LETTER : Inflated education sums

IN HER eagerness to knock the Government Fran Abrams gets into great detail but misses the most basic sum. Expressing spending in "real terms", after factoring out RPI, is the fairest common currency. The figures show education spending up by an impressive 50 per cent. If teachers have nabbed 38 per cent they can hardly complain that only 12 per cent is left for books, equipment and maintenance.

Would Ms Abrams argue for a substantial increase in the defence budget because military inflation was running at 20 per cent above RPI?

Lesley Gear

Kew, Surrey