We will halve disadvantage gap in schools, ministers say

Ministers will set a target to halve the disadvantage gap by the time children born under this government finish secondary school, as part of a plan to improve the education system in England.

To tackle the achievement gap between pupils from poorer backgrounds and their more affluent peers, the government will reform how schools get targeted disadvantage funding.

The Schools White Paper, set to be published in full on Monday, will also set out two new programmes to tackle the performance of disadvantaged pupils locally in the North East and on the coast.

It comes after details of the special educational needs and disabilities (Send) reforms also forming part of the white paper were leaked on Thursday.

It has been reported that from 2029, EHCPs (education, health and care plan) will be reassessed once children reach the end of primary school, proposals which sparked concern from disability charity Sense who warned that reassessments could increase instability for children and young people.

An EHCP is a legally binding document in the UK for children and young people with special educational needs or disabilities that require more support than is normally available in school.

The reforms are expected to introduce a plan with legal footing for all children with Send called Individual Support Plans (ISPs).

Speaking about plans to halve the attainment gap, education secretary Bridget Phillipson said: “These reforms are a golden opportunity to cut the link between background and success – one that we must seize.

“Our schools have made great strides in recent decades. Yet for too long, many children in our country have been let down by a one-size-fits-all system, denied opportunity because they’re poor or because they have additional needs.

“Our Schools White Paper presents the blueprint for opportunity for the next generation, with an education system that truly serves every child, whatever their needs and wherever in the country they grow up.”

In the latest GCSE results, the disadvantage gap index for year 11s stood at 3.92, according to figures from the Department for Education (DfE).

It had previously narrowed from 4.07 in 2011 to a low of 3.66 in 2019/20 with some small fluctuations in between. It then widened again post-pandemic to the highest it had been in a decade at 3.94 in 2022/23.

The government will also set a new target for attendance to recover 20 million school days a year by the end of 2028/29 compared with 2023/24.

Instead of targeting disadvantage funding based on whether a child is eligible to receive free school meals (FSM), after a consultation, distribution of funding to schools could take into account how low family income is, how long this has been the case, and the place a child lives.

It would also remove the need for families to choose to take up free school meals to be eligible for deprivation funding, in an attempt to cut admin for schools.

The two new programmes, Mission North East and Mission Coastal – will aim to tackle poorer performance for disadvantaged pupils in the areas, including white working-class pupils.

It will be based on the model of the London Challenge, a programme which was introduced to improve schools in London under the Labour government in 2003.

The White Paper will also set out how incentives worth up to £15,000 for newly appointed headteachers to work in parts of the country that need heads.

It will further include a commitment to develop minimum expectations for schools around how they communicate with parents and manage pupils’ transition from primary to secondary school.

The Schools White Paper was originally set to be published in autumn 2025, but was delayed to allow a further period to test Send reforms.

Team GB’s curlers condemned to second successive Olympic heartbreak

12 years on from masterminding Canada’s last Olympic curling gold, skip Brad Jacobs broke British hearts once again, defeating Bruce Mouat’s rink 9-6 in an edgy final to condemn GB to being bridesmaids once again.

24 years to the day since Rhona Howie’s infamous ‘Stone of Destiny’, Mouat could not replicate that great escape. It was silver again for the Beijing runners-up, who despite being comfortably the best team of the last two years could not make that advantage count on Saturday night.

For Jacobs’ team of veterans – Marc Kennedy and Ben Hebert were both champions on home turf in Vancouver 16 years ago – it was sweet revenge after defeat to Team Mouat in the 2023 world championships.

And it was redemption too for the much-maligned Kennedy, who has twice been accused of cheating by different opponents in the round robin, in a fiasco which threatened to overshadow the entire tournament. Kennedy was on his best behaviour under the lights on Saturday, delivering (within the rules) when it mattered, with the drama over illegal double-touching having quietened somewhat after a fractious group stage.

This was a very different game to the two sides’ round robin meeting, when GB lost 9-5 on the same sheet after a slew of uncharacteristic mistakes. They were second-best for much of the round robin, scraping into the knockouts after other results went their way, but were back to near their electric best with a semi-final win over unbeaten Switzerland, and the fans crowded into Cortina’s Curling Olympic Stadium were hoping for more of the same.

An edgy, attritional affair swung the way of Mouat’s defending world champions at the start, but Canada’s experienced crew came back in the final three ends, scoring three in the ninth to leave GB needing to score at least two – something which had been difficult to achieve in a low-scoring final thus far.

And it proved an insurmountable deficit, leaving GB on the verge of tears – and with another four years to wait before another chance at redemption.

An emotional Mouat said: “I am just a bit in shock. We felt like we were probably the better team there.”

Grant Hardie, the vice-skip and third, said: “We wanted to win it for each other. The pain from four years ago was that much, we thought let’s go and give it another go. We gave ourselves the chance. So much good work to try and redeem ourselves but unfortunately we’ve not got there again.”

Since heartbreak in Beijing four years ago Mouat’s team have won two world titles, another two European crowns, and amassed eight of their record 12 Grand Slam titles. They have been dominant but the one thing they lacked was being on the winning side of an Olympic final, with the memories of 2022 no doubt burned into their brains.

Canada skip Jacobs meanwhile presided over their 2014 Olympic gold, with current GB coaches Michael Goodfellow and Greg Drummond on the losing side that day in Sochi. (So was skip David Murdoch, who has since jumped ship to become Canada’s high performance director.)

So this was a contest between proven winners at Olympic level and the best team of the last two years: the final both sides, and many neutrals, had dreamed of.

And as many had expected, it was a tight, cagey affair, with the sense that this most momentous of finals would be decided by the slightest of mistakes here or there.

As millions sat fixated on their TV screens, Mouat’s rink, the bridesmaids of Beijing, edged in front.

GB restricted the Canadians, who had the hammer, to just one in the first end after a mistake by Jacobs. Mouat appeared so unbothered by what was going on that he nipped to the loo while Jacobs took his final shot of the end.

Jacobs failed to displace two reds in the second end and Mouat continued a confident start with a relatively simple shot for two, before clearing a house of three Canada stones to stay level in the fourth.

Canada led 4-3 at the break after the fifth end, but failed to blank the end and retain the hammer after a slightly underbaked shot by Jacobs, with GB taking a slim advantage into the sixth.

Mouat is renowned for his brilliant tactical brain and some superb shotmaking has got his team out of trouble this week. A run back triple takeout against Switzerland in the semi-final turned the game on its head, and GB carried that momentum all the way to victory.

And in the sixth end that brilliance was apparent: even the usually impassive Scot allowed himself a quiet fist bump after a superb double takeout with a tricky final shot, scoring two to lead 5-4.

But as the ends ticked by and scoring remained hard to come by, it came down to who blinked first. The analytical, clear-headed Hardie has been excellent all week but his face indicated he wasn’t happy with how a key shot fell in an edgy eighth end, and a few scrappy mistakes by GB meant they had to settle for one with the hammer.

Canada were second-best early on but their experience began to count as they pulled ahead in the ninth end. Mouat tried a thin double but could only take out one stone, and the 2014 champions took three to lead 8-6 into the final end.

Jacobs’ final stone drifted out to ensure the deficit wasn’t as bad, with Canada aiming for four, but the grimaces on cousins McMillan and Hardie’s faces said it all. Lammie slapped his brush head onto the next rink. From a position of strength, Britain were fading badly.

The pattern of play at least meant Britain had the hammer in the 10th. A lone bagpipe player – having smuggled the instrument past security – tried a jaunty tune to perk them up, but the largely GB-supporting crowd – who had been so raucous at the start – were beginning to deflate.

The house was rapidly crammed with stones, and a fine shot by Kennedy left Canada lying two up with one stone remaining.

A perfectly angled shot by Hardie cleared both the yellows but Jacobs responded in kind, leaving GB on the brink of defeat.

And with the house cleared Mouat’s final stone wasn’t enough. A broad smile broke out on Kennedy’s face as the teams shook hands. Canada leapt into each others arms while Mouat waved, a sad smile on his face, to the Tartan Army up in the stands.

The flag-waving faithful cheered them off regardless, but it was heartbreak again for Team Mouat, who remain without the one trophy they crave the most. The best team in the world, bar once every four years.

The deadly complication of measles that killed my daughter 45 years on

When Sarah Walton caught measles at nursery at just 11 months old, she was too young to get the vaccine that could have protected her from the life-threatening vrius.

She recovered well and didn’t suffer any serious illness, but 25 years later she developed a rare and “devastating” brain condition called subacute sclerosing pan-encephalitis (SSPE), which is caused by a mutation of the measles virus.

After 20 years spent “battling” the condition, which eventually robbed her of her ability to walk, talk and even swallow, Sarah died last year at the age of just 45.

Now, as the latest outbreak of the potentially fatal virus takes hold in northeast London, Sarah’s mother, Jo Walton, is urging parents to get their children vaccinated with the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) jab.

Ms Walton, said: “Sarah’s, fondest hope, when she discovered how ill she was, was that nobody else would go through what she was going through. I am so sad to discover that there have been all these cases of SSPE since Sarah’s death… it’s a pointless illness. It is an illness that doesn’t need to happen. It’s an illness that shouldn’t be happening in the 21st century.”

“Measles can be fatal in itself. Measles can cause encephalitis (swelling of the brain), it can cause lifelong disabilities. Measles can cause devastating neurological illness, like what Sarah had. It is so awful watching your child go backwards, and it doesn’t matter how old that child is.

“It is possible to stop your child or other children dying as a result of [measles], so I hope our experience will serve as a warning to parents. Measles is evil, and it should be vaccinated against.”

Sarah’s story comes amid national concern in the UK over decreased uptake of the measles vaccine, which has fuelled an outbreak in Enfield, with more than 60 cases linked to several schools and a nursery.

SSPE affects 1 in 50,000 cases of natural measles, and according to data from the UK Health Security Agency, since 2009, three children and three adults have died from the condition. It is caused by a mutated measles virus, and typically occurs five to 15 years post-infection, primarily in children.

Sara was born in 1979, and Jo recalls that she was “a bit of a whirlwind”. She said: “She had to do everything at a million miles an hour. She hit all the milestones really early. She was walking by the time she was nine months, and she was rolling across the floor.”

But when she was 11 months old – too young to have had the MMR vaccine that is given to children aged over 12 months – she caught measles after attending nursery, where there were a number of cases circulating. Sarah recovered fully, her mother recalled, and didn’t suffer any acute illness.

For the next two decades, she lived a healthy life and “excelled at everything she did”, including music and sports – she was captain of a hockey team.

Later she studied at St Andrews University in Scotland, and began a midwifery course at Kings College London. However, halfway through the course, at the age of 25, Sarah began to notice stroke-like symptoms, and went to the doctor.

Jo said: “She’d lose words, she’d do buttons up wrong, she’d put the washing machine on without any washing powder in it. One of her legs used to give way on a regular basis, so she’d fall, and she couldn’t drink a cup of tea because her hand would suddenly jerk.”

In September 2004, Sarah and her parents received the shocking news that she had SSPE.

Jo said: “I had no idea what SSPE was. [The doctor] explained that it was a very rare, but devastating, complication of the measles virus. He was also very clear that it was not something that you could treat – it was terminal.”

Two months later, in November 2004, Sarah went into hospital after experiencing “massive events of pain”, and her life was never the same again.

“She was walking, she was talking, she was eating. Five weeks later, on 2 December, she came out, she was unable to move, she was unable to speak and she was unable to swallow,” Jo said.

From then onwards her parents took care of her at home with nursing support. She died in her father Mark’s arms on 26 February 2025.

Her mother said: “She deserved her wings. She had fought really hard to stay with us for 20 years, and despite her devastating illness and devastating disabilities, her personality never left her. We miss her every single day and night.”

Measles usually starts with cold-like symptoms, followed by a rash a few days later. Some sufferers may also get small spots in their mouths.

The rash starts on the face and behind the ears before spreading to the rest of the body. The NHS advises parents to seek advice from 111 or their GP if they think their child might have measles.

The charity Encephalitis International is also running a campaign, called Flames, to help increase public awareness of the symptoms of the condition, which include:

Gisèle Pelicot says trial was for all sexual violence survivors

Gisèle Pelicot has said her trial was for all sexual violence survivors as she opened up about the women gathered at court who “gave her strength” in a moving conversation.

The 73-year-old was speaking at the UK launch of her powerful memoir, A Hymn to Life, which details the harrowing ordeal she suffered after discovering her then-husband drugged then raped her while unconscious, along with dozens of men he had recruited online.

In the book, written with journalist Judith Perrignon, Ms Pelicot opens up about the moment she decided to waive her anonymity and have a public trial, paving the way for France’s most shocking mass rape case, and changing the world for sexual offence survivors with her calls for shame to change sides.

Speaking at the Southbank Centre in London on Friday, Ms Pelicot said the women who gathered in greater and greater numbers outside the courthouse in Avignon throughout the trial help her find the strength to endure its duration, after initially only planning to stay for two weeks of the three months.

“It gave me an enormous amount of strength,” she said. “I had to stay there, we were really connected.”

She revealed that she did not read the news at all during that period, and has not really since, but instead chose to end each harrowing day at court by reading the letters sent to her from women around the globe who shared their stories of survival.

“This actually gave me strength,” she said. “It wasn’t just my own trial, but a trial for all these women who went through sexual violence.”

The event, chaired by Ms Ahmed, included moving readings from the new book, which went on sale on Tuesday, by actors Juliet Stevenson, Dame Kristin Scott Thomas and Kate Winslet.

In her memoir, Ms Pelicot recalls the moment her “brain shut down” as police told her what her then-husband Dominique Pelicot and the 50 other attackers had done to her. The men were jailed for a total of 428 years in 2024 after 47 of them were found guilty of rape, two were found guilty of attempted rape, and two were found guilty of sexual assault.

Ms Ahmed and Ms Pelicot discussed the around 20 further attackers that investigations suggested are yet to be identified, on top of the 51 men who were convicted.

Asked if there is hope of finding them, Ms Pelicot said: “No, I don’t think so. Sometimes I fear these individuals could continue committing crimes. Maybe they’ll be caught one day. But unfortunately, I don’t know. Maybe life will give a helping hand to arrest these individuals one day.”

Ms Pelicot referred to the trial of the 51 men who were found as “the trial of cowardice” because “none of them admitted they’d done anything wrong”.

She also expressed her sympathy for the families of the perpetrators whose “lives are shattered forever”. “There was not just one victim, there were 51 victims,” she said.

She opened up about how the horrific ordeal her own family had been put through had “really pushed us apart”. She said: “This trauma didn’t bring us together. It’s not true that trauma necessarily brings family together.”

Speaking of how she has tried to make sense of how her supposedly loving husband of 50 years could do what he did to her, Ms Pelicot described him in similar terms to how psychologists did during the trial: “As a man split in two.”

“I tried to bring him into the light, but he has this dark side,” she said. “It’s intolerable. It’s unacceptable. This shattered our family, our lives were absolutely shattered.”

There is a brief moment in the book when she writes of the moment she considered “ending it all”. But she said on Friday: “This was only a momentary thought. I thought no. I have to continue. It was important to face up to reality. I had some sort of strength inside.”

It is this remarkable ability of Ms Pelicot to find extraordinary strength and courage during even the worst of times that she wants to leave us with.

She told the audience: “Above all, this book is a message of hope. Look at what I’ve gone through, I’m still here. We can go through difficult times. We can get through. I want to, above all, put forward a message of hope.”

She ended by revealing that her plans for the future are simply to live “serenely”. But she added: “I’ll always listen to women who need support. I’ll always be here.”

‘A Hymn to Life’ is published by Bodley Head and is available now.

If you are experiencing feelings of distress, or are struggling to cope, you can speak to the Samaritans, in confidence, on 116 123 (UK and ROI), email jo@samaritans.org, or visit the Samaritans website to find details of your nearest branch.

If you are based in the USA, and you or someone you know needs mental health assistance right now, call or text 988, or visit 988lifeline.org to access online chat from the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. This is a free, confidential crisis hotline that is available to everyone 24 hours a day, seven days a week. If you are in another country, you can go to www.befrienders.org to find a helpline near you.

Why this forgotten corner of Manchester could signal a turning point in UK politics

Gorton and Denton is a constituency of two halves.

On the east, the Gorton side, there are diverse suburbs of the city of Manchester, which are home to large student and Muslim populations.

Denton meanwhile, located in the borough of Tameside, is a largely working-class post-industrial town and has a much older population, who are almost 91 per cent white. Once a hive of textile production and coal mining, it has – like many towns in the North West – borne the brunt of deindustrialisation.

These two very different areas make up the country’s 15th most deprived seat, where the challenges of living in modern Britain are laid bare. The neighbouring areas share a sense of disappointment, verging on anger.

Voters in the constituency will go to the polls for a crunch by-election on Thursday – one which could bring the curtain down on Sir Keir Starmer’s premiership and have a lasting impact on the makeup of British politics.

This constituency –and its previous iterations – has long been a brick in Labour’s Red Wall. Even when Boris Johnson convinced so many lifelong Labour voters to back his Conservative Party, with a promise to “get Brexit done”, voters here remained loyal to the region’s political traditions.

But the disillusionment felt among its residents could herald a new political era, redefining the age-old battle between the left and right.

Now retired, then-Labour MP Andrew Gwynne was elected with a 13,000 vote majority at the 2024 general election – ahead of Reform UK and the Green Party in second and third.

Those runners-up now have the seat well and truly in their sights. Labour has everything to lose and faces a fierce fight to hold on.

Voters have told The Independent they feel let down by Sir Keir’s government. They think they have already been forgotten about by a party that this constituency has always been loyal to, and helped elect 19 months ago.

There is no love lost for the prime minister, and the decision to block the popular Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham from standing as the Labour candidate went down badly.

Taxi driver Muhammed Basharat, 61, from Levenshulme on the Gorton side, said he will be voting for the Green Party, partly due to disappointment with Labour.

“They let down many people – the tax rises, they cut benefits, there are many things they are doing,” he said.

“The people are not happy. You speak to people in the street, the British people, they’re not happy with them.”

Mobile hairdresser Caterina Pandolfo, 65, said there was a feeling that Gorton and Denton had been “forgotten”. “I think it’s quite sad”, she said. “It’s got worse.” She hoped a Labour government could go some way to addressing that, but doesn’t believe it has.

She said: “I don’t think he’s doing very well at all, Keir Starmer, sadly. He could have done so much.”

Over in Denton, lifelong Labour voters John Harrison, 71, and Sheila Harrison, 69, said they would not vote for the party again.

Sheila, who described Britain as “broken”, said Sir Keir doesn’t represent towns like hers, though she would have voted for Mr Burnham.

For John, it’s a case of broken promises.

“Labour isn’t really doing what you know they said that it was going to do in the manifesto,” he said, adding that he feels let down by the government.

Despite that, one change in the Labour Party could win them back. “I would have voted for Andy Burnham,” John said.

He said Mr Burnham has more personality and is able to connect with northern voters. He believes the Greater Manchester mayor is on his side in a way that Sir Keir, who he describes as “aloof”, is not. Sheila would agree,

Hoping to take advantage of this feeling of abandonment in a Labour heartland are Reform UK candidate – GB News presenter Matthew Goodwin – and the Green nominee Hannah Spencer.

The Independent requested an interview with Mr Goodwin and contacted Reform for comment.

The Independent has revealed that Mr Goodwin suggested people who don’t have children should be taxed extra as punishment in an unearthed blog post and called for women and young girls to be given a “biological reality” check, as he gave his views on how Britain should tackle its impending “fertility crisis”.

Polling suggests Mr Goodwin is expected to perform well in Denton, while support for plumber and councillor Ms Spencer in Gorton is evident from the posters and signs on display.

Ms Spencer believes that the by-election is the beginning of a battle between a new left and right in British politics – now represented by her party and Nigel Farage’s Reform in place of Labour and the Conservatives.

“I think people are rejecting that old system of two-party politics and looking for an alternative,” she told The Independent.

“What’s happened in the last couple of years shows that change in the political system can happen quite quickly.”

Ms Spencer believes this has been exacerbated by Labour’s bruising time in power. Though the party has seen a recent uptick in national opinion polls, it still trails to Reform, and the prime minister’s approval ratings remain low.

“At the last general election, it felt like it was one last chance that Labour were being given,” she said, adding: “They ran under a banner of change, and has anything actually changed?”

That feeling is particularly acute in an area like this, Ms Spencer believes.

She said: “I think it hurts harder, when you feel like you’ve fallen for the person who was going to help you.”

Labour’s candidate, councillor Angeliki Stogia, insisted a vote for anyone but her could hand the seat to Mr Goodwin as she defended her party’s record in government.

She said: “In terms of Reform, we’re fighting every door. We’ve got policies, we’re listening to residents on the ground and what they want, and what they want is real action.

“They don’t want shouting from the sidelines. The real issues that people are bringing forward are cost of living, issues that surround the neighbourhoods and communities.”

“I am the best person to deliver on that,” she added.

As for criticism of the government’s record, she said: “I understand that, and the prime minister has said that we need to go faster and we need to go deeper in terms of delivering these changes.

“We’ve been in government for 18 months. Things take a lot of time to change.”

Last May, just 35 miles away in Runcorn and Helsby, Reform’s Sarah Pochin was elected by a margin of just six votes. There is a suggestion that Labour and the Green Party could split the vote on the left here and open the door for Reform to win another seat in the region.

But asked if the two parties could forge a progressive alliance, Ms Spencer was not interested.

“I don’t view them as a progressive force at all,” she said.

“I think they’re so far removed from what they ever were, that I find it really hard to see how, even with making some changes, they would be someone that we would work with.”

Instead, she believes her party leader Zack Polanski should have his eyes on Downing Street.

“I think it is definitely possible that at the next general election we could be looking at a Green government,” she said.

“I think we’ve shown in the last six months, the amount of new members that we’ve got that have joined, the amount of people that are coming out to help in elections like this shows that there’s a real appetite for change.”

What Ms Spencer and Ms Stogia do agree on, however, is Reform. Asked about the possibility of Nigel Farage’s party winning in this constituency, Ms Stogia said: “I think that people’s voices are not going to be listened to.

“I think that division will take root in our communities, and I think that a Reform MP is not going to lean in and listen and work with communities to resolve issues in the area.”

For Ms Spencer, a vote for the Greens is one for “hope”, rather than “division” with Reform.

“It’s a really diverse constituency with different people from a lot of different backgrounds, but with a shared value of looking after each other,” she said.

“It’s a very Greater Manchester thing that people do just muddle along, even if you sometimes believe in slightly different things, like you do look after each other.”

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London Bridge attack hero sacked by police for using ‘p*key’ slur

A police officer who was among the first on the scene of the 2017 London Bridge terror attack has been fired for gross misconduct.

Detective Constable Mark Luker of the British Transport Police used the word “p*key” in WhatsApp messages about Gypsy, Roma, and Traveller people.

In one message, he used the term “dags” – a reference to the film Snatch, in which one character struggles to understand another’s accent when he mentions dogs, a misconduct panel heard.

In another message, the panel was told, he referred to “scrap metal, lead roofing and cable”, which he accepted was a joke to associate the Irish Traveller community with theft.

The panel concluded that Mr Luker probably knew that the language was “offensive” to a minority community and ruled it gross misconduct.

The officer was a member of a WhatsApp group called ‘Selbie Gumshoes’ with other members of the Major Serious and Organised Crime (MSOC) team, the panel heard.

On 31 December 2024, during a conversation about someone winning a bottle of whiskey which still had a security tag attached, he wrote: “Was this a raffle on a certain kind of site? Lots of mobile type homes? Lots of ‘Dags’”, the panel was told.

He then added: “You are the MSOC p*key liaison.”

The panel found that these were “deliberate messages, that clearly link the Irish Traveller community to acts of theft”.

It added that the use of the word “dags” in the messages was “derogatory” as it refers to a scene in Snatch where a Gypsy character’s accent is “mocked”.

On 17 March 2025, another group member shared a video of “Paddy Day parade on Inishbofin”, with the message: “Just like a Disney World Parade. They know how to put on a show,” the panel heard.

Mr Luker replied: “Off to find some scrap metal, lead roofing and cable”, the panel was told.

The panel concluded that this was “deliberate and discriminatory” in linking the Gypsy, Roma and Traveller community to theft.

On 27 March 2025, he used the word “p*key” again, which the panel found to be “disrespectful”.

Mr Luker said that he was one of the first responders to the 2017 terrorist attack on London Bridge and one of his coping mechanisms for dealing with the day can involve the use of humour.

He said he did not intend for the word “p*key” in the messages to be offensive.

The panel accepted that DC Luker is not “inherently racist”.

However, it wrote: “As an experienced BTP police officer used to dealing with a whole range of people, the panel found that, on the balance of probabilities, he probably would have known that this was an especially offensive use of language directed towards members of a minority community.”

Ireland roll back the years to leave England with huge questions

The reports of Ireland’s demise have clearly been greatly exaggerated. This was a performance reminiscent of their pomp that seemed to defy the circumstance, a record win over England at Twickenham that challenged so many of the assumptions made about both. No country for old men? There is life, and lots of it, left in this Irish band of brothers.

The verdant past of back-to-back Six Nations crowns may yet be beyond Ireland but here was a throwback showing of golden autumnal hue. Andy Farrell had backed his tried and trusted to hit the levels they had failed to of late and got what he had demanded. Ponderous? Plodding? Leggy after the Lions? Not so here: Jamison Gibson-Park fizzed with a vitality Ireland lacked in Paris on the opening night. Tadhg Beirne made mischief and menace and Stuart McCloskey stood tall to reduce English oak to acorns. For others, this was an international coming-of-age, wings Robert Baloucoune and Tommy O’Brien among them. An assured showing from Jack Crowley should make the No 10 shirt his for the foreseeable future. “It’s a special day, 100 per cent, to come here and perform like that,” Farrell said of his side. “We’re obviously delighted with that.”

The only trouble for Farrell’s beaming team in green is that their title hopes may well rest on England beating France in Paris. It is a scenario that feels fanciful after this. For as good as Ireland were, the hosts simply wilted in the face of their pressure to raise deeper questions about their direction.

If their performance against Scotland could be dismissed as something of an aberration on a day luck did not go their way, there was no rub of the green, really, for Ireland here. Excepting the scrum – how was the play, Mrs Lincoln? – the visitors were better in every facet.

“It was bitterly disappointing,” Steve Borthwick conceded after a chastening day. “Huge credit to Ireland, they took their chances, their kicking game was excellent. Unfortunately, for two weeks now, we have given ourselves a mountain to climb, given the opposition too many points and we have not got scoreboard presence. We will be looking closely at that and how I set the team up to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

It had been Maro Itoje to lead England out, just the ninth man to reach a century of caps for his country, a great statesman and great player emerging with the understated calm and confidence that has defined him over a decade. A look to the heavens, perhaps in memory of his mother, and England’s captain was down to business.

Borthwick and his squad had expressed frustration about their lacking physicality in the opening Edinburgh skirmishes, and there was a real punch to their first few carries, Freddie Steward hurling himself into the Irish line and Joe Heyes soon after. But a poor kick from George Ford squandered possession, before the eagerness to atone manifested itself in three sloppy, hurried set-pieces. An offside penalty in the English 22 granted the recalled Crowley the chance to open the scoring and settle any nerves.

The hosts, meanwhile, carried a certain skittishness, a coltish feel they had seemed to shed during their long winning run. Ford, unbelievably, twice missed touch with punted penalties, while Steward and Ellis Genge fumbled within five metres of the line after sustained series deep in Irish territory.

When Ireland at last got a chance to attack, they seized their chance. It looked all too easy for Baloucoune and O’Brien – on early for an injured James Lowe – to make metres in open acreage down the right, and England didn’t appropriately reform when the visitors went away to the left. Tom Curry cynically came in at the side to stem the flow; Gibson-Park tapped the resultant penalty quickly and zipped into the corner.

For a second week running, bad for England soon became worse. O’Brien took a steepling kick on the left and Stuart McCloskey strode away from Ollie Lawrence up the centre. A superb cover tackle from Steward was immediately cancelled out by his diving over the top of the ruck; off he went to the sin bin after Baloucoune finished it off. Like Irish thoroughbreds rounding the bend at Cheltenham, the wing pair were soon at it again, with O’Brien this time the scorer in the left corner.

It was all too much for some. Referee Andrea Piardi departed with an injury and neither Luke Cowan-Dickie nor Steward made it to half time, hooked as Borthwick sought emergency solutions – or perhaps locked the stable door. Even when England did finally register, through Fraser Dingwall on the stroke of the interval, it felt like heavy treading, a phase or five too many required to break Ireland apart.

The visitors, by contrast, found plenty of pasture. Caelan Doris was next to have a gallop as the travelling support sang of the fields of Athenry. His break forced an infringement under the posts, for which Henry Pollock was shown yellow, and Dan Sheehan soon provided the finishing touches. England grew petulant: Itoje warned about his tone, Jack van Poortvliet conceding 10 metres with backchat.

Again, it appeared the game was long gone before the final quarter that England had come to command during their 12 consecutive wins. A neatly worked Ollie Lawrence try, and accompanying yellow card for Jamie Osborne, instilled some fading faith, but it did not last long, two strikes of Crowley’s right boot adding to the advantage and all but killing home hopes.

When a returned Osborne punched over 10 minutes from time, there were sprouts of green all around, and Englishmen and women stumbled for the exit. Itoje – another off early even on his milestone day – wore a face of stone, like plenty of others. Even at the last, Ireland were scrambling back hard, McCloskey hauling down Marcus Smith to showcase his impressive speed, Baloucoune bundling Tommy Freeman towards touch. “It looked like we were hunting people down throughout the game,” Farrell said.

Sam Underhill’s late try varnished a home performance for the scrapheap, yet still a record margin of defeat to Ireland here remained. Itoje’s 100th Test would have been among the most painful. Where do England go next?