Some local authorities have resorted to random allocation of school places, which at least is scrupulously fair.

ECONOMIST: Ministers want to make the great schools game harder to play

In reality, parents are allowed to express a preference for a school but children within the catchment area are usually given priority in the allocation of places, assuming the school is non-selective.

BBC: News | Features | Choosing a school: the reality

Last November, a federal appeals court barred the prestigious Boston Latin School from using race as a deciding factor in the allocation of places to pupils.

BBC: News | Education | School race quotas dropped