He said: "By shifting the vast majority of university funding into the hands of the aggregate decisions of 17-year-olds, the English system of choice has become an enormous machine for finding out who has the best marketing department, with some world-leading research sprinkled in certain places."

Quite the quote from the John Blake, the former director of fair access at the Office for Students
www.thetimes.com/article/1cb6...

but Starmer did not admit even to *inadvertently* misleading Parliament. He was invited to do so, and did not. This may be because Badenoch had pointed out he had already missed the earliest opportunity (since being told) to correct the record.

how might that play out? Starmer will not admit he inadvertently misled the House, but many MPs (including in his own party) think that he did ... what happens next?

15 minutes; no questions; government got the blame; my department to have 60% of us sacked. Apparently sacking us will lead to a ‘new, improved’ curriculum. No voluntary scheme, straight to selection and legal minimum redundancy payment.

A furious PM reading a carefully-worded statement verbatim, furiously, prepared by equally-furious lawyers

Very carefully worded statement of Prime Minister, he can hardly look up from the page.

Good point, and of course it's impossible to know from the outside. Vetting may have flagged "manageable" issues, in Robbins view. But you are also right that Robbins was under huge pressure to approve. A choice between potentially bringing down the PM or muddling through somehow.

It's a very good thread about what seems to be a dysfunctional system.

what then is the point of vetting *at all*, if the civil-servant decision-maker is under so much political pressure that they have to grant DV to a PM's pick, even when their are genuine concerns - and they can't even tell the PM!

it all goes back to Starmer's decision to make the appointment in a rush before doing the vetting. He was warned against doing so, but did it anyway.

peeved, irked, vexed and rather quite cross

might attempt a bit of Blue-Sky Thinking later (looking out of a window for an indefinite period while emptying all thoughts from my head)

This morning I have been Horizon Scanning (checking my calendar for next week)

they seem to like "sensibly flagging" because it's in there twice

"and you can tell Pep, we're still fighting for this title, and he's got to go to Burnley and get something, and... and... I'll tell you, honestly, I will love it if we beat them, LOVE IT!"

this is such a brilliant episode. I still sing the jingle to myself.

🎶 Mr Plow. That's my name. That name again. Is Mr Plow. 🎶

Can confirm the reports of an arson attempt at Kenton United Synagogue. Overnight, HAYI social channels began claiming an attack on a London synagogue without specifying location.

Israeli former general Ya'akov Or: "Jewish violence, terrorism, and pogroms are a brutality that taints every Israeli, left and right. These are metastases that will spread until the disease is terminal, and it is critical to stop them while possible."

Mr Mayor, you are bringing the best Sesame Street energy to NY, and to my timeline, and it is inspirational to see

Barack Obama and Zohran Mamdani sing ‘Wheels on the Bus’ to kids in NYC

by the internal logic of l'affaire Mandelson, this means Antonia Romeo (appointed by Starmer in February) and Cat Little will also have to sacked for, like Olly Robbins, withholding information from the incurious Prime Minister.

"It states that Cat Little, the permanent secretary of the foreign office, reviewed files confirming that 'the recommendatoin from the vetting officer had been that DV should not be granted to Peter Mandelson'" 2/

This email is clear that the recommendation from the Vetting Officer was that DV should *not* be granted to Peter Mandelson.

Nevertheless, the FCDO granted Mandelson vetting clearance anyway.

It is not clear on what basis the FCDO's decision was taken, and the audit trail has yet to emerge.

last time you blamed an external party, it turned out to be an issue with your codebase that devs had not properly understood.

Are you confident it isn't the same this time?

they also initially pinned the blame on 3rd party provider, before realising the call was coming from inside the house ...

I don't normally publish conversations with Downing Street but this was my initial exchange with Downing Street's then director of communications over Mandelson failing vetting on 11 September last

Notable post over on the everything app from the Indy’s David Maddox showing he put claims Mandelson had failed vetting to Number 10 in September last year

This framing is odd. I doubt career civil servant Robbins would take the "bold", nay "brave", decision to keep Number 10 in the dark. He would consult & seek a SpAd or ministerial direction. Surely there's a note or paper trail. Number 10's 🙈🙉🙊 act is not convincing.

please madam keep your voice down, we haven't got enough insoles to go around

someone call a Stonk, BlySkoo is having a Bondulance!

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you're all wrong to link these two issues together, my post here will explain in full:!