Education, Education, Education

Pupils educated at comprehensive schools are half as likely to study mathematics as their counterparts in the private sector, creating a "massive problem" with social mobility, a Tory MP has warned.

Liz Truss, who helped run the centre-right Reform thinktank before her election as MP for South West Norfolk at the last election, said a failure to provide adequate maths teaching was leaving pupils ill equipped for the modern world.

Truss made her comments in a parliamentary debate, held in Westminster Hall, in which she argued in favour of a "subject premium" to boost funding of maths teaching. The MP said that the Young People's Learning Agency, which funds sixth form subjects, awards 12% more funding to media studies, psychology, physics and biology than it does to maths and English.

Truss told MPs that this lack of funding helps explain why Britain now lies in 28th place in the world ranking for maths teaching for 16-18-year-olds, according to the OECD programme for international student assessment (Pisa). This is leaving young people poorly prepared.

"Even for those who don't go onto study maths and science at university a good background in the subject is vital because it is the next generation of primary school teachers, of journalists and politicians who also need to know sure they know the basics of maths," Truss said.

"If their maths is not up to scratch then we will have a damaged ecosystem where we don't have the next group of children getting proper maths education at school, we will have poor quality numerical analysis in our press and in our media and poor quality statistics in our public life."

Full article HERE

Slightly different topic from normal, I know, as it has little to do with my employment status...but it's just one of those things that makes me really despair for our future.

As it stands, it wasn't until after I left secondary school that I learned more about science and maths; during my time at school I was taught the basics on how to pass an exam, or get my coursework done, but actually understanding the subject? Understanding the meanings behind the words I was learning? No, that didn't happen until I was left to figure things out on my own.

Already we're saddled with a media that can barely understand the most basic of Scientific studies, forgetting to check statistics, site sources, or even see if the study has been peer reviewed. Next up we're going to be saddled with a media that not only fails in scientific coverage, but fails at proper coverage of anything that requires mathematics (science, sport, economics, business, etc).

The media is a strong focus for me, but clearly isn't the only thing we should think about with this. The public as a whole has an even worse understanding of science (to the point where they blindly accept what the media tells them when they get it wrong), and I dread to think of what our society is going to be like if the people we deal with on a daily basis can't handle basic mathematical problems.

Hey, I'm probably blowing this way out of proportion here...well, not probably, I am blowing this way out of proportion, but given how bad the state of scientific literacy is in the world at the moment, I can't help but wonder why promises to support the education system at all costs is being forgotten.

It's probably safe to say that this generation is shit out of luck when it comes to finding decent paying jobs within the next couple of years, but the next generation should realistically be OK for finding jobs...if they have the education.

Have a good day.

Welfare For All?

David Willetts in his book, The Pinch, writes: "We know that each generation is going to move on… we know its chances of doing better… are greatest if it is standing on our shoulders." Standing on our shoulders, in this current climate, requires solidarity. Baby boomers, beneficiaries of a free university education and housing boom, the more affluent among pensioners should give up their personal tax allowance if it spares the young a further diminishing of their prospects. However, Willett's language of civic virtue, interdependency and mutualism needs to resonate much more strongly to wipe out the toxic aftermath of the bankers' excessive appetite for profit .

Their greed has torn the social fabric. A YouGov poll this month indicates that we believe the government spends too much on benefits; "scroungers" are an issue and the universalism that glues the welfare state – such as child benefit for all – needs modification. Recession always sees a reduction in empathy; greater prosperity improves it. Nonetheless, the demonisation of those on benefits, including the sick, the disabled and those unemployed because of structural changes to the economy, undermines us all. Gradually, every unemployed person transmutes into "the other"; the underclass, the dispossessed, victims of their own behaviour, not the catastrophic misjudgments of governments.

While the so called "underclass", living without what Adam Smith called "regard" , are easily damned, admiration is shown for the excesses of the "overclass", the stateless nomads, seeking the next tax-free domain, "earning in their sleep"; making money from money, contributing pitifully little to the public coffers. While few of us will ever meet the likes of Sir Philip Green, who spent £6m on his birthday bash, many of us will soon know men and women, trying hard, who have lost a job. Will that personal contact with those drawing for now on the welfare state help to revive social solidarity and draw some of the poison injected by political rhetoric?

When social cohesion is replaced with envy, mistrust and suspicion, we increasingly believe what we wish to believe rather than what the facts reveal. The sad truth of this budget is that it is the poorest who are proportionately paying by far the highest premium for the national albatross of the multibillion pound deficit. Once all the tax, credits and benefits alterations are churned in the budget mixer, the poor will be 63p better off a week; a couple with a joint income of £80,000 may benefit by over £8 a week while those on a salary of half a million pounds or more will have £357 extra in their pockets. Even given the Liberal-Democrats achievement in removing two million from paying income tax altogether, these figures – against a backdrop of the huge cuts still to come – do not add up to social justice.

Full article HERE

There is little else that I can add to this that I haven't previously said, of the rich getting richer, and of society feeling that anyone on benefits is nothing but a scrounger or a liar.

I think it's going to become a recurrent theme on this blog, and quite likely on The Guardian and numerous other newspapers.

"Osborne picks the pocket of pensioners," read the Daily Mail.

It's interesting that perhaps other, less reputable (in my honest opinion) newspapers are also joining in and trying to build some sort of solidarity between the public and those that are currently claiming benefits. Though I feel it's unlikely to last for long with these papers.

As a part of the welfare reform that is being pushed for at the moment, my wife received another form to fill in to see if her circumstances or her disability had changed at all. Many would probably find it funny that the government, the jobcentre, whoever sends these forms out, is of the belief that someone with Asperger's Syndrome will suddenly get better...we just find it infuriating, given that we last filled one of these forms in in December.

I am still searching for work, and I am currently attempting to increase my prospects by learning to drive (which in itself is costing a ridiculous amount of money). The job I applied for, and interviewed for, in London didn't come together in the end, so I am once again searching every day for work or experience.

Despite all of this, my wife and I are made to feel terrible for the lives we live, and it's building to the point where we stop even caring or trying anymore (for all the difference that it would make), leave the country, or end our lives.

It's great that a welfare system is able to push people to this point.

Have a good day.

Breathing Life Into Britain

Mary Portas' Bottom Line on 4OD

I apologise for directly linking the video instead of just embedding it, but for some reason Channel 4 don't want people to embed their videos into other sites. Sadly this is likely only viewable within the UK, so for those that aren't aware of who Mary Portas is, or why this has any relation to my blog, you can check out her official PR spiel here: About Mary Portas

Mary (Queen of Shops) has spent the past few years doing what she can to boost the economy of the UK, by working with the government, launching a new clothes line, and all round just trying to generate new jobs in the UK (which is one of her goals in her latest show Bottom Line).

Watching Bottom Line is interesting, insightful, entertaining, and also downright depressing.

Her goal is to create new jobs by creating an underwear range that is entirely British sourced (all items manufactured and created within the UK), but she can only start with 8 new positions and 9 months to prove herself. On the day of all the job interviews, over 300 unemployed people turn up, and most of them are in tears by the end of the interview as Mary probes into their reasons for wanting the job, or any job.

If this is successful, which I certainly hope it is,then this really could generate more jobs in the UK and ultimately lead to an improvement on every UK Highstreet (I hear Portas is also planning something new to improve the Highstreet in general which my local council appears to be placing a bid on tomorrow).

I guess it's nice to see that there are people with power trying to get something done, not ignoring the people that really need the help, but it's equally depressing that it has to be like this and that it has to start so small.

Have a good day.

The Failings of A Big Society

It is hard for those living in more private circumstances to appreciate just how public life in social housing can feel. Partly this is due to the nature of the flats. However, small, inadequately soundproofed flats are by no means unique to social housing: more significant is the fact that a social tenancy is so difficult to get. Demand so massively outstrips supply that if a young single person is given a flat, everyone knows there must be a reason for it. And the reason, if not quite public knowledge, is certainly an object of public interest, most particularly to the longer-term residents.

Feeding this interest is the highly visible nature of the various interventions. Police, bailiffs and ambulances can be obvious and regular visitors. As can social and support workers, at least to those in the know. Some tenants respond by abandoning any attempt at privacy. One mother who lived near to me used to call her kids from across the street. "No, you come here! I can't come out, can I; I got a fucking tag on!"

And then, of course, you recognise your own. You may recognise people personally, having seen them on the wards or in the waiting room. Or you may, as with my new neighbour, recognise a situation. The inevitable question is how to respond.

It's straightforward enough if you have reason to believe a neighbour is at serious risk. In that situation you have an obligation to act. But my current dilemma is more common and much more complex. In a sense, not responding is impossible; I cannot "unaware" myself of something I am aware of, walking on past is in itself a response. I've tried smiling, but even that felt intrusive, let alone knocking on the door and offering some curtains.

And it's not only my neighbour I'm thinking of. I have to protect my own boundaries. For professionals these come with the role and indeed enable it. Hours and a place of work should help to protect other times and places for things outside work. When you live next door to someone you must establish such boundaries yourself. This is something that I, like many people, struggle with. It may be 3am but if someone's in need, it's difficult to say no. If you know that support is available, this makes things much easier for everyone. But in the age of the "big society", professional support is being cut dramatically. Situations such as this are going to become ever more common. I do hope someone's considered the implications.

Full Article HERE

I'm finding it harder to remain specifically focused on unemployment and welfare issues at the moment, given that there's only so many times you can repeat the same point and more importantly there are other related issues that also need to be talked about.

This particular article kind of struck a chord with me today, and I feel it really is an issue worth talking about.

Disability is something I've touched on, especially Mental Disability. My wife & I are lucky to have each other in our lives, we always have that one person to fall back on, to lean on, to help take the pressure off sometimes, but this isn't always the case for many people with a disability, and it wasn't always the case with myself nor my wife.

Mental Illness, and other invisible illnesses, is notoriously hard to spot or comprehend by those that aren't surrounded by it on a daily basis. I remember a friend of mine at University quite correctly pointing out one day that many people claim to be depressed, when they are in fact just having a bad day, and this greatly confused the matter of whether or not someone really was suffering from depression.

The high number of people out there that don't really understand depression, or other forms of mental illness, or other types of disability, muddy up the water and confuse the definitions of these problems. In the long run, when combined with the often negative portrayal in the media, this means that the public has an often disbelieving attitude towards these issues and will ignore them or pass them off as nothing important.

So now here we are, the year 2012, Cameron's Big Society is slowly taking shape, and apparently that Big Society is one that likes to cut the few lifelines that people like my wife, or myself, or our numerous friends and relatives with similar issues, have available to them.

A Big Society that ignores the people that need the help, ignores the groups, companies, and schemes that could really help the country, and repeatedly backs the people, companies, and schemes that only benefit a minor percentage of the population.

Have a good day.

The UK Video Games Industry

In a desperate attempt to get the country back on its feet, the government is attempting to put together a growth strategy. This includes a discussion on whether we need a holistic industrial policy – a sort of return to the 1970s.


The government's recent move to make its work programme voluntary is a welcome one – it is in my eyes a flawed system that coerces people into free labour with no promise of a job. Having gone through the scheme, I was lucky enough to be offered a part-time job at the electronic retailer Maplin, but perhaps more can be done to ensure a better outcome for everyone, especially in places like the north-east of England, where I live.


After gaining a degree in computer games programming, I found very little in the way of support for people like me. Unfortunately the industry is somewhat ignored by the government. It was promised tax breaks by both the coalition and previous Labour governments, only to be denied them on numerous occasions. It is a real shame to let down this burgeoning industry: the UK used to be third in the world in the production of video games but has slipped to fourth behind Canada. We have produced franchises such as Tomb Raider, Grand Theft Auto and LittleBigPlanet and, unbeknown to most, the north-east region not only contributes massively to the industry within the UK but is also becoming a hub for gaming and digital media.

Full article HERE

Here's an interesting, and slightly off kilter, blog for you guys to mull over today.

Video Games are something I'm quite passionate about, and to get a job within that particularly industry would mean a great deal to me, yet the UK Games industry is mostly ignored by both our government and our population as a whole.

Coming from a media background, education wise, I've learnt a fair amount about the amount of tax breaks the movie industry, and to an extent the music industry, get for working within the UK and using UK labour (for instance, if a film uses British camera operators over operators from an outside country, then they get more tax breaks). Thanks to these tax breaks, we've seen an increase in the number of films either partially shot within the UK, or shot entirely within the country.

Similar incentives were promised to the UK Games industry, as the article above notes, but have failed to be fulfilled.

People tend not to realise the boon that the games industry is able to bring to those that are willing to support it, and fewer are aware of the companies that are either partially based within the UK, or wholly based in the UK.

Just to give you an idea, the UK is home to Traveller's Tales (the company behind the famous LEGO games), Lionhead Studios (Fable, The Movies, Black & White), Rocksteady Studios (Batman: Arkham Asylum, and Batman: Arkham City), Rockstar North (most of the Grand Theft Auto games), Media Molecule (Little Big Planet 1 & 2), and Ninja Theory (Heavenly Sword, Enslaved, and DMC), among many more (an incomplete list can be found HERE).

You'll note that many of the games I just listed have won numerous awards, and this list doesn't include the numerous foreign companies that have set up studios within the UK to expand their customer services and branding (UbiSoft and Capcom are notable companies with UK offices).

These companies are producing top tier, critically acclaimed, titles for the video games market and are brining in ridiculous amounts of money because of this...and yet they have little to no support from the government.

Can you imagine the number of jobs that could be generated within the country if these companies had more money? Not just jobs building or designing the games, but jobs in customer service, jobs in sales, PR, marketing, Tech Support, and numerous other positions that I couldn't realistically name. Often times there are more people working on a modern video game than there could be working on a blockbuster movie.

So yeah, just something to have a think about. Once again the government seem completely unaware of the world we live in, focusing not on schemes that could generate more work and money, but instead on ways of polishing their egos.

Have a good day.

How Far Would You Travel?

This is a short entry today, written on my phone in a hotel room in London.

I have a job interview tomorrow, and I wanted to make sure I turned up on time so I'm staying the night to avoid train delays.

I was wondering how far other people would be willing to travel for a possible job? Myself? Clearly I'm willing to commute to London everyday.

Have a good day guys.

A Cycle Of Pointlessness

Recently, I applied for a part-time customer service position in a local supermarket in the hope of earning some extra cash while studying for my A-levels. I was soon contacted to arrange a date for an interview. I was nervous, excited and worried – I, like many people, have a number of commitments and extracurricular activities, but I understood that working and earning some money would have to take priority over them. How could I complain? After almost two years of relentlessly handing out CVs and application forms, this was the closest I had ever got to employment.

A day after the interview was arranged, I received another call to inform me that a recruitment ban had been put in place at the store and they were no longer hiring. Despite my frustration, I wasn't all that surprised. With this supermarket having originally been named as one of the prime leaders in the government's "work experience" scheme, why on earth would they hire me for a permanent position when they can sift through all the eager, cheap young labour being filtered through the system?

Foreign Office minister Jeremy Browne said on the BBC's Daily Politics show that workfare was designed to combat a "something for nothing" culture in our society. However, the major flaw in this argument is that major corporations are getting exactly what they want for nothing. Some of them claim that they may end up paying work experience placements, but this will never amount to the full wage of an employee contract.

Everyone can agree that work experience and training are important and fulfilling, but they should not be to the benefit of exploitative businesses, designed to minimise cost and maximise profit. Surely it's worth questioning that there is now such a plethora of available work placements on a weekly basis: are we to believe that none of these could be converted to actual jobs? The system is just self-manufacturing biased and false success.


The government is constantly throwing statistics at the media in attempts to qualify their "achievements", but the rate of people finding work following the scheme does not differ much from the amount of time it usually takes someone on benefits to find employment anyway. The information is too quantitative and not qualitative enough to explain unique individual cases of how employment was found.


Here's a statistic that the government is been rather quiet about: seizure of cannabis in England and Wales has more than doubled since 2004. Growing frustration at a lack of proper employment is only likely to make that figure grow higher and higher.

Full article HERE

I had an interesting conversation with someone the other day, in which we discussed the lack of jobs currently available, and how many graduates end up working in placements at supermarkets or other retail jobs.

Now, I think it is obvious to say that a job is a job, it should never be frowned upon, but I think it should also be noted that no graduate ever expects to come out of University and find themselves in a position they could have taken before they'd even entered College.

So the other problem is now faced of where the 16 year olds go for work? If every University graduate is taking a position in the local Tesco, or Poundland, or Sainsbury's, then what positions can the younger citizens take?

Although an obvious exercise, I think it worth going over in your head to really contemplate the utter pointlessness of the current WorkFare scheme, a scheme that places people into these retail positions while they are also looking for work.

All-round, it is a cycle of pointlessness.

I think what might be nice, if the WorkFare scheme really is to continue, would be for companies offering internships or other office based positions (or even numerous other companies that don't do office work, but also don't do retail) to be brought in to this scheme to offer more graduate level experience programs for those that have chosen to move beyond retail work and more into managerial or similar positions.

That's just my thought for today at least.

Private Tenancy Evictions Up By 17%

The number of tenants being evicted through the courts by private landlords has increased by 17% since the credit crunch began at the end of 2007.

Analysis of possession order claims by legal information specialist Sweet & Maxwell shows that 14,895 were launched in county courts by private landlords in 2011 compared to 12,686 in 2008. A possession order legally entitles a landlord to evict a tenant and regain possession of a property.

The firm says unemployment and rising rents are likely to have caused the increase in tenant evictions. Rents have risen by 8% since 2009, reaching a record high at the end of 2011, according to the LSL rental index.

Data published by the Office for National Statistics in February showed that the number of UK unemployed rose to 2.67 million in the three months to December 2011 – the highest level since 1995.

"Rising unemployment will obviously have an immediate and clear impact on an individual's expenditure and financial obligations," said Daniel Dovar, co-author of Residential Possession Proceedings, published by Sweet & Maxwell.

"Many landlords may feel they have little option other than to evict tenants who are not paying full rent and who can no longer guarantee that their rent will be paid in the foreseeable future."

Tenants who are unemployed can claim for housing benefit. But the government introduced lower limits which restricted the amount paid out to tenants signing up to new rental contracts in 2011 and renewing existing ones in 2012.

The limits have caused shortfalls between the amount of benefit paid to tenants and the rent charged by landlords, particularly in London and the south-east where rents are highest.

But while David Cameron has stated that the lower housing benefit limits will force landlords to reduce rental levels, rents in these areas have continued to rise as high levels of demand mean landlords can easily replace tenants in arrears.

Full article HERE

The emphasis on the final paragraph was added by myself, as I feel this is possibly one of the most important parts of the entire article (though seemingly glossed over afterwards).

I've said before that it is a big worry between myself and my wife that if our benefits are cut, or canceled, we run the risk of not being able to pay our rent, or bills, or buy ourselves food, so that paragraph really strikes home for us.

My wife & I received a letter from our renting agency that our rent was increasing again; it's only a marginal increase, but over time it really builds up. If we suffer a cut in our benefits, then this could severely effect our ability to pay rent (obviously we would have to use the little extra money we get to top up the rent payments, which would have a knock on effect on the amount of food we could buy, etc.).

Once again it seems that the government are focusing on cutting and reforming entirely the wrong sectors of the welfare system, putting families and other people that rent their property at risk of either becoming homeless (which in turn means that the government has to spend more money on supporting them) or suffering various issues such as having to eat less.

The current government appears incapable of thinking ahead unless the idea is practically stroking their ego (hello Big Society), and are seemingly unwilling to consider the consequences of their actions. Given that the the government are meant to represent the citizens of their country, it feels disheartening to learn that they will not consider those that are sorely in need of that consideration.

The Reality Of The Situation

In the wake of Wednesday's u-turn by the government on sanctions for people who dropped out of the voluntary Work Experience scheme, we've picked up on some interesting reports through Twitter.

Some jobseekers have claimed that after turning down a voluntary placement, they have very quickly been put on the Mandatory Work Activity programme – a compulsory scheme which requires jobseekers to work up to 30 hours a week for up to eight weeks. Refusal to participate can lead to benefits being suspended for up to three months for a first breach, and six months thereafter.

The programme cannot be used as a punishment, but can be given to any jobseeker unemployed for less than a year where their advisor feels it is appropriate.

I've managed to speak to a few people who say this has happened to them, but we'd like to see if it's happened to more people.

If that's you – or someone you know – please get in touch, either by email (james.ball@guardian.co.uk) , phone (0203 3533 293) or if you're happy for it to be seen publicly, @jamesrbuk on Twitter.

Discretion is assured –we won't use your name or any identifying details about you unless you're happy for us to do so. You can also fill out this form to tell us more:

Full article HERE

The Guardian are asking for help from its readers, if anybody here happens to have a story or experience to share with them regarding the current issue of the Work Experience scheme, you can contact them at the addresses above.

Equally, I would like to ask the same from my lovely readers. If any of you have any stories of unemployment, disability, or benefits issues to share with me, please leave a comment on this blog and I will try and get in touch with you to arrange an interview.

Have a good day guys.