Labour's free childcare policy doesn't go far enough
In response to Polly Toynbee's excellent article on the government's plans to bring back Sure Start, rebranded as Best Start Family Hubs, there has been no mention of the numerous small charity projects round the country, such as the one we have in our town, which have tried to keep its legacy alive. The council and community groups came together to take the transition grant offered when our children's centre closed, and kept some of its essential core services going. Will there be funding for small community-based hubs such as ours so that families can access support in their own neighbourhoods? I do hope so.Joanna CaveFaringdon, Oxfordshire
So Polly Toynbee thinks that Labour has always put children first. Except, that is, for the thousands of children massacred, injured, starved and orphaned in Gaza. About them, Labour couldn't care less.Alastair McLeishEdinburgh
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BBC News
26 minutes ago
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Sultana: Corbyn 'capitulated' on antisemitism definition
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Responding to the criticism, Sultana posted on X rejecting "smears" and challenging journalists to print that she is "loudly and proudly... an anti-Zionist".In a second post she added: "Legacy media are not our allies. They are the mouthpiece of the ruling class."And how many of them have spoken out against Israel's genocide in Gaza and the direct targeting of Palestinian journalists?"You cannot give these people an inch. 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Telegraph
26 minutes ago
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Protester arrested over ‘Plasticine Action' T-shirt
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BBC News
an hour ago
- BBC News
Council leader says Millais School in Horsham will admit boys
A girls' school in West Sussex is to accept boys for the first time from September next decision to make Millais School co-educational has been made by Paul Marshall, leader of West Sussex County authority first mooted the move in 2024 but abandoned its proposal earlier this year after concerns that information linked to the consultation behind it was "incorrect and misleading".The school's board had also opposed the reforms, but Marshall has now said he "strongly believes it's the right decision". It comes after the latest full consultation was held between 19 June and 18 July, which considered all representations and those to an earlier, informal said the change would address the issue of falling pupil numbers at the school, relieve pressure for additional secondary school places across Horsham and tackle the inequality of choice available for boys and girls in the described Millais School as "very good" but "undersubscribed for the past four years" and that letting in boys would make it "more sustainable".Year 7 boys will join the school from 2026, while current year groups will continue as county council said it would work closely with school staff to ensure the move to become co-educational was "as seamless as possible". Millais School first expressed its determination to remain a single-sex school in 2024, when it published a policy paper that claimed there were "huge social and emotional benefits" for pupils at girls' schools. It added the council's proposals represented a "very major change" to the school's March, the school also accused the local authority of conducting its consultations "with a preferred outcome already in mind".Millais School has been approached for comment.
