Pimp My Schoolgirl

We're all wearily waiting for the annual pictures in the Mail, Telegraph and (last year) even the Guardian of fruity blonde girls celebrating their A-level results, as though ugly, male and minority people never get good grades.

It's lazy journalism, right? Well, not entirely: the fee-paying schools responsible are actually pimping their students to the newspapers for advertising purposes.

"Last year, I received an unsolicited voicemail from the press liaison at Badminton School in Bristol...'wanting to give ...some details of some absolutely beyootiful girls we've got here who are getting their A-level results tomorrow'..."
Meanwhile Cook adds that "Bedales School in Hampshire... supplies photos..."

In one case, the school actually invited journalists to watch a sports match for the purpose of scouting out the prettiest ones ready for results day.

"Most alarmingly, another (very grand) private school invited the FT... to an end-of-year sports event [and] said that watching the girls playing sports would have given... a unique opportunity to pick out promising candidates for A-level day pictures."

That sure feels wrong. Wonder what the parents have to say.