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Robert Colvile

26 Jun, 11 tweets, 4 min read

@thetimes

This @thetimes story about Eton setting up new free schools is fantastic news. But it also shows the poverty of the Government's own ambition on this. Mini thread follows. thetimes.co.uk/article/eton-t…

Since the free schools programme got started, it has provided galvanising energy to the education sector. Not all schools have succeeded - but many of those that have, have been downright extraordinary.

London Academy of Excellence, the similar school started by Eton and others in Newham, has now sent 150 kids to Oxbridge in eight years, a third of them on free school meals and 92% of the latest cohort BAME. lae.ac.uk/183/news/post/…

@ukonward

But as this new @ukonward/@theNSN report shows, there are still way too many parts of the country where there aren't those kind of options - especially outside London and the South-East. 200k students live in areas without a single school rated 'good' schoolsweek.co.uk/phoenix-free-s…

Putting Eton & STAR's new selective sixth form colleges in deprived areas in the Midlands/North is the modern equivalent of what people always say grammars were - an engine of aspiration in areas that badly need it.

@SuellaBraverman

But but but. Where is the urgency - in particular from Government - to do the same elsewhere? In 2019, @SuellaBraverman warned in this @CPSThinkTank pamphlet that the momentum behind the free schools programme was petering out cps.org.uk/research/fight…

(Suella is of course the co-founder of Michaela, another absolutely fantastic, life-changing free school set up in a deprived community)

The original plan was for 100 new free schools a year. The latest wave had just 21, and was announced two years late. Not so much a wave as a trickle schoolsweek.co.uk/dfe-names-free…

The most encouraging thing about the Education Secretary welcoming the Eton announcement is that it suggests there actually will be another wave to come - which some in the sector weren't at all certain about.

@CPSThinkTank

In the wake of Covid, we're all acutely aware of the importance of education. See this influential paper from @CPSThinkTank & @PublicFirst_PF on learning loss cps.org.uk/research/lost-…

But Government needs to recover the crusading zeal of the Gove years - to make it a holy mission to deliver outstanding, innovative education to the areas and pupils who have been denied it. And as Suella's paper says, that means giving free schools the support they deserve.

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More from @rcolvile

Robert Colvile

@rcolvile

27 Jun

This is one of those days when there's only one story in town. But I still think, as I would, that my column on borders/immigration is flagging up something important. Quick thread follows. thetimes.co.uk/article/brexit…

@YouGov

Brexit reduced the saliency of immigration. But it's still a major public concern. See this @YouGov issues tracker - it's the pink line.

@YouGov

And the public - probably driven by Covid border rows - don't think the govt are handling it very well. (This also via @YouGov)

Read 12 tweets

Robert Colvile

@rcolvile

21 Jun

@CPSThinkTank

A good day to plug @CPSThinkTank's work with @DamianGreen on social care, which is still for my money the most convincing option on the table cps.org.uk/media/media-co…

Our view is that Dilnot or variants of it fall down on the house price issue. 'Vanilla' Dilnot doesn't protect people's homes. Trying to fix that results in a policy which protects the massive housing wealth of the south at the expense of the north.

And the idea of incorporating it within the NHS falls down because a) the NHS really doesn't want the headache and b) you're taking stuff people are already paying for privately and substituting state funding.

Read 7 tweets

Robert Colvile

@rcolvile

20 Jun

What caused the Chesham/Amersham earthquake? My answer - it's a symptom of a new kind of two-party politics (1/?) thetimes.co.uk/article/this-w…

In a sense it's classic Lib Dem opportunism - push hard on housing and HS2, even though they actually support both at a national level. But the scale of the swing suggests two other things.

First, Brexit has weakened the ties that bind (in this case Tories to their trad voters). Second, it's not that Labour are going to be displaced by the Greens (as many southern Tories have been saying privately) or Lib Dems. It's that the electoral battle is Tories v anti-Tories.

Read 8 tweets

Robert Colvile

@rcolvile

19 Jun

A quick point on planning reform (apart from 'it's a good thing and we really need to do it')... (1/?)

The planning reforms that are coming forward are actually built around giving local communities more say! The design codes and local plans, which are set locally, are meant to ensure that only nice stuff gets built and only in the areas you want it.

This obviously cuts against the need to actually build more homes, and the fact that these homes do actually need to be in the areas where there is greatest shortage, ie London and South-East.

Read 7 tweets

Robert Colvile

@rcolvile

13 Jun

Have written my column today on Britain's new foreign policy strategy, which is much more developed (and convincing) then many realise. But there's a big 'but'. (1/?) thetimes.co.uk/article/4fd9b7…

Our new approach is exactly the opposite of the EU's. It's to create and support the coalitions that are going to do the most on any issue. It's to be practical, flexible, fast and fluid.

In doing so, it's a philosophical - even theological - rebuke to the EU, both in terms of diplomacy and economics/regulation.

Read 7 tweets

Robert Colvile

@rcolvile

7 Jun

I wrote my Sunday Times column yesterday about the problems Boris Johnson will have paying for education catch-up. No such problems in Scotland - because they've only put in £20m, or 1/155th of the amount. What's going on? A quick thread (1/?) thetimes.co.uk/article/plucki…

The Johnson govt put £1.7bn into extra tuition last year, and £1.4bn this. The Scottish govt claims to have already spent £400m on 'education recovery'. On the face of it, given population size, this makes Scotland slightly more generous in terms of catch-up funding. Right?

Wrong! The £400m was spent primarily on ventilation in classrooms, to help children go back to school safely. Which is good! We all know the virus doesn’t like fresh air. But it’s stopping the slide, not repairing the damage glasgowtimes.co.uk/news/19212491.…

Read 24 tweets

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