whose

The MP has a responsibility to all the voters in their constituency - it's a personal and non-delegable commitment - they are answerable via an election.
Everything else follows from that - and I haven't seen any principle that is more compelling as a way for government to reflect the people.

I am a big believer in the election of MPs.
I know that this is not always de-facto what happens, but I think it's what we should be aiming for and if people are voting for parties and PMs then we should be working to dissuade them rather than building a system around that.

I am also not convinced we have a presidential system - the PM holds their position through the approval of the House of Commons: they need a majority of their party (that's a simplification, but probably an ok one?) and for their party to vote in enough of a block to have a majority of the house.

I think that making this kind of change is dangerous (much as I enjoy the logic of the desire path) - you step away from structures that have evolved and are basically effective to something artificial suiting somebody's agenda without being really clear who's.

Yes - sometimes you get complaints even if you get everything right. My point is that this is too high a standard to hold humans to and the response to getting something wrong should be “what do we learn from this”, not (usually) “heads must roll”.

Makes snooker more interesting, at least.

Screenshot of text from the linked story.

Jack's Pool.
The first Willerby Story.
Newcomers who don't know better wake an old spirit of blood and water.
willerby.substack.com/p/jacks-pool

I wish more educators and fewer lawyers would run for public office, in part b/c the best ones are naturals at explaining the whys of things.

We could use more people in public life who cultivate understanding and bring people along together instead of "voters are too dumb to appreciate language"

Things can get worse. Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield once said, “there is no problem so bad that you can’t make it worse.” We would do well to listen to this wisdom right now. While everyone agrees schools need to be…

This can get worse.
Havind read @head-teach.bsky.social excellent latest post seems a good time to share this again.
On why we might be making terrible mistakes around how we're framing the new drive to inclusion.
bennewmark.wordpress.com/2026/03/26/t...

Reports of a third attempted arson attack on Jewish targets in North London this week. It's getting really scary and more people need to start taking it seriously.

Jack is neither evil or benign. He’s just his own Jack, as the vikings found out.

Yeah - my observation (from a very limited sample) is that the incentives for MATs to nurture their heads are a bit better than for LAs

That’s one of the possible advantages of being in a MAT

Certainly makes it harder to concentrate.

Certainly the plate spinning act is harder when someone keeps setting fire to your poles.

I think that’s what deputying is for - and I’m not sure all headteachers are good at making sure their deputies have access to all those areas of experience - I’m also not sure we are good at telling deputies that this is part of what they are learning (esp in a world where we need more heads)

I think society has lost its mind a little bit - somehow we’ve accepted the view that mistakes are unacceptable and headteachers are caught in this idiom of scrutiny and complaint.
People are human, they make mistakes - most of the time we should be a bit forgiving and expect them to learn from that

Yes. This is exactly it. Willerby is in the net of the whispers of the great old roads. Somewhere in the web of the M1, M6, M69, A14, not far from the junction cross of the Fosse and Watling Street.

assuming everyone has already read this but if not: please be advised that the first time I read it I was at my desk at work and I had to go for a little walk halfway through because I thought I was about to die from quietly laughing

"The next day was Sunday again.
The caterpillar ate through one nice leaf,
and after that he felt better."

Yes - love that Belinda makes the cut and love the choice (the Bangles selection is also very much on point)

Great call from the Beatles - very fond of that one

Love the Blur decision!

#FridayFive
1. Bridge over Troubled Water- S&G
2. Songbird - Fleetwood Mac
3. Killer Queen - Queen
4. Protect and Survive - Runrig
5. Jump - Van Halen

Think this reveals a rather accurate, and worrying, picture of my character. Wishing I’d over thought it.
#FridayFive

If you’re still measuring your garlic in cloves rather than heads there’s scope to raise the ambition.

Wonderful news from Wales!

This is the perfect review.

Unfortunately in human communication the detail of how the information is presented has a big impact on how likely the information is to accepted and acted on, independent of the reliability and pertinence of the information itself.

Yes, and 3 is odds on