A row broke out after the education recovery commissioner for England, Sir Kevan Collins, resigned over the lack of "credible" Covid catch-up funding. Sir Kevan took on the role as catch-up tsar in February to develop a long-term plan to help pupils make up for lost learning during the pandemic. But today he stepped down saying the government's funding for the plan "falls far short of what is needed". Head teachers labelled the £1.4 billion cash over three years as a "damp squib". A Downing Street spokesman said: "The prime minister is hugely grateful to Sir Kevan for his work in helping pupils catch up and recover from the effects of the pandemic. "The government will continue to focus on education recovery and making sure no child is left behind with their learning, with over £3 billion committed for catch up so far." With the Government already having spent hundreds of billions of pounds to keep the economy afloat, it would appear that many assume there's a magic money tree which can be shaken at will to meet every demand. And, understandably, there are many asks following an horrendous pandemic and three lock-downs. The Government narrative needs to be far firmer if these requests are not to run riot. This is another reason why the PM must lift all restrictions on 21 June, because we simply cannot go on like this. The asks/demands will only get bigger and bigger and therefore more unaffordable as our debt increases. And, talking of returning to life as we knew it, the UK's latest coronavirus data looks encouraging, a government adviser said, amid a debate over whether to end restrictions in England on 21 June. Sir John Bell, part of the government's vaccine task-force, said there needed to be "balance" to the discussion. The PM has reiterated that nothing in the data suggested the next stage of lifting lock-down could not go ahead. Speaking on Wednesday, Boris Johnson said he remained cautious, as it was unclear how protected the population would be against a new surge. Another horrific incident of racism and violence occurred in Birmingham when a 14-year-old boy was chased and stabbed to death. Police said he'd been racially abused before the attack. Six people were arrested, including two teenagers, on suspicion of the teenager's murder. In a tribute, Dea-John's family said he was an "incredibly talented young boy".