Who are the masters now?

Of course my darlings!

But we are all in it together , are we not, chaps?

But all the others are as bad!

Nonu - as far as I now, you are not in the cabinet, so your schooling is not an issue! We are talking about a group of people who are supposed to represent all shades of society but who are a tightly knit group of the rich. How can they talk glibly about people on benefits when they themselves probably earn more in a week than somebody on benefits gets in a year. I am always surprised at how often turkeys vote for Christmas.

Although there have been some poor state schools, there have also always been a lot of good ones, before and after comprehensive system.
This is not just 20 privately educated members of the cabinet - 20 old Etonians. (all chaps I presume)
Both shocking and ridiculous. An effective team needs a mixture of people to operate effectively. No wonder they are so clueless.

I had a private education , along with my brothers . [

You're right, they weren't! Couldn't have afforded it if they had been, though DD did get a 25% scholarship in the sixth form which was a great help.

I am betting the fees were not £30,000 a year,Dresden!

I think you are right to some extent Greatnan, but I should declare an interest because our youngest DD was privately educated. Most of her school friends were from ordinary families, like ours. Their parents were plumbers, builders, teachers, small business owners etc. No really wealthy families, just parents who wanted a good education for their daughters and were happy to give up their luxuries for the duration.

We were driven towards private education by the experience of DS2 who had a difficult time at state school because he was interested and intelligent. He was bullied for asking/answering questions in class and certainly didn't reach his potential at school, though he has done very well since and now has 3 degrees and shown that he is a natural born academic.

Possibly, Dresden, but I am inclined to think that it is the contacts they make, as much as the education they get, which makes parents choose public schools for their children.

Maybe these statistics indicate that there are problems with state education in UK? If there were good state schools, a lot of people who currently make sacrifices to educate their children privately, would instead choose their local maintained school?

Just saying......