I was previously called the London Labour Briefing, also been the Labour left briefing. Whichever name it uses, it was formed by members of the 'Chartist Minority Tendency', which was a former Trotskyist part of the 'Chartist Collective'. [I know it is hard to keep track of all the communist splintering and name changing that goes on.] The Briefing of many names was a supporter of the Trotskyist 'Militant Tendency' and of Irish Republicanism. Apart from the comments they made that have been previously mentioned, after the Brighton bombing, they published, "What do you call four dead Tories? A start", and mocked Norman Tebbit who was dug out of the rubble of the Grand Hotel and who's wife was left permanently paralysed, saying "try riding your bike now, Norman".
So folks, when you vote on 8 June, remember these are the type of people you will be electing if you vote for the hijacked Labour party.

We have now sunk to a depth at which the restatement of the obvious is the first duty of intelligent men. [Orwell]

It seems to me the big issue is how can you design a system that allows good access to all and that is fair in terms of allowing the brightest roughly the same chance as the competition.

In Croydon we don't have Grammar Schools. But Sutton does. So there is a massive industry in getting Croydon pupils ready to sit the exams for Sutton schools. The industry is based upon parental drive, ability to pay and access to tutors. It also - in my opinion - robs many children of much of their childhood as they are forced into dingy study rooms with tutors for hours each week.

In the end not many children who aren't tutored make it into the Grammar schools. You cannot design tests that remove the effect of being tutored.

So you add together the advantage of the extra academic focus of Grammars schools with the super-demanding and mobilised parents - many of whom are also highly educated and in a position to guide their children far better than most - and you get a virtuous circle. For the few. And almost nobody else gets to break in.

Comprehensives were designed to allow people to move between streams so if you are found to be brighter than at first thought you can progress and vice versa. It is incredibly unusual for people to get 'promoted' into Grammar schools if they miss the first cut.

Grammar schools are therefore automatically divisive and obstructive to social mobility.

Still, what do I care. The State paid for me to go to an independent school when I passed my 11+ due to having been sent to a Prep school.

The home tutor industry is worth 2billion quid. Bright kids from low income families rarely can afford tutors.

I could make a mint myself from tutoring for 11+ but won't out of principle. Those that are tutored tend to drop to the lower sets and struggle.

If selection was more of an even playing field, I'd have less of a problem, notwithstanding the fact that surrounding schools fall below average national expectations when it comes to exam results.

But my kids had no tutoring Einstein.

I passed my 11+ many years ago and seem to remember it as being quite easy. A lot of IQ test type questions - what is next in the sequence type of thing. An essay to write. Not things that you get much better at with tutoring. Bright kids passed it, not so bright kids did not. You could guess who in the class were going to pass, regardless of their background, not that we had any kids in the class from any sort of privileged background.

Edited by hedgehog50 (28 May 2017 9.40pm)

We have now sunk to a depth at which the restatement of the obvious is the first duty of intelligent men. [Orwell]

Are you saying you didn't pay for tutoring?

Bully for you Hrolf but as the number of home tutoring jobs shows....plenty do.

Edited by Stirlingsays (28 May 2017 10.43pm)

'Who are you and how did you get in here? I'm a locksmith. And, I'm a locksmith.' (Leslie Nielsen)