London's Lenin High Schools

An angry anonymous comment, specifically about the London Oratory, but it applies to all of them. Herewith, my reply:

"The London Oratory doesn't pretend to be a private school"

That's exactly what it pretends to be, and acts as if it were. A friend of mine, a teacher of many years' standing, once briefly taught there and until several days in sincerely believed that it was a private school.

"[Doesn't have] charitable status"

Vigorously defended by the present, largely public school and then mostly places like this, Government.

"gives [the pupils] the best teachers"

Paid for out of the private school fund maintained by the rich parents and other rich benefactors. Or else why doesn't everywhere do it?

"[Takes pupils] from all over London"

Think that one through. Then again, you probably can't.

"from all backgrounds"

Bollocks. I know that I wouldn't normally allow that sort of langauge, but there is no other way of putting it. If this were anything even remotely approaching the truth, then the likes of the Blairs would never have sent their sons there, and still wouldn't. "All backgrounds"? - that's exactly what they chose this school in order to avoid.

"from all abilities"

Every private school has its Lower Remove, even if not always called that these days. The old joke is that they end up employing the top set. But then, a lot of the top set are on scholarships. The Lower Remove are just rich and fantastically well-connected. Like the London Oratory boys, in fact. And like Miliband, for that matter.

"Each year, it takes 30 boys who can't even read or write"

What percentage of the total intake is that? What interaction do they have with the rest of the pupils? And how come, after 11 years of New Labour, there are 30 boys in London each year who leave primary school unable to read, despite being perfectly capable of being taught to read?

Anyway, any real comp doesn't need to indulge in self-congratulary stunts like this, nor could it even if it wanted to. It just gets a certain number of pupils per year whom New Labour has thus betrayed.

"Stick that in you jealous little pipe and smoke it"

Jealous of what, if you are telling the truth? Only public school people talk like that.

"Only in the Tory party do class issues still cause so much grief"

Because the only people left in the Labour Party are people like you. You have driven everyone else away.

You genuinely don't understand either that or why the electorate at large cannot distinguish between you and Old Etonians. The only real difference is that at least Old Etonians are honest about what they are, and don't expect the working and middle classes to pay for it.