Damage done by those who manage the nation

IN his Saturday essay (Yorkshire Post, May 26) Lee Elliot Major quotes Education Secretary Michael Gove as stating that it is “morally indefensible” that one school (Eton) should gain more places at Oxbridge annually than 80,000 students on free school meals across England.

Maybe Mr Gove should have a long chat with Liz Walker (Yorkshire Post, June 9) who expresses with great clarity the frustrations of a volunteer endeavouring to keep struggling children from chaotic homes who are purely acting as parents/grandparents and a variety of adults from whom they receive such a weak and unstable example.

Dr Major, of the Sutton Trust, has obviously vast experience of the situation and points out that a concerted drive over many years and Parliament is required to address parenting, childcare, early years education, schooling (both primary and secondary), college, apprenticeship/university and beyond that into work.

Dr Sentamu in his Saturday essay (Yorkshire Post, June 9) argues that very large income differences between rich and poor weaken community life and make societies less cohesive. In fact, the gap between rich and poor is widening and the Children’s Society has indicated that Government policies are reducing aid to the 29 per cent of children who live in poverty.

Now that the partying is over, perhaps the Government could assess how much damage has been done to our economy and society by those entrusted to manage the national affairs in a sustainable manner with a fair distribution of wealth to all and ensure that social mobility is seen to go down as well as up.