Hard lives

This week's alumni to be proud of, numbers 140 and 141, are living proof that we may have overestimated the cultural effects of education. Norman Tebbit, became a pilot, trade union activist and eventually cabinet minister and peer after attending Edmonton County Grammar School. Alan Clark had to go to Eton and Christ Church Oxford, as well as serving in the Household Cavalry and at the bar, to become an MP and author, and hone to perfection his scheme, aired this week, for restoring peace to Ireland.