‘Outrageous’ education secretary tells school chiefs to ‘get off their backsides’ and fill out concrete survey

Published

2 years ago

September 5, 2023

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The education secretary is facing fresh criticism after saying school chiefs who have not responded to a survey should “get off their backsides” and inform ministers whether they are affected by crumbling concrete.

Gillian Keegan has been accused of a “second display of petulance” over the reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC) crisis, after she railed against people “sat on their arses” in a sweary outburst on Monday.

Ms Keegan initially insisted her comments were aimed at “nobody in particular” and she was annoyed at the interviewer who was “making out it was all my fault”.

Politics latest: Keegan mocked over social media post

She has now shed further light on the root of her anger, telling Jeremy Vine on BBC Radio 2 on Tuesday: “The annoying bit, and this was probably a bit of my frustration yesterday, is despite asking since March 2020, there’s 5% of schools or responsible bodies that have not responded to the survey.”

She added: “Hopefully all this publicity will make them get off their backsides.

“But what I would like them to do is to respond because I want to be the secretary of state that knows exactly in every school where there is RAAC and takes action.

“We’ve written to them quite a few times and we’ve also set up a call centre to phone them up to ask them to do it and they still haven’t.

“So we have written to them yesterday and given them ’til the end of the week.”

Union leaders branded Ms Keegan’s latest comments “outrageous” and accused the government of trying to shift the blame from its own failings.

Safety concerns about collapse-prone RAAC have forced the full or part closure of more than 100 schools in England.

Headteachers have been scrambling to find temporary teaching spaces ahead of the new academic year, while others have been forced to replace face-to-face lessons with remote learning.

Ministers have come under fire over the timing of the announcement, with critics claiming they failed to heed previous warnings and invest in school buildings.

Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL), said: “This is the education secretary’s second display of petulance in consecutive days – albeit on this occasion without the swear words attached – and isn’t very helpful.

“Schools have been expected to identify RAAC even though this is a specialist field and are unlikely to have staff who are experts in this area.

“They have received minimal help from the Department for Education which will have known which schools have not returned surveys for several months and which has had ample time to reach out to them.

“The education secretary would do better to provide support, rather than blame.”

‘Desperate attempt to deflect’

Paul Whiteman, general secretary of the NAHT school leaders’ union, said: “Any attempt to start shifting the blame onto individual schools will be seen by parents and public for what it is: a desperate attempt by government to deflect from its own significant failings.

“The facts are clear: the current crumbling school estate is the direct result of ministerial decisions to slash capital budgets.

“Furthermore, the government has known about the risks associated with RAAC for many years but has only recently sent out these surveys to responsible bodies.

“The fact that we now have classroom ceilings held up by metal poles and classrooms put out of use completely is a reflection of the neglect and cuts we have been warning about for years.”

Daniel Kebede, general secretary of the National Education Union (NEU), added: “It is outrageous of the education secretary to lay any responsibility for the RAAC crisis at the door of schools.

“The fact is that the Department for Education has dragged its heels over many years on this issue.”

Keegan mocked over concrete post

Ms Keegan apologised for her comments yesterday, in which she also complained that no one had thanked her department for doing a “f****** good job”.

She went on to admit to being on holiday in Spain in the run-up to ordering the 104 schools and colleges to make closures.

Then on Tuesday morning, she was mocked for tweeting a graphic claiming most schools are “unaffected” by RAAC, with Labour quick to post a spoof saying “most beachgoers not eaten by big shark”, in reference to the stance of the mayor in the movie Jaws.

It came on a day of many developments, with a minister admitting Rishi Sunak rejected a funding request to fix more crumbling schools when he was chancellor.

Politics

Canada ‘got it wrong’ labeling stablecoins securities — NDAX exec

Published

2 hours ago

May 14, 2025

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<div>Canada 'got it wrong' labeling stablecoins securities — NDAX exec</div>

Tanim Rasul, chief operating officer at Canadian crypto exchange NDAX, said Canada “got it wrong” categorizing stablecoins as securities in 2022, and the country needs to realize that every other regulatory regime is looking at stablecoins as payment instruments.

Rasul made the remarks during a panel on May 13 at the Blockchain Futurist Conference in Toronto, pointing to Europe’s crypto regulatory framework as a model for Canada to consider:

“I’m sure the regulators are wondering if this was the right choice to approach stablecoins as a security. […] I would just say, look at MiCA, look at the way they’re approaching stablecoins. It’s a payment instrument. It should be regulated as such.”

The Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) classified stablecoins as “securities and/or derivatives” in December 2022, following “recent events in the crypto market,” such as the dramatic collapse of crypto exchange FTX just a month before.

Canada, Cryptocurrency Exchange, Stablecoin — *Canadian Web3 Regulation panel at Blockchain Futurist Conference. Source: Cointelegraph*

The agency elaborated on stablecoin rules in February and October of 2023, placing such tokens under the umbrella of “value-referenced crypto assets.”

Canada’s stance on digital assets led many top crypto companies, including Binance, Bybit, OKX, and Paxos, to scale back operations in the local market. Crypto exchange Gemini also announced exit plans in September 2024.

The regulatory setback, however, hasn’t stopped Canada’s digital asset market from flourishing. According to Grand View Research, the local crypto industry posted revenue of $224 million in 2024, higher than in previous years. It is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 18.6% until 2030, when it is forecast to reach $617.5 million in annual revenue.

Stablecoins have emerged as key crypto use case

Stablecoins, cryptocurrencies pegged to a fiat currency, have emerged as a key use case for digital assets. According to DefiLlama, the current market capitalization for all stablecoins is at $242.8 billion as of May 14, up 51.9% in the past 12 months.

Nation-states and economic blocs are increasingly working on stablecoin regulations to tackle the rising usage across the world. While the most used stablecoins are pegged to the US dollar, there is demand for stablecoins pegged to other fiat currencies.

Magazine: Legal Panel: Crypto wanted to overthrow banks, now it’s becoming them in stablecoin fight

Politics

CFTC commissioner will step down to become Blockchain Association CEO

Published

4 hours ago

May 14, 2025

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CFTC commissioner will step down to become Blockchain Association CEO

Summer Mersinger, one of four commissioners currently serving at the US financial regulatory body Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), will become the next CEO of the digital asset advocacy group the Blockchain Association (BA).

In a May 14 notice, the Blockchain Association said its current CEO, Kristin Smith, would step down for Mersinger on May 16, allowing an interim head of the group to work until the CFTC commissioner assumes the role on June 2. Though her term at the CFTC was expected to last until April 2028, the BA said Mersinger is set to leave the agency on May 30.

The departure of Mersinger, who has served in one of the CFTC’s Republican seats since 2022, opens the way for US President Donald Trump to nominate another member to the financial regulator. Rules require that no more than three commissioners belong to the same political party.

Like the Securities and Exchange Commission, the CFTC is one of the significant US financial regulators whose policies impact digital assets. Lawmakers in Congress are currently working to pass a market structure bill to clarify the roles each agency could take in overseeing and regulating crypto.

New leadership at the Blockchain Association had been expected since Smith announced her departure on April 1 to become the next president of the Solana Policy Institute. A spokesperson for the Blockchain Association had not responded to Cointelegraph’s request for comment at the time of publication.

Some of the biggest crypto firms in the US, including Coinbase, Ripple Labs and Chainlink Labs, are members of the Association. The organization “support[s] a future-forward, pro-innovation national policy and regulatory framework for the crypto economy,” according to its website.

Changing the leadership at a major US financial regulator

A nominee of former US President Joe Biden, Mersinger has called for standardized crypto-related policies and said the CFTC was the “ideal regulator for the cryptocurrency spot market.” Some expected she would lead the regulator following the election of Trump and the departure of then-CFTC Chair Rostin Behnam, but Commissioner Caroline Pham took on the role in an acting capacity in January.

Trump chose former commissioner Brian Quintenz to chair the CFTC in February, but his nomination has not moved through the Senate for a vote in roughly three months. Commissioner Christy Goldsmith Romero reportedly said she plans to leave the agency once Quintenz is confirmed, potentially giving Trump the chance to nominate three new commissioners to fill the five-seat panel.

Any CFTC commissioner picked by the president needs a majority vote in the Senate to be confirmed for a five-year term or to fill in for a resigning member.

Magazine: Crypto wanted to overthrow banks, now it’s becoming them in stablecoin fight

Politics

Bitcoin more of a ‘diversifier’ than safe-haven asset: Report

Published

8 hours ago

May 14, 2025

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Bitcoin more of a ‘diversifier’ than safe-haven asset: Report

Bitcoin’s fluctuating correlation with US equities is raising questions about its role as a global safe-haven asset during periods of financial stress.

Bitcoin (BTC) exhibited a strong negative correlation with the US stock market when analyzing the short-term, seven-day trailing correlation, according to new research from blockchain data provider RedStone Oracles, shared exclusively with Cointelegraph.

However, RedStone said that the 30-day indicator signals a “variable correlation” between Bitcoin price and the S&P 500 index, with the correlation coefficient ranging from -0.2 to 0.4.

This fluctuating correlation suggests that Bitcoin “doesn’t consistently function as a true hedge for equities” due to its lack of a strong negative correlation below -0.3, which is needed for “reliable counter movement during market stress,” the report said.

The research suggests that while Bitcoin may not be a dependable hedge against stock market declines, it offers value as a portfolio diversifier.

This fluctuating dynamic signals that Bitcoin often moves independently from other assets, potentially offering additional returns while other assets are struggling. Still, Bitcoin has yet to mirror the safe-haven dynamics of gold and government bonds, RedStone suggests.

Bitcoin needs to “mature” before decoupling from stock market

While Bitcoin is poised to grow into a safe-haven asset in the future, the world’s first cryptocurrency still needs to “mature” as a global asset, according to Marcin Kazmierczak, co-founder and chief operating officer at RedStone.

“Bitcoin still needs to mature before decoupling from stock markets,” Kazmierczak told Cointelegraph, adding:

“Increased institutional adoption will absolutely help — we’re already seeing this effect with corporate treasury investments reducing Bitcoin’s 30-day volatility and with BlackRock repetitively praising BTC as an asset in a portfolio.”

Meanwhile, Bitcoin will see growing recognition as a portfolio diversifier, with an annualized return of over 230% for the past five years, which “significantly outperformed” both stocks and traditional safe-haven assets, Kazmierczak said, adding that “even a small 1–5% Bitcoin allocation can meaningfully enhance a portfolio’s risk-adjusted returns.”

Meanwhile, Bitcoin’s declining volatility supports BTC’s growing maturity as a global financial asset. Bitcoin’s weekly volatility hit a 563-day low on April 30, a development that may signal more stable price action.

Bitcoin’s price volatility fell below the realized volatility of the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq 100, signaling that investors are increasingly treating Bitcoin as a long-term investment vehicle, Cointelegraph reported on May 13.