If the journalists who wrote the various pieces on the CEP “research” had actually read it then a) I imagine they might not have described it as such and b) they might have found some of the other things the authors say at least equally as interesting, except that their only interest was in that always favourite sport of the liberal press, Tory bashing. For example, the CEP authors also write:

“In a climate of tight public expenditure, is capital spending really the most efficient use of funds? What about all the evidence on other things that work to improve educational performance, such as teacher quality, reducing class size, etc?”

And they actually conclude their brief article (for that is what it really is) like this.

“The problem – as research at CEP has shown – is that not all people in the UK are empowered to exercise choice because they do not have the money to move to an area with popular schools or the personal resources to access and understand information about school quality.”

I love that wholly unsupported claim, “as research at CEP has shown” but in the Age of the Electronic Mob, it’s probably what would be called in journalist college, “good practice.”