Many are undestandably critical, saying that such a move could give the illusion of academic rigor and thus give a whole new meaning to the already-ridiculed “mickey mouse degree”. Prime Minister Gordon Brown has, however, given the new ventures his wholehearted approval, reassuring everyone that this does not mean we are dumbing down as a nation. He says on GMTV about the course:

“It is going to be a tough course, but once you have got a qualification in management you can probably go anywhere. I think that is the important thing, companies prepared to train people up which they weren’t doing before, in the way that we want them to do, in a far greater number, so that people have the qualifications for the future.”

It certainly seems though that the government is doing everything it can to get more people getting qualifications, even if it does mean the qualifications have little respectable substance. When universities were asked whether they would accept such a qualification as a genuine one, predictably they were not too keen. Out of the ten admissions tutors who were asked, at least four said that they would not accept the new Diplomas.

Even though they may not be accepted as sturdy A levels, the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) have insisted that their approval now presents McDonald qualifications as being on par in terms of assessment. A spokesperson from QCA says:

“The Qualifications Credit Framework is a new framework that allows nationally recognised courses to be broken down into units. It is componentised so if a learner drops out of a course or can’t manage to complete they can take those units with them. McDonald’s have achieved the standards for awarding accredited qualifications at Level 3. This will enable them to assess, track and recognise learning that otherwise would be lost.”

Personally I’m in two minds over this. On the one hand, it’s great that vocational workplace skills are being given some recognition and next time I order a burger I won’t end up with a McFlurry, but at the same time the snobby Oxbridge student in me wants to stamp my foot down in outrage. An A-Level for McDonalds? However good it may be for the restaurant chain itself, I doubt this wolf in sheep’s clothing will get a non-McDonalds supper.

The trend began in earnest in September when legend Jose Mourinho shocked English football by leaving high-fliers Chelsea, with the media touting poor relations between the club’s owner Roman Abramovich to blame. In the following months, Tottenham parted company with Martin Jol, Billy Davies left struggling Derby, and Birmingham, Bolton, Fulham Wigan all lost their managers. This latest management change has left many fans wondering how many more displacements there might be in this turbulent season.

“If you were put into a job in the city, the first thing you would ask for is time. It takes a while to gel.
“In Sam’s few months at Newcastle he might not have even found out the correct strength of the reserve side. He might have players injured that he doesn’t know much about.
“But with football, it’s absolutely out of hand. It’s so crazy now.”

Martin O’Neil, Aston Villa Manager, speaking to BBC Sport

Many have asked why football managers have been under so much pressure this year. With a massive surge in money from advertising and TV revenue this season, Premier League clubs are all keen to avoid relegation and continue to reap the benefits of the extra cash. Unfortunately, this added competitiveness has meant that teams are under extra pressure to perform. Inevitably, pressure builds on the manager, with whom the buck stops, it appears.

Allardyce took over from previous boss Glenn Roeder in May 2007, but saw a new regime in place within a month, as new owner Mike Ashley upped his stake and Freddy Shepherd stood down as Chairman. From then Allardyce was constantly under pressure from a new boss and from expectant Newcastle fans. However, Allardyce’s departure is a classic example of the lack of time now given to managers to settle into the role and develop the team. Allardyce was in charge for just 8 months and oversaw just 24 games, taking Newcastle to 11th in the division. Surely 8 months is not enough time to judge a manager?

The departure leaves Newcastle searching for their seventh manager in 11 years. Many toon fans will hope that former Newcastle player Alan Shearer gets the role, although he is reported to be happy with his job at Match of the Day. Whoever gets the nod, it will be a tall order to impress a club with such lofty expectations. Whether we have seen the last management casuality of the Premier League 2007/8 season, however, remains to be seen.

For those who are interested in football and need a sports grant then a new scheme called Cash 4 Clubs may be of some use.

Image: Wikipedia

Even though some alternative remedies are regarded as bogus by many, millions of people in the UK regularly use them. Indeed, it is estimated that £130 million a year is spent on complementary medicines with the figure sharply increasing by the year. The scheme will cover all complementary treatments such as “aromatherapy, reflexology, massage, nutrition, shiatzu, reiki, naturopathy, yoga, homoeopathy, cranial osteopathy and the Alexander and Bowen techniques”. Surprisingly studies have also shown that over two thirds of people in Britain believe that such remedies are valuable, many even claiming that they are the same or even better than conventional treatments.

It is therefore worrying that currently, unlike conventional medical practitioners, anyone can actually set themselves up as a reiki or reflexology professional and they would not be breaking any laws, leading much of the public into thinking that they are actually qualified. Now, the public will hopefully be able to ascertain the quality of different practices by checking if they conform to the government standard. Though joining the scheme is voluntary, businesses will lose out if they fail to give customers any evidence of their professionalism.

As Ian Cambray-Smith, of the scheme, says:

“Although it is a voluntary scheme, we believe that in dealing with misconduct by therapists it will be almost as robust as statutory regulation, and as tough as we can make it. Suspension from the register will be the ultimate sanction. It will be good for practitioners, good for patients, and even good for the NHS. If there is a complaint, the council will convene a board of lay people, plus two practitioners, to review the case. If it is proven, a second board will determine what disciplinary procedures to take.”

Personally I am very sceptical about any alternative treatments, as they are probably harmful at worst and placebos at best. Whatever your views on them though, it is clear that there will be a lot of hoaxes amongst the genuine treatments. Therefore any proper regulation on the part of the government can only be a good thing.

More than 250,000 teachers have left their careers due to being unsatisfied with it, a government report has found.

The Conservative Party thinks the main reason for teachers wanting to leave their jobs is because of poor discipline in schools.

Almost 100,000 teachers quit between 2000 and 2005- which is double the amount that quit between 1995 and 2000.

The Tories are blaming the findings on Labour and believe that teachers cannot stand teaching under their rule.

Shadow schools secretary Michael Gove said “Not only are our children not achieving as they should, talented teachers are not where they should be – in the classroom, opening young minds to new horizons.

“With more than quarter of a million gifted professionals no longer in teaching, we have to ask why they’ve given up on education under Labour. I fear that classroom bureaucracy, Government micromanagement and poor discipline has encouraged a drift away from teaching.”

But not all believe Labour is to blame for this current trend. Jim Knight, the Schools Minister, said that Labour has supported teachers more than any other previous government.

He said “Recruitment into the profession has never been more buoyant, and teaching is now the career of choice for many highly qualified and talented individuals. Indeed, Ofsted has said this is the best generation of teachers ever.”

I am not so convinced however. I cannot blame teachers for wanting to leave their jobs. It was only recently I was speaking to an old teacher of mine and he told me how he had gone to teach abroad as he didn’t like the school system in the UK and thought discipline was poor. The fact is children are becoming more disobedient than ever, and the government aren’t helping by reducing the amount of punishment teachers can give. Something needs to be done soon so teaching can become an attractive profession again, like it should be.

The huge queues started shortly after 4am this morning, focussing on Oxford Street in London. It is claimed that up to £1000 a minute was being spent at some shops today. The prices, naturally, were very attractive with stores such as Birmingham’s Selfridges offering up to 75% reduction in price of goods. In the Oxford Street branch, over 9,000 customers walked in in the first hour of sales in the morning, and it is estimated that “500,000 shoppers ventured into London’s West End” today.

The sale chaos wasn’t restricted to London, as Essex’s Lakeside shopping centre was also packed with thousands of shoppers, the quantity being a third higher than last year. It is thus clear that this year marks a record in sales and that the perks of Christmas are far from ending for shopowners. As Richard Dodd, from the British Retail Consortium, said:

“Today is much busier than Boxing Day last year as more stores have started their post-Christmas sales early, rather than waiting till tomorrow. It’s clear that retailers are going to have to offer bumper sales to tempt customers in, because finances are under strain this year. A lot of customers are reluctant to spend and there are worries about how their finances are going to stand up.”

What I don’t understand myself is why people go through all the bother to brave the crowds and spend hours sifting through items by hands so early after Christmas. In my experience online sales are much better because you can do it all from the comfort of your own room in half the time! Thankfully, other people have had this good sense too, as statistics show that “3.6 million people spent part of their Christmas Day searching for good deals via the internet”.

The couple are said to have been dating for around a year, and it is not known whether or not they are signing a prenuptial agreement. Though Lucy and Larry themselves have not confirmed the event to the media, it is certain that the wedding will be taking place. The 600 guests were told that they only required a valid passport for the weekend as private planes would be provided to take them to the island. Over the past 6 months wedding planners have booked up all the hotels on the neighbouring island of Virgin Gorda in order to ensure there will be enough room for all the guests. As one source has said:

“They rented all of Virgin Gorda. They took over the island.”

Though much of the guest-list is kept a secret, it does contain such high-profile figures as Bill and Hillary Clinton, and other celebrities such as U2 singer Bono.

The online bookseller Amazon has created a digital bookreader – The Kindle- which can store up to 200 books.

Amazon’s aim was to create a devicethat could provide its consumers with a wider variety of entertainment, like the Ipod does with music.

The device is about about the same size as a standard paperback, weighs around 290g, and offers access to about 90,000 books and 11 daily newspapers.

“We’ve been working on Kindle for more than three years,” said Amazon boss Jeff Bezos. “Our top design objective was for Kindle to disappear in your hands -to get out of the way so you can enjoy your reading.”

Once you have bought a Kindle, however, (which is £195) that doesn’t mean you get to read these books for free. Costs range from 75 cents to download a national newspaper and classic books cost around $1.99 each. Best sellers are naturally pricier, and can be downloaded for $9.99, but it is still cheaper than books bought in a store.

The device also offers access to online encyclopaedia, Wikipedia, and about 300 blogs. It can also play MP3 music files and has a slot so it can store a memory card which enables it to hold hundreds of books.

“We want to make sure everything anyone wants to read is on the Kindle,” said Laura Porco, Amazon’s director of digital text. “We won’t stop until we can offer millions of books.”

Although I think this is a good invention, and is good for book lovers, I myself will not be buying one. Why buy a device that costs almost £200 when you can read the books for free online on your laptop?

With over 300 improvements on its predecessors (but most of them merely enhancements and improvements on the familiar) it is understandable why veteran technology writer Walt Mossberg dubbed the operating system “evolutionary, not revolutionary.” He goes on to say:

“I believe it builds on Apple’s quality advantage over Windows. In my view, Leopard is better and faster than Vista, with a set of new features that make Macs even easier to use.”

Apple has sold 2.2 million of its desktop computers (Macs) in the last 3 months, and hopes that this new release will boost sales even further. Nik Rawlinson, editor of MacUser magazine, optimistically writes that “when Tiger was launched it earned Apple $120m very quickly and all the expectations are that sales will be double that.” Nevertheless, one Mac user interviewed at the MacLiveExpo, held in London, commented that:

“I never buy any operating system when it first comes out. I normally wait until it has been out for six months or a year. Tiger does what I need it to do right now. I’ve not seen anything in Leopard to make me want to buy it immediately.”

Whether Leopard will have what it takes to outdo rival operating system Windows Vista from Microsoft remains to be seen. Whilst the market for Macs is still far below that of desktop PCs, 99% of which come pre-installed with Windows software, the abundance of handy features that Apple’s new super-user-friendly system provides may begin to tip the balance. As Rawlinson writes:

“Vista has been quite a disappointment for many people and Leopard could be the reason many people make the switch to Macs.”

Unfortunately, if only the “switch to Macs” didn’t necessitate switching so very much more too, Apple might have more luck – but as usual they uphold a silent policy of making sure that if one thing you own is from Apple, so is everything else too.

In this interesting experiment, Radiohead have refused to reveal to the public what the average amount is that they are receiving for the downloads at this stage. It is certainly clear that there will definitely be many freeloaders untouched by any ethical idea of paying a reasonable amount for it. However, it is also clear from the massive success of Radiohead’s previous albums (the last three of which went straight to number one) that Radiohead has a huge fan following who will go to great lengths to show how much the band’s music is worth. Not only this, but some are even paying for the music simply because they believe the idea is a good one – regardless of whether they like Radiohead or not!

Bryce Edge, one of the managers for Radiohead, says that he trusts the band’s fans and knows they will not be let down. He says:

“We’re prepared to take a risk and we might come out looking very foolish. But we believe if your music is great, then people will pay for it.”

Though I’m no Radiohead fan myself, I do admire this new liberal attitude with their music. Though, of course, it is much of a marketing strategy as it could make people more willing to pay the band, it is still quite a risk and it shows that Radiohead have that much faith in the quality of their music.

The walkouts come as a protest against low pay and also fear of job cuts after no deal was reached between Royal Mail managers and the Communication Workers Union earlier this morning. Royal Mail’s offer of 2.5% increased pay is disputed by the workers and they also believe that the new modernisation plans Royal Mail is undertaking will put 40,000 jobs at risk. Royal Mail insist that the modernisation is vital for them to keep in line with the times and say that they have done everything they can to cooperate with the workers. In a statement a spokesperson from the Royal Mail says:

“We continue to urge the CWU to work with us to modernise the business and to help secure a successful future for the company and its people in the competitive market in which we now operate.”

The Union, however, believes that its actions are completely justified in light of what has been proposed by Royal Mail and the fact that no resolution has been achieved for the last five weeks. The deputy general secretary, Dave Ward says that the strikes are indeed “a proportionate response to an employer that is completely out of control.

Many are understandably very concerned about the strikes as they will disrupt businesses and individuals alike. Having to use couriers instead will seriously increase bills, and lots of people are relying on important mail they need to receive. Royal Mail ask customers to be patient and try not to send any mail over the weekend as this will clog up the system even more. As ever, it is such a shame that because of a dispute quite far removed from any of us, it is still the customers who suffer.