£1 Trillion is apparently how much the country is in debt – according to the Daily Mail Comment today (so it must be right then…)
The Mail are commenting on the fact that both main political parties are rejecting a consultants’ report which says that job cuts of up to 10% are necessary in order to save £20 Billion over the next 5 years. The NHS, say both Labour and Conservative parties, is far too important…true, but I wonder if the next Government says the same thing when it is forced to cut costs drastically.
£20 Billion is only 2% of the overall debt, if the figures are to believed, hardly anything. £340M of BSF funding is less than 2% of the proposed NHS cut, so a piddly amount (although SMS wouldn’t mind this amount of small change).
There are going to have to be some massive swingeing cuts, and these are going to be coming very soon. BSF funding, especially for school system change, is a luxury compared to employing nurses, teachers, social workers, policemen…
Those people who believe the money has been allocated are fantasists – but we now have the opportunity to ensure that the next Mayor won’t be one of these, by electing someone with some financial sense.
Tell the Mayoral candidates what you think by writing to the Times & Citizen or Beds on Sunday or email the Stephen Rhodes breakfast show on BBC 3CR or Heart FM Bedford.
Save Middle Schools - The Blog 
Can the authors find out who the mayoral candidates are when published and what thier views are, as I for one will vote for one in sympathy with three tier education and not ones in favour of change. If thier views were put on this blog that would help a lot of people make up thier minds on who to vote for.
We’ll do our best to report on this but some of the candidates may prove slippery – so beware those who try to avoid the question…
I presume that only those who live in the Bedford area will get to vote for the Mayor. However, those MOST effected by the proposed change to a two-tier system won’t have a say bacause although in the catchment area of Alban Middle School, within the borough at Great Barford, they live in areas like Blunham, in Mid Beds!
My goodness – that is a scandal – maybe their slogan ought to be “no education without representation” ? Maybe these people should write to their MP and the papers about this…