The 2010 White House music series kicks off with “In Performance at the White House: A Celebration of Music from the Civil Rights Movement” — a concert celebrating Black History Month.
Music from the Civil Rights Movement from U.S. Department of Education

Hello all

I’ve been asked to write a piece of theatre which highlights the issues around the ‘Transformation of Local Government’ and the role HR managers and leaders can play.  Yikes!

Any ideas, rants, stories you have around this, or about the ’skills gap’ we are said to have in this country, I would love to hear them.  It’s always great to hear examples of the characters and the behaviours you might have encountered when getting involved in this agenda.

Any thoughts very much welcomed.  Thanks.

Amanda O

I’m hoping to hear what this community has to say about….. from

“There has to be a better way of harnessing resources. What we need is a core strategy,” told by Ambassador Cesar Bautista as he introduced the Forum’s Main Speaker – Ateneo De Manila University’s Professor Fernando Aldaba.


Professor Aldaba’s talk opened with a strong emphasis on job creation as a critical issue. He said that employment and human development have a natural link. Providing decent jobs enables  citizens to have dignity and good quality standard of life. He redefined the word “Hanapbuhay” as a means and an end, it is one’s seeking for life through work or meaning through work. Among the measures he proposed the country to address the perennial problem on unemployment are the following:

• attract foreign and local investments (conducive business environment)
• craft a sound industrial policy
• assist SME’s and linking them to large corporations
• assist LGU’s to attract and sustain investments (“Sparkplugs” and “Clusters”)
• development of financial markets to tap domestic savings and remittances e.g. LGU bonds
• further improving human capital
• creating a multi-stakeholder mechanism to formulate policies and programs and monitor implementation of job creation
• urgent action requiring more political will
• better collaboration and coordination among key stakeholders

Roadmap for Sustainable and Quality Employment Creation from The AIM Blog

We have a client who has approached us to undertake the Herman Brain Dominance Instrument (HBDI). I have heard of the tool and come into contact with this questionnaire only indirectly but know very little of its credibility and value.

read more

HBDI – Validity and Experiences? from

Labour MP Colin Burgon has written a report on how the party can win back the four million voters it lost between the 1997 and 2005 elections, concluding that:

• There are still millions of people who identify with Labour but are not motivated to vote for it;

• Policies that get them to vote can ensure a Labour victory. They need to be given reasons to go and vote for the Party;

• There is no evidence that Labour identifiers are persuaded by the Conservatives or that motivating them to vote Labour would be achieved by more right wing policies; and

• Concerns about the economy are dominating politics and polls show that the Tories are vulnerable on their economic policies and on public service cuts.

The last point, about the economy and cuts, is perhaps the key to deciding the result – the Conservatives’ vulnerability on both holding out the best possible chance of a Labour victory. As Left Foot Forward reported last month, January’s Times/Populus poll revealed:

“By 64%-26% voters believe Gordon Brown is ‘on the side of ordinary people’, while the ratio for David Cameron is 50%-42% believing he is ‘on the side of rich people’.”

The Populus result is not a one off. Earlier this month, ComRes’s February poll for The Independent found:

• 82% of the public believe David Cameron should say more about what he would do about the economy; and

• 69% disagreed that the recession would have ended sooner if the Conservatives had been in power.

The poll also revealed that, when asked who the public think of themselves as, 37% said Labour, 31% Conservative and 18% Liberal Democrat – and yesterday, Left Foot Forward reported the IPSOS Mori findings for The Observer that showed Cameron’s popularity had slipped 9 points to 45% in the 18 months to January, with the Prime Minister’s popularity rating up 6 points in the same period to 35%.

The report highlights more such results:

• December’s ComRes/Independent on Sunday poll showed that 68% of the public (and 79% of Labour voters) agreed that the Government’s plans for heavier taxes on people with high incomes are fair;

• December’s ICM/Guardian poll found 71% of the public (and 77% of Labour voters) approved of the one off 50% tax on bankers’ bonuses over £25,000; and

• December’s YouGov/Sunday Times poll showed 79% of the public (and 91% of Labour voters) supported the tax on bankers’ bonuses.

It is no surprise that these progressive measures are popular, adds the report:

“Given half of full-time workers earn £23,200 or less and 90 per cent earn less than £46,000.

“There is no basis to the claim that Labour would be unable to build a winning electoral coalition with more progressive economic measures targeted on the top one per cent lucky enough to earn over £100,000 per year.”

Mr Burgon, MP for Elmet, has written a detailed analysis of his findings in Tribune.

How to win back voters Labour’s lost from Left Foot Forward

First Lady Michelle Obama announced a campaign to help children become more active and eat healthier.
Let’s Move from U.S. Department of Education

Join your colleagues who are attending the show through Twitter at #TK10. Find out about the Virtual Conference coming up between February 8 and March 8, 2010.
ASTD TechKnowledge 2010 Conference and Exposition is Now In Session from News Updates from ASTD

Education Nation’s 10-Point Agenda Press Launch from The AIM Blog

With his poll lead slipping, his team’s competence questioned and his policies under attack, David Cameron today stands accused of “breathtaking” hypocrisy over his comments on the expenses scandal. In a speech on rebuilding trust in politics the Conservative party lead sought to portray himself as “the change Britain desperately needs”, criticising Gordon Brown for being a “roadblock to political reform”.

His record since the scandal broke, however, belies such rhetoric, Left Foot Forward can reveal.

When the Parliamentary Standards Bill was introduced in the Commons on June 23rd, it contained a clause stating parliamentary privilege did not prevent evidence being admissible in proceedings against an MP for an offence in the Bill – a clause deleted after opposition from the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats.

Speaking in the debate, then Shadow Leader of the House Alan Duncan said:

“We still have concerns about clause 10, which creates a formal provision to allow proceedings to be admissible in court proceedings against an MP, regardless of parliamentary privilege…

“Inasmuch as IPSA has power over our allowances, we are largely content, but inasmuch as it muddies the water and empowers the courts to intrude on our independence of action, it must be resisted.

“Even more dangerously, as the Clerk goes on to suggest, the casual disregard for parliamentary privilege in the Bill, particularly in clause 10, could cause permanent damage to parliamentary proceedings.”

Justice Secretary Jack Straw told Left Foot Forward:

“David Cameron’s position this morning is breathtaking for its sheer hypocrisy. Just a few months ago the Conservative Party were actively sabotaging all efforts to exclude the ambit of parliamentary privilege from the new laws on MPs expenses.

“Now Mr Cameron’s lust for an easy headline has provoked yet another bout of rank opportunism. The British public will see right through it.”

David Cameron and Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg are among those who voted against the proposals.

Concerns have also been raised as to whether the Mr Cameron’s outspoken remarks will prejudice any future trial against the three MPs – Jim Devine, David Chaytor and Elliot Morley – and Tory peer Lord Hanningfield, all of whom have been charged with theft by false accounting, with Labour Deputy Leader Harriet Harman warning him:

“He’s got to be very careful what he says or his comments might actually jeopardise the trial and nobody wants to see that happen.”

Hypocritical Cameron voted against proposals to reform parliamentary privilege from Left Foot Forward

See the narrative portion of applications submitted by 40 states and DC for Phase 1 of Race to the Top.
Race to the Top Applications from U.S. Department of Education