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by Philjia » Tue Aug 04, 2020 5:19 pm
by The New California Republic » Tue Aug 04, 2020 5:24 pm
Philjia wrote:Concerns have been raised that the system used to provide grades to students in Scotland who were unable to sit their exams might be a bit shit.
Basically, teachers would submit predicted grades to the SQA, who would then moderate them based on a range of factors to ensure that the results given reflected previous years. The problem is that one of the factors considered was how affluent an area each school was in. Deprived areas tend to have lower attainment, and the SQA revised the results of pupils from less well off areas down to reflect this, so essentially a government department has fucked over a bunch of bright kids from poorer backgrounds because they're poor. Oh dear.
by The Archregimancy » Wed Aug 05, 2020 12:55 am
The New California Republic wrote:The Archregimancy wrote:Happy 150th anniversary to the British Red Cross.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q6v6aFw ... e=emb_logo
https://www.redcross.org.uk/about-us/ou ... 150-voices
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-53645820
No real discussion point; just recognising a significant anniversary for a prominent British institution.
Whenever I buy books I try to get them from charities, with the British Red Cross being one of them. I've never done any actual charity work for them though, as I was mostly involved in helping fundraising for Barnardo's.
by The Alma Mater » Wed Aug 05, 2020 2:11 am
Philjia wrote:Concerns have been raised that the system used to provide grades to students in Scotland who were unable to sit their exams might be a bit shit.
Basically, teachers would submit predicted grades to the SQA, who would then moderate them based on a range of factors to ensure that the results given reflected previous years. The problem is that one of the factors considered was how affluent an area each school was in. Deprived areas tend to have lower attainment, and the SQA revised the results of pupils from less well off areas down to reflect this, so essentially a government department has fucked over a bunch of bright kids from poorer backgrounds because they're poor. Oh dear.
by The New California Republic » Wed Aug 05, 2020 2:38 am
The Alma Mater wrote:Philjia wrote:Concerns have been raised that the system used to provide grades to students in Scotland who were unable to sit their exams might be a bit shit.
Basically, teachers would submit predicted grades to the SQA, who would then moderate them based on a range of factors to ensure that the results given reflected previous years. The problem is that one of the factors considered was how affluent an area each school was in. Deprived areas tend to have lower attainment, and the SQA revised the results of pupils from less well off areas down to reflect this, so essentially a government department has fucked over a bunch of bright kids from poorer backgrounds because they're poor. Oh dear.
Does the opposite not also happen ?
In the Netherlands schools get a rating, based on their performance (like the average grades of the students). That rating is adjusted upwards significantly if the school contains a lot of children from low income, low education households or immmigrant families - which led to Islamic schools where half the kids failed being rated quite high nevertheless.
The official reasoning being that it is a more impressive achievement to let a poor kid from a family which cannot help with homework pass than it is to let the son of a millionaire with 2 private tutors score 8/10.
by An Alan Smithee Nation » Wed Aug 05, 2020 3:29 am
by Vassenor » Wed Aug 05, 2020 3:36 am
The European Commission has dismissed a demand by senior Tories to rewrite the Brexit withdrawal agreement to reduce the amount of cash Britain has to pay the EU.
Brexiteers including Iain Duncan Smith have claimed that the financial liabilities signed up to by Boris Johnson in the agreement were too great, that the treaty “costs too much” and “denies us true national independence”.
But speaking to reporters on Tuesday, a European Commission spokesperson said the agreement’s financial section included “completely normal legal commitments”.
Sir Iain’s concerns relate to the UK’s continued liability for European Investment Bank loans, which he claims will mean the financial impact will go far beyond the main settlements in the £39bn divorce deal.
“I think it’s very clear that we are not going to get into a debate with British politicians on liabilities or any other of the provisions of the Withdrawal Agreement,” the Commission spokesperson said.
by The Free Joy State » Wed Aug 05, 2020 3:40 am
The Huskar Social Union wrote:I wonder how many HongKongers will take up the offer and move over. Cant imagine being in their situation and genuinely thinking about having to leave home because of that crap the Chinese are pulling. Hope the ones who come over have good lives and can do well.
The Archregimancy wrote:Happy 150th anniversary to the British Red Cross.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q6v6aFw ... e=emb_logo
https://www.redcross.org.uk/about-us/ou ... 150-voices
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-53645820
No real discussion point; just recognising a significant anniversary for a prominent British institution.
The New California Republic wrote:The Archregimancy wrote:Happy 150th anniversary to the British Red Cross.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q6v6aFw ... e=emb_logo
https://www.redcross.org.uk/about-us/ou ... 150-voices
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-53645820
No real discussion point; just recognising a significant anniversary for a prominent British institution.
Whenever I buy books I try to get them from charities, with the British Red Cross being one of them. I've never done any actual charity work for them though, as I was mostly involved in helping fundraising for Barnardo's.
by CoraSpia » Wed Aug 05, 2020 4:16 am
An Alan Smithee Nation wrote:The Home Affairs Committee says the government made a serious error by not bringing in quarantine earlier. A Home Office spokesperson says they are wrong.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-53654644
Government departments should listen to parliamentary committees.
by The Blaatschapen » Wed Aug 05, 2020 4:18 am
by The New California Republic » Wed Aug 05, 2020 4:43 am
The Blaatschapen wrote:With regards to the Red Cross, how do I distinguish between it and the English flag?
by CoraSpia » Wed Aug 05, 2020 4:46 am
The Blaatschapen wrote:With regards to the Red Cross, how do I distinguish between it and the English flag?
by An Alan Smithee Nation » Wed Aug 05, 2020 4:51 am
by Hirota » Wed Aug 05, 2020 4:54 am
I googled him. Turns out he looks a little like George ClooneyAn Alan Smithee Nation wrote:I thought for a second Bob Ross had become leader of the Scottish Conservatives, turns out it was Doug Ross. I know nothing about him, but I expect he wants to make happy little Tories.
by An Alan Smithee Nation » Wed Aug 05, 2020 5:11 am
Hirota wrote:I googled him. Turns out he looks a little like George ClooneyAn Alan Smithee Nation wrote:I thought for a second Bob Ross had become leader of the Scottish Conservatives, turns out it was Doug Ross. I know nothing about him, but I expect he wants to make happy little Tories.
by The Archregimancy » Wed Aug 05, 2020 5:18 am
The Blaatschapen wrote:With regards to the Red Cross, how do I distinguish between it and the English flag?
by Philjia » Wed Aug 05, 2020 5:57 am
An Alan Smithee Nation wrote:I thought for a second Bob Ross had become leader of the Scottish Conservatives, turns out it was Doug Ross. I know nothing about him, but I expect he wants to make happy little Tories.
by The Blaatschapen » Wed Aug 05, 2020 6:01 am
The Archregimancy wrote:The Blaatschapen wrote:With regards to the Red Cross, how do I distinguish between it and the English flag?
Or the Georgian flag?
I suspect Blaat is joking, but...
International Red Cross founder Henry Dunant chose the Red Cross emblem as the reverse of the Swiss flag; it has no religious connotations. The cross therefore has bars of equal length that do not reach the edges of the flag.
The earliest surviving British Red Cross flag, from the Franco-Prussian War, demonstrates the principle:
https://museumandarchives.redcross.org.uk/objects/26
The Red Crescent emblem, which has equal status in international law as a neutral protective emblem under the Geneva Conventions, arose in the Ottoman Empire in the 1870s during one of the regular wars against Russia. While the Red Cross emblem has no association with Christianity, a red cross on a white background was nonetheless perceived as having an unfortunate similarity to Crusader imagery. Ottoman medical volunteers seem to have spontaneously adopted a white crescent on a red background - the reverse of the Ottoman flag - as an alternative.
While the red crescent also has no religious symbolism (except in its adoption as an alternative to a red cross), it's used by many national societies in Muslim-majority nations. However, several Muslim-majority nations (Indonesia and Mali, for example) continue to use a red cross.
The third active emblem recognised as equal to the above two in international law is the Red Crystal. In practice this is little used, except when the Israeli national society is operating outside Israel. When Israel was founded, the new national society Magen David Adom wanted to use a red 'Shield of David' as their emblem. The International Red Cross baulked at giving a national society its own emblem, especially one so closely associated with a specific religion and ethnicity (at around the same time Sudan was proposing a red rhinoceros). In 2006-2007 a compromise was reached. A Red Crystal (a square resting on its point) would be adopted as a third symbol. National societies could choose to put another symbol inside the crystal, but it's the crystal - not the other symbol - that has a protected status under international law. The Israeli and Palestinian societies were then immediately accepted into the international Red Cross/Red Crescent movement, and the Israelis stick their unofficial Shield of David inside the Crystal when operating outside of Israel.
It's important to stress that the Cross, Crescent, and Crystal are all equal in status; if a war broke out in the UK tomorrow, any of the three could be used to indicate the presence of a medical facility or medical staff protected under the Geneva Conventions. However, in practice we would use the Red Cross, since the national society also uses the cross.
There is a fourth emblem that would have legal force if ever used, but it's been dormant since 1980. When the Iranian national society was founded, it objected to using a red crescent because this was seen as an exclusively Ottoman symbol (as it indeed was at the time; its widespread acceptance as an international Muslim symbol is comparatively recent, and post-dates the adoption of the crescent as a protective emblem). The Iranians therefore uniquely adopted the Red Lion and Sun - a red lion carrying a sword in front of a sun. As noted above, opposition to further emblem proliferation played a significant part in the refusal to let the Israelis use a Red Shield of David. The Iranian national society switched to the Red Crescent in 1980 following the 1979 revolution, but their government specifically reserves the right to use the symbol, and its formal status in international law as a protective emblem has never been revoked.
by The Archregimancy » Wed Aug 05, 2020 6:08 am
by The Blaatschapen » Wed Aug 05, 2020 6:14 am
by The Archregimancy » Wed Aug 05, 2020 7:01 am
by The New California Republic » Wed Aug 05, 2020 7:30 am
The Blaatschapen wrote:I was joking.
by The Blaatschapen » Wed Aug 05, 2020 7:35 am
by An Alan Smithee Nation » Wed Aug 05, 2020 7:36 am
Philjia wrote:An Alan Smithee Nation wrote:I thought for a second Bob Ross had become leader of the Scottish Conservatives, turns out it was Doug Ross. I know nothing about him, but I expect he wants to make happy little Tories.
One of the only facts about him on Wikipedia is that in 2017 he said he would "like to see tougher enforcement against Gypsy Travellers".
by Hirota » Wed Aug 05, 2020 9:13 am
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