LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Dear Editor, IN his usual Pro - Labour, Anti -Conservative stance, Mr Fleming attacks David Cameron for daring to put forward the idea that he is for selection at schools ,and that he is, as Mr. Fleming puts it dismissively, “Too young to remember the abolition by a Labour Government,of those examinations at 11 plus” all those years agoWell, I remember them very well, and the horrible comprehensive system that ensued,resulting in 40% of pupils leaving school still unable to read or write. What on earth id wrong with selection. If a child is academically brainy enough to merit higher education ,why not permit them to benefit. As for the others, let's be frank and say they do NOT ,but are probably quite capable of receiving a technical or mechanical course that will give them a chance to make their way in the world today. We are continally being told that there are great shortages of plumbers, auto mechanics, carpenters etc. And their services are very well paid today, In fact many would complain far too much! but that is the market system under which the majority choose to live.Even Mr Blair has finally realised that the education system has failed,but in order to placate the “Labour Rebels”,he is forced to compromise on those changes,that are proposed. Regarding Mr Fleming's jibe at Sir Peter Tapsell who he derides as a “Blimpish” figure,I wonder how many of the Daily B's readers know what this means?Few I suspect. But at all events,Colonel Blimp did eventually become a somewhat heroic figure at the end of the Second World War, and he should be allowed to remain in his Pantheon. I notice that Mr Fleming does not single out what I would call the Bolshies of old Labour who sometimes pop up at Question time. None more so than “The Beast of Bolsover” Mr Frank Skinner,whose ranting, rhetoric descends from the antediluvian days of Wilson, Foot,Bevan,and others of that ilk.