Even Margaret Thatcher demanded transparency from public bodies – but now her biggest fan is tearing up the rule bookIn 1959 a young MP gave a rousing maiden speech in parliament,imploring local government to allow the press into its meetings. So passionate, and right, and was her plea for transparency that it stands alone as the only maiden speech ever to create a law. Through subsequent iterations,it helped to create an openness that nowadays reaches into hospital and transport bodies and grants access not only to the press but the public.
It is dismaying to learn that the governments proposal to convert all schools to academies pushes the public back external. One might consider such a move – excluding the masses in order to favour a powerful elite – to be typical of the Conservatives.
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Source: theguardian.com