QUENTIN LETTS: Lucy Powell's speech was 20 minutes of patronising banality. You could have set it in an A-level English paper, asking: 'What, if anything, is this person trying to say?'

Daily Mail - Oct 16, 2026

Lucy Powell, Education Secretary, gave a speech about the importance of clear communication. She was as clear as public-lavatory glass.

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Dog owners will have to wash their pets' urine from trees under new rules in Vienna

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I sunbathed in my teens - will I get skin cancer? Experts reveal how long the danger lasts after you stop tanning, whether your skin can repair itself... and the REAL risk of the occasional beach holiday

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CCTV image appeal after thieves steal £10k aircon units in Altrincham

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QUENTIN LETTS: The public inquiry gravy train. Once they were rare and businesslike. Now 63 have been launched in the last two decades

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Newton Heath murder LIVE as new forensic tent erected in massive cordon after woman, 26, killed

Alisha Samuels was stabbed to death in Newton Heath

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Oregon gunman fired shotgun at pickup truck before storming into school and killing three children ages 5, 8 and 11 and teacher

The teenage gunman who shot and killed three children and a teacher at an Oregon elementary school on Thursday is said to have earlier opened fire at a pickup truck.

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Education Secretary is told children will be the losers after she said 'speaking skills' will be as important as reading and writing in new plans for GCSEs

Education Secretary Lucy Powell was told 'children will be the losers' after she announced 'speaking skills' will become just as important as reading and writing in GCSE assessments.

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River in 'world's most beautiful village' to be fenced off from tourists amid fears hordes of summer paddlers are harming wildlife

Thousands of visitors descended on Bibury, a picturesque Cotswolds village, over the summer, with many heading to the River Coln to enjoy the water.

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Trump's new press secretary Katie Zacharia defends calling herself a 'lawyer' despite failing the bar exam and breaks her silence on disastrous White House debut

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Teen gunman used shotgun purchased by mother to kill three children and teacher inside Oregon elementary school

A 16-year-old shooter in Oregon used a pump-action shotgun bought by his mother as he opened fire on Silver Rail Elementary School on Thursday, police said.

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Mother of Henry Nowak's killer is to be freed from prison under Labour's early release scheme - after she was locked up for removing murder weapon

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QUENTIN LETTS: Lucy Powell's speech was 20 minutes of patronising banality. You could have set it in an A-level English paper, asking: 'What, if anything, is this person trying to say?'

ANDY JEHRING: My night with elite Ukrainian special forces whose long-range drones are causing such devastation for Putin that Trump's being accused of sabotaging them

Dog owners will have to wash their pets' urine from trees under new rules in Vienna

I sunbathed in my teens - will I get skin cancer? Experts reveal how long the danger lasts after you stop tanning, whether your skin can repair itself... and the REAL risk of the occasional beach holiday

CCTV image appeal after thieves steal £10k aircon units in Altrincham

QUENTIN LETTS: The public inquiry gravy train. Once they were rare and businesslike. Now 63 have been launched in the last two decades

Newton Heath murder LIVE as new forensic tent erected in massive cordon after woman, 26, killed

Oregon gunman fired shotgun at pickup truck before storming into school and killing three children ages 5, 8 and 11 and teacher

Education Secretary is told children will be the losers after she said 'speaking skills' will be as important as reading and writing in new plans for GCSEs

River in 'world's most beautiful village' to be fenced off from tourists amid fears hordes of summer paddlers are harming wildlife

Trump's new press secretary Katie Zacharia defends calling herself a 'lawyer' despite failing the bar exam and breaks her silence on disastrous White House debut

Teen gunman used shotgun purchased by mother to kill three children and teacher inside Oregon elementary school

Mother of Henry Nowak's killer is to be freed from prison under Labour's early release scheme - after she was locked up for removing murder weapon

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