Education and Speeling The New Labout Way

Education, education, education...New Labour continues its relentless drive to eradicate education from schools as well as from the titles of its own ministries:

- Schools advised to abandon the 'i' before 'e' rule; the Department for Children, Families and Schools issues a 123-page document, Support For Spelling.

- Out of the nursery, into the rat race: the growth of private tutoring under New Labour. Labour is good for something then - private enterprise.

- Balls grabs more powers for himself in a new 'Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning' bill. That's his way of 'devolving responsibility locally'.

And Gordon Brown in the Guardian supplement:

And he really believes that the age we're living in is a progressive one. He cites a bit of evidence for this: for the first time, he says, teaching is the most popular occupation for people leaving university. "It's a great profession. I could move to teaching ... " He beams, as if to say, You see! There's always something else I can do!

Not a good idea.