No hands up to talk about grammars

Political Editor Paul Francis

If you were expecting the main parties to set out their position on grammar schools, you wouldn’t have gleaned much from the Labour and Conservative party conferences. Both seemed to have signed a code of omerta to retain an awkward silence on the issue.

The irony is that both would have much preferred to say something: Labour because it opposes them and the Conservatives because they want more of them. Instead we got a deathly silence.

As we know, the government has shelved its plans for more grammars after the dismal election result, which probably had a lot to do with it.

The reorganisation of health care services in Kent and Medway represents one of the largest overhauls of recent years – and that is saying something.

The so-called Sustainability and Transformation Partnership is being overseen by a board which has the job of “making recommendations back to the statutory bodies.”

Part of that job involves considering various reports to it setting out all manner of issues and how services might be reconfigured. But what those reports say is a mystery. The board has turned down our request for the papers it considered at its last meeting after a Freedom of Information request, arguing that “it was not a decision-making body” and that the reports were “work in progress.”

You can’t say that the new leader of Ukip lacks confidence. But Henry Bolton missed an opportunity to back himself in the leadership

‘Henry Bolton missed an opportunity to back himself in the Ukip leadership contest when the bookmakers had him as a rank outsider at odds of 33-1’

contest when it got under way and the bookmakers had him as a rank outsider at odds of 33-1.

He eventually took a gamble and placed a bet when the odds had fallen to 8-1 – still not a bad return.

Oh dear. Off The Record’s fight to eliminate meaningless jargon spouted by public bodies and their representatives is an uphill battle.

A statement by the contractor operating the out-of-hours service for East Kent GPs is a case in point.

Responding to the news that it might still continue with its contract after giving notice to quit, a press statement said: “This will require a renewed focus by all to ensure any improvements are well-received, implemented and embedded moving forward.”

Exactly.

It seems Labour is to revisit the tricky issue of all-women shortlists in key target seats – which include Dover, one of 46 that party chiefs are to insist must have a female election candidate. But another marginal seat, South Thanet, will be permitted to choose from an open selection. Follow Paul on Twitter @PaulOnPolitics for all Kent’s breaking political news