Most governments show signs of madness in their final days and the Blair government is no exception. The attack on the public schools and the abolition of their charitable status is yet another example of insanity both politically and financially.

The proposal is no vote winner amongst those who support is essential in future elections. In addition the consequence of abolishing the charitable status of public schools will be to put up the cost of public schooling. This will make it available only to the more serious rich, force some parents to return to state education for their children at considerable cost to the taxpayer and exacerbate the problem of large class sizes.

If the Blair Government had been seriously interested in improving the quality of state education they should not be vindictive towards public schooling but instead make the state schools comparable to public schools. They could over the last ten years have improved the salaries and status of teachers, stopped interfering in the ability of teachers to teach and Headmasters providing a disciplined environment. In addition they could have ensured that class sizes were reduced by at least a half to bring state schools into line with the best of public schools and provided additional decent playing fields.

If they had done these things there would be no necessity in most cases for parents to send their children to public schools.