The number of primary school leavers struggling with literacy has risen by 30,000 over the past year, taking the total up to over 200,000. In the past 12 months 840 million days of in-person schooling have been lost. The Sunday Times has the story.
More than 200,000 pupils will move from primary school to secondary school this autumn without being able to read properly, according to unpublished Government figures.
The findings, which have sent a jolt through Downing Street, show the impact of lockdown on learning, with the number of children struggling with literacy rising by 30,000 over the past year.
Boris Johnson will use a key speech to launch a “four-year emergency” plan to help disadvantaged children catch up.
Senior Government sources said the problem was the prime minister’s top priority after the coronavirus vaccination programme and would remain a central focus until the next election.
A week ago Johnson met Sir Kevan Collins, who is leading a review of the impact of the coronavirus on schoolchildren. He is said to have “put a rocket up” No 10 about the scale of the crisis. …
At his Downing Street press conference on March 23rd, the prime minister said: “It’s the loss of learning for so many children and young people that’s the thing we’ve got to focus on now as a society.” He expressed concern about those “unable properly to read or write as a result of Covid”.
A recent report by the Children’s Commissioner drew attention to the damage done to education by the lockdown policy.
A report by the Children’s Commissioner, Dame Rachel de Souza, found that about 840 million days of in-person schooling, equal to roughly 19 weeks a pupil, had been lost since the start of the pandemic until March 8th.
De Souza called last night for a “supercharged educational catch-up”. She said: “We asked children to make a huge sacrifice to help control the virus and now we need to give them something back.”
Worth reading in full.
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The DS has descended to Deep State-condoned fake binaries.
It being co-opted, and not particularly subtly even, was always a matter of time.
Beware of the wilful blindness of which you rightly accused others.
It’s not rocket science. One doesn’t need to have read Hegel.
On the one side, there are the people. On the other, those who will fund both sides to stir up conflict, get the people to fight each other and use the conflict to control the outcome, the synthesis.
Beware of being channeled in the manner that the EPS (Evil Psychopathic Scum) has planned for you.
.
Nothing these days is off the table ! The one item you mention though is a misnomer ! There is no mass immigration ! It’s “The Great Replacement” – Check it out .
I have to admit, although I’ve chosen to not take a side in this incredibly complex conflict, I’ve been somewhat dismayed at the DS refusal to even consider any pro-Palestine arguments. Its coverage has been a whitewash of BBCesque proportions. They’ve quite deliberately conflated a number of different things. TY, on the Weekly Sceptic podcast, even brazenly stated that, basically, only one view would be tolerated. It’s his creation I guess, so he can do what he wants, but I’ve been left gobsmacked by the hypocrisy. The DS allows critical thinking of any subject with the exception of one, which they appear to treat in the same manner MSM did Covid, lockdowns and ‘vaccines’ i.e there is a single truth. Don’t get me wrong, I agree with many of their arguments, but their censorship of dissenting voices has been depressing.
DS does seem to have taken a side, but to be fair they didn’t carry many pro-lockdown articles during covid either. I’m not aware of evidence of the censorship to which you refer, at least not below the line.
True. I suppose my response would be that the entirety of MSM provided the pro-lockdown side, and in that instance the DS stood alone in providing a counter argument. This conflict is more openly divisive so I’d have expected a little of the nuance to be considered in some of the articles. Toby has quite openly said though, that the DS doesn’t attempt to take an impartial position on anything, so you may be right. Rightly or wrongly it just doesn’t sit right with me. With respect the BTL stuff, Toby also states in the latest WS podcast that they remove comments they don’t like about the conflict.
I think impartial news sites are a virtual impossibility, though The Unz Review • An Alternative Media Selection – The Unz Review comes close – but that’s more commentary than news and Unz is seemingly an odd fish who loves free speech. That said, it’s a shame there’s not more nuance as the topic deserves debate. I think it’s also a shame that comments are removed.
Unz was provax but he is generally Antiwar and anti imperialism in the leftist sense so he gets most of those issues right vis a vis the Cabal
TBH I mainly read Steve Sailer, who got covid wrong (from my POV). What strikes me about Unz is the wide range of views expressed by the myriad of columnists there, and the wide range of views expressed in the comments.
I did read some of Unz’ stuff about the vax, but equally there were other writers putting opposite points of view. He seems to truly believe in more or less absolute freedom of speech – the comments don’t seem to be moderated much if at all.
Oh ok I see your point. Cheers.
Unz himself is a Jewish “anti-Zionist”.
Thankfully there are a lot of Jewish thought leaders who question the activities of the Zionists claiming to speak for all Jews. Quite a few are friends.
I’m vaguely pro-Israel by instinct but I think it’s important to try and debate this topic sensibly.
Upvote from me for The Unz Review. I have that site open now more than the DS, which seems to be mimicking the MSM/establishment narrative on certain subjects – rendering it dull, redundant and boring.
Unz is obviously fairly US-oriented, though of course what goes on in the US tends to end up here (for better and for worse).
I think UNZ is valuable, but it is far from being impartial. Half its content is ultra-anti-semitic even for a genuine Israel critic.
I think Paul Craig Roberts, who is a contributor there but also has his own webpage, and Taki have nailed all major topics in the sense the UNN authors and myself would see them. Lew Rockwell also provides a platform mainly for various authors of such views.
The DS still has value to me, its articles on the vaccines, climate change and wokeness, like the current one on CSJ, are generally quite good, but the rest and the Torygraph headline round-up have become useless regurgitations of government and right wing establishment propaganda.
“useless regurgitations of government and right wing establishment propaganda.”
If only there were a “right wing establishment”
I don’t know enough about Unz to say how “impartial” it is – but it seems to me that a wide range of views is expressed. As its stated purpose is to give a home to views not found in the legacy media, it’s inevitably on balance going to reflect a “biased” view of the world overall.
I think there is, it might not be in power anymore, but it’s still powerful.
TY, Tice, most biz and finance leaders and moguls, the FO and MIs, the MIC/Chatham House folks and more than half the HoL plus all the self defined Conservatives that swallow the class system, monarchy, spying and military activities and celebrations wholeheartedly count towards it in my view.
Depends what you mean by right wing. All of those institutions have been captured by wokeness and “greenness”.
The DS is against hostage taking, calls for a ceasefire which would certainly only be observed by Hamas for as long as was expedient, clambering over war memorials and the creating a climate of fear amongst Jewish communities in this country.
I don’t recall coming across any discussion on here of Palestine itself.
What exactly do you mean by ‘pro-Palestine’ arguments?
Who isn’t against hostage taking? Sorry, that’s just a silly point. With respect the calls for a ceasefire, well, that’s far more complex. I think everyone in their right mind would agree that Israel has every right to retrieve their hostages, and also to provide a future deterrent against the barbaric acts of inhumanity that Hamas committed. The question, the one that appears unusually divisive, is whether an inhumane act justifies an inhumane response.
With the intensity of the bombing, I very much doubt any of the hostages are alive now. A ceasefire would have allowed humanitarian aid but the counter argument is that it would allow Hamas to regroup or whatever the prevailing explanation is. Personally, I find the undivided support for Israel’s government in the face of this atrocity/genocide to be an outrage against everything I stand for. It’s murder and yes what Hamas did was an outrage too. Does that make me an appeaser? A supporter of Hamas? No, it bloody doesn’t doesn’t! It makes me a human being. I support the right of Israelis to live in peace and to defend themselves but I do not support the right of Israel to target and attack civilians, lumped together as ‘Hamas’ supporters, and commit genocide. Violence and murder on both sides is unacceptable.
Careful there, Aethelred. As Caitlin Johnstone points out, language around this atrocity is being so heavily ‘curated’ that everything, and I mean everything, that is not implicitly and explicitly pro-Israeli – the political state, not the Abrahamic religion it professes to represent – is considered anti-semitic. Ceasefire? – anti-semitic. Humanitarian aid? – antisemitic. Horror at massive civilian losses? – antisemitic. Discomfort with genocidal pronouncements from the Israeli govt? – antisemitic. Pointing out glaring war crimes? – antisemitic. Remember the covid days and the term anti-vaxxer? It even included multi-jabbed people disagreeing with politically motivated mandates, like the Canadian truckers, and look where it got them….
https://caitlinjohnstone.com.au/2023/11/14/tone-policing-opposition-to-genocide/
Thanks, WW! Personally though, I don’t give a hoot about what other people think or how many downticks I get, I’ll say it how it is. What is happening is just wrong and evil.
Is that deliberate use of present tense?
We’re singing the same tune. It’s why I find the one-sided, bloodthirsty, cries of support of death and destruction from the DS team… “distasteful”. As Toby would put it.
Exactly. Masking genocide as a proportionate response is just wrong. We want the best for all human beings. This is not the way towards that ideal. This will create many more terrorists, more division, more hate, more frequent wars and so on. You can’t bomb your way to peace, it doesn’t work like that.
There seems to be a lot of silliness about.
Guess who isn’t against hostage taking?
‘Whether an inhumane act justifies an inhumane response?’ is based on a false premise.
Israel has declared war on hamas and is conducting military operations within the Geneva Convention.
‘Convention IV: Under this Convention, civilians are afforded the same protections from inhumane treatment and attack afforded to sick and wounded soldiers in the first Convention.’
‘Protocol II: In this Protocol, the fundamentals of “humane treatment” were further clarified.’
Cornell: Geneva Conventions and their additional protocols
Great comment. Thank you.
What was the source of the quotation?
https://unitynewsnetwork.co.uk/7th-october-2023-the-day-that-the-freedom-movement-died/
7th para down. Last couple sum it up:
It’s ‘freedom but…’. And that is neither a principled or ethical position to take, when a sickening slaughter has been unleashed on fellow human beings – half of them children. After failing to organise itself into a viable political force capable of mobilising members to reject the orthodoxies of, first, Ukraine and now Gaza, the Freedom Movement has failed a fundamental moral test, and thus we conclude that it ceases to exist.
Let us remember the Freedom Movement (23rd March 2020 – 7th October 2023) for a fleeting resistance to the New World Order, which it could not sustain.
That is a great article. Totally encapsulating my sadness at what’s happened to the DS. I now understand why London Calling had to end. TY is ultimately too partisan and too frozen in his worldview to see what’s happened clearly and he has encouraged more partisan hacks to take DS away from its original strengths.
To further quote that piece you linked:
”The October Declaration presents a cynical and undemocratic call to politicise the policing of protest in the UK, and reveals how skin-deep are its signatories’ commitment to freedom of speech, conscience and assembly. But arguably they were never genuine advocates of liberty and truth anyway. Dodsworth’s last chapter in State of Fear promoted the improperly tested Covid-19 vaccines. Allison Pearson and Julia Harley Brewer, for example, spent as much time criticising conspiracy theorists as challenging lockdown. Young barred any discussion of the validity of the Covid-19 virus from the Daily Sceptic.
Regarding doubts about 7th October, Young applies his favoured ‘cock-up’ theory to why the Israeli army abandoned its watchtowers and took seven hours to reach the carnage. Indeed, he argues that any suspicion about this lapse in security is offensive. Young, Pearson, Dodsworth and Douglas Murray (surely an asset of the security services?) want you to perceive any criticism of the Israeli leadership or Zionism as anti-Semitic. They want protests banned, and placard-bearers arrested.
It’s ‘freedom but…’. And that is neither a principled or ethical position to take, when a sickening slaughter has been unleashed on fellow human beings – half of them children. After failing to organise itself into a viable political force capable of mobilising members to reject the orthodoxies of, first, Ukraine and now Gaza, the Freedom Movement has failed a fundamental moral test, and thus we conclude that it ceases to exist.
Let us remember the Freedom Movement (23rd March 2020 – 7th October 2023) for a fleeting resistance to the New World Order, which it could not sustain.”
Quite depressing. Where do we go now?
We go elsewhere Aethelred. What’s struck me about the DS coverage of the tragedy unfolding in the ME is the almost total lack of view from outside the London ‘bubble’. In a situation like this which has significant global consequences for multiple countries and continents, a much broader view is needed. I take heart from the truly massive demonstrations in multiple other countries all around the world calling out the genocide for what it is – regardless of the religions or eschatological posturings of those involved – and the many other individuals and governments taking a stand, calling for ceasefire and humanitarian aid, withdrawing diplomatic representatives and attempting to help resolve this issue in whatever way they can. The glaring corruption and conflicts of interest within our own govt which have reduced it to nothing more than the vassal rump of a globalist cabal – along with the bought-and-paid-for MSM bolstering it’s position – is there for all to see, if only people would look. That so many have gone along with this particular Narrative™ without question this time is saddening to be sure, but there is always hope elsewhere.
https://www.conservativewoman.co.uk/insurers-panic-over-soaring-deaths-but-still-refuse-to-blame-the-jab/
Disturbing article outlining the increasing deaths of young people in the USA.
That article at UNN is a corker and nails everything!
Douglas Murray? The guy trying to incite violence last weekend? I’ll get my thoughts from elsewhere thanks. In fact, how about this: Why did the abduction of 276 schoolgirls by Boko Haram in 2014 capture the attention of global megastars, while the abduction of thousands of boys for years prior to this act did not? Answer: the biggest global psyop in history is the accepted devaluation of male life. That males are expendable. This subconscious belief is what normalises war and the mass of male death that follows it. It’s this brainwashing that keeps the juggernaut of the military industrial complex rolling.
Enjoying all the downvotes. A tacit acknowledgement of the refusal to believe a boys life is equal to a girls life. I wonder how many of the downvotes are from men?
What is ‘the military industrial complex’?
Europe has very little in the way of military and even less in the way of industry to supply them, as we have seen.
https://www.amnesty.org.uk/press-releases/amnesty-urges-suspension-uk-arms-sales-israel-evidence-revealed-israel-military
https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/israel-palestine-hamas-war-arms-exports-uk-government/
https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/german-military-exports-israel-up-nearly-10-fold-berlin-fast-tracks-permits-2023-11-08/
You genuinely believe Britain and Germany have military/industrial complexes?
2022 UK Defence spend 2.4% of GDP
2022 German Defence spend 1.4% of GDP
Typically, a derisory 18% of that is spent on equipment.
The NHS medical/industrial complex is the real problem. It kills many more people….
“This subconscious belief…”. Thanks for bringing me some light relief from the same Lexicon of Subjectivity that gave us “…you have an unconscious bias….”
And thanks for bringing me some light relief by consciously stating that you cannot have subconscious influence in a belief. That you think it’s an oxymoron has made me smile. A lot.
There you go again – I said nothing of the sort, oxymoron or no; but you did and if that made you smile….
“‘Factor X’ pathogen lurking in the Earth’s permafrost”. That’s call a tie-in in the movie business.
“The Thing”. Great movie, and even the repeats are.
More school kids going ”on strike” today apparently. Patrick Christys makes reasonable points here. Isn’t this just proof of yet more indoctrination? I think we can take a guess what they’ll grow up to be like if this is also being reinforced at home ( 5mins );
https://twitter.com/GBNEWS/status/1725293169523257601
Am I alone in noticing what appears to be a doubling down on the Armageddon peddling about climate change. It’s as if the powers that be have recognised that the public are starting to see the truth behind the implications and costs of “net zero” and are having to go back on the indoctrination offensive – witness “Planet Earth 3” and a new programme advertised on channel 4 fronted by Chris (The science is settled) Packham?
I don’t think any but the stubbornly stupid accepted the ‘global boiling’ narrative. That was a bit of an own goal by Guterres. I can imagine his handlers behind the scenes asking him “What were you thinking, Tony? Didn’t we agree on the ‘era of global simmering?’ .”
Worry not; OFSTED will be “all over this”.
‘The Jewish machine is so strong. It doesn’t allow you to talk’
Free Speech is exactly that. The freedom to say what you think.
It does not compel others to listen to you.
Gentle reminder. Both the Hamas Charter and the Quran call for the elimination of the Jews. AKA “Genocide”.
If you don’t believe me, read them.
Quote the Surah please to show your knowledge then.
There is plenty in Deuteronomy that demands from Jews to regard anyone else as second class humans at best and even to kill anyone else.
The Abrahamic religions are just as brutal as Islam if taken literally.
No religion deserves Nathan’s ring.
It would (although I’m biased here) be pretty difficult to find anything attributed to JC that could be used to whip up or rationalise violence.
Islam is one of the Abrahamic religions.
Net zero…economic ruination. Cold and still this morning. Wind is contributing 4% to the grid, solar nothing. Coal is doing 4%. Coal!
https://gridwatch.co.uk
96% of our electricity from unfashionable conventional sources, many of which our Government has legislated to replace. With what?
“Saudi Arabia of wind”.
Aye, we’re doomed, and doomed.
A useful reminder. I sometimes look at this one: https://grid.iamkate.com/ Same thing overall.
Kate is good on price, though I haven’t been able to work out a formula for x% wind + y% solar + z etc.
You might like The Crown Estate
https://www.thecrownestate.co.uk/en-gb/what-we-do/asset-map/#tab-2
The King coins it.
Don’t forget the 8% from biomass is just chopped down trees transported to the UK. Not even as thermally efficient as coal!
UN Unveils Plan To Regulate Speech – latest leaflet to print at home and deliver to neighbours or forward to politicians, media, friends online.
We had an article yesterday about how much the telegraph is funded by Bill Gates. It is hardly suprising when it then gives a poor review of a book critisizing Bill Gates. Tim Schwab’s book might be rubbish – I haven’t read it.
And The Guardian. A cesspit funds a cesspit.
In the small hours, even the BBC World Service (funded by the Foreign Office) took a critical view of the Israeli activities, with regard to the allegation that a certain hospital was a military outfit. In effect, their journalist said that there was no evidence that there was anything there. It was accompanied by the get out clause that the IdF had not yet presented any. It gave the impression that the beeb was appearing more balanced than some other channels. I guess a real cynic might observe that they are being influenced by Lord Cameron!
Ask yourself this, if I may; where does the FO get a substantial part of its funding from, at the very least in recent times ( since WWI )?
“even the BBC World Service (funded by the Foreign Office) took a critical view of the Israeli activities, ”
Um, “critical” is the default for the BBC. Indeed, they happily make shit up.
https://order-order.com/2023/11/15/bbc-apologises-for-incorrect-reporting-of-idf-action-in-the-shifa-hospital/
And did Ms. Gurner really “verify” all those stats from Hamas. Hmm.
Have you noticed?
Slowly but surely the CBDC/social credit score net is closing….I’d like to see the wording for their ‘public consultation’ questionnaire (anyone else see it?) to get that sort of response.
https://www.mirror.co.uk/money/dwp-could-soon-allowed-look-31351599
‘DWP could soon be allowed to look through your bank account and track your spending
The DWP is currently working on legislative measures to help reduce levels of fraud, error and debt in the benefits system
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) could be allowed to look through bank accounts to see where you spend your money under new plans to tackle benefit fraud.
The DWP is currently working on legislative measures to help reduce levels of fraud, error and debt in the benefits system. This was initially set out in the May 2022 policy paper “Fighting Fraud in the Welfare System”.
Some of the potential measures include allowing DWP investigators to access and collect third-party data from banks to see where claimants are spending their money and allow investigators to execute search and seizure orders – so to be able to come into a claimant’s home and take away phones and laptops. Agents could also be given the power to make arrests rather than having to call in the police.
The DWP has just published the results of a public consultation into the plans. The research aimed to explore the acceptability of these potential powers to help inform future policy development, assess communication approaches and build the evidence base on fraud, error and debt. This survey consisted of 2,127 people and of that 618 were benefit claimants.
The results revealed that more than half (52%) of those surveyed found the proposal of collecting information about where claimants are spending money to be acceptable. Overall, 62% saw fraud and error in the welfare benefits system as a big problem, with 18% seeing it as a very big problem – only 3% of respondents did not see it as a problem at all.
Nearly 40% of survey respondents believed that around half of incorrect benefit claims were a result of dishonesty, while 31% thought that “most” were due to dishonesty. Only 17% thought that most incorrect claims were due to mistakes. At the end of the survey, respondents were asked about their overall views on the potential new powers. Well over half (62%) said they were feeling either positive or very positive about them – with only 21% saying they felt negative.’
I spent quite a few years in DWP and worked closely with the Fraud teams. The levels of benefit fiddles were and probably still are phenomenal.
Approximately 12 – 15 years ago 30% of fraud staff lost their jobs – re-allocated -and twelve months later senior staff were telling us how benefit fraud had been reduced by 20% (ish). I pointed out that if a third of the fraud staff had gone then fraud was bound to fall because there was insufficient staff to investigate. I wasn’t particularly popular with management as you can imagine.
DWP has been complicit for years in aiding Benefit fraud.
I have not doubt that Benefit fraud is endemic in some areas of the UK and DWP is complicit as you state.
The DWP has also been complicit for years in the utter fraud of the WCA, ATOS, compliant medics and Lawyers who sold their moral and so called professional souls for the filthy lucre to – very deliberately – deprive some people ( not all for sure ) of help in (often) desperate circumstances; and suicide was not unknown as a result, albeit numerically low.
After the 2nd World War film evidence was shown of the atrocities in the concentration camps and harrowing footage it is too, but shown it was in its raw form, proof undeniable!
Without the release footage of the 7th October attacks, in its raw state, its all a game of he says she says and I’m not convinced by either side until!
In case you want to contact your local MP and congratulate them – a list of how they all voted:
https://leftfootforward.org/2023/11/this-is-how-every-mp-voted-on-the-call-for-a-ceasefire-in-gaza/
A broader take on the hegemonic origins of the gameplay currently going on in the ME:
https://www.counterpunch.org/2023/11/16/israeli-war-crimes-and-propaganda-follow-us-blueprint/
This is currently doing the rounds in the alternative press: Osama bin Laden’s letter to the US from 21 years ago. Scary and uncomfortably prescient.
https://www.samaa.tv/208734571-osama-bin-laden-letter-to-america-resurfaces-after-21-years-read-here
This Oxford Lockdown study in the Mail actually contradicts its own headline, premise and conclusion.
It is outright ridiculous and oxymoronic.
Which is not surprising though, coming from Oxford and being ordered for the Covid enquiry solely to ‘prove’ its foregone conclusions- by another model, of course.
Link to the next International Covid Summit, taking place in Romania over the next couple of days:
https://www.internationalcovidsummit.com/
Govt consultation on proposals to restrict sales of tobacco and vapes: https://consultations.dhsc.gov.uk/65201ed1f3410a69990d3081