Boris demands that British children are subjected to two hours of sport per day on the basis that it did him no harm at Eton. 

Boris

Be very, very careful, Boris. The British public love you and your outbursts.  The opposition have failed to nail you as a “toff” while they seem to have made the tag stick on DC.   If people stopped to think about your apparently popular demand that school children should be made to do two hours of sport in each school day, they would soon work out that, at Eton and other public, fee-paying schools, the school day runs almost 24/7.  After all that is what parents pay vast sums for. From pre-breakfast through morning, luncheon, afternoon, evening and night, public school boys are captive and can be managed and controlled.  Two hours of sport is but a small part of that day.

By contrast, state school days are specified in law and formed from negotiations with teacher unions.  They are short, painfully short in terms of what today’s children need to learn.  There are less than six hours of formal study per day. Two hours of sport every day would make a huge hole in that learning time and we already have far too many children leaving school without the three Rs.  Look at this web site for a typical state school day.

By all means, encourage state schools to promote competitive games; to participate in leagues with other schools, both public and state; think how to encourage more male teachers into primary schools but don’t fall into the trap of reminding the public of your so-called privileged background at Eton by demanding something that betrays your lack of understanding of the state education system.