News round-up

Ofqual ordered lower grades

Leaked letters show that exams regulator Ofqual told the Edexcel exam board to grant lower grades for GCSE English. Tory education secretary Michael Gove, who has complained of “grade inflation”, created Ofqual.

Academies full of junk (food)

More than a third of academies are selling junk food that is banned in state-run schools. A Channel 4 investigation found that 37 out of 108 academies that responded to freedom of information requests sold at least one junk food product.

Children steal bread to get by

Children arrested for shoplifting are increasingly found to be stealing because they are hungry.

Police in Islington, north London, said that children were stealing “bread and food for themselves and their families”. One million children in Britain don’t have enough food.

Afghan prison move is a sham

The media has made much of the US handing control of Bagram prison back to Afghanistan’s government.

But the US is still in control over what it claims are the most dangerous prisoners—and this control may go beyond the 2014 withdrawal date.