When is choice not choice?

Back to this argument over SATS. The Government have said that SATS are essential, because they are used to produce league tables, and league tables are essential as they give parents the information they need in order to make an informed choice of school for their child. Well, that argument would hold at least some water if it were indeed so - but it's not. What's the point of telling me that school A is the best school in my area, if I can't get my child in there? OK, I can put school A down as my first choice school, but as we've discussed time and again on these pages, there is no guarantee that he/she will get a place there, and indeed the higher up the league table the school is, the more people will put it as their first preference, so the less chance I've got. League tables are only useful if indeed they allow me to choose which school to send my child to. Otherwise - to use a phrase beloved of my late father-in-law - they're about as much use as a chocolate teapot!