There is much made in the media about the notion of 'upgrading' of results by teachers.
I bow to the superior knowledge of the present Mrs Hughes in this, having taught and been a Deputy Head in the State sector, and a Head in the Private Sector, as well as a GSCE Marker, and an Ofsted (State) and ISI (Private) sector Inspector, she knows more than the average AB'er on this - myself included.
When I can get anything coherent out of her, as her rage continues unabated at the disgraceful way teachers and students have been treated - she confirms that wholesale upgrading is a media myth amply supported by the government who, as successive governments have done, wants to loudly trumpet its distrust in its teachers by asking them to grade, and then ignoring them in favour of an untested computer system.
The fact is, some upgrading does go on, largely in the private sector where pressure is on to maintain good results to maintain a private market in students, based on parents who imagine that their children will automatically be successful on the basis that the parents have paid for their education.
But even there, the upgrading is nothing like as wholesale and distorted as the media and government would like to pretend. There are ample checks and balances in systems for teachers to be accountable for their grading, and anomalies either by school or by individual teacher, will rapidly become apparent.
Teachers are, by definition, not stupid people, and there is nothing to be gained by them over-grading students and sending into academia that is not suited for them, for them to fail.
So the government has had to climb down and give the results that were available back in May, and thousands of students will have taken their downgraded results and got places in their second or third choice of university.
The appalling treatment of teachers and students will go unsanctioned, as these things always do.
Boris will mumble an apology, Williamson will resign if he has any lingering sense of self-respect and dignity, and be fired or shifted if he does not.
Absence of accountability is the single greatest malady that affects our culture and society as a whole, and here we go again - nothing will be done.
If I was a parent or student in this situation, and anyone said to me that 'lessons will be learned ...' I would happily face an assault charge for the punch in the mouth that they so richly deserve.
(I wouldn't really, but the idea feels better than nothing!!)