Peter Hoskin

A change from the usual for this week's excavation into The Spectator archives — which is to say, we won't be digging out an article from the magazine's 183-year back-catalogue for CoffeeHousers' delectation. Instead, the images above, and a quick, little story. Given how nostalgic some people have recently been for the General Strike of 1926, my thinking was to present The Spectator's coverage from the time. (It is critical of both government and unions, as it happens). But it was the appearance of the issue dated 8th May 1926 that caught my eye, rather than its content. Its pages are thicker and rougher than the typical Spectators of that year. Its imprint looks straight off a typewriter, faded and blue. Its page-count is measlier.

It's strange to think of the biggest, national walkout for years as a prelude to something even larger — but that's how some of the union bosses would have it today. Schools are shutting, civil servants are downing their keyboards, UK Border Agency staff are pausing their vigilant watch over our shores, and all the while the talk is of more to come. Christine Blower, the head of the NUT, tells the Times (£) that today is the "first phase" of a "coordinated campaign". Mark Serwotka — who appeared opposite Francis Maude on the Today Progamme earlier — warned yesterday that these are just the "opening skirmishes," and that, "If you won’t talk to us we will ensure the next national strike has three to four million of us.

Until now, the debate over universities has dwelt inevitably on how much students need to stump up in tuition fees. With the release of today's White Paper, the government will hope that the emphasis shifts to what students receive in return for that cash. Basically, it is all about fixing a subverted market by making it more transparent. With universities good, bad and indifferent rushing to charge the maximum possible amount for fees, the idea is that forcing them to release more information about their courses — about teaching standards, job prospects and the like — will help students decide which are offering value-for-money. Who knows? It might even shame one or two institutions into lowering their asking prices.

A letter is bouncing around Whitehall, and I thought CoffeeHousers might care to see a copy. It has been penned by Michael Gove, and is being dispatched to all headmasters today. It urges them to Keep Calm and Carry On during the impending strikes over teachers' pensions. "My view," pens the education secretary, "is that we all have a strong moral duty to pupils and parents to keep schools open, and the Government wants to help you achieve that." You can read the full thing below. While much of this missive is dry, dry stuff — certainly drier than Gove's usual prose — it's also quite revealing of the government's approach to strikes.

Invigorating, that's probably the best word for Policy Exchange's event on free schools this morning. Right from Sir Michael Wilshaw's opening address — which set out the reasons why he, as headteacher of Mossbourne Academy, is optimistic about education reform — to Michael Gove's longer, more involved speech, this was all about celebrating and promoting the new freedoms that teachers are enjoying. There were some specifics about the schools that are opening, and the numbers of them, but very little of it was new. For the first time in a week, Gove wasn't announcing policy, but instead referring back to it. Which isn't to say that this was an ornamental occasion — far from it. Sir Michael's "four reasons for optimism" were, by themselves, pretty noteworthy.

The bustle around public sector pensions has obscured an equally significant, pensions-related story today: the Sunday Telegraph's claim that George Osborne is considering sucking £7 billion from the pensions of higher earners. The way it would be achieved, reports Patrick Hennessey, would be to terminate the tax relief on pension contributions made by those in the 40 and 50 per cent income tax brackets. He adds that the Exchequer could spend the resulting funds on deficit reduction, or on notching up the basic state pension. At the moment, it sounds as though this is just one of those on-the-table type deals: an idea being passed around the Treasury, but not yet decided upon.