Three cheers for Lucy Mangan, writing in today’s Guardian Weekend on the ‘pernicious’ private/state school divide and the hail of criticism she faced when once daring to express her opinion on this issue on our broadcast media. Perhaps articles such as these might kick start a widespread campaign in defence of state education on a… Continue Reading
Category Archives: Writings
Divisive, unjust and ineffective
With the Tories apparently converting to all-ability schools, despite internal opposition, the debate on academic selection seemed one argument that had run its course, despite the continuing existence of 165 grammar schools, that no government dares touch. Not so. The argument rumbles on, boosted by recent publication of Alan Milburn’s study on social mobility: the… Continue Reading
Maya centre meeting: update
For those of you following the campaign to promote government funding for long term psychodynamic therapy as opposed to merely offering everyone quick fix CBT, particularly for those on low incomes, you might be interested in a rather lyrical summary of aspects of the spring meeting, which I chaired, at the Houses of Parliament, and… Continue Reading
Fame at last!
Read my blog profile/interview on Normblog posted on Friday July 24th. Continue Reading
One Off The Short List.
Those of you interested in refining the art of the perfect holiday read might be interested to know where I have got to with this earth shattering quest, following my last post on this subject. The most important news is that I have already read the first and fattest novel on the list, American Wife… Continue Reading
Does the monarchy still matter?
Read Melissa Benn’s contribution, among others, to a recent debate on this subject in the New Statesman. Continue Reading
Save our local everything!
Read Melissa Benn’s first post on the new Public Finance website: If a tired Labour government, 12 years in, struggles to develop a credible vision to sell to the voters, the Conservatives seem to have hit on a rich and popular idea that I am sure we will hear more of as the election edges… Continue Reading
Feminism’s calm champion
From time to time in this blog I hope to celebrate some of the most impressive women and men of contemporary politics. Below, a profile of one such woman that appeared in this week’s Guardian. Katherine Rake: Feminism’s calm champion Katherine Rake has led The Fawcett Society, the UK’s leading campaign for human rights, for… Continue Reading
Missing in domestic action (3)
Below, an opening extract from the Guardian news report today, on the Fawcett report, ‘Not Having it All: How Motherhood Reduces Women’s Pay and Employment Prospects’ and the link to the rest of it. ‘Women with children earn about 22% less than their male colleagues, according to a new report that explores the “devastating” impact… Continue Reading
Facing down persecution
There was a powerful moment at the end of a recent vigil held to mark the 64th birthday of Aung San Suu Kyi and to call for an end to her decades long detention. One of the demonstrators pinned a photograph of General Than Shwe, the head of Burma’s ruling military junta, to the doorway… 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…
