Conor's Commentary

A blog about politics, education, Ireland, culture and travel. I am Conor Ryan, Dublin-born former adviser to Tony Blair and David Blunkett on education. Views expressed on this blog are written in a personal capacity.

Saturday, 31 May 2008

A preacher problem

Obama doesn't have much luck with his preachers, does he?
Posted by Conor Ryan at 00:22:00
Labels: Barack Obama, US Presidential elections

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About Me

Conor Ryan
Keynsham, United Kingdom
All posts were written in a personal capacity. Dublin-born in 1963, since May 2018 I have been Director of External Relations at the Office for Students. Previously I was Director of Research and Communications for the Sutton Trust from 2012-18 and I was senior adviser to David Blunkett from 1993-2001 and Tony Blair's senior education adviser from 2005-7. I have also been an independent writer and consultant. I am the author (with Cyril Taylor) of Excellence in Education (David Fulton, 2004)and Freedom from Failure (CPS, 2002); and editor of Bac or Basics (SMF, 2004) and Staying the Course (SMF, 2008), co-editor with Julian Astle of Academies (Centreforum, 2008) and author of Lessons for Life (HTI, 2011). I have also written many articles for the Guardian, Independent, Daily Mail, Evening Standard, Times, Sunday Times, among other publications, and contributed to many radio and TV news programmes in the UK and Ireland. I am a director at a multi-academy trust and a trustee of the National Foundation for Educational Research. All views expressed on this blog are my own and appear in a personal capacity.
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Other Articles

  • A growing consensus (Progress)
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  • How to bury the Truth (Evening Standard)
  • Labour's first lady in Belfast (Irish Times, 1988)
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  • Sizing up the problem of regional disparities (ESRC Society Today)
  • Spin doctors play key role in health of our democracy (Irish Times, 2002)
  • Teacher shortages (LGC)
  • The Day of the Censor (Irish Times, 1985)
  • Towards fairer school admissions (Progress)
  • Unions must share blame for teaching shortage (Evening Standard)
  • Whatever happened to the University for Industry? (New Statesman)
  • Where are all the £100k heads? (Evening Standard)
  • White paper, bleak future (LGC)
  • Why the number of failing schools can be a good thing (The Times)
  • Working with the blind man who saw politics clearly (Sunday Times)
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