High prices another way of protecting the social elite

LIKE Steve Staunton at the start of an ill-fated stint in charge of the Boys in Green, Mary Coughlan can — for the foreseeable future — tell teachers, their unions and their schools: “I’m the gaffer…”

Oh, but that’s only when it comes to things like the curriculum, pay scales and how much they’re going to have to raise at cake sales and bingo each year.

But a simple thing like instructing schools not to impose huge costs on their kids with uniforms, it seems, is way too much control.