Government must face-down the scandal of militant teaching unions holding kids and schools to ransom

THE next generation’s future will be in tatters if schools are not reopened next month.

So it is a scandal that militant union leaders are encouraging teachers to put themselves ahead of struggling kids.

A National Education Union checklist suggests teachers should “escalate” action if schools fail to satisfy them about 200 “safety” conditions.

In effect, the union, led by Corbynite wrecker Mary Bousted, is holding schools to ransom. Its demands include a guarantee that staff will work no extra hours, paid leave or home working for teachers who have to quarantine after a foreign holiday, and nitpicking over relaxed dress codes.

Contrast this whingeing “work to rule” attitude with the selflessness of emergency services heroes working around the clock in the pandemic.

If medics made similar demands, the NHS would never have got a grip of Covid-19.

Some militant teachers are aiming to give Boris Johnson a bloody nose by refusing to work.

Now is the time for the Government to show some guts and face teaching union bosses down — on behalf of all our kids.

Fine line of duty

THE police come under massive pressures at the best of times. But the past few months, amid the unrest of coronavirus, have been exceptional.

And as lockdown has eased, they are once again in the front line in the war against violent crime and drugs.

As Met chief Cressida Dick says opposite, “county lines” gangs now stretch from Aberdeen to Cornwall.

Officers daily put their lives on the line dealing with drug-fuelled violence.

Policing today can often seem like an impossible task.

But officers’ traditional values of bravery and dedication remain as strong as ever.

Dan dare on migrants

PRITI Patel must stem the alarming numbers of migrants crossing the Channel.

So the Home Secretary’s appointment of an experienced former Royal Marine to take on the traffickers is to be welcomed.

Commander Dan O’Mahoney has been given wide-ranging powers not only to deal with the boats but also the stubborn French authorities who enable them.

He must look at all options, including the “push-back” policy which worked so well in Australia.

If anyone can find a way of stopping this tide of human misery while safeguarding lives, surely Dan can.

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