This is somewhat off-topic, but Westmonster's alma mater Peterhouse has made the news in surprising fashion thanks to a study which shows that promiscuity leads to academic failure. The gist of the study is that students at poorly performing Cambridge University colleges had the most sexual partners. More sex =… read more…

Good post by the Indy's John Rentoul on Cameron's interview in the Times this morning, when he seemed to condone such middle class sharp practice as pretending you're a God-botherer in order to get Jemima and Sebastian into a decent church-run state school. Cameron said this: “I think it’s good… read more…

A question: has any British government ever won, or lost, an election because of its education policy? We ask because there are signs this morning that this government's "policy" - more choice for parents in selecting schools, more independence for the best-performing schools, combined with a shedload of extra cash… read more…

Ed Balls' Children Plan, announced today, is a wide-ranging document with lots of good stuff in it (we're assured by people who know about these things). But if Gordon Brown is more Mr Bean than Stalin, it's clear that Balls is quite keen to adopt his own Soviet stylings. Just… read more…

Rachel Silvester is doing her bit in the Telegraph today to keep the idea in people's minds that Ed Balls is a future Labour leader: Increasingly, the chatter in the Commons tea rooms is turning to the leadership contest that will unfold when Mr Brown eventually stands down. According to… read more…

Looking forward to Ed Balls' Children's Plan this week? Well, he's given us a sneak peek by recommending some role models for Britain's young people: “I think the Spice Girls have been good role models,” Balls said. “They inspire girls to believe they can stand up for themselves and do… read more…

According to reports, one of the Bills to be announced the Queen's Speech will raise the school leaving age to 18, and introduce other methods to drag reluctant teenagers into the world of work. Curiously, the Beeb was reporting on Breakfast that this would involve fining the jobless youngsters. Er ...? Anyhow,… read more…

Okay, so what have we missed here? Westmonster was under the impression that conservatives (with both a small and a large "c") looked back at the 1950s with fondness as a time where children were taught proper subjects, learned hard, and were seen and not heard. "Ah," they say over… read more…