Britain’s vote to leave the European Union was a disguised protest about many issues, and one of them was the feeling that the future was bleak for the poor and life chances were even poorer. The process of leaving has been so all consuming that the government has given little thought to the serious questions that lie beneath the surface. A report by the Higher Education Policy Institute has reopened one of those debates, with the suggestion that grammar schools are good for social mobility.
Theresa May announced soon after becoming prime minister that she favoured a return to grammars. Like most of the policy addressed to the “burning injustices” she identified on the steps of Downing Street, nothing much has materialised. If Mrs May