Even Sir Michael Barber, once head of Mr Blair's delivery unit, admits the limits of central direction.

ECONOMIST: Reform of the civil service

Mr Blair then handed over to Michael Barber from the Number 10 policy unit who talked about delivering government policy.

BBC: At-a-glance: Blair news conference

On January 6th Professor Michael Barber, its special adviser on education, announced that private firms would be invited to run failing state schools.

ECONOMIST: Schools

The figures for these underperforming schools were revealed by the head of the government's unit for raising standards in education, Michael Barber, at a conference in the United States on failing schools.

BBC: Hundreds of schools 'failing'

Sir Michael Barber, a former adviser to Tony Blair, said that the gathering of this information was the "start of something significant" - providing a practical resource for policy makers wanting to learn from other countries.

BBC: UK education sixth in global ranking

The production, which starred Michael Ball as the demonic barber and Imelda Staunton as the pie-making Mrs Lovett, recently ended a run in the West End.

BBC: Sweeney Todd gets three Theatre Awards UK nominations

The movie, which was written by Gary Young and directed by Daniel Barber, is derivative of revenge films starring Charles Bronson, Mel Gibson, and Clint Eastwood, though Michael Caine, at the age of seventy-seven, is extraordinary.

NEWYORKER: Harry Brown