Review of the Papers, Friday 22 June

Government

• City academies have failed to live up to their ambition of being "powerhouses of innovation", says a former chief inspector for schools. Hopes that private sector involvement in the state-funded independent schools would transform traditional methods of teaching have not materialised, according to Sir Mike Tomlinson, the educationalist who produced a report for the government on curriculum reform in 2004. By the beginning of the new school year more than 80 academies will be open, with many sponsored and controlled by local businesses and charities. But Sir Mike said there was little to distinguish those already open from traditional schools. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/35076dc8-1f95-11dc-ac86-000b5df10621.html
• Labour has exaggerated the progress made in schools over the past decade and sacrificed pupils' wellbeing by placing too much importance on tests, according to a leading government adviser. In a critical review of Tony Blair's legacy, Alan Smithers, of Buckingham University, today accuses the Government of manipulating test results. Professor Smithers says that not only has the demand for independent schooling risen since 1997 but more pupils are dropping out of school at 17 and truancy has increased. The report, commissioned by the Sutton Trust, one of Britain's leading educational charities, also claims that it is impossible to judge how schools compare on the world stage and calls for an independent body to monitor the performance of England's school system. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article1969157.ece
• Britain's biggest train company has told its guards that they will be disciplined and possibly dismissed if they show discretion to passengers who are unable to buy tickets before boarding because of long queues at stations. It is the latest example of the lengths to which operators are going in order to pay the billion-pound premiums demanded by the Government for rail franchises. A confidential memo, obtained by The Times, reveals that South West Trains is introducing a system under which guards are judged according to the amount they collect in penalties. The memo, headed "commercially sensitive, please do not circulate", instructs guards to treat passengers as fare dodgers even if they come up to the guard on the train and ask to buy a ticket. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article1969212.ece
• The prisons are bursting and the judges are threatening revolt but the weighty matter of morris dancing has been on the mind of Justice Ministry officials and their boss, the Lord Chancellor. To the hilarity and astonishment of other Whitehall departments, among the submissions for Lord Falconer of Thoroton to mull over is whether a team of morris dancers from his department could name themselves the Lord Chancellor's Men. Making sure that the issue received the attention it deserved from Lord Falconer, one of his private secretaries sent a two-page "submission" to his boss. The submission, seen by The Times, is worthy of Whitehall officialdom at its best as it outlines the issue, recommendation, background, and consideration and handling of such a delicate matter of state. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article1969254.ece

Conservatives

• A political dispute over private equity blew up on Thursday, with the Tories accusing some Labour MPs on a Commons inquiry of "shame­ful and self-indulgent" attacks. The opposition party has to date kept clear of the furore over private equity, refusing to be drawn on mounting political pressure for a much tougher tax and regulatory regime. But Alan Duncan, the shadow trade and industry secretary, on Thursday sprang to the defence of the beleaguered sector. Mr Duncan argued that this week's cross-examin­ation of four leading private industry executives by the Treasury select committee had demeaned parliament. In a scathing attack, Mr Duncan accused the MPs of subjecting "successful risk-takers, who have worked properly within the framework of the our law ... to a sarcastic inquisition". "Bad manners in a select committee are childish and undignified. They demean the House of Commons and bring politicians into dis­repute," he told a business audience in Wolverhampton. The Conservative leadership is maintaining its silence on the most contentious elements of the committee's inquiry. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/fe2f09ee-2027-11dc-9eb1-000b5df10621.html