Private Education, Private Education, Private Education

Diane Abbott explains the indefensible in the time-honoured manner - with a neat twist.

"I would have done anything not to have found myself in the position I was in this year. I had to choose between my reputation and my son. I chose my son. "

Wipe away tear. What mother could do less ? But wait !

The reason I had to make this choice is because of the catastrophic failure of black boys in Britain’s schools. I have campaigned around black underachievement in schools for the best part of a decade; setting up a study group called Black Men in Crisis in 1995; holding a series of conferences on this issue and recently launching the London Schools and the Black Child initiative.

Ah - it's not London state schools as such - it's 'a system that has been failing black boys for three generations'.

Must be all those racist teachers.

Just down the page a Mr Chris Woodhead isn't so impressed.

Hackney children do not underachieve because your government has failed to throw enough money at the problem. They fail because the government has not had the courage to confront the vested interests, ideological and bureaucratic, that you exemplify so perfectly.

You know best, don’t you, Diane? You really believe that Hackney’s educational problems stem from the abolition of the Inner London Education Authority. You really think that more money is the answer. You are really proud, aren’t you, of the fact that you have “campaigned around black underachievement for the best part of a decade”? The truth is that your campaigns have distracted attention from what needs to be done. Black boys are failing for much the same reasons as white working-class boys are failing. They are not learning to read. Expectations are too low. Discipline is too lax. We need less hot air and more action. It is not rocket science. There are already head teachers in London schools who are raising standards in an extremely impressive way. The challenge is to replicate their success, not to enhance your reputation as a black politician.