Schools should be safe places of unbiased learning, students shouldn’t be made to feel ashamed of British culture - Sarah Todd

As President Trump triumphantly flew out to mark the Gaza deal after two years of war this ignoramus got out an old globe and had a really good look at the Middle East. Genned up a bit.

So interesting to pinpoint Tel Aviv, where the presidential plane took a turn to do a fly-by of a warm welcome on the beach, along with Doha (where the agreement was actually made) which was coincidentally also of interest as The Son had stayed over earlier this month en-route to drive a combine in Australia.

Over the years, as offspring have come home with homework, it’s been interesting to fill in some of the gaps left out of this correspondent’s classroom experience. Their World War knowledge was without doubt better than their mother’s, built on very firm foundations of school trips to France to see the war graves and battlefields.

Over the years our own battle lines sometimes needed to be drawn; with teachers who hijacked school elections to push their own political points of view or beliefs about topics such as vegetarianism or gender.

Schools should be safe places of unbiased learning, so worrying to see a television news interview recently in which a historian and a headteacher warned children are currently being “let down", with some students being taught to feel ashamed of British culture. Teachers have such huge influence over their young charges; it is vital that they give the whole picture - not just the viewpoint they believe in - and then leave pupils to form their own opinions.

Away from textbooks, another education came to yours truly by reading the racy novels of the late Dame Jilly Cooper.

We once met her at a Yorkshire Post Literary Luncheon. She was a wonderful speaker, just as she came across in television interviews, and had our host Bernard Dineen twinkling in admiration.

Interesting, as an aside, to revisit this newspaper’s late great columnist’s last weekly missive, in May 2010, timed to coincide with David Cameron taking over the reins at 10 Downing Street.

“A General Election and a new Government seem a good turning-point for me to bow out,” wrote Dineen, who died aged 90 on Christmas Eve 2013.

“The column began life when Labour was dragging Britain to its knees; when the dead lay unburied because of strikes, and the IMF had to be brought in to run the economy. Now the situation is different but no less serious, with Labour having again inflicted grievous damage on our finances.

“Gordon Brown and his acolyte Ed Balls plunged the country into a terrifying morass of debt. When Brown became Chancellor, Government debt was 6bn; now it is 170bn. Britain has dropped to 13th in the international league of competitive economies. Interest payments to our international creditors amount to more than we spend on defence or education.””

As was always the case, Dineen pulled no punches and it’s a depressing addendum to note our country now places a shameful 29th in those rankings, with a 2.91 trillion debt.

Wonder what he would also think of Mr Balls going from the corridors of Westminster to a new incarnation as a presenter on the Good Morning Britain breakfast programme? Now this is controversial, but this reporter rates the show’s other anchor Richard Madeley. He is a time-served proper old-school journalist. Not some has-been politician or reality television contestant as appears to be the current criteria. Such a shame that the risk of tuning in and getting a load of Balls rather than Mr Madeley is too great.

Yes, given a glass of wine - well maybe a couple - Richard and his fantastic head of hair could be a stand in for filming of a more mature version of Dame Jilly’s fictional hero Rupert Campbell-Black.

As an aside, what a wonderful tribute Queen Camilla penned, saying: "May her hereafter be filled with impossibly handsome men and devoted dogs."

History will hopefully be kind to Her Royal Highness and give her the credit she deserves for having done more for promoting reading than any government minister has ever managed.

Back where we started, with geography, oh to be opening a map and setting off for a jolly sooper weekend in Dame Jilly’s fictional county of Rutshire…