My* GCSE results

Art - B
Biology - A
Chemistry - A*
English language - B
English literature - C
German - B
History - B
Maths - A*
Physics - A

That's good enough to stay on and do his chosen A-levels, so it's good enough for me.

* Not literally mine obvs, but I was as nervous as The Lad when I said goodbye to him this morning.

Fun Online Polls: Moving exams for Ramadan & Banning Donald Trump

The results to last week's Fun Online Poll were as follows:

Changing the exam timetable to accommodate Ramadan: what do you think?

It's an appalling idea - 90%
It's a great idea - 3%
Other, please specify - 6%

A good turnout with 126 votes, thank you to everybody who took part.

Bayard was in the minority and left a comment: "It's a fabrication of the press, designed to provoke just the sort of reaction below."
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Next up, Donald Trump.

Whatever you think of him, his views are widely known and publicised, so it strikes me that it makes no difference whether he makes a speech in the UK or anywhere else. People will read about it or watch it on YouTube exactly the same. And he is certainly not a threat to UK state security or anything.

Nonetheless, there are plenty who would like to ban him from coming here. Our elected representatives are debating the topic as I type.

I think he is either a buffoon or a highly sophisticated Democrat fifth columnist, neither of which is a reason to prevent him from coming here, but let's put it to the vote.

Vote here or use the widget in the sidebar.

No wonder the country's in trouble.

From the BBC:

Schools in England are braced for "volatile" GCSE results, following significant changes to the exam system.

Go on, why's that then?

This year's results will reveal the outcome of a much greater emphasis on exams at the end of the two-year course and a reduction in coursework and modular units.

Alan Smithers, director of the Centre for Education and Employment at Buckingham University, warned of "shocks in store" for some schools, depending on "how much they relied on gaming the old system".

Hooray, say all the people (like me) who like the white knuckle ride of the exam experience and look down on all this "coursework and modular units" nonsense, it's a recipe for favouritism and cheating, not to mention involving more work for pupils, not just cutting and pasting stuff off the internet, but sucking up to teacher all year long.

So it's not really "changes to the exam system", it's "a return to the exam system".

But wold this lead to "volatile" results?

We all assume that they give the top few per cent an A, the next few per cent a B and so on, just because they are doing proper exams again doesn't change that.

Fun Online Polls: Mazda drivers and Baccalaureates

The results to last week's Fun Online Poll were inline with my own perception:

How old is the typical Mazda MX5 driver?

Under 39 - 14%
40 to 49 - 21%
50 to 59 - 41%
60 or over - 16%
Other, please specify - 7%

Suggestions for "Other" included "female", which is a fair point, actually.
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This week, let's do a bit of rebranding, just for the heck of it.

Cast as many votes as you like for some meaningless gibberish here or use the widget in the side bar.

Feel free to scrawl some more gibberish in the comments. Who knows? If it's as inane as changing it from "school leaving age" to "participation age", you might get offered a job in the Department For Education.

"Students had hints before exam"

Bless 'em. These kids clearly take Rule 2 very seriously indeed.