Just asking the question . . .

Not so much why Chris Parry holds the views he does (as they are no doubt par for the course among the swivel eyed lunatics whose company he so clearly keeps), as how the retired Rear Admiral managed to get through six promotion boards holding them.

A new world for the NHS

One of my favourite stories about my late and much loved mother-in-law involved her asking a CPSO (Community Police Support Officer) whether he was a “real policeman”?

Obviously no.

So reading about the government’s latest wheeze to address the entirely avoidable shortage of doctors (and nurses and NHS managers), I thought . . . Well, you’ll know what I thought.

Thank heavens for Boy (and Girl) Scouts . . .

Gone soft?

In his Speccie column this week, Toby Young illustrates how soft the present day public school is by reference to his wife’s experiences at Cheltenham Ladies College 25 years ago.

But that was the least of it. She was forced to sleep in a dormitory that was so cold, in winter she would wake up to find ice on the inside of the windows.

I have news for Toby. He had better not come and stay here, as we invariably wake up on winter mornings with ice on the inside of the windows – except when we have the windows open.

But then we went through the system some 50 years ago, and have had much longer to get used to it.

Tugging one’s forelock

Telegraph sub-editors sometimes slip one past. In the paper today (though interestingly no trace on-line, so no link) a small piece on the Prince’s Teaching Institute’s schools programme mark. This recognises inspirational ideas to enhance the teaching of English, history, geography etc. And the title of the piece? Prince promotes ‘traditional’ subjects. Well he would, wouldn’t he.

Should I just buy bigger glasses?

I sometimes wonder about the world our politicians and their advisers live in (although as reports of this alternative universe (nearly) always come to me through the media, perhaps a pinch of salt is a necessary accompaniment). I was much taken by this morning’s report (no online link available) G&T at home? Mine’s a double by Kate Devlin in the Telegraph (a quick read of the Telegraph is the alternative to listening to Today on Radio 4, if you like a little irritation to kick-start your day).

Apparently, according to a study conducted for the Government’s Know Your Limits campaign, when pouring drinks at home, we get the measures wrong (i.e. we get carried away and end up drinking much more than we mean to).

What I most liked was the idea that if only we had this pointed out to us, we would start pouring the ‘correct’ amount. What’s the betting that we will soon be able to get optics on the NHS?