No Deserving Child Left Behind

The Department of Faith Schools and Fee-Payers is all of a Gove yet again, this time over the alleged impact of Daveybloke's cuddly cuts programme on the Sure Start children's centres. Labour claims that almost fifty centres have either closed or been marked for closure this year, and that budgets have been cut in eighty-three per cent of England's local authorities. A Government spokesbeing belched out the usual response that the cuts aren't really cuts at all, and that any problems which may just possibly occur are the fault of local councils failing to prioritise their proles correctly. Meanwhile Gove's tame tuition fee traitor, Sarah Teather, has been struggling to get clear answers from local authorities, while the local authorities have doubtless been struggling to get clear answers from Michael Gove. In any case, the issue is plain enough. Sure Start is "credited with reducing child poverty levels and creating community cohesion", which is about as clear an explanation as anyone could want as to why the Conservatives might be all gung-ho to get rid of it.