IF THERE is a buzzword for the political and news agenda this week, that word is education — the lack of it, the attempted denial of it and the downright oddness of it.

To illustrate the last point, we go to Samworth Church Academy in Mansfield, where pupils have been banned from putting their hands up to answer questions in class after the head teacher said it was always the same ones responding.

Apparently, the academy will now only allow the raising of hands “to establish silence for listening,” according to principal Barry Found.