Economy:Campaign spending
Monday, April 5th, 2010A pre-election UK Budget offers more good news than bad but the deficit still looms in the background. Give-aways were in short supply as Alasdair Darling took to the despatch box on 24 March although it was clear that, the financial news that day could have been a lot worse. Labour’s pre-election preparations meant that deep spending cuts or tax rises were avoided, at least to satisfy potential voters across the water. Darling’s main headline was axing stamp duty on house sales under £250,000 to help first-time buyers, paid by higher duty on sales worth over £1 million. Motorists...[full story]
Politics:In their own words
Monday, March 8th, 2010On Friday 5 February, the four main men stood in front of the cameras at Hillsborough, speaking on the deal which had been reached over 120 hours of negotiations and countless meals in The Plough. The two visiting PMs’ expressions could not have been more removed from Thursday of the previous week when they took their leave. Both men’s tone mixed contentment with relief. Gordon Brown said the agreement would pave the way for “a new form of co-operation and mutual respect” between the two communities. The deal, he said, belonged to all of Northern Ireland, adding: “It affects,...[full story]
Education:Testing times
Friday, January 29th, 2010Over 13,700 pupils sat the breakaway tests set by AQE and GL Assessment in November, with one exam to come on 5 December, in an attempt to gain entry to 68 schools across the province. Pupils who sat the Catholic schooldominated GL assessments navigated two multiple choice papers on 2 November while the AQE’s first two exams were on 14 and 28 November. For pupils taking the AQE exam, only their best two scores will be taken into account. Both GL Assessment papers will count. Sixty-eight schools rejected those and instead pressed ahead with academic selection. Caitríona Ruane’s guidelines...[full story]
