Politically programmed to be apart from reality

WITH reference to your article: “Inequality from private schools ‘morally indefensible’” (Yorkshire Post, May 11).

Ed Miliband? No – Michael Gove and I salute him for daring to say this to a conference of private school “headmasters” – females not admitted?

I assume that “private” includes their obtusely termed “public” brethren in the cheque book education sector.

Morally indefensible or not, for generations they have been the incestuous, controlling bedrock of Britain’s “them and us” society.

True, in more recent times, a handful of state school “oiks” have been let in, to reinforce the myth of our classless land of level playing fields and equal opportunities.

However, the power behind the throne remains unchanged.

If further proof be needed, surely we have it in the coalition of Cameron, Clegg and Osborne who, thanks to their parents, had the misfortune to be carefully set apart from the real world and programmed for Oxbridge, the city, PR etc and the assumption that this made them fit for government.

Like their predecessors, they continue to fiddle with state education, reinforcing that other pernicious myth that all state schools are dreadful.

What I suspect they do not do is demonstrate their confidence in their changes by committing themselves and their children to the state system.

I say “suspect” because information on this is sparse.

The websites I have consulted are deafeningly silent, despite this being the golden age of “transparency”.