The whole backlash over the exam algorithm has obviously died down now. But what we must not forget is that the system of moderation was not some anomaly - it was an insight into education. It's a car park with limited spaces. Some spaces are reserved for the 'right' people.

When Swinney argued that the now binned algorithm was required to preserve the 'credibility' of the system, what he meant was that the system authenticates itself by producing inequality.

'The attainment gap' is one of those phrases that obscures what's going on. A bit like the metaphors politicians use to describe the economy (sick patient, storms etc), the term fails to convey the truth - opportunity is distributed within fixed parameters of social class.

We can't have too many kids from schemes becoming vets. We can't have too many poor kids becoming lawyers or surgeons. The algorithm was designed to blindly distribute opportunity upward, irrespective of ability. That wasn't an accident - its written into the economic DNA