On Monday 11th January, Baroness Catherine Ashton faced a 3 hour hearing in the European Parliament (EP) to confirm her recent appointment as the EU’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs. Following her “grilling” by MEPs, one witness commented: “her answers necessarily had the sense of newly-learnt policies”.
It is reported today that the issue of whether gay marriage should be recognised in law in the USA may be headed for final resolution by the Supreme Court. For an excellent, courteous and informed discussion of the issue, watch the debate on it organised by Princeton University’s Anscombe Society, just posted on its web-site.
In a widely reported speech last week, former poet laureate Sir Andrew Motion urged schools to reinstate the rote learning of classic poetry. He said: “Learning by heart has got a very bad reputation of being dusty and putting people off poetry. But if you learn poetry by heart… it allows it to become interesting.”… [Read More]
The international health policy research community is tuned in to the United States this month as Congress inches closer to passing the most extensive healthcare reform bill in 45 years. But what will these reforms really change?
In the Daily Telegraph this week, David Conway writes on the subject of his new book, Liberal Education and the National Curriculum, published by Civitas. ‘Critics of the national curriculum – and they are legion in our classrooms and teacher training colleges – seem curiously unaware that the first person to propose such a curriculum… [Read More]
Schools Secretary Ed Balls recently announced that, under the rubric of the new Personal, Social, Health and Economic curriculum to be introduced from September 2011, children as young as five will be given lessons on how to save. Editorial columns have greeted the announcement with derision, rightly commenting on the irony involved.