Category: Honesty and Clarity

Site fixed! Email and Propriety

(1 July 2021) Apologies to my readers but I now seem to have fixed the site (PHP 7.4 did the trick whatever that is).

Today I was thinking about email and the absurdity of ministers using their private email addresses for Government business.

Anyone, at any level, who joins an organisation and is given an email address is, quite rightly expected to use that for their business as an employee. Most organisations have strict rules about not using the official address for personal matters.

Yet, somehow an MP can become a Secretary of State, carrying out an important job and yet they appear to be using their personal email for all sorts of contractual matters. This is not very transparent and could lead the cynics into thinking there was something dodgy going on.

[NOTE: I am not suggesting, in any way, that the hard working and competent former Secretary of State for Health did anything untoward in his time in office].

The rules appear to say that if a private address is used on departmental business the department should be copied in for the record.

However, to my simple mind, why not have a simple rule – “Everything to do with the departmental role has to be through the official email system”

The same should apply to the use of mobile phones.

This is the only transparent way.

Rant over and to celebrate the return of this site here is a delightful kitten.

Kitten and Carpet

A Year of Joy

(30 January 2021) For me the last weeks of January I always feel a little gloomy. Christmas is over, all the decorations have gone, I have had my birthday and the weather is usually rubbish.

This year is even worse with death stalking the streets, unable to socialise and Brexit biting.

There is hope with the vaccine but it is worrying that there is uncertainty on the best time period for the booster and whether or not the vaccinated can still be infectious. I fear the appearance of the Chicken Theory so that people feel happy with one (though it is not perfect) rather than having the rapid booster.

Also, some joy at the USA electing an ordinary mainstream, slightly kind gentleman rather than the alternative.

My current thought was formed from a recent newspaper headline quoting the Prime Minister that the new Covid variant was “30% more deadly”. Frightening news.

I read the article. It stated that the death rate for old Covid as 10 in 1,000. That is 1%.

The new variant had an estimated death rate of 13 in 1,000. That is 1.3%. Therefore, the death rate has only gone up by 0.3% – concerning but not a cause for panic. Always do the sums.

A resolution for this year is to take at least one photograph every day and I will publish a gallery for each month (if I manage to get galleries working). Below a picture summing up the end of festivities.

The colour changing mug has its last cup of tea before hibernation.

Puzzled about Exams

(8 September 2020). I have been thinking about exams a lot recently-hard to avoid really. The fundamental problem is that the government appeared to have an obsession with “Grade inflation” i.e. if results are “better” they seem to assume it is because exams are getting easier rather than pupils learning more.  (This seems odd as in other areas of life improvements such as the population improving in health, or less children in poverty are seen as positive). They also consciously discriminated against clever pupils in deprived areas.

I reflect that this is because they (and previous governments) have never made clear what they expect from the exam system.

In any widely taken exam a decision has to be taken on how to set the grades. There are two choices.

  1. Norm referenced tests – For these a simple decision is made that, for example only 20% of candidates get an A grade (and so on throughout the divisions). This is honest and straightforward particularly as results are used for entry to further education and employment. It does, of course, mean that an individual’s grades are related to the quality of their cohort.
  2. Criterion referenced tests-For these a standard is set and the number who achieve a given grade is entirely based on their abilities. Thus, the numbers getting an A grade will vary but will reflect individual’s abilities and the input of teachers.

 I prefer the latter system though it should be clear which is used. Write to your MP about it

In the UK, typically, “A levels are currently neither fully norm-referenced nor fully criterion-referenced”. As parliament was told some years ago.

https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200203/cmselect/cmeduski/153/15304.htm#:~:text=A%20levels%20are%20currently%20neither,fully%20norm-referenced%20nor%20fully%20criterion-referenced.

As a footnote I am also puzzled why there are five different commercial organisations offering GCSE exams (with a further two just offering A levels). To me it would make sense to have only one organisation setting exams as is common in most civilised countries. This is how I feel.