At last, cooking is to be elevated to the level of importance of religious education on the national curriculum. The youth of Britain will have to learn about frying and filleting along with the ten commandments.
Whatever the merits of making cooking compulsory, it fits an interesting pattern. Education ministers just seem to be incapable of stopping themselves from foisting their own interests and hobbies on innocent children. Read more
Bombast from the past?
Some of Gordon Brown’s recent comments have offered curious insights into how he sees the UK’s role in the world.
Last Friday saw the prime minister jet off for India and China with the promise to teach its 2.4bn citizens how to speak his native tongue. “I want Britain to make a new gift to the world….English,” he pledged. Read more
Theo Paphitis and the Tories
Theo Paphitis, one of the sour-faced arbiters of BBC’s Dragon’s Den, has agreed to join a Tory taskforce on social mobility which meets for the first time this week.
Having gone from assistant tea boy to millionaire in two decades, Paphitis is not a bad choice for the group. Read more
| About this blog | Blog guide |
Jim Pickard is the FT's chief political correspondent, having joined the lobby team in January 2008. He has been at the FT since 1999 as a regional correspondent, assistant UK news editor and property correspondent.
Kiran Stacey is an FT political correspondent, having joined the lobby in 2011. He started at the FT as a graduate trainee in 2008, working on desks including UK companies and US equity markets before taking over the FT's Energy Source blog.
FT's latest UK politics & policy news