Jam and Jerusalem won't create a Big Society

„As David Cameron makes his White House debut, he may congratulate himself that all is going splendidly at home. Where his host, Barack Obama, struggled to reform healthcare, Mr Cameron has applied lightning laser surgery to the NHS. If he gets his way, the post-war education system may be junked by this weekend in another sign that the big state is being dismantled, brick by crumbling brick. This, as one senior Labour figure says, is the age of Post-It note politics, in which today's scribbled must-do memos become tomorrow's national destiny. While no one can fault its hyperactivity, the Tory Rapid Reforms Unit is a hit squad whose latest venture, the Academies Bill, is being rushed through Parliament at the speed of anti-terror legislation in a national crisis. Fast laws are almost invariably bad, and this is no exception.

The Bill, to let successful schools opt out of local authority control, would also pave the way for "free schools", which have a dubious track record on standards. The Education Secretary's desire to crash the legislation through the Commons has alarmed even the Tory chairman of the education select committee, who says that only a "pretty overwhelming argument" could justify the risk of curtailing debate and scrutiny. In this case, the arguments could hardly be more underwhelming. As few as 50 state schools are set to become academies in September, a much lower tally than envisaged by Michael Gove, whose botched cancellation of plans to rebuild 715 secondary schools has enraged less favoured heads and parents.”