Gay Firth, who died on 9th January - her 68th birthday - was one of the Prospect pioneers. The Ulster-born ex-Financial Times journalist cheerily offered her services as über-proofreader in the early chaotic days when we often worked through the night to meet deadlines. Gay was just what we needed: someone more experienced and literate than the rest of us, who in a kindly but firm way set rigorous editorial standards and a proper house style. She was a warrior for the magazine - full of modest wisdom, drawing on a wide circle of friends and a varied and accomplished career. Her memorial service is at noon on Friday 4th March at St Bride's in Fleet Street.
GCSE story — is it that bad?
Surprisingly muted press coverage of a depressing education story for the government (and country) — GCSE results improved at about the same rate, and arguably faster, under the Tories in the early 1990s than they have since. The Labour-dominated education selection committee ticked off Gordon Brown for claiming that the 31.6 per cent increase in education spending between 1999 and 2003 (which produced a 5 percentage point increase in the number of students getting five good passes) proved that higher spending got better results. But that compares with a 6.7 percentage point increase over 1991-95 (when spending rose 11.4 per cent) and an increase of 4.4 points over 1995-99 (when spending rose by only 3.4 per cent). Expect to hear more of these numbers from the Tories at election time.
If there is an explanation, this supposedly spin-mad government failed to get its case into the papers. One reason things may not be as bad as they look is that GCSEs were only introduced in 1988 and the publication of league tables soon afterwards acted as a powerful initial incentive to improve results. After a while the easy improvements had been banked, but the tougher cohorts remained. As results improve, it is logical that the marginal cost of improving the weaker students increases. But by that much?
The French for soundbite
Our man in France, Tim King, recently represented Prospect on the French equivalent of Radio 3 in a long discussion, presented by Brice Couturier, about the place of France in Europe. Here is his report: "Because of the construction of the French language and the politeness of the French people, the phrasing of a question can last five minutes. So it is considered impolite to answer briefly; a ten-minute answer is the norm. But listening to the beautiful young énarque on my left, I now understand what the École National d'Administration does for you: she can pick up any subject and run with it, anticipating and deflecting any criticism. Then I hear my name—'Why in a country notorious for its Eurosceptics… (I cut the next three minutes preamble)… are there so many think tanks?' Having prepared some critical thoughts on French European policy, I am at a loss. To most French people, an English think tank is a contradiction in terms. But where now? Fill ten minutes of prime airtime on 'Why English think tanks?' 'How did I do?' I asked my wife afterwards. 'You were fine. Brice explained you were there for humour so nobody expected you to say anything intelligent.'"
Big Brother
After their failure with Germaine Greer - number two on Prospect's summer list of top 20 public intellectuals - we would advise the producers of Celebrity Big Brother to work on down our list. Amartya Sen (number three) and Eric Hobsbawm (four) can perhaps be excused on age grounds, but sitting there at number five is Jonathan Miller, who would surely have everyone eating out of his enormous hands. If he's unavailable, how about the dashing Niall Ferguson at number ten?
Philharmonia
The crockery is flying at the South Bank Centre (SBC). The Philharmonia's managing director David Whelton complains (see interview with Stephen Everson) that the Barbican, despite being a smaller, less suitable venue, has a stronger programme of visiting orchestras than the Festival Hall. For this he blames SBC management for failing to put art at the heart of planning. "We're at the nadir of the SBC's knowing what it is about," Whelton moans, as a big refurbishment is about to begin at the RFH.
Off the Wall
What has got into Stephen Wall? The former British ambassador to the EU and European adviser to Tony Blair has gone all rebellious since leaving the foreign office to become special adviser to Archbishop Cormac Murphy-O'Connor. First of all he declares that the invasion of Iraq was illegal, and more recently he has pronounced Gordon Brown's attitude to the EU to be "loopy." Watch out for more fireworks and more tut-tutting from his former colleagues at the FO.
