For a number of years the profession has been wondering why this government places so much faith in league tables. The answer has now come to me courtesy of the recent series of Torchwood.

Headteachers should watch the episode “Day Four”. In a scene based on a cabinet meeting, the Prime Minister has to make a decision as to how 10 per cent of our children should be sacrificed to alien demands. The answer, provided by a female minister, is to use the league tables to select them. She asks: “What else are they for?” She reveals that the children of low-performing schools will not add to the value of the nation, but will end up in jail. So there we have it. If the truth actually is stranger than fiction, then league tables are really scary.

Alun Pelleschi, Shipley, West Yorkshire.