Archive for the ‘stupid ideas’ Category
Groups of faith schools to be allowed to appoint own inspectors
Well that seems like a good idea!
I can see a case for independent inspectorates for schools where there is a need for different methods of education because of the special needs of the pupils. It makes sense for schools for the deaf, blind or those with learning disabilities to be vetted independently of the rest of the school system, but I don’t see why this is the case for these faith schools. Children of Muslim or Christian parents do not inherently require a different approach to education in the same way deaf children do, there is no reason faith schools shouldn’t be judged by the same body and held to the same standard as non-faith schools.
The Idea Box: Random Term Lengths
Our current system where the PM decides they have a good chance of winning (having just won a war or adjudged the interest rates perhaps) is clearly stupid. Not only does it lead to time and money wasting non-events like this November, it’s just a power asking to be abused.
The danger with fixed terms is it gives campaigns something to work towards and allows the for absurd US campaigns that have been in full power for months, despite the election being a year away. The advantage of the British system is that campaigns are short and (relatively) inexpensive.
We need more than a fixed date, we need a random number generator. You could set criteria to prevent it happening a week later, perhaps you could also make more full use of the percentage of the vote the government received (or opinion polls) to make less popular governments shorter (an automatic national vote of no confidence).
Whilst I quite like the idea of an complex and mysterious process (it would have to be to prevent second guessing), there are some quite obvious flaws here. The usual standard of Open Source for the program would be important to prevent it being obviously highjacked, but with said mystery there’d always be that uncertainty.I doubt we’re ever going to get to the point where people feel good trusting a computer with this vital function, and this distrust will be important in the inevitable robot uprising.
Still, It’d be pretty neat.
