More than 400 people are currently working at Union Railways and are due to be transferred to the successful

More than 400 people are currently working at Union Railways and are due to be transferred to the successful bidder to build the link as soon as the announcement is made.Although Union Railways attempted to play down the affair, saying that only small amounts of money were involved, the decision to call in the auditors and the fact that Sir George is being kept apprised of the situation suggests that the matter is being taken very seriously.A source close to Union Railways said: "They are involved in a lot of purchasing. The mix of publishing, entertainment and financial services makes no more commercial sense than MAI's conglomerate structure, which has made Lord Hollick's company, too, a candidate for breakup Pearson has done a good deal, and should be congraluated. To have to leave suddenly and go to a place where people might not understand me would be a very traumatic time for me."It has been quite a huge struggle to get this far. Agencies handling advance ticket sale are reported to be astonished at demand.. CHRISTIAN WOLMAR Transport Correspondent A fraud inquiry has been launched at Union Railways, the government-owned company which designed the pounds 3bn Channel tunnel rail link.Price Waterhouse, Union Railways' auditor, has been asked to investigate purchasing procedures at the Croydon-based company after John Armitt, the managing director, learnt of "improper processes".The investigation casts doubts over whether next week's scheduled announcement of the allocation of the contract to build the 68-mile line linking London's St Pancras station with the Channel tunnel can go ahead.Union Railways' chairman, Jim Butler, refused to say how long the investigation would take but its timing, just days before the announcement of what will be Britain's largest civil-engineering project since the Channel tunnel itself, could not be worse.Mr Butler said in a statement that Sir George Young, the Secretary of State for Transport, was being kept informed about the situation.The revelation of the inquiry is yet another embarrassment to the Government in its rail privatisation programme following the fraud inquiry which halted the handover of the London, Tilbury and Southend line to its management buy-out team only hours before the transfer was due to take place on Sunday morning.The investigation into that affair continued yesterday following the suspension of five staff and the resignation of the company's commercial director.Union Railways was taken out of British Rail's hands a year ago and is now a government company being prepared for privatisation.

The exhibition likely to break all previous records for British art shows was yesterday overwhelmed by devotees offered a sneak preview and forced to keep its doors open late, writes James Cusick. Friends of the Tate, the elite fans who qualify for private showings, turned up in their thousands and queued for up to two and half hours to see the new Cezanne exhibition which officially opens at the central London gallery today. Afraid of breaking the rules, many schools don't call Christmas "Christmas"; usually it becomes the "Winter Holiday" or "Yuletide break".. This correspondent's five-year-old, for instance, was given a painting project relating to King that now decorates his bedroom.Where the arguments arise, however, is over the place of religion in schools and the extent to which political correctness has been taken too far.There was fury several months ago, for instance, when a panel of experts proposed a new history curriculum which openly de-emphasised "white males" like Washington and Lincoln, and focused on the history of ethnic groups.Conservatives are similarly restive about the constitutional requirement that all religious worship be kept out of the schools.Children can be taught what Christmas means, but any hint of classroom participation in the holiday is illegal. From kindergarten age, pupils in the public-education system must start every day by rising to their feet, placing their right hands on their hearts, and reciting the "Pledge of Allegiance" to the flag.However, now there is heated debate about how educators in a country so huge and diverse as the US should best give children some common awareness of its history, society and culture.For younger children, in particular, great emphasis is placed on learning about moments in American history and commemorating them, especially those marked by national holidays, like Thanksgiving, President's Day and Martin Luther King Day.

DAVID USBORNE New York If Britain were America, its schools would look a little different. A list of their favourite music and literature includes Elgar, Coolio, Thomas Nashe, The Levellers and Phil Collins.Obviously, none of the pupils would prefer to wade through Chaucer than to watch Brad Pitt in Seven Quentin Tarantino is a "god", and beats the Bard hands down. The Union Flag would be raised outside each morning and the children would begin the day with some expression of loyalty to the state, presumably a chorus of God Save the Queen, and All Things Bright and Beautiful would never be heard.The Stars and Stripes is the prime symbol through which America tries to instil a sense of national unity, if not plain nationalism, in its schoolchildren. "Romeo and Juliet, Ricky and Bianca - it's just the same," says one boy.Getting these children to accept the ruling that Schubert is artistically superior to Blur will not be easy.. None of the pupils know any of the words to Jerusalem although most can sing Oasis' Wonderwall.The eight have nothing against the old, but they want to study the new as well.

And this is where they clash with Dr Tate and his campaign against cultural relativity. Some old stuff is good, he says - "like that story about Icarus" - while his favourite authors are H G Wells and Stephen King.A straw poll of eight pupils aged 13 to 17 reveals that Matthew's view is more common. But his friend, Matthew Bristow, explains that it is the mix that is important. But what do the Government's model pupils make of the curriculum adviser's "big ideas"? "They're not changing it again, are they?" asks Vitina Guagenti who, at 17, has been schooled against a backdrop of educational change. "We've only just got used to the last lot."Paul Getley, a 15-year-old rap fan, is not impressed by the back-to-classics approach which would make Schubert intrinsically better than Blur. But such study could reinforce messages from Western traditions - in morality, for example.All school leavers should know that the Chinese were writing sophisticated poetry centuries before Christ and about the artistic and literary heritage of India. A comprehensive, Sandringham teaches Shakespeare, a code of ethics and evening classes in Latin.

ROS WYNNE-JONES Sandringham School, St Albans, is one of the schools inspectors commended last week as outstanding. "The best guarantee of minority cultures is a strong majority culture which values itself and which signals that traditions and customs are worthy of respect.". We should try to agree on the aim that young people should be helped to develop a sense of civic or national identity.Dr Tate said: "The curriculum needs to be firmly and proudly based on a cultural heritage. It has its roots in Greece and Rome, in Christianity and in the many-sided traditions of European civilisation." It should give young people a sense of past achievements and to help them see the relevance of those to the present day, he said.In the past, young people had not been taught enough about the richness of other cultures. "I am not suggesting that young people should spend all their time studying Jane Austen and Shakespeare or listening to Bach and Mozart," he said.