Sex row may stop Woodhead schools
Chris Woodhead, the outspoken former head of Ofsted, has approached city investors for at least £30 million to launch his own chain of independent schools. But as the former chief inspector of schools assailed education secretary Estelle Morris and the rest of what he called the "blob" of the education establishment, government officials retaliated with an attempt to undermine him. The Department for Education and Skills let it be known that Mr Woodhead's remarks in a speech at Exeter university in 1999, that relationships between teachers and pupils could be "experimental and educative", put a question mark over whether he would be allowed to run schools. (Guardian, Independent, Daily Telegraph)
Ministers told to cut spending plans by 20%
Cabinet ministers have submitted bids for extra cash for schools, hospitals and other public services that are 20 per cent more than the Treasury can afford, the chancellor, Gordon Brown, has warned. (Guardian)
Bar pupils to receive £10,000 salary
The Bar will be opened to students from less privileged backgrounds under a multimillion-pound reform that has the backing of the Lord Chancellor and Cherie Booth, QC. The Lord Chancellor, Lord Irvine of Lairg, has approved proposals that mean that would allow 700 pupils a year to receive an annual award of at least £10,000 plus travel expenses for their one-year apprenticeship in chambers. (Times)
Cars could be a sobering experience
Tomorrow's car could save the police a job. It could decide for itself that a motorist may have had too much to drink, deliver an audible warning, or even just stop and refuse to move. Dilwyn Marple-Horvat, a physiologist at Bristol University, will test his front-seat breathalyser system on the public at a Bristol shopping centre on Friday and Saturday as part of national science week. (Guardian, Independent)