Marksism Today: The A Levels Fiasco

Inside Briefing with the Institute for Government

Institute for Government

News, Politics, Government

4.6 • 252 Ratings

🗓️ 13 August 2020

⏱️ 45 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

As pupils and parents fume over the A Levels mess, how and why did the Government inflict this fiasco on itself? As cheese drives a wedge between Britain and Japan, is this a taster of a smorgasbord of problems facing our post-EU trade talks? Can Rishi Sunak maintain his popularity when the bills for buying the nation dinner and more come in? And what happens to governments when Prime Ministers go on holiday? Special guest Rafael Behr of The Guardian joins us for the Inside Briefing Seaside Special. “Hardworking pupils from deprived areas are being dragged down and slackers from rich areas are being dragged up.” – Rafael Behr “Japan is a very long way away and economic geography wasn’t abolished this year… I’m not sure Liz Truss is wise to draw attention to £102,000 worth of cheese.” – Giles Wilkes “In 2025 will the terribly inflated A Level grades of the COVID Cohort really be such a big thing?” – Rafael Behr “We’re learning how great it was to NOT have an independent trade policy…” – Giles Wilkes “Either chlorinated chicken is coming into this country or it isn’t… The Government needs to start a real conversation about the trade-offs in trade.” – James Kane “The economic figures are so bad that you need a whole new graph to show them.” – Giles Wilkes Presented by Bronwen Maddox with Giles Wilkes, Alex Thomas and James Kane. Audio production by Alex Rees See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello and welcome to Inside Briefing, the podcast from the Institute for Government.
0:14.5	I'm Bronwyn Nadix. A students in England pick up their A-level results will look at why the
0:18.5	government performed a last-minute change in the grading system, panicked and chaotic, headteacher called it. What lessons need to be learned by the government, that is. Then we'll go from chalk to cheese and take a look at why Stilton has stalled the trade deal with Japan that the UK so badly wants. A new IFG paper this week says the government has badly weakened the UK's negotiating hand.
0:39.5	We'll talk about why and what can be done.
0:42.1	We're going to look too at the UK's dubious distinction of having one of the worst
0:45.4	recessions among European economies, or so the numbers suggest, and whether the Chancellor
0:49.8	should extend the furlough scheme, a big subject which will be returning to in a special podcast soon.
0:56.1	And as a final thought, as Boris Johnson sets out to go camping in Scotland and politicians bombard their
1:01.0	followers with images of their staycations, will muse on what happens to government when Prime
1:05.7	Ministers away and why things don't always go according to plan.
1:09.8	Well, I've got a terrific panel to discuss all of
1:11.8	this. Alex Thomas, who leads our work on the civil service is in the virtual studio. Hi, Alex. Hi,
1:16.8	Bromyn. So is Charles Wilkes, Senior Fellow at the Institute. Hi, Bormon. Well, done, getting back
1:22.5	from Croatia. Thank you. And I'm delighted to be joined by Rafael Baer, columnist at The Guardian.
1:29.0	Hi there.
1:29.6	Hi, thanks for having me.
1:31.0	Let's start with A-levels.
1:32.7	As we record this podcast, students are picking up their grades, but just 48 hours ago,
1:36.8	the Department for Education announced a triple lock, meaning results would be the highest of the grades
1:41.7	that teachers had estimated for students, or their mock exams, if they took those, or an optional written exam in the autumn if they weren't
1:48.9	happy with the other two. And this was a last minute change following the outcry in Scotland
1:53.5	after students' grades were based on a moderating system, which the Scottish government then
	...

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