Debrief

It was supposed to be intimidating. That was the point. I organised a debate and I said I had to speak at it because this was about playing people at their own game. I had wondered at which point it was a good time to tell my colleagues that I had never actually been to […]

a case of belonging…

So it’s happening. I was always worried it might. That if we find it acceptable for people to send their children away, there would come a time when they would start making other people send their children away. If we say “its all about choice” then a time would come when there was no choice […]

in which I grab a moment during the school holidays to regroup…

“Is this a pain?” texts newspaper man. “No! its not a pain!” I reply, aware that my texts have been increasing in abruptness, not because ‘it’s a pain’ but because I am standing in the booze department of a German supermarket trying to decide whether to spend five euros on a bottle of wine which […]

its a very private public thing…

I keep meaning to write up my Frequently Asked Questions, but I never quite get round to finishing it. And there are always new questions being frequently asked. A very popular old chestnut however is “are you opposed to all private education?” and the answer of course is yes, yes I certainly am. It’s just […]

on where i come from…

When I was about sixteen I had a boyfriend who could play the William Tell Overture on his teeth. And then he went to prison. Well boyfriend is perhaps a bit strong. I think the terminology at the time was ‘going with’ , which meant we used to loiter about together and snogged about twice. […]

Feed my lambs Dave, just feed my lambs

I bumped into the Bishop of Oxford in the snack money queue at nursery the other day. You really do meet all sorts in Leith don’t you? In fact his grandson (3) has proposed to my daughter (5) so we’re practically related. Which is nice because he seems like a thoroughly good egg. The grandson. […]

what if…

Britain’s schools must be “more than just exam factories”, a cross-party parliamentary group says. Shadow education secretary Tristram Hunt said the report “tackles one of the most pressing questions currently facing our education system: how do we educate resilient young people who have a sense of moral purpose and character, that will grow up to […]

An enchanted place…

It came out of nowhere. It hit us hard and we weren’t expecting it. My husband had already had a difficult few days anyway. He had been to see his mother which always involves days, if not weeks, of us fighting before hand, a challenging time while he is there and usually more fighting afterwards. […]

In which I have had my faith in humanity further weakened by discovering the writings of one Mr Boris Johnson

It started while I was reading a particularly nasty chapter on beatings and bullying in public school and came across this: Think of that little British microcosm, with nothing ahead but violent games and teasing and the howling of the school dog, and no girls save the Chaplain’s daughter. Think of the privations, think of the […]

spending time with my boys

In the late nineteen sixties a team of sociologists lead by Royston Lambert conducted an in-depth study into boarding schools. They conducted interviews, gave out questionnaires and were shown countless diaries and personal writings, entirely voluntarily on the part of the pupils. They published an in-depth analysis of their findings, but they also published The Hothouse Society, […]