Good Teachers are born not made...

Mr Gove has said that he will encourage those who retire from the Armed Forces to try their hand in the classroom. Writes Alice Thomson in today's Times. Good teachers are born, not made.

He should throw open the school doors to managers, professionals, sportsmen and parents who want to give it a go. they should be given a trial in the classroom, observing teachers and being observed.

Those who thrive can then receive more formal training and proper renumeration for their talents. Those that flounder can leave before they have committed themselves to an unsuitable vocation.

Good teachers should back a plan that could turn them into an awe-inspiring profession and it would give children a better chance to succeed - whatever type of school they attend.

Q1 GDP figures...

Tomorrow's Q1 GDP figures don't come much bigger.

City consensus is between 0.2% and 0.8% - with the OBR on the upper limit - whilst the left are building the figure up for a fall...

AV is too important for Labour...

Peter Mandelson appeals to Labour supporters in today's Independent to vote Yes in next week's AV referendum. And his reason to do so? To damage the Tories and undermine Mr Cameron's position. This, apparently, is the best reason we have to vote in a once in a generation referendum on our voting system.

Is it any wonder all the major issues of the day are being decided without the involvement of Labour... 

Parris on LibDems...

If (the LibDems) had joined Labour in a Lib-Lab Coalition, they'd now be having the mirror-image row with supporters who objected to propping up Labour. There's a reason for this tiresome symmetry. If you run a party that strives to attract disaffected supporters from Left and Right, you're forced to leave you're overall compass blurred. In opposition, this will maximise your vote; in government it will maximise the sense of betrayal felt by your supporters and MPs writes Matthew Parris in today's Times.

Yes to AV is talking to itself...

This analysis from David Herdson at Political Betting.com really rings true...

Allison Pearson on aspiration

As Mrs Merton might inquire with a steely smile: “What do you think persuaded Oxford University to relax its entry requirements for the son of Professor Ralph Miliband?” asks Allison Pearson in today's Telegraph. In one of the most brilliantly written pieces I have read on aspiration, she understands exactly what is at stake.

Labour's promises to the next generation

My Labour party... enables people right across the country to get on and do better... which crucially improves the chances of the next generation says Ed Miliband in an interview with Evan Davis on Radio 4's Today program. He continues ...only 9 per cent of people in this country actually think the next generation will do better than the last.

What Ed Miliband needs to explain is why Labour spent 13 years building a vast array of public sector projects - hospitals, schools, roads and railways - on PFI? Labour calculated that those staggering sums - £155bn at the last count - could be repaid by the next generation. Long after Gordon Brown and his cronies have retired with gold-plated pensions to the House of Lords.

How exactly does burdening our children's generation with the bills of this one, promote improving the chances of the next generation?