In my opinion there are two major things which this country must address if it is ever to stop its downward slide.

1. We have to stop school league tables.

This is only a back-door way of bringing back the old grammar schools, but instead of doing the 11-plus exam, it uses last year’s A-Level results as the criteria.

There are too many headteachers and school governors who are solely interested in the league tables which, if not neglecting non-academic children, are putting them on the back burner.

This is having two lasting effects on children.

Firstly, they get the attitude that they are failures, which in turn causes a lot of the classroom and social disruption.

Secondly, by removing vocational studies (which some schools appear to be doing only too often under the banner of costs) we deprive our children of the basics of finding out what line of work they would be good at.

2. The great divide between the rich and poor.

This should be sorted out and the sensible way would be for industry to decide what the financial difference between grades should be then in future all salary increases should be £s across the board.

With the present system, the rate of inflation, or cost of living in percentage transferred to salary only widens the gap year on year.

Even those of us without an academic background know that two per cent of £100 is £2, whereas two per cent of £500 is £10, yet the price of a loaf of bread is the same to both parties, so the gap between the two parties increases by yet another £8.

Tell me where and when this divide will end?

I can only see it being the biggest slump in history or a reoccurrence of the Peasants’ Revolt.

Can common sense stop in before either of these happens?

Lionel Howse Hendon Place Bicester