Tony Blair is relying on the new city academies to boost education in inner-city areas. It is logical as it combines two key features of his policies.
First, privatisation at public expense. The schools are private, the sponsors have the last word, and the cost, after their initial 20 per cent contribution, is met entirely from the public purse.
Second, Blair’s commitment to putting religion at the centre of public life, since many of these schools are run by churches and other religious groups, including two already (and more in the pipeline) run by fundamentalist creationist Christians.
Challenged on this by MPs, Blair saw no problem at all with science lessons that taught pupils that the Earth was created in seven days 6,000 years ago. Is this really what we voted for?
David Pollock 13 Dunsmure Road London N1
