The Head Poncho at the Department for Whatever It Is, Mr Balls, was questioned by a certain Keith Mitchell of Sunderland (Education Guardian 16 February): “How can you [be] true to Labour’s core principals of equality and community when you have allowed questionable individuals and organisations to take control of publicly funded schools without any collective responsibility or democratic accountability?”.
Mr Mitchell’s question has a poignant ring, coming as it does from an area infamous for its weird tale of academy sponsoring, but it has a general application too. Congratulations Mr Mitchell! Your query deserves to be put up in lights all over town and country. The Head Poncho’s reply? “All publicly funded schools are accountable”. Full stop. Next?
Either Mr Balls is so thoroughly embarrassed by the Sunderland situation or his étatism is so deeply ingrained that he doesn’t know how to respond to it at all. Either way, blankly he evades the point; doesn’t want to say anything so dangerous as concerns the little matter of local democracy? Lord help us if, as rumoured, Mr B. has ambitions to be Labour’s next prime minister. Then, citizens, look forward to total enslavement under Leviathan!
Juvenile
