SOLOMON HUGHES recommends Sunjeev Sahota’s recent novel set in a trade union election campaign for its fresh approach to what unites and divides workers, but wishes the union backdrop was truer to life
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.
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
We face austerity, privatisation, and toxic influence. But we are growing, and cannot be beaten



