Improving schools standards means more flexibility

Melanie Phillips’ support for Michael Gove in the Mail today is confused. While she is right to point out that more pupils should leave school able to read, write and count, she is wrong to assume that the Conservative’s solutions will give us the outcomes we need.

Spectator’s spectacular U-turn on climate change

One of Ian Plimer’s central claims – reported by Melanie Phillips for The Spectator – is that Arctic sea ice is in fact growing. This assertion is, of course, simply wrong. But this week’s magazine, in arguing for new fossil fuel extraction in Arctic wilderness areas, carries the reverse claim. Are we witnessing a new editorial line on climate change – or is the magazine simply unconcerned about contradicting itself in the starkest terms on the biggest issue of our time?