“The society which has abolished every kind of adventure makes its own abolition the only possible adventure.” Paris, May 1968


Monday 6 December 2010

Lets hear it for Gail Emms.

Sports personalities are not renowned for being militant socialists or being involved in progressive social movements. When sports people get involved in politics it is usually on the right; even though I have always felt that, at it's best, team sport is a true example of collectivism in action. I was pleasantly surprised therefore to see European and world badminton champion Gail Emms launch a campaign amongst her fellow elite sportsmen and women to fight Michael Gove's swinging cuts to school sports budgets and the School Sports Partnerships. Emms wrote a very thoughtful piece in yesterday's Observer and drew attention to what I think is a really shocking statistic. She claims that although less than 7% of kids in this country are educated in the fee paying sector, almost half of GBs individual medals in the 2008 Olympics were won by athletes who were privately educated. This is the kind of inequality of opportunity can only get worse if Gove's spiteful cuts are implemented.

1 comment:

Jackart said...

Of course, the Tories aren't cutting school budgets, they're removing hypothecation and giving freedom to heads to choose priorities for spending. By taking money from LEA bureaucracy, there will be more to spend at the school-gate.

The nuance is lost on pinkos. And sports people.

Gail Emms is cute though. I'll give her that.