When Chris Smith beamed his announcement last week that there would be more Government money for more sport in schools, I could quite merrily have stabbed him. The only civilising measure that should be applied to school sport is to ban it altogether; it is, in our times, an anachronism whose claim to be character building stands right up there with freezng dorms, icy showers and unadorned porridge: all they ever really built was the Prince of Wales.
How it got onto the curriculum, heaven only knows. That it stays there - and that Chris Smith and his chums claim Brownie points for its continuing presence - is a serious dereliction of personal and political duty.
Carol Sarler, Tuesday
