called Kirsty Coventry. She becomes the organisation’s first female president…
The Brit – who is a former Tory MP and peer – saw his campaign scuppered by Coventry, who has an eyebrow-raising political history. As The Times reports: “She received $100,000 in cash from the former president, Robert Mugabe, upon her return from the Beijing Games in 2008 and has been a sports minister in a Zimbabwean government that is the subject of UK and US sanctions.” Another international organisation which is becoming a total joke…
Co-conspirators may remember last month’s spirited intervention from Lady Justice Carr, England’s top judge, when Starmer and Badenoch stressed the primacy of parliament over activist judges at PMQs:
“I think it started from a question from the Opposition suggesting that the decision in a certain case was wrong, and obviously the Prime Minister’s response to that. Both question and the answer were unacceptable. It is for the Government visibly to respect and protect the independence of the judiciary.”
Awkward, then, that someone with such an imperious view of the legal profession should be the main speaker at an event hosted by Herbert Smith Freehills tonight. HSF has just today been fined £465,000 for breaching sanctions on Russia…
The Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation today issued the fines to subsidiary HSF Moscow – despite Herbert Smith requesting a ministerial review – which relate to six payments of £3.9 million to Alfa-Bank JSC, PJSC Sovcombank, and PJSC Sberbank. Those are three banks subject to an asset freeze by the UK government. Lady Justice Carr’s speech tonight has the title “Valuing Lawyers.” Write your own jokes…
Carr’s lecture for the 2025 Sir Henry Brooke Lecture at HSF’s premises on Primrose Street begins at 6 p.m. tonight with a Q&A and reception afterwards. Might be frostier than expected…
Labour have been making plenty of noise about cutting wasteful spending and tightening the reins on the blob, with Rachel Reeves gearing up for major Whitehall cuts in her Spring Statement. Meanwhile, UK DOGE has been firing off FOI requests to uncover potential savings…
It turns out the Department for Business and Trade hasn’t just ramped up spending on media staff – forking out £3,467,949 in annual salaries – but it’s also splashed a staggering £3,569,863 on LinkedIn between January 2024 and February this year. That includes £2,383,631 on LinkedIn adverts and £1,186,232 on LinkedIn sales navigator solutions, a premium subscription for ‘advanced’ search filters and insights. So much for belt-tightening…
That’s an average of £274,604 per month spent by one department on the social media platform, which will presumably continue. For that you could:
The taxpayer may have a view on which should be prioritised. UK DOGE recommends costs are cut here…
Kemi Badenoch at the 1922-ConHome bash last night:
“I did praise [Burnham] for his stamina, it was amazing. All I had to do was sit back and lie there. I didn’t have to do anything at all…”