There was a piece in the G last week about a recent article in the T which had gone out of its way to praise England's tax-funded schools in the great pre-university [A-level] qualifications race, comparing them favourably with 'independent' schools – that is, the ones where (grand)parents pay cash.
The G says that the T's comparison (as well as fudging the exam results data – well, who doesn't!) was unfair as such tax-funded schools are likely to be selective, whereas independent schools are open to all who can pay the fees. I spluttered into my Waitrose rich muesli mix as I read this distortion of the reality that most parents face.
The G also hinted that the T was probably playing politics in that it was talking up some welcome outcomes of government schools policy; but then I thought that, perhaps, it was only trying to reassure its liberalista readership that the considerable sums many of them fork out to separate their Tamsins, Tristrams and Tamaras from hoi polloi (and to buy them some socio-economic privileges) are still worth it.
It's obviously still August ...
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