What it all adds up to is a view that local communities should decide how schools are to be run and funded, with central government’s powers of control and direction removed.The general approach is reminiscent of where the Tories pitched their tent in the 1970s, when they were last in opposition, on ground which was once Labour’s preserve. Tories have previously worked to help people take back control of their own lives – we don’t try and live their lives for them.”But herein lies, according to Mr Duncan Smith, a perception that because of this people too often think that Tories are content for the vulnerable in our society to sink or swim. “To understand the power of politics you also have to understand its limitations. Now the approach seems to be specifically concentrated to appeal precisely to those who cannot escape the clutches of the “one size fits all” local failing comprehensives.But the solution, says the Tory leader, does not necessarily mean that politicians can provide it.

Once, the Tories encouraged parents who wanted to opt out of a bad school by giving them greater choice or by providing opportunities for the articulate to buy their way out of the bog standard comprehensive with private education or scholarships to independent schools. And he was on strong ground yesterday when he fleshed out his approach to the vulnerable in the inner cities.No new policies were unveiled, but we can see where he is going. Damaged children probably do need, more than any other, the comparative longevity and commitment that married couples are more likely to offer.The Adoption Bill is about the welfare of children and it should not be hijacked to promote pro-marriage or pro-gay agendas. But the Adoption Bill is not the place to pursue a “gayer than thou” agenda and Mr Duncan Smith was right to put the issue of vulnerable children ahead of gay rights.

With a soap, people don’t watch every single episode; they just want to think, ‘8pm, Brookie,’ so the amount of frustration from the audience about it was enormous. “But the broadcaster has to promote and schedule it properly. There was a feeling that we weren’t chiming together,” he says. “The research shows that viewers form a kind of contract when they’re watching a soap. “Over the years, the issues it started to offer – drugs, sex, rock’n'roll – all these things are kicking in for kids at 14-plus. The pre-production work is now well under way, and filming begins in the city in the next month or so.Most of the main cast will be kept, and the London accents will stay because it has always been set in a London comprehensive.