One of the things that annoys my about politics is the tendancy to massively over-interpret information. The recent spat over the education of Ruth Kelly’s son is an example. She’s decided to send him to a private school, as it would appear to be more appropriate for him.

As far as I can see, the conclusions that you can draw from this, is that for one child, with one set of learning difficulties, in one area, one private school appears to be better than state provided options. Interpretation made in the press is that this means that any child, in any area, with any learning difficulty would be better off in private education.

It would be a shock, indeed, if you could find no child, anywhere, who was not going to better off in a private school.

Originally published on my old blog site.