Bob Piper has been a Labour Councillor for the Abbey
Ward in Sandwell, West Midlands, for nine years. He is a lifelong supporter of Aston Villa Football Club and a follower of Yorkshire County Cricket Club.
The views expressed here are mine in a personal capacity, not those of the Labour Party, Sandwell MBC, Aston Villa or Yorkshire County Cricket Club. Get it! Mine... just mine!
An interesting little piece in The Times saying David Cameron is defending parents who pretend to have some religious commitment in order to get their children into selective faith schools (oh where now that strong Leader of last year who was prepared to take on his party over selective grammar schools?). No, Cameron says, like the Blair clone he has become, these "middle class parents with sharp elbows" are really only parents doing the best for their children. OK, by it's by lies and deception, but so what? Weren't the Great Train Robbers only doing their best by their children?
The killer paragraph from the Times piece is the one which says...
Mr Cameron will learn this year whether his own daughter has won a place at a state-funded Church of England school in Kensington, West London.
I don't like faith schools at all, but I think the idea that parents should have the right to choose schools is going to be a big part of the next Conservative manifesto - so I think this was just another little precursor to his education policy.
Parents do want choice. They want to be able to choose a decent school close to their homes, and the sooner both parties get that message and address it, the better off all parents will be.
Can you imagine Cameron supporting a father who says to the judge,
"Your Honour, David Cameron himself said that he doesn't blame parents who try to get their kids into a good school. That's all I wanted - the best for my kids. There were 10 kids ahead of mine in the queue for places and so I just murdered them. I was simply following Cameron's advice and being an active parent."
January 23, 2008 9:33 AM | permalink
I don't like faith schools at all, but I think the idea that parents should have the right to choose schools is going to be a big part of the next Conservative manifesto - so I think this was just another little precursor to his education policy.