The Philosopher's Café

First of all, what will the Bill of Rights do? Well, in 1998, the Human Rights Act (HRA) passed by Mr Blair's government entrenched the ECHR (European Convention of Human Rights) into UK law, making it admissible in our own courts. The ECHR has protected rights and no matter what the government says the ECtHR only rules against the government if the rule of law is broken! Now, the Bill of Rights originated with Dominic Raab - now Deputy PM and Justice Secretary - in 2009 when he published the book " The Assault on Liberty: What Went Wrong with Rights" . The original idea of the removal of the HRA was of course before then, but lacked a replacement which Raab provides. Conservatives were not happy with the idea of prisoner's voting which the ECtHR have ruled for, stating that it infringes upon Article 3, Protocol No.1 "The Right to Free Elections". In the land of Westminster, have we seen prisoner's voting? No. Why? Because, de jure, we should allow them ...

 A levels, examinations for sixth form/college students who typically aim to go to university. A levels suck out the creativity and imagination which comes with learning. Going down creative rabbit holes of research is referred to as being "in the weeds" rather than diving into the depths of the subject you are studying. Elon Musk said "You can have a Bachelor's degree, and still be an idiot". This summarises A levels, from the formulaic essays to tasks of memorisation. The criticism of memorisation applies to the humanities rather than STEM fields, take politics and want to get an A*? Memorise some essay plans which you didn't even create, or use the points and evidence you find in the textbook to formulate your own. The repetitive cycle of learn, memorise, test and forget is dangerous and a foolish way to structure education. Where are our creative thinkers going to be created? University? Potentially. But these skills should be developed from 16-18. If yo...