As tens of thousands return to the streets for the first national Palestine march of 2026, this movement refuses to be sidelined or silenced, says PETER LEARY
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Meet Martyn Oliver, the Tories’ new Ofsted chief
The man appointed to regulate schools is the head of a giant academy chain of 41 schools with a turnover in the millions: the boss class’s choice then — and already a friend of the Tory government, reports SOLOMON HUGHES
A school safety zone sign
If the government really wanted to address public finances, improve living standards and begin economic recovery, it would increase its borrowing for investment, argues MICHAEL BURKE
MATT KERR takes a winter journey through poetry, labour and memory, from Glasgow to Newcastle, arguing that our radical past isn’t something to revere from a distance, but a tool still meant to be used
One of Canada’s most revered politicians is a native of Falkirk but is relatively unknown in his original homeland. KENNY MacASKILL tells his story
Labour prospects in May elections may be irrevocably damaged by Birmingham Council’s costly refusal to settle the year-long dispute, warns STEVE WRIGHT
HENRY FOWLER and ROB POOLE explain the significance of today’s Megapicket
THE new head of Ofsted ran a chain of schools that get “good” and “outstanding” results — but do so with a worryingly high number of pupil exclusions.
Education Secretary Gillian Keegan made Sir Martyn Oliver “His Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Schools” — the head of schools’ regulator Ofsted — last month.
Keegan appointed Oliver because he was the longstanding boss of Outward Grange Academies Trust (OGAT), which runs 41 secondary and primary schools in north-east England and the Midlands. As Ofsted boss, he will be able to punish or praise schools, so he will have a big effect on school policy.
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It is rather strange that Labour continues to give prestigious roles to inappropriate, controversy-mired businessmen who are also major Tory donors. What could Labour possibly be hoping to get out of it, asks SOLOMON HUGHES
As the government moves to rein in academy freedoms, former darling of conservative education reform Katharine Birbalsingh cries ‘Marxism.’ Education columnist ROBERT POOLE examines how academisation has failed our children while enriching executives and empowering ideologues at the expense of democratic accountability
You’ll never guess why a quick peace in Ukraine might be in the ambassador to Washington’s interests, writes SOLOMON HUGHES. Actually, of course you will – he stands to make a lot of money from his business links to Russia