Tory says she'll fight the ConDem playground cuts...

A senior Tory on Peterborough City Council says she'll fight playground cuts announced yesterday by a Tory Government Minister.

Fifteen childrens play areas in Peterborough have already benefitted from Labour's Playbuilder programme - each getting £50,000 from the Government. But yesterday, Tory Minister Michael Gove took the decision to order Peterborough City Council - and 131 other council across the country - to stop all work.

In tonight's Peterborough Evening Telegraph, Sheila Scott, the Tory councillor responsible for childrens services in the city said the news was 'very disappointing' and went on:

“I will be doing everything I can to get the appropriate people to change their minds about this funding.

“We know these are very difficult financial times but children are our future and we need to protect that.”

I'm sure her Tory colleagues will be reminding Sheila that 'we're all in this together and children shouldn't be exempt...'

But the truth is, she's absolutely right and I wish her the best of luck in persuading the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats at Westminster to stop the daft cuts.

I hope that the first step in Sheila's campaign is to let the ET know where all the affected playgrounds in the city are located - information apparently so far denied to them.

The ET also highlight the positive difference parks built under Labour's Playbuilder scheme are already having. In Werrington, anti-social behaviour has been cut.

And in Peanut Park, Orton Goldhay, which was provided in partnership with Cross Keys Homes, who matched the Government grant, the ET reports that the community came together to design the park which is now making 'a tremendous difference' to the area’s children.

The ConDems talk about building 'the big society' but it seems to me their actions are destroying it.

Why 'Every Child Matters' should be banned...

As a former county councillor, I know what a huge and positive difference the previous Government's 'Every Child Matters' programme made to transform and modernise childrens' services, not only here in Lincolnshire, but across the entire country.

But it seems the ConDems are so rattled by the success of 'Every Child Matters', that they want to ban its very name.

Isn't there something deeply worrying - and rather Stalinist - about Tory Ministers who moaned endlessly about political correctness and spin prior to the General Election, but now spending their time writing pointless edicts to ban phrases they don't like.

Isn't it even more worrying when you learn the author is Michael Gove, the man who scrapped 700 school buildings projects - and had to issue FIVE lists because he kept getting his facts wrong?

Would it be churlish of me to suggest that his time would be better spent concentrating on getting his facts right, rather than on spin and political correctness...?

Will Deepings school project escape the ConDem axe...?

Hopes are high that investment to revamp Deepings School will escape the Con-Dem Government axe.

Last month, you may recall, the Con-Dem axe scrapped 719 school building projects across the country, including millions of pounds to rebuild schools here in South Lincs.

So far, the Deepings project has avoided the Con-Dems devastating cuts - which hits the building industry as well as hopes of children, teachers and parents!

The Deepings project will make a huge difference to our local school and cost just £1.5 million - small beer compared to the £55 Billion investment in schools scrapped when the Con-Dems tore up Labour's Building Schools for the Future plan to modernise secondary schools.

But after Michael Gove's gaffe-ridden flip-flop performance in being forced to release no fewer than five official lists of where his axe will fall, we'll all be on tenter-hooks until building is underway.

Anti-sleaze rules come back to haunt Cameron...

More whiffs of Tory sleaze today - less than 48 hours after Boris Johnson's Deputy Mayor was forced to resign facing a whole series of allegations. David Cameron is now under pressure to take action against his sidekick George Osborne who is accused of breaking Tory rules by accepting up to £10,000 for a speech in Jersey.

I have to say Osborne's defence when questioned by Andrew Marr on the BBC this morning appeared decidedly dodgy...

He insisted he didn't break anti-sleaze rules by taking between £5k and £10k, as well as complimentary flights and accommodation from the Jersey Institute of Directors.

His problem is that Tory guidelines clearly state:

'Shadow Ministers should not solicit fees for broadcuasting, speaking engagements and articles. Fees should not be accepted if the subject matter relates directly to your Shadow Ministerial responsibilities.'

Ironically, we know what those rules say thanks to Mr Osborne's previous rather questionable conduct.

They were made public a few months ago when wee Georgie faced an investigation by the House of Commons Standards Committee into donations.

Then, the Committee upheld the complaints against him.

Other Tory frontbenchers now facing similar conflict of interest claims include Shadow schools secretary Michael Gove said to have received a donation from the director of an independent boarding school.

And Gove's deputy Tim Loughton apparently earns up to £35k a year as director of a company that provides camera equipment for schools.

Will Cameron enforce his own rules, or will he back wee Georgie and the rest...?

What do you think?

So are our 9,000 11-plus failures sheep or goats...ask the Tories!

According to the Daily Torygraph, the Conservatives made clear yesterday that there would be no return to grammar schools.

Michael Gove, shadow spokesman for the children, schools and families signalled that there would be no revival of the two-tier education system that split pupils into the "fortunate and the forgotten".

He told the party conference: "Instead of two nations, instead of the educationally rich and the knowledge poor, sheep and goats, the fortunate and the forgotten, we should have an education system which overcomes disadvantage, unlocks talent and unites our country. That is my vision and it should remain our mission."

Well that's clear then.

Of course, Mr Gove was anxious not to re-kindle the self-inflicted Grammar Wars within the Tory Party. So he didn't mention that following Cameron's priceless u-turn in the summer, official Tory policy is for MORE Grammar Schools to be built in places that already have them.

Like here in Lincolnshire, for example, where more than 9,000 children attend 19 Secondary Modern schools because they failed their 11-plus.

Are these the sheep or goats, Mr Gove?