Mills sent down – Lampl turns up

Two stories with no connection really, apart from their capacity to raise an eyebrow.

I wondered if David Mills, the estranged husband of Olympics minister Tessa Jowell would ever be convicted but that day has finally come. I remember having lunch with Jowell just after she split from Mills (at the Savoy Grill, naturally) and it was obvious to me that she still had feelings for the controversial lawyer. She explained to me that he was a great man, much misunderstood. I would understand if I got to know him, she said. There were tears in her eyes.

I once accused Jowell of helping Italianise British politics, but I wouldn’t have wished this on her and her family.

As I said, there is no connection with Peter Lampl’s disappearance and reappearance except the coincidence of timing and the oddness of the stories. I wish Lampl well. As founder of the Sutton Trust, which encourages people from ordinary backgrounds to get the most out of education, he has done much to shift the debate on selective schooling.