THE NEWS

9/11 occurred on a Tuesday.In October 2009, I released a song entitled “Tuesday” — a musical plea to never forget the lessons of September 11, 2001, when Islamic terrorists murdered 2,977 innocent people on American soil.Is Monday coming backThat’s what Mondays doThey turn and turn aroundAfraid to see it throughWelcome to Monday.9/11 IS BECOMING HISTORY. MY GENERATION MUST MAKE SURE AMERICA NEVER FORGETSPerforming my song “Superman” at Paul McCartney’s Concert for New York City was one of the great honors of my life. To spend that day — and share that stage — with heroic New York City first responders and the families of those murdered was an incredibly humbling, life-changing experience.Much of the audience at Madison Square Garden consisted of firefighters, police officers, rescue workers and others who had spent the previous month sifting through the rubble and carnage of Ground Zero. The images of thousands of people singing, screaming, crying and embracing one another remain seared into my memory. For a few hours, music gave them — and all of us — a chance to release some of the pain we carried within.I LOST MY WIFE ON 9/11. PLEASE LET THIS 25TH ANNIVERSARY BELONG TO THE FAMILIESThe world sang and cried with us.You may remember what happened in the aftermath of 9/11. America came together in a way we had rarely seen before and have not seen since. There was no red America and blue America. There was only red, white and blue.Americans stood shoulder to shoulder across the country with compassion, love and resolve — and with an unequivocal commitment to bring Osama bin Laden and his terrorist network to justice.The thing about memoriesThey’re sure and bound to fadeExcept for the stolen soulsLeft upon her bladeImagine standing in your neighborhood on September 12, 2001, and telling your neighbor what America might look like 25 years later.Imagine telling them that radical leftist ideologies, hostile to America , would infiltrate some of our most prestigious universities and metastasize through mainstream and social media. That members of Congress would echo propaganda promoted by terroristDAVID MARCUS: CALLING 9/11 ‘INEVITABLE’ IS SAME AS JUSTIFYING IT, AND IT IS DISGRACEFULorganizations such as Hamas. That candidates could associate with people who openly express hatred for America—or even suggest America deserved 9/11—and still win elections and govern American cities.They would not have believe you, such lunacy!The aftermath of Hamas’s October 7 terrorist attack in Israel provided another warning about the moral collapse taking hold within many of our institutions. Before Israel had even buried its dead, we witnessed people in the West rationalizing, excusing and even celebrating the slaughter.It raises an uncomfortable question: If an attack on the scale of 9/11 occurred in America today, would we still respond as one people, one country?Or would we see more mob like campus encampments, ideological justifications for terrorism, and Americans blaming their own country as the “oppressor” that somehow got what it deserved.Tuesday came and wentOne SeptemberWhen will she come again?Twenty-five years after 9/11, America finds itself in another battle — this one for the soul of our nation and, more broadly, for the future of Western civilization.The threats are not identical to those we faced in 2001. But they are real. Radical Islamism remains a global threat, while antisemitism and anti-American extremism increasingly find expression across the ideological spectrum. Ideas once confined to society’s fringes now travel instantly, and with little consequence, through universities, political movements and social media. The enemy is in the building, and time is not on our side.That is why “Never Forget” cannot become merely a slogan printed on a bumper sticker or repeated once every September.It is an obligation. It is our obligation.We have a duty to teach our children what happened on September 11, 2001: about the evil fanatics who attacked us, why they attacked us, and the carnage of what unchecked extremism can produce.But “Never Forget” means something more.It means remembering the best of us.It means telling our children about the firefighters who climbed stairwells while everyone else was running down. The police officers, paramedics and ordinary citizens who ran toward collapsing infernos to save people they had never met. The passengers of Flight 93 who understood what was happening and, knowing the probable cost, fought back.CLICK HERE FOR MORE FOX NEWS OPINIONThey represent the best of humanity.Twenty-five years later, their courage should still challenge and inspire us.Their sacrifice should remind us that America is not sustained merely by institutions, elections or slogans. It survives because generation after generation chooses to defend the principles that make the country worth defending.Memory fades. History becomes distant. Tuesdays come and go.But some Tuesdays must never be forgotten.May the memory of those we lost — and the example of the heroes of September 11, 2001 — give us the strength, courage and fortitude to fight for America every day, especially Tuesdays, for the next 250 years.Let’s Roll…

President Donald Trump will commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks at the Pentagon on Friday, honoring the victims and first responders who lost their lives that day.”As a proud New Yorker, President Trump has spoken about his own experiences watching the horrific events of September 11, 2001,” White House principal deputy press secretary Anna Kelly told Fox News Digital.”On the 25th anniversary of this tragic day, the President will remember those who were killed at the hands of evil terrorists, honor their loved ones, and pay tribute to the brave first responders who put their lives on the line to rescue their fellow Americans,” Kelly added.TRUMP CONFIRMS PENTAGON PLANS FOR 25TH ANNIVERSARY OF 9/11 ATTACKS, DISPUTES REPORT ON GROUND ZERO ABSENCETrump will attend a 9/11 remembrance ceremony at the Pentagon, while Vice President JD Vance will commemorate the attacks at the World Trade Center site in New York. Other administration officials will gather in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, ensuring the White House has a presence at all three sites tied to the Sept. 11 attacks.Vance will join former presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton, as well as former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani in New York for a remembrance ceremony.Last year, Trump and first lady Melania Trump attended a 9/11 commemoration at the Pentagon and issued a Patriot Day proclamation calling for flags to be flown at half-staff.He later attended a Yankees-Tigers game featuring tributes to the victims in the Bronx, New York City.FIRST ON FOX: TRUMP’S 9/11 TRIBUTE TO FEATURE MASSIVE PIECE OF GROUND ZERO HISTORY AT WHITE HOUSE’During his first term, Trump attended the Pentagon for a memorial in 2017 and 2019, then spent 9/11 at the Flight 93 National Memorial in Shanksville, Pennsylvania in 2018 and 2020.Trump was a real-estate developer in New York City at the time of the attacks and watched the tragedy unfold in real time. “I have a window that looks directly at the World Trade Center, and I saw this huge explosion. I was with a group of people and I really couldn’t even believe it,” Trump said in a phone interview with WWOR-TV channel 9 on the tragic day.9/11 TAUGHT US DEADLY LESSONS. 25 YEARS LATER, WE NEED A NEW MODEL TO PREVENT ATTACKSWHERE TUNNEL TO TOWERS’ STEEL ACROSS AMERICA TOUR WILL STOP AHEAD OF 9/11On Tuesday, the Tunnel to Towers Foundation brought its “Steel Across America” tour to Trump’s doorstep at the White House, where the 21-foot, 16,900-pound steel beam recovered from the World Trade Center’s South Tower was on display.The steel beam has served as a traveling memorial to the victims and first responders of 9/11, offering pop-up events across 21 states leading up to the anniversary of the tragic day.

Facing a brutal political environment as the GOP fights to hold control of Congress, President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance used their speeches on the concluding night of the first ever Republican midterm convention to paint clear contrasts with Democrats and energize supporters to vote.With less than two months until the midterm elections — and early voting kicking off in a couple of weeks — Trump showcased his policy wins since returning to the White House and led the crowd at American Airlines Center in Dallas in an oath to vote as he made his second primetime convention appearance in two nights.You know what happens if you don’t vote? You go to hell,” the president warned.Vance, in a strikingly partisan keynote address, charged that the Democratic Party is the “party of hatred.” And with the next race for the White House kicking off once the midterms are over, Vance, the likely heir apparent for the term-limited Trump, was showered with chants of “48” – as in the 48th president – as he delivered his address.VANCE SHUTS DOWN HECKLER WAVING MEXICAN FLAGThe speeches by Vance and Trump capped a day that included appearances by some of the other major figures in the GOP, and the party pulled out all the stops to boost morale in the stretch run to the midterms.Here are the top takeaways from night two of the midterm convention.Trump’s pledgeFacing an energized Democratic Party heading into the midterms, the main mission of the Republican convention was to motivate the GOP’s MAGA base, which has a history of sitting it out when Trump isn’t on the ballot, to vote this autumn.Trump reiterated on Thursday evening that his supporters needed to “do me the biggest favor you’ve ever done…You’ve got to do this for me. You’ve got to pretend I’m on the ticket.”The president then led the crowd in a pledge.FOX NEWS UPDATES FROM THE MIDTERM CONVENTION”I pledge to the greatest president in the history of America,” Trump said as many in the arena repeated his words.”I am going to go out and I’m going to get my friends, my family, and we are going to vote on November 3rd, or we are going to vote before that,” Trump continued before warning that if they didn’t cast a ballot, they’d “go to hell.”Trump’s unusual pitchThe president repeated his offer to Americans that he announced a night earlier, what he on Thursday described as the “Trump dividend.”On Wednesday, Trump pledged a $5,000 dividend for every adult U.S. citizen if Republicans retain control of the House and Senate in the midterms.”We can do that because our country has never done better. We’re taking in trillions, trillions of dollars,” the president argued.Trump also showcased his second term achievements, claiming that “in 19 months, I’ve delivered on every single promise I made.”DEMOCRACY ’26: STAY UP TO DATE WITH THE FOX NEWS ELECTION HUB”We delivered the largest tax cuts in American history, the largest regulation cuts in American history, the largest investment in our military in the history of our country, and made America the energy and military superpower of the world,” the president proclaimed.Trump and Republicans are banking that their litany of political wins can rebuff traditional headwinds – the party in power traditionally loses congressional seats in the midterms. The GOP is also battling a rough environment fueled by persistent inflation, a new surge in gas and diesel prices due to a flare-up in the ongoing war with Iran, and a deepening trade war with neighboring Canada.While Trump touted “tremendous economic success,” public opinion polls paint a very different picture, with the president’s overall approval rating, and especially his handling of the economy, well into negative territory.Inflation was a key issue that helped boost Trump and the GOP to sweeping election victories in 2024, but Democrats say affordability has been the issue that fueled their ballot box victories and overperformances since Trump returned to the White House.The Democratic National Committee (DNC), which remains in debt and decided against holding a similar convention, was more than happy to focus on the economy.”The only people reaping the benefits of Trump’s economy are himself, his family, and his ultrarich elite donors. Meanwhile, working families get nothing except sky-high receipts at the grocery store and the pump, unaffordable healthcare premiums, and wages that aren’t keeping up with inflation,” DNC Rapid Response Director Kendall Witmer charged.’Radical left lunatics’Midterm elections are often a referendum on the party in power, but Republicans used their convention to draw a contrast as they spotlighted the Democrats’ leftward lurch in this year’s primaries and tied the party to far-left and socialist proposals.”They’re not socialists. They’re not Democrats, they’re communists. We will reject these radical left lunatics,” Trump charged for a second straight night.Vance, in his address minutes earlier, urged Republicans “to send a message this November that the country does not belong to the radicals.”Vance unloads on DemocratsThe vice president also argued that Democrats have metastasized into a party that stands against America.”Let’s never forget that America belongs to those who love it, not those who hate it,” Vance said.The vice president also targeted Democrats over combustible issues such as race and immigration. And he took aim at Abdul El-Sayed, the Democratic Senate nominee in battleground Michigan, for suggesting that Vance’s grandfather would object to his marrying a woman of Indian descent.SIGN UP TO GET THE POLITICS NEWSLETTER”This is what he thinks of my grandfather, a man I loved and who loved his family unconditionally. Abdul looks at him, sees the color of his skin, sees his background, and decides that he could never have loved my wife,” Vance said.The vice president argued that Democrats are no longer “the party of FDR or JFK. Hell, they’re not even the party of Bill Clinton anymore. The Democrats are the party of hatred. They’re the party that despises America and the people who built it.”Ahead of his speech, the DNC claimed that “JD Vance has been Donald Trump’s most loyal puppet.”And the DNC predicted that “Vance will continue to gaslight Americans, but voters know the truth: Trump and Vance have tanked the economy, plunged the country into more endless wars, and failed to make life more affordable for everyday Americans.” Vance’s 2028 momentWhile he hasn’t said if he’ll seek the presidency in 2028, Vance is seen as the front-runner in the race to succeed Trump.The convention gave Vance the opportunity to appear as a presidential candidate in waiting.While in Dallas, Vance was warmly received Thursday morning by delegates from key battleground states and he headlined a top-dollar fundraiser for the RNC.TRUMP DEFENDS $5,000 DIVIDEND PROPOSAL, PRAISES ‘BEAUTIFUL’ TARIFFS ON ‘INGRAHAM ANGLE’And during his address, the vice president was interrupted by shouts of “48.”But Vance, at least publicly, remains laser focused on 2026.”We’ve got to take care of business this November, then we’ll worry about what comes next,” Vance quickly responded.

On September 11, 2001, shortly after the terrorists struck the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, I walked across the street to the Capitol, swimming against a sea of pandemonium.Later, I joined other members in the basement of the Capitol Hill Police headquarters for a briefing on what we knew — and what might happen next.Former Governor Tom Ridge, then serving as President George W. Bush’s homeland security adviser, told us, “The only thing we know for sure is that they want to hit us again, and they want to hit us worse.”TRUMP CONFIRMS PENTAGON PLANS FOR 25TH ANNIVERSARY OF 9/11 ATTACKS, DISPUTES REPORT ON GROUND ZERO ABSENCELong before 2001, radical Islamic terrorism was at war with America’s way of life and had already established a terrible rhythm in our national life.The 1983 Beirut barracks bombing killed 241 American servicemen. Pan Am Flight 103 was blown out of the sky over Lockerbie, Scotland, in 1988, killing 270 people, including 190 Americans. The first World Trade Center bombing came in 1993: six dead, more than 1,000 injured, with the terrorists hoping to topple one tower into the other. In 1998, al-Qaeda bombed our embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, killing 224 people and injuring thousands. Two years later, al-Qaeda struck again, bombing the USS Cole in Yemen and killing 17 American sailors.LIZ PEEK: WE CANNOT LET THE LEFT REWRITE WHAT HAPPENED ON 9/11Our government’s response had fallen into a near slumber of its own. Terrorists attacked. Americans mourned. Investigators pursued those responsible. Security was tightened and warnings were issued. Then life moved on — until the terrorists struck again. For all the courage and skill of those fighting terrorism in those years, America remained largely reactive, responding to attacks rather than preventing them and ensuring that they could never happen again.September 11 broke that rhythm forever. From the firefighters and police who rushed into the Twin Towers without regard to their personal safety, to those who charged the cockpit in the skies over Pennsylvania, America’s defenders surged forward with what felt like all new resolve to take the fight directly to our terrorist enemies.HOW 9/11 TRANSFORMED SYNAGOGUE SECURITY INTO A NEW REALITY FOR THE JEWISH COMMUNITYAmerica resolved that we would no longer simply bring terrorists to justice after they attacked us. We would find them before they could strike, take the fight to them abroad, and build new defenses here at home.Twenty-five years later, we should remember the heroes forged that day and we should acknowledge the generation of selfless Americans who have delivered on that promise every day since.In the aftermath of the attacks, young men and women lined up around the block outside military recruiting offices determined to serve our country. Nearly three million American servicemen and women deployed in the wars that followed September 11. More than 7,000 gave their lives and tens of thousands were wounded. They destroyed terrorist sanctuaries, hunted down al-Qaeda leaders, and brought Osama bin Laden to justice.When ISIS later established a terrorist caliphate across vast stretches of Iraq and Syria, American forces and our allies destroyed it, liberating nearly 110,000 square kilometers of territory and freeing 7.7 million people from its brutal rule.But, America’s defenders are not found only on distant battlefields. Some chose careers in law enforcement, disrupting terrorist plans on the homefront and chasing leads that never made the evening news. Others joined the Border Patrol, standing watch on the ground while air marshals guarded the skies. In New York City, 58 children of FDNY firefighters who made the ultimate sacrifice on September 11 have grown up to join the same department their fathers served.Their greatest accomplishment is measured by what did not happen. The nightmare we feared that day — a succession of increasingly catastrophic terrorist attacks on the American homeland — never came to pass.NYPD CHIEF: 9/11 HEROES’ LEGACY LIVES ON IN EVERY GENERATION OF OFFICERSNot because our enemies quit trying, but because America’s defenders stopped them cold.For a generation, Americans have been able to live their lives without the constant fear that another September 11 was around the corner.That peace was earned by Americans whose names we know and countless others whose names we never will — by those who served both at home and overseas, those who came home wounded, those who never came home at all, and those who still stand watch today.CLICK HERE FOR MORE FOX NEWS OPINIONOn this solemn anniversary, let us remember the 2,977 innocent souls who perished at the hands of our terrorist enemies on September 11.I LOST MY WIFE ON 9/11. PLEASE LET THIS 25TH ANNIVERSARY BELONG TO THE FAMILIESAnd let us honor those who gave their lives in the long struggle that followed.Because of the heroes forged that fateful day and every day since, the American people live in freedom and security. So let us offer the thanks of a grateful nation to all who answered the call to protect and defend America these past 25 years.Our founders proclaimed eternal vigilance is the price of liberty. May we never forget or fail to honor the sacrifices made by America’s defenders from that day to this. And may we never cease to be vigilant in the defense of the land we love. So help us, God.CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM FORMER VICE PRESIDENT MIKE PENCE

A Dutch tour bus crashed in the Swiss Alps on Thursday evening, killing at least five people and injuring 40 others, local authorities said.

“Old Economy Is Taking Revenge”: Jeff Currie Warns Fuel Squeeze Is Driving Structural Inflation

Former Goldman Sachs commodities chief and current Real Macro head Jeff Currie joined CNBC earlier Thursday to discuss all things commodities, warning that the latest Brent crude rally above $107 a barrel is becoming harder to dismiss as a temporary shock, with renewed Chinese buying and soaring refining margins (US diesel crack spread now $110 a barrel) signaling deeper pressure across physical commodity markets.

Currie warned that traders are underestimating an inflation cycle driven by years of underinvestment in the capacity to produce and deliver essential raw materials, echoing his summer warnings about scarcity in physical markets.

“The old economy is taking its revenge,” Currie said. “You see it in the rates markets. You see it in the commodity markets.”

Asked whether the latest flare-up in the Gulf conflict explained the jump in Brent crude this week, Currie pointed first to demand returning from Asia (read here). 

“Actually, I put a bigger weight on China coming back to the market,” he said, citing strong buying interest after returning from Singapore and Hong Kong.

China had contributed to the refined-product squeeze by reducing refinery operations and exports as access to crude tightened earlier this summer, Currie explained. But exceptionally high diesel margins created a massive incentive to restart those those refineries, bringing renewed crude demand into an already strained market.

He cited diesel crack spreads of $110 a barrel, exceeding the price of crude itself. That figure refers to the refining spread, rather than the outright diesel price.

“That’s a pretty big profit,” Currie said. “They start chasing it, brought those refineries back online, and it was just like an earthquake going through here.”

The rally in Brent is showing signs of greater staying power, he pointed out, with equities and longer-dated oil prices beginning to reflect a more persistent disruption.

“People are starting to go, ‘This is not transient,'” Currie said. “It has a different flavor to it.”

Thank you to @KellyCNBC and the @CNBCTheExchange team for having me on today.
The old economy is taking its revenge.
We are dealing with higher structural inflation after years of underinvestment in the ability to supply and deliver hard assets.
There are two trades happening…
— Jeffrey Currie 🆔++ (@CommodMkt) September 10, 2026
Complimenting Currie’s bull thesis on commodities, HSBC chief economist for global commodities Paul Bloxh warned in a note this week that a “super-squeeze” has begun (read report). 

Tyler Durden
Fri, 09/11/2026 – 04:15

The Justice Department is challenging policies in three states and D.C. that offer eligible noncitizens in-state college tuition benefits

The Trump administration designated an Ecuadorian gang as a “foreign terrorist organization” on Wednesday, extending its list of designated foreign terrorist groups in Latin America and the Caribbean to 21.The State Department designated Los Tiguerones as a Foreign Terrorist Organization and a Specially Designated Global Terrorist.According to the department, Los Tiguerones is an Ecuador-based gang linked to narcotrafficking and other illicit activity, along with several attacks targeting civilians, law enforcement officers and journalists, including the live takeover of an Ecuadorian TV station in 2024.”The Trump administration will continue to use all available tools to protect our nation by keeping illicit drugs off our streets and disrupting the revenue streams funding violent narcoterrorists,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement.US FORCES SINK NARCO-REFUELING STATION LINKED TO ECUADORIAN CARTEL IN PACIFIC: SOUTHCOM”Today’s action taken by the State Department further demonstrates that the Trump administration continues to deliver on its promises to the American people to dismantle cartels and narcoterrorist networks in our region, ensuring the safety of the American people,” he added.The announcement came during Rubio’s diplomatic tour to South America, where he made stops in Colombia, Ecuador and Peru to address U.S. efforts to combat drug trafficking in Latin America.The label was previously reserved for terrorist groups such as ISIS and al-Qaida that use violence for political ambitions and not for financially motivated crime organizations like the ones in Latin America and the Caribbean that have recently been added to the list.But the administration wants to increase pressure on the crime rings and anyone believed to be assisting them.The government began using the strategy in February 2025, and it served as a pretext for the U.S. capture of then-Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro earlier this year, as well as dozens of deadly attacks on boats allegedly involved in narcotics trafficking.The strategy also prompted Latin American countries, including Guatemala and Argentina, to take similar action against certain groups and led Ecuador to launch joint operations on its own soil.Rubio said terrorist designations “expose and isolate entities and individuals, denying them access to the U.S. financial system and the resources they need to carry out attacks.” He also said designations can assist law enforcement actions of other U.S. agencies and governments.RUBIO DESIGNATES AFGHANISTAN AS ‘STATE SPONSOR OF WRONGFUL DETENTION’: ‘DESPICABLE TACTICS’Mexico has the most groups of any country on the U.S. list for designated foreign terrorist organizations with eight. The Mexican government is under intense pressure from the U.S. to prevent President Donald Trump from taking unilateral action against cartels in Mexico.Trump’s approach has also featured contradictions, as he pardoned former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández, who was sentenced to 45 years in prison for drug trafficking and accused during his trial of protecting the Sinaloa Cartel. Hernández has since returned to his country.The Associated Press contributed to this report.

U.S. diesel prices hit their highest level ever as fuel supply disruption stemming from the Ukraine and Iran wars lifts transportation costs.

What More Evidence Does The Blob Need That Michael Gove Was Right?

Authored by Toby Young via The Daily Sceptic,

When I think of Michael Gove perusing the latest PISA league tables, proving yet again that his education reforms have transformed the life chances of English schoolchildren, a line from Broadcast News, the 1987 romcom, comes to mind.

“It must be nice to always believe you know better, to always think you’re the smartest person in the room,” says a veteran television news man to a young female producer.

“No,” she replies. “It’s awful.”

When it comes to teaching and learning, the man who ran the Department for Education from 2010 – 14 really does know better. As he has pointed out, a natural experiment has taken place in Great Britain over the last 16 years – longer, if you date the beginning of the reform programme to the Labour and Skills Act 2000 – with England implementing a raft of educational reforms and Scotland and Wales stubbornly sticking to the same old failed formula. The results in the just-published 2025 PISA data are there for all to see.

English 15 year-olds scored 492 in maths, 497 in reading and 516 in science – 29, 36 and 34 points respectively above the OECD average. England now sits comfortably in the upper reaches of the developed world, having climbed into the top 10 in all three subjects.

Wales, by contrast, has fallen below the OECD average, its maths score declining a full 10 points since 2022. Scotland, though still nominally above the international average, has flatlined since its own dismal 2022 showing and now trails England by roughly a year’s worth of learning. Just think about that: in Scotland, the average child is a year behind his English counterparts. (In Wales, they are two years behind.)

So Lord Gove has been vindicated. But knowing he was right won’t be much comfort, given the resistance to his reforms in the devolved nations. No free schools, no academies, no ‘comprehensive grammars’. No phonics, no spelling and grammar tests, no maths mastery, no EBacc, no Progress 8. Just the same old romantic dross – ‘problem solving’, ‘transferable skills’, ‘child-centred learning’ – that has failed Scottish and Welsh schoolchildren for decades.

Instead of replicating Westminster’s knowledge-rich curriculum, Edinburgh and Cardiff rolled out a skills-based “curriculum for excellence”. Even today, in spite of the overwhelming evidence of its failure, the SNP Education Secretary, Màiri McAllan, is still defending this rag-bag of progressive clichés.

Scotland’s education system, she said in response to the latest PISA figures, looks at “artistic expression, problem solving and moral education” so it produces “well-rounded individuals who are ready and capable to be resilient in this world”. Not so ready and capable, Màiri, if they can’t read, write or add up. As Gove rightly concluded, there’s no evidence schools can teach artistic expression, problem solving or character traits like resilience, so it’s better to focus on what they can teach.

The unions have a lot to answer for. In England, it was a standing joke among education reformers in the early 2010s that the ‘n’ in the NUT stood for ‘no’ because England’s largest teaching union had blocked every reform for the last 50 years. Gove and his trusted lieutenants like Nick Gibb faced down the NUT and drove through his reforms in the teeth of ferocious opposition. But his Scottish and Welsh counterparts weren’t so robust, quickly abandoning any effort to overhaul their failing schools when the unions objected.

Some of this can be explained by not wanting to copy what the hated Tories were doing down south. But even when the OECD recommended Scotland reproduce some of the measures that were clearly succeeding in England – a pared-down academic core, greater headteacher autonomy, stricter behaviour management policies, more rigorous assessment – the EIS, Scotland’s largest teaching union, threw up its arms in horror. Each time Scottish education ministers have so much as gestured towards reform, the union has treated it as an act of war.

All of which must be profoundly depressing for Lord Gove. What more do you need? he must be thinking. Worse, the current Labour Government is in the process of dismantling the Gove reforms. Incredibly, Bridget Phillipson and now Lucy Powell have looked at the PISA data and concluded that England’s education system should be more like that of Scotland and Wales – less school autonomy, no more free schools, continuous assessment instead of rigorous exams, toothless behaviour policies, and a neutered Ofsted. At the heart of Labour’s new national curriculum, we’re told, will be ‘sustainability’ and ‘decolonisation’.

The blob is back and the smartest man in the room must be reluctantly concluding that no amount of evidence will convince his opponents he was right.

Tyler Durden
Fri, 09/11/2026 – 03:30