Monthly Archives: February 2010

I wish I’d said that! (1)

Another one of my ongoing series * in which I highlight articles or speeches that I admire so much I – kind of – wish I’d written or given them! So, to kick this particular series off: a terrific comment page piece by David Edgar in today’s Guardian about the values and innovation underlying the best sort of public service. It’s no coincidence that such views are being expressed as we come towards the (possible) end of the New Labour era. I think there will be many more pieces/thoughts/arguments of this kind in the next few years. I hope so.

* some of my other ongoing series include Missing in Domestic Action, Thoughts of an Amateur Cellist and Reasons to be Cheerful, started just below this post. Warning: parts two, three, four etc of these ruminations are often quite a while coming, so do enjoy Part one ( of each) in all their singular glory!!!

Goldie and Toby’s laugh-in

Read Melissa Benn’s latest comment piece in today’s Independent. and on a similar theme, read her latest blog on the Public Finance website. Continue Reading

Reasons to be cheerful (1)

One of the many things that currently keeps me cheerful is the unswerving committment of so many thousands of parents to their local state school and the hard work that they put in to support and extend the work that the school does. These efforts are largely unsung and often wrongly pigeonholed as a form… Continue Reading

Latest writing

THE CRISIS OF THE MERITOCRACY

The crisis of the meritocracy: Britain’s transition to mass education since the Second World War PETER MANDLER, 2020 Oxford: Oxford University Press 361pp, hardback, £25, ISBN 9780198840145 Cambridge historian Peter Mandler has a fundamentally optimistic story to tell about the growth of universal education in Britain over the last seventy years and one can sense… Continue reading…

Latest news & events

A Cold War Tragedy

Melissa will be in conversation with Anne Sebba about her new book, ‘Ethel Rosenberg – A Cold War Tragedy.’ Weds 15th September 2021, 5-6pm, in the Robert Graves Tent at the Wimbledon Book Festival. More information here.   Continue reading…