{"id":1354,"date":"2012-02-11T11:18:01","date_gmt":"2012-02-11T11:18:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/?p=1354"},"modified":"2012-02-11T11:18:01","modified_gmt":"2012-02-11T11:18:01","slug":"les-and-vince-at-the-music-hall","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/2012\/02\/11\/les-and-vince-at-the-music-hall\/","title":{"rendered":"Les and Vince at the music hall"},"content":{"rendered":"

That's Les (VC & Prof) Ebdon, who might yet not be the new director of OFFA<\/a>, and Vince (the once and future sage of Twickenham) Cable who might yet appoint him as such \u2013 or will he?<\/p>\n

OFFA is the office for fair access: \"<\/em>promoting and safeguarding fair access to higher education\", or so it says. \u00a0It is looking for a new director.<\/p>\n

I've been following this twisting tale since Les appeared before the House of Commons Business Select Committee as Vince's (and hence, HMG's) preferred candidate for the job. \u00a0He did not impress. \u00a0Whether you read Simon Carr's Independent blog<\/a> last week, Nadhim Zahawi in Friday's Times, or Charles Moore in today's Telegraph, \u00a0the message is much the same: Les has made an offer that might yet be refused. \u00a0It seems he stands for the wrong sort of standards in too many people's eyes.<\/p>\n

Nadhim Zahawi asks: Do we want to level down in the pursuit of access \u2013 or to maintain excellence? \u00a0Les, it seems, \"gave the wrong answers\". \u00a0 I suspected (\"feared\" would be going too far) as much when I read the Carr blog last week. \u00a0It began in classic style:<\/p>\n

The plan to keep the working class in their place is going along very nicely. The education system is producing 20 per cent illiteracy \u2013 but only among the lower socio groups. \u00a0Very helpful for us who need to keep the competition away. \u00a0So the appointment of a new head of access might have been a problem. \u00a0Someone who might get more children well-schooled. \u00a0That would be quite a threat to our way of life.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

But Carr was reassured ...<\/p>\n

... I think we're going to be all right. \u00a0The candidate spoke at length about his qualifications and as he spoke, we became aware how dusty the windows of the committee room were in the early afternoon sun. \u00a0In the background, we heard the drowsy hum of an education bureaucrat in later middle-age as he murmured the words that are expected at hearings like this. \u00a0...<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Moore<\/a> is less sanguine about Les and his qualifications for the job, and goes on about Jude the obscure at some length to make the point. \u00a0He does, however, think that coalition politics may well mean that Les will get the job, even though the business select committee said he shouldn't (he might frighten the Russell<\/a> group, it seems, and excuse schools all their failings). \u00a0 Moore comments:<\/p>\n

The most Machiavellian way to handle it would be to let Professor Ebdon take on the post and fail, as he surely will.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Quite so. \u00a0The way things are going, not even Les will be happy about his appointment.<\/p>\n

Update<\/strong> Tuesday 14th February<\/p>\n

The Guardian<\/a> weighed in today with a report that it was probably too late for any show-stopper from Dave (and Michael Gove), even though the Conservative Fair Access to University group\u00a0is also critical of Les's ability to do the job. \u00a0 We'll know soon.<\/p>\n

Update Thursday<\/strong> 23rd February<\/p>\n

This story won't die, now that Vince has got his way, Les has been appointed, and Dave (Willetts, that is) is shaking his brains, and wringing his hands. \u00a0Both Simon Carr<\/a> and\u00a0Alison Pearson<\/a> remain on the case.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

That's Les (VC & Prof) Ebdon, who might yet not be the new director of OFFA, and Vince (the once and future sage of Twickenham) Cable who might yet appoint him as such \u2013 or will he? OFFA is the...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":237,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[2,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1354","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-comment","category-news-and-updates"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1354","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/237"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1354"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1354\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1354"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1354"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1354"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}