School uniforms

I WAS intrigued by Duffryn head teacher Jon Wilson’s insistence that in the future all his pupils’ trousers and skirts should be the exact colour grey as that supplied by this chosen supplier, Trutex. After all there are, as he himself affirms, “ a number of shades of grey”. In fact one modern work of literature suggests there may be as many as 50.
Why Trutex, one wonders. Why not one of the far less expensive suppliers such as Asda or Tesco? Mr Wilson’s catchment area is not blessed with all of the resources of Eton or indeed Rougemont, but his “hardship fund” puts one forcibly in mind of the blind segregation of the free school dinners queue. Hardly what one expects of today’s ideal of equality in education.
If, as Mr Wilson says, “black is black” why not opt for that, or does Trutex have the last word? Self-interest and fair dealing are opposites which need not be included here, any may be deemed – dare I say it – a grey area.