Unfortunately, Iains, the very existence of private schools, available only to those who can afford the fees, is firmly rooted in the right wing ideology of elitism and privilege. Those schools are afforded tax concessions while state schools are deprived of resources and suffer over-large classes. What we need are state schools that are so good that no-one would be ever want to waste money on a school that provided a totally lopsided social mix of children. Of course, that's one of the main points of their existence. Keep the kids away from the hoi polloi. I got called a class warrior yesterday. Well there's nothing quite like the class warriors who will do anything to maintain that pyramid of privilege. Private schools are at the heart of that. Choice my arse. Ask the millions of parents who live in the deprived inner cities what choice they have. Blinkers off.