Peckhamgatecrasher

I recall watching a reality programme (gasp) a few years ago, which took a batch of children who'd all just passed their GCSEs with A and A* grades and put them in a 1950s grammar school setting. Their first task was to sit an exam. None of them passed it. It was the 11+ exam of the time. This seems to suggest dumbing down to me. I can't speak specifically of A Levels, but to bring this up-to-date, my daughter has just completed her fourth year. In exams she was allowed to take in texts (eg, a play) and aide-memoires (eg, hand-drawn pictures to remind her of French and Spanish words). It's not surprising, therefore, if more children pass exams with higher grades.

Great start!

This may be simplistic, but doesn't working in that environment mean you have a higher chance of picking up bugs, etc?

I can honestly say, Brendan has displayed the most exquisite manners I've ever come across in a man under 70.

Not if you're a Chelsea fan!

Black Dog - Led Zeppelin

I wanna make it with you - Bread

What a difference a day makes - Dinah Washington

You're my favourite waste of time - Owen Paul

So sorry, James, I know how devastating it is to lose a pet.

Sloop John B - Beach Boys

When Johnny Comes Marching Home Again - US Military Academy Band

Well, I was only a little girl at the time - I just remember a dog on the front page.

Johnny Reggae - The Piglets

I can hear the grass grow - The Move

After a fashion, when they removed the wishing well.

But the W Well has been tarted up (hem hem) so it's disqualified.

It was the labrador what did it.

Wheel's on Fire - Julie Driscoll

He's a real, nowhere man.

Whitman

Midnight at the lost and found - Meatloaf

Alas, DrDom, it has closed down.

The boys are back in town - Thin Lizzy

What a brilliant blog - well found red devil.