Tory dilemmas

I'm pleased to say that my prediction that the new Tory blog Once More would prove a good read has been fulfilled. There is plenty of excellent stuff on it - hardly anything I agree with, of course, but that's beside the point. It's one of the most positive thinking grounds for right-wing thought I've come across - especially as it concentrates on what conservatives should be doing, rather than about all the woeful aspects of leftist ideology.

There is a particularly good debate going on there at the moment about education policy: it centres on those Tory themes of cutting back the role of the state and consumer choice.

Of course, Tory actions in government give one cause to pause. The National Curriculum and OFSTED, Section 28 and hyperactive testing, all these things are Tory innovations, so one is entitled to take promises to 'free schools' from bureaucracy with a hefty pinch of salt. Tories talk now of 'trusting teachers to do their job', in power they seemed unable to put this thought into practice.

I also do not yet see a coherent 'choice' strategy. Who is to have a choice - schools or parents? By definition, it cannot always be both. Parents of an academically ungifted child cannot 'choose' to send him or her to a grammar school, however strongly they might feel that the grammar school provides the most appropriately stretching environment.

And who polices disputes that arise between schools and parents? A new bureaucracy, no doubt.

It will be interesting to see how this policy develops. But I will take some convincing that the Tory interventionist leopard has changed its spots.

Comments

[Andrew]

We're a new breed. Some of us on Once More weren't even able to vote when the Tories were last in power, let alone to follow policy decisions of the time. I guess the temptation once in power is to try to do too much, but I'd hope we can resist it. Certainly, if I'm running the show as Chief-Enforcer to Blimpish's PM, I won't let him bash local councils too much.

[Blimpish]

On the contrary, I'm all for devolution. It's positively undignified for central government to get so intimately involved in class sizes and bedpans. Plus, I'm all for parochialism.