LETTER:Don't make excuses for Blair and his my-son-first policy

YOUR editorial ostensibly supports comprehensive education, but in fact betrays the same ill-informed fear which drives many parents to the private sector.

You say ''Just one or two deprived children can cause immense disruption ..." As a pupil at a comprehensive during the 1970s and 1980s, many of my classes included one or two disruptive pupils (not all ''deprived''). But the school was successful because there was a critical mass of motivated children and good teachers. I am sure schools with serious problems have more than ''one or two'' disruptive pupils per class.

The article mocks John Major's nostalgia for grammar schools, implying that he is out of touch. But did you or your editorial staff go to comprehensive schools, or do you have children in them? You write - like most commentators on education policy - as if you went to grammar or private schools.

Andrew Kennington

London SW11