The English have been routed. Seven centuries after King Edward I placed the Stone of Scone under his throne, the English are having to submit to Scottish governance. Westminster was secured long ago, with Brown, Cook, Reid, Kennedy et al seizing the place, but only recently has the new Scottish army conquered the world of education.
Among Scots winning major posts recently are John Beattie, chair of England’s General Teaching Council; Bill Cockburn, now the Government’s chief adviser on teachers’ pay as head of the School Teachers Review Body; and Mike Gibbons, chief of the Government’s new innovation unit. They join fellow countryman David Bell, appointed chief inspector in April. But at least Ken Boston, new chief at the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority, and his new head of assessment, Linda O’Sullivan, are not members of the McMafia. They are Australian.
