The mystery man quoted in the title is none other than David Cameron, head of the British Conservative party.

It isn’t that Cameron likes the ineffeciency, social conflict, and unresponsiveness to parents that often characterize state schooling. It’s that he “would like to see… choice and autonomy and diversity in the state sector.”

I would like to see winged-gazelles, sunny winters in Seattle, and a brilliant remake of The Thin Man series.

We’ll both be waiting a good long time.

Surely the Conservative party has a competent economist who could explain to Mr. Cameron why state schools tend to lack the features we take for granted in the free enterprise sector, and that by nationalizing more of Britain’s independent schools he would simply shrink the number that enjoy the freedoms and incentives responsible for efficiency, diversity, and responsiveness to families.