Where we get into murkier waters is online degrees but I remain of the opinion they should be funded and regulated differently, which is a long-standing bug bear of mine (given my OU degrees).

To me there’s two things here: 1. Cost of course + exam. That should be resolvable via independent learning allowances. 2. Travel. If there is on-campus requirement for a degree then asking for an exam where you travel a couple of times is okay.

It might, but if you can’t organise yourself to do a single online iGCSE, I genuinely think a degree these days won’t be a good experience for you.

I was thinking exactly that yesterday. I’ve long defended the licence fee, but if they keep winnowing things that those who have happily paid appreciate they will lose their biggest supporters!

I looked online last night and there are iGCSE courses online for £250. Having spent last year working at the crossover of FE/HE, I do think that if you can’t get through an online iGCSE in English you are going to struggle with most modern degrees & taking £9k from you when knowing that is Not OK.

Thanks Naureen, hope you’re well x

Which is why it’s important that it’s free and supported.

Im ok with this policy as long as there are abundant and free opportunities to get your GCSEs.

I fear this just means we get Scam Secrets once a week. And I LOVE Shari Val. I’d merrily take more of her time, but the half hour one-topic format is very cumbersome compared to the flexibility of being able to start a thread in a magazine show. Anyway, fingers crossed for more Shari.

When I started teaching in 2006 I bought a DAB radio with a SIM card purely so I could record it each day and listen back when I got home. Can’t tell you how many scams me and family have avoided over the years because of it. 😔 Is nothing sacred, BBC?

Noooooooooooo. This is almost as bad as hearing they are cutting Question Time. I’ve listened to You & Yours religiously for many years. After they cut most consumer journalism on tv, such as Watchdog, this was about all that’s left. (Though yes, we get bouts of Rip Off Britain).

Grains, meat, potatoes and legumes. What more can she want for a kid! 😂

It also happens on various Masterchef programs, esp Aussie one, where they’re constantly asking people to cook things that are family favourites or be inspired by family memories. I’ve often joked I’d end up doing ‘cheese on toast three ways’ as that’s about all we ate.

Our newest assessment project is Double Marker - designed to solve GCSE English mocks for you! We have an intro webinar on Thursday - register for it here.

Had never thought about fhe lack of cycle lanes. Now considering if it is one of the reasons I enjoy being a pedestrian so much there 😬 (I know, I know…)

A problem for housing is that there’s basically *only* flats in the city. (Liverpool has a similar issue). So if you want outside space you can’t really live in the centre. But it’s pretty easy to get in and out.

Really?!? Even when I lived there in mid 2000s I found it one of the *least* car focused cities I’ve lived in and since then it’s got the tram and eschewed cars even more heavily!

If Ofsted is judging school standards, context is irrelevant. If it is judging school effectiveness, context is everything. The problem comes when they do the former but it is interpreted as the latter.

I think there is a complexity about what the state should provide, for anyone, when it comes to cooking, cleaning, washing because it is something that most people - at any time of life - could get a benefit from (unlike, say, chemotherapy). That’s why costs become hard to control.

Except there’s a slightly weird situation in that, if we tax via income, we actually won’t end up necessarily taxing those who have the most assets to pay for it. Because those assets are mainly in a non-working population at the moment. (But I do agree this needs to be resolved and soon).