The Department for Education and Skills appears to be channelling for some of Charles Dicken's more grotesque characters. Gradgrind Gove has long been preaching his gospel of 'facts' and rote learning. Now he has decided that children and teachers are not working hard enough and has called for longer school days and shorter holidays. His sidekick M'Choakumchild Truss, not to be outdone in ensuring that our youngest citizens should not be permitted to slack, has this week criticised nurseries which allow toddlers to “run around with no sense of purpose.”

Untruth is not always communicated in outright lies. There is a type of blinkered misapprehension which presents misleading and inauthentic concepts. None of us are immune to this failing and all of us need to keep it under informed scrutiny. But it often seems to come to the fore in politicians in a manner which does at the very least, raise questions as to their judgement and credibility.