COVID, they said, was the planet’s great leveller: Rich or poor, old or young, the virus discriminated against no one.
Except, two years on, coronavirus is still wreaking havoc on Britain’s poorest.
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While the middle classes moan about clambering off their Pelotons to field a pesky work Zoom call, as nanny plays with little Ophelia, there’s a ghost generation of children being left to rot.
Kids who cannot read or write, who have been brought up in a climate of fear, tension and increasing poverty.
Yesterday it emerged that more private tutors than ever are being hired to help youngsters with their school work.
A report by the Sutton Trust found that 30 per cent of schoolchildren had paid-for coaching — the highest levels since the social mobility charity’s polling began.
The tutoring industry is now worth around £2billion, with rates of more than £100 an hour commonly charged.
Kids as young as three — THREE!!! — are being privately taught, at huge expense, to prepare for their four-plus entrance assessments.
(Aged three, I’m pretty sure I was still waddling around in nappies, pointing at sheep while barking “Moooo”, and demanding more juice from my sippy cup. But still).
Apparently “super-ambitious and relentlessly discerning” affluent families are fuelling the boom.
Because they can.
Because furlough saw them purchase exercise bikes and spend a lovely, rejuvenating couple of years WFH.
And because, for a lucky demographic, the “pandemic” meant playing with the kids and taking picnics with the lockdown puppy.
For struggling single parents, families in cramped city tower blocks, hard-up blue-collar workers fighting daily to provide food for their children, Covid meant sleepless nights and overt misery.
Gap between rich and poor
Long division, William Wordsworth and the dissection of a toad weren’t at the forefront of minds. Survival was.
As a result, we have a young generation more used to smartscreen interaction than a human one.
While rich kids get smarter, for £100 an hour, the poor are left trailing in their educational wake.
Now experts are acknowledging that unless the National Tutoring Programme — set up three years ago to coach kids worst hit by Covid — remains well-funded, the gap between rich and poor will widen immeasurably.
Schools have been hit by strike after strike, forcing parents on zero hours contracts to give up valuable pay cheques in order to look after their young.
Last week the Schools Teachers’ Review Body finally recommended a pay award of 6.5 per cent which has been accepted, in full, by the Education Secretary.
This comes in addition to the record pay rise over the past 12 months of 5.4 per cent, meaning that over two years, teacher pay is increasing by more than 11 per cent on average.
The Government, meanwhile, says it will give schools an additional £525million in 2023-24 and £900million in 2024-25, from the Department for Education’s budget, to fund the pay rise.
The savings won’t come from Rishi’s magical money tree, apparently, rather from “reprioritisation” within government departments.
Education Secretary Gillian Keegan claimed ministers were “painstakingly going through every single budget line and looking at where we think we don’t need to use all of the money that was anticipated”.
What they really need to be doing is prioritising those who really need it.
Those who have been hit the hardest since March 2020, and who will have no chance at life if the playing field isn’t remotely flattened. Now.
JUST A BRITT NAIVE
AS reading the room badly goes, it doesn’t get much worse than this.
In the week original supermodel Jane Birkin – inspiration behind the designer handbag – died, Brittny (no “e”) Button, wife of former F1 driver Jenson, came out with this uber-sensitive, cost-of-living-aware gem.
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“Your inoperable business class seat scratched my Birkin and caused mega damage,” she told British Airways on Instagram.
My heart bleeds.
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WELL done to The Sun’s sports sub-editors for this headline following Carlos Alcaraz’s victory over Novak Djokovic on Sunday.
“New kid beats GOAT”, read the back pages.
Genius.
TODAY is World Emoji Day.
Our industrial-revolution-pioneering, Great War-fighting ancestors would be proud.
lSO Brad Pitt, who played reverse-ageing Benjamin Button in the (brilliant) eponymous movie, is actually Benjamin Button, it turns out.
The Hollywood star is 60 this year.
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At Wimbledon last week, he looked hotter than ever and, as one wag pointed out on Twitter, is the same age as our very own Boris Johnson.
Poor Boris.
Little Prince George is still just a kid . . . don’t make him follow suit
BREAKING centuries of tradition, Prince George won’t be expected to serve in the Armed Forces before becoming king.
It is, apparently, another example of King Charles trying to modernise the royals.
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Which is all well and good. But why, then, is the lad still trussed up like Little Lord Fauntleroy on every public occasion?
In the front row of Wimbledon’s royal box on Sunday, nine-year-old George donned his usual suit and tie which, in the height of summer, could not be comfy.
If the Royal Family really wants to be progressive, let the kid wear a dino tee and lolly-stained shorts.
PRIDE OF LION LADIES
ON Thursday, the Women’s World Cup kicks off Down Under.
Obviously there’s been nowhere near as much hype as would be the case were this the men’s tournament we were talking about.
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But as is ever the way with the Lionesses, this is a bunch of players who let their football do the talking.
Let’s hope Sarina Wiegman’s talented squad can – unlike their male counterparts – finally bring it home.
On-the-job cops’ sex ban at last
POLICE in Britain’s biggest force have been banned from using sex workers.
Erm, how has this not been standard procedure since day dot?
The Met, an organisation which had hardly covered itself in glory of late, said the use of prostitutes “undermined public trust”.
No s***, Sherlock.
GAFFE? YOU BET
RIGHTLY, lots of plaudits for troubled footballer Dele Alli’s touching podcast interview with Gary Neville.
The ex-England star bravely revealed, among other things, his addiction to sleeping pills – a growing problem in the game.
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As, of course, is gambling.
Good, then, to see endless coverage and plugs for the cosy YouTube chat “brought to you by Sky Bet”.
Talk about an own goal.
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