A leader is a dealer in hope: Napoleon?s words are never truer than when our nation is looking for promises they can believe in, choosing a leader for the next five years.
However, leadership is not glamorous. D-Day celebrations reminded us of awful, courageous, history-making decisions leaders like Churchill had to make during our country?s darkest, longest days but that resulted in the defeat of fascism. Sadly, we are currently seeing similarly difficult decisions being made in Ukraine, the Middle East and around the world.
So leaders deal in hope, courage and the challenge of having to deal with the darkest, most difficult of decisions, although not all on the scale of a world war. But the Prime Minister elected in July will face huge challenges around social cohesion, public services, the economy, the environment, and the place of our country in the world. These and other challenges require more than promises and hope if our next Prime Minister is to make a difference, to make our world a better place. Beyond the political hyperbole, how will we make real progress"  Nelson Mandela was right when he said, ?Education is the most powerful way that we can change the world?. As a teacher, I am watching the education policies of the various party leaders, which are becoming clearer. We are beginning to move on from a focus on being the only country in Europe to tax education via the change to VAT rules. Of course, I believe there are better sources of funding, but it ...