Schools reform is welcomed but is there a simpler way than this?

Putting aside the deeply depressing budget deficit reduction programme (although it was absolutely necessary), the Queen’s speech this week was very exciting indeed. Its general thrust pointed towards the rolling back of the bloated state and the implementation of choice and power to the people. The government have also decided that education will be one of their priorities. Largely, their proposals were based on the principle of allowing more choice for parents of where to send their children to school. Choice, as we know from our experience with restaurants, mobile phone operators or supermarkets, tends to raises standards. All of this is greatly welcome.

And yet, I can’t help thinking ... Was there not a system that existed not so long ago in this country where the standard in schools was better than it is now, and alternatives existed for parents who could not afford to send their children to a private school? Does anyone remember ‘grammar schools’? As I have mentioned before, the detoxification of the Conservative brand means that the Tories can no longer talk of things that they used to believe in, for fear of being associated with the ‘Nasty Tories’ of old. The trouble, of course, with this is that sensible ideas are dismissed even before the debate has begun.

We should now be honest with ourselves and admit the comprehensive schooling system in this country has utterly failed our children. All evidence suggests that since the eradication of the majority of grammar schools, social mobility has declined. The comprehensive system has ended meritocracy and, at the height of irony, now selects pupils to go to the best schools depending on the wealth of their parents. This is because, as everyone knows, the best schools are in the catchment areas where house prices are the highest.

The Left insisted that grammar schools were unfair because they were elitist and harsh for the ones who missed out. Their response to this perceived unfairness? Instead of supporting a system that gave hope to poor children who are bright, they advocated a system where the poor could only be losers. The winners were the rich who could afford private schools, or at the least an expensive house in a good catchment area. But of course, this is secretly very enticing for the Left; better to all be equal and all losers than be unequal and have winners.

They have persisted with this warped ideology with great vigour, carrying it through the educational system to university. You only need to look at Labour’s obsession with getting half the population to university to see what I mean. The righteous left believe that it is unfair for only a few people to go to university because- dare we say it- they worked hard or deserved to go on the basis of their academic ability! No – this, to them, is an outrage. Instead, everybody should go to university irrelevant of merit. What better way to ensure this than creating an endless number of nonsense universities, with worthless courses, and (worst of all) handing them a fortune of debt for the pleasure?

It is a great lie that we have been telling our children for far too long.

The reality is that grammar schools did need reform, not least in the perception that if you didn’t get in you were loser. I have always thought this to be utter tosh. When I look around at my contemporaries and indeed the generation that went before us, there are countless numbers of people who have made a great success of their lives without any academic ability. That was because you don’t necessarily need academic brilliance to get on in the world. I fear for the generation of children that have been told stay in education at any cost, even if they are not right for it. It’s this group of people that the great lie will hurt the most.

So yes, I do welcome the choice reforms, but it is still not clear how these will affect things in real, practical terms. The grammar school system, albeit with reform, could be easily re-implemented and would improve our children’s prospects over night. But alas nobody seems to mention them anymore...

Let us make the best of a bad situation

Politics in Britain feels peculiar at the moment. Those of us who follow it closely suddenly have no terms of reference. We all feel a bit lost. Therefore, more now than ever it is advisable to follow our instincts. Instincts for some, if you are staunchly of the right and voted Conservative, or perhaps if you are staunchly of the left and voted Liberal Democrat, are telling people that they have been sold out; that this coalition government is a farce and should not be trusted. A view, which was put forward by Peter Hitchens today in the Mail on Sunday.

I believe this view to be grossly unfair.

Nobody has been sold out. If you voted Conservative you were voting for a Conservative government. If you voted Liberal Democrat you were voting for a Liberal Democrat government (or at least perhaps more realistically a Liberal Democrat MP). Each party wanted a majority, nobody actively wanted a hung parliament that would result in a coalition government. It is only since the election result concluded that no one party had achieved a majority, that one had to make the best of a bad situation.

Cameron had to make a decision between a minority Conservative government which would undoubtedly be weak and extremely fragile, or a majority government in coalition with the Lib Dems which would fair a much greater chance of being a stronger and more stable government. What came about was a highly regrettable situation, of course he wanted a majority, but it was nevertheless a reality and he had to make a tough call. Ultimately I believe he has made the right one. There are a minority of Conservative and Liberal Democrat voters who are crying ‘betrayal’ and ‘treachery’ as Hitchens has been (although I doubt he voted Conservative). Let's get real, no one has been betrayed. One is left with a decision either to be slavishly devoted to your principles and values or compromise part of your principles to deal practically with the reality at hand. Please do not interpret this as choosing practicality over principle. It is not. It is simply a balance of the two as nearly every decision in life has to be.

Indeed, there are some reasons to be very positive about the coalition. Not least the point raised by Matthew D’ancona in the Sunday Telegraph today. That being that the country faces some very tough times ahead and that there will be fierce cuts in public spending. If the Tories alone were responsible for this, it would leave open the easy and predictable attack from the left that it was the same old Tories who care nothing for the poor and only for the rich. Now the Lib Dems are on board, they are culpable too, that argument is utterly negated. I think it is also important that the government has broad support while it makes these uncomfortable decisions. A poll this morning reported 64% approve that the coalition government is the right way ahead.

I myself am still very uneasy about the whole thing. I worry that much could be at risk with this coalition. Rest assured I shall continue to highlight those concerns and criticise the government in the weeks ahead. As a blogger it would be very easy and perhaps more entertaining for me to take the radical and blindly principled view of Hitchens with regard to the coalition. But as I began this post, I reiterate that now is a time for instincts. They tell me that the coalition is making the best of a bad situation. Its own destiny may indeed be rather shorter than the five years mooted, but for the moment lets get behind it. The challenges facing the country demand such a response.

Historic day for Britain

A truly extraordinary day for British politics. One gets the real sense of witnessing history today. While, it was certainly dissapointing that the Conservatives were unable to secure a majority on Thursday, there is now a sense of hope and tentative optimisim tonight that a Conservative-Liberal Democrat government will be a strong and stable one. It might even be capable of some important acheivements in certain areas. All this is perhaps a little premature, for now I am very happy that the Queen has invited David Cameron to form a government. A more thorough analysis to follow later in the week...

Today: release yourself from the shackles of dogmatic choices

It will perhaps be unsurprising to regular readers of this blog that Churchill’s Boot officially urges you to vote Conservative today. Off the top of my head, here are some positive reasons to vote Tory that are chosen in particular as differentials against the other alternatives:

• If you want the state to intervene less in your lives and feel it is there to serve you and not the other way round.

• If you have been anxious by the rise of immigration in recent years and think the level of net 200,000 people coming here a year should be reduced significantly.

• If you want to give a chance to a radical localist agenda that puts people at the heart of the decisions rather than a distant central state.

• If you think standards in education have slipped and want an education system that provides choice for parents and real opportunities for their children.

• If you would like a more euro-sceptic government that would not sign away further sovereignty to Brussels.

• If you think it is too simplistic an argument that the government must spend more to improve public services.

• If you want a government that will try to genuinely break the culture of welfare dependency.

Further still, if these positive reasons didn’t really do it for you, then here are some unforgivable errors of Labour’s government and reasons why you can’t possibly vote for them:

• Immigration has increased at an unprecedented level since 1997.

• The UK has one of the worst budget deficits in the western world (roughly equal to that of tragic Greece) due to unprecedented increases in pubic spending before the recession.

• Signing away a further significant part of British sovereignty in a shameless broken promise to not have a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty.

• Increase in the public sector to a critical, unsustainable level.

• Countless tax rises including national insurance, council tax and the eradication of the lower band for tax free earnings.

If not all of the above work for you or you still have reservations about Cameron or the Conservatives generally, remember that democracy is far from a perfect system. As Churchill said, it is the least worst system. You may not get everything you want and sometimes you might only be able to choose the lesser of two bad options. I myself do not whole-heartedly agree with every Conservative position as I have made clear in the past, but as Labour have every reason to be kicked out and the Lib Dems cannot form a government, then the Conservatives are the only viable option.

However, I am guessing that if you are already voting Tory, this post is perhaps a waste of time. Alternatively, if you are intending not to vote Tory then the above reasons have probably only scratched the surface in getting you to change your mind- if at all. Therefore, this is a plea to some of the latter group to which I refer.

Some of you are thinking that the above reasons do chime a chord with you but you are cynical about the Tories and perhaps have deeply held class and cultural feelings about why you should not be voting Tory. I urge you to drop your cynicism for the Tories: this is not the same Conservative party of the 80’s and neither is it the same moment in history. Release yourself from the dogmatic shackles that say you have to vote Labour because of your ‘working-class roots’ or ‘you can’t vote Tory because they only care for the rich and toffs’. Be true to yourself and give the Conservatives a chance. If you are one of these people, I understand it will be quite a thing to put a cross next to the Conservative box today. Be brave. Make a decision that will give this country the chance it needs.

Brown the bigot reveals the problem with the immigration debate

Reality transcended satire last week when dear old Gordon messed up with his ‘bigot’ comment. Surely the writers of ‘The Thick of It’ would not have come up with a better idea for an episode than this? We were treated to an extended episode as well, when Gordon decided he would descend the whole thing to farce by visiting Gillian Duffy’s home in Rochdale to try and rectify his mishap. It only made things worse, when his 40-minute effort to persuade her to come outside and have a photo failed. Instead he came out on his own, grinning inappropriately, and gave one of the most farcical statements I have ever heard. It was quite simply hilarious. I had to watch the clip on the Sky News website three or four times, I was enjoying it so much. For this then, I heartily thank our Prime Minister for providing such entertainment.

But on a serious note, the bigot comment revealed the whole problem with the immigration debate. As most commentators admitted, if you read the transcript of what Mrs Duffy said, there is nothing she said which could have been justifiably described as bigoted. Of course most people associate the ‘bigot’ label with those that hold views on immigrants which can be said to be prejudiced or perhaps racist. Usually the left dismisses any discussion on immigration by simply retorting that anyone who raises a concern as to levels of immigration is a racist or a bigot. The issue was nicely encapsulated by the Conservative posters of their 2005 election campaign: ‘It’s not racist to put a cap on immigration’. And now we know where Brown sits in this debate. Rather than acknowledge Mrs Duffy’s acceptable concerns, the real Gordon, recorded by the Sky microphone, dismissed those concerns as ‘bigoted’. In so doing, he also dismissed millions of peoples concerns in this county that echo exactly the anxiety that Mrs Duffy has about immigration.

It is very easy to hold Brown’s view on immigration if you (like so many of the political establishment and the righteous left) live in a nice house in a leafy suburb of West London. But when you actually live somewhere like for example, Rochdale, or any other place that has witnessed the unprecedented growth in immigration under Labour, it is not so easy. What is deplorable is that Brown and the like refuse to have the debate, and simply dismiss any alternative views.

Many have commented that they felt a little sorry for Gordon Brown. There was an element to the episode that we can all empathise with. But the mistake would have attracted much greater sympathy had he been recorded saying something like ‘yes she is right we have had a right problem with those eastern Europeans’. The trouble is he didn’t. His slip up revealed the true Gordon. He does not want to listen to the every day worries of the people. He simply views those worries as bigoted and so proceeds with a policy that has resulted in a net average of 200,000 people settling here every year.

A ‘bigot’ according the dictionary definition I looked up is a person ‘who is intolerant of any opinions differing from his own’. How very ironic, that Gordon Brown’s view of Mrs Duffy and the left’s response to the immigration debate seem to fit this definition perfectly.