Mask-off outbursts by Maga insiders and most strikingly, the destruction and reconstruction of the presidential seat, with a huge new $300m ballroom, means Trump isn’t planning to leave the White House when his term ends, writes LINDA PENTZ GUNTER
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The dangerous power of Multi Academy Trusts
These vast multi-school bodies are fast becoming a monopoly in our marketised education system — one that can lobby the government to defy inspection and democracy, warns STEVE HANDFORD
BEN CHACKO speaks with Knesset member OFER CASSIF about rising political violence, the prospects for peace and his continuous ‘silencing by suspension’
The City is leaning on Rachel Reeves to cut welfare spending — when what’s needed is cuts to all the benefits given to the mega rich, corporations and banks to help them not pay or blatantly dodge their fair share of tax, explains BERNIE EVANS
The choice between two Blairites to revamp the tepid centrism of our ruling party doesn’t even come as cold comfort as we wander the city streets suffering from their third decade of austerity and the fifth of wage stagnation, writes MATT KERR
ANN HENDERSON looks at the trailblazers of the Women’s Trade Union League and their successful fight for female factory inspectors — a battle that echoes in today’s workplace campaigns
HENRY FOWLER puts the strike of public-sector workers in New Zealand in the wider context of deteriorating employment conditions throughout the world’s major economies
MAT COWARD looks back at a protest 105 years ago this month, whose reporting by the media bears uncomfortable similarities with demos today
JUST this week the Confederation of School Trusts, a powerful body representing most academies in Britain, issued a paper asking for a comprehensive review of the Ofsted inspection system — a review that proposed a weakening of Ofsted oversight and accountability for academy trusts.
Powerful trusts have merged, and they are starting to flex their muscles financially and politically. Multi Academy Trusts (MATs) were exempt from Ofsted inspection for many years, but due to various scandals about quality, transparency and accountability, this was reversed in 2016. Now, however, the favoured child of the Ofsted inspection system is, like Frankenstein’s monster, starting to exert control over its creator.
To set some context to this, Ofsted is controlled by a Tory government that believes, without a shred of evidence, that MATs are the route to school improvement. Ofsted arrives at schools with this prejudicial agenda. Non-academised schools are often judged harshly by Ofsted and then forced into academy trusts.
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NEU conference urges Labour to fix school funding crisis by getting rid of academy bosses earning over £500,000
As the government moves to rein in academy freedoms, former darling of conservative education reform Katharine Birbalsingh cries ‘Marxism.’ Education columnist ROBERT POOLE examines how academisation has failed our children while enriching executives and empowering ideologues at the expense of democratic accountability
The teaching watchdog was declared 'not fit for purpose' in 2007. The time has come to abolish it once and for all, writes BERNIE EVANS