She’s only been in her job for a matter of days, and already the new direct rule education minister is showing herself to be an eejit.

Northern Ireland’s new education minister has said despite opposition to ending academic selection, there is widespread agreement change must come.

I get the feeling that there’s going to be a standard New Labour quote comming soon… I think that it will say something along the lines of “I appreciate your concerns, but we’re doing whatever the fuck we want, even if it’s just messing with the system for messing’s sake”.

Lets see, shall we?

“I am determined that Northern Ireland’s education system will be world class and that every child has the opportunity to achieve his or her full potential,” Ms Eagle said.

“We are implementing an exciting programme of reform and improvement across the education system, from pre-school to further and higher education to ensure that through education, every child and young person gets the very best start in life.”

Ah yes. There are the buzz words: world class, opportunity, potential, reform and ‘very best start’. But what did she actually say? Nothing of substance, no proposals beyond messing for messing’s sake.

So, dear Minister, you’ve failed. Already. Bit of a shite performance, really. But compared to what’s happening at the Home Office, you’re not fucking up too badly, so you’ll probably get away with it. Never mind the fact that you’ll have done irreparable damage to tens of thousands of children’s prospects…