Ed Balls was today accused of "sexing up" his evidence to theinquiry into last summer's school tests fiasco and seeking to dodge blamefor the debacle. The Schools Secretary not only presented "untrue evidence" to theinquiry but deliberately limited its remit, to ...Read More
Bernice McCabe, who runs the Prince’s Teaching Institute, said teaching by “theme” risked undermining basic knowledge of key subjects such as history, geography and science. The comments came as the Government pushed ahead with proposals for the biggest overhaul of lessons ...Read More
Ed Balls, the Schools Secretary, said he was “not closing the door” to the abolition of exams following a major review.
The move will be seen as an attempt to appease classroom unions which have threatened to boycott Sats in English ...Read More
Traditional subjects such as history and geography will be sidelined in favour of teaching across themes and topics in the biggest shake-up of primary education for 20 years.
Ed Balls vowed to press ahead with the controversial reforms despite widespread concern ...Read More
Not so much gamekeeper turned poacher as teacher turned troublemaker: the request from Ed Balls, children’s secretary, for an extra £2.6bn over three years to boost education spending has made harder the already tough job of the Treasury. Alistair Darling, ...Read More
Once again, Alistair Darling and Ed Balls seem to be at odds on spending. It is especially big news as the Children's Secretary is the man Gordon Brown wanted to take over as chancellor last June. Balls and Darling have a ...Read More
Ed Balls is attempting to secure a £2.6bn increase in education spending until 2014 in an attempt to exempt schools from looming public spending cuts, it was reported today.
The Financial Times said the schools secretary had approached the Treasury with ...Read More
Ed Balls says opening Academies has been central to raising standards
Children's Secretary Ed Balls wants rapid action to improve 50 struggling secondary schools in England.
He is writing to local authorities to express concern at a lack of action.
These are ...Read More
Headteachers are warning that schools face an avalanche of litigation if the government goes ahead with plans to introduce legal guarantees to give every child the right to a good school.
The children's secretary, Ed Balls, is preparing to unveil a ...Read More
The children's minister, Ed Balls, hinted today that the government will offer a partial compromise over his plans to scrap tax relief on childcare vouchers. Nine former ministers have rebelled, along with about 50 Labour backbenchers, demanding the government rethink the ...Read More
Another election, another debacle for New York Republicans.
While GOP nominee Dede Scozzafava's abrupt withdrawal Saturday from the Nov. 3 House election in upstate New York came as a surprise, it shouldn't have — over the past decade or so the ...Read More
Republicans are telling themselves that a political wave is building that could carry them to big election gains next year. Judging by their performance so far in a special election in New York, however, they deserve to wander in the ...Read More
Ed Balls (Lab, Normanton) and Yvette Cooper (Lab, Pontefract), who are married, are to repay £13.50 each because of a "miscalculation" of interest claims on their joint mortgage in 2006/07.
Cooper will also meet a request to provide additional mortgage documentation ...Read More
So, just what the heck happened?
That's one of many questions that Sidekick owners and the broader tech community are asking after one of the largest data failures in recent memory.
Two days after warning customers that their contacts, calendar, and other ...Read More
According to MSNBC.com, Kanye West addressed the fiasco he staged last night at the MTV Video Music Awards by writing the following — in all capital letters — at his blog soon after the show: "I'M SOOOOO SORRY TO TAYLOR ...Read More
When Kanye West ruined Taylor Swift's triumphant moment at the MTV Video Music Awards — let's be honest: it wasn't the first time that he acted like a baffoon/ jerk/ brat at a major kudosbash and got away with it. ...Read More
MI6 suffered a rough patch after intelligence that the agency provided for the Government’s infamous dossier on Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction (WMD) turned out to be unreliable at best and unproven at worst. Intelligence is its business and if the ...Read More
The row about the public finances intensified today as George Osborne, the shadow chancellor, accused Labour of being "dishonest" about public spending after the election. In an article in the Times, Osborne said that Brown's claim that real spending would rise ...Read More
Alistair Darling is on a collision course with Ed Balls over how honest to be with voters about looming public spending cuts. The Chancellor and the Children's Secretary - the man Gordon Brown wanted to install in the Treasury last week ...Read More
GORDON BROWN’S reshuffle has created a bitter rift between his two most powerful lieutenants, threatening to derail attempts to rebuild his shattered government. A Downing Street insider claims that Ed Balls “went nuclear” as the prime minister wavered over whether to ...Read More
GORDON Brown's Cabinet was creaking last night after his big reshuffle turned into a shambles. The PM handed a peerage to veteran Leftie Glenys Kinnock - wife of failed Labour leader Neil - and made her an unelected Europe minister. He was ...Read More
