I was well prepared to give the new coalition a go, admits Shirley Tart. We knew there would have to be compromise, but couldn’t that be for the good and a move away from extremism, right or left?

This spiralling burden of debt had to be halted and a realistic balance sheet sorted, so Michael Gove’s decision to close the £55 billion programme to rebuild all 3,500 state-funded secondary schools in England by 2023 calling it bureaucratic and wasteful, may have been predictable.

But scrapping school rebuilding projects led to pictures of decaying buildings and children talking emotively of classrooms too cold in winter and too hot in summer. They might have been like that in our day, but this is their day and no longer acceptable.

After a government setting up breathtaking spending plans without the money to pay, a more prudent exchequer was always going to be unpopular.

But as we also hear that pay for bosses at Britain’s top 100 companies has risen to an average £3.1 million a year, you can see why comparisons start to look odious.

***

What on earth was Coalition Andy (health minister Andrew Lansley) thinking to dismiss Jamie Oliver’s heroic efforts to get schoolchildren on to healthier eating? Of course there was resistance; that sort of change takes a generation to become the norm rather than just the efforts of one persuasive guy. But there was progress. So no wonder chef Jamie was furious and accused the health minister of summing up eight years hard work in a ‘few lines for the sake of a headline’.

Not only is he wrong, says Jamie, but has insulted the hard work of hundreds of thousands of dinner ladies, teachers, head teachers and parent helpers simply trying to feed school children nutritious, hot meals.

Own goal, Andy!

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Sorry, Front Bench, but there is also old favourite Ken Clarke with his lively attack on the ‘bang-’em-up’ prison culture of the past 20 years. The justice secretary’s speech to the Centre for Crime and Justice Studies is seen as a major attack on the former Tory creed that ‘prison works’ while Lib Dems think it probably doesn’t. The new Clarke doctrine was believed to be causing nervousness in Downing Street. I’ll bet. And total confusion among everyone else. By the way, Ken: if you don’t use prisons, you’ll have to think of something else. Is a community supervision and training system well in place then? Thought not.

***

To happier matters. Whatever the state of home play or the nation’s wallet, Wimbledon passions never wane. I’ve just had the total attendance figures for the last fortnight. On Sunday, men’s finals day, 32,036 fans checked in, a record for the final Sunday. Overall attendance was 489,946, which is the second highest recorded for 13 days.

And we got a pair of Wimbledon champs – oh yes, we did. Preoccupation with the big boys meant many overlooked the achievement of teenagers Liam Broady and Tom Farquarson who won the boys’ doubles – against another British pair, at that. Game, set and match to tennis.

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And our other talented teen Laura Robson showed maturity off as well as on court. When that daft commentator suggested she was carrying puppy fat, she dismissed him with a well earned ace. Silly man.

***

Football footnote. Alex Ferguson says Wayne Rooney was too crushed by the weight of expectation on his shoulders to live up to his World Cup billing. Never mind: can’t-speak-for-himself Wayne has taken his crushed shoulders to Barbados for a rest. Sigh of relief all round, then.