Now it is not just the children who cheat at school, but teachers too.

Many have admitted that they 'bend the rules' to help pupils with their coursework results.

I call that lying, don't you?

The rules are that "Coursework must be a student's own original work" and they have to sign a declaration saying that the work is their own.

Teachers also have to sign the declaration to confirm that the work is by the student.

It is said that it is all about the pressure to meet targets.

But is it fair on the pupils, or the examination system?

Isn't it time that coursework evaluation should be dropped from the GCSE?

DIRTY NHS HOSPITALS 'NOT SAFE FOR THE ELDERLY'

A leading public health chief yesterday branded NHS hospitals “dangerous places” for the elderly.

He issued a stark warning that pensioners treated in large hospitals run a high risk of being killed by the MRSA superbug.

Claiming that many hospital staff are lax over hygiene, he condemned Britons for being dirty, with health workers having the same poor standards as the rest of the nation.

Professor John Ashton, North-West Regional Directorof Public Health, said that doctors and nurses shirk soap and water, giving rise to deaths from MRSA.

He said: “A lot of the people affected are elderly, frail people in their 70s, 80s and 90s. At these ages their immune system is not working as well as it should. I would say hospitals are by no means safe places for elderly people.

As a culture we are not good at personal hygiene. Forty per cent of us don’t bother to wash our hands after using the toilet.

“Hospital doctors and nurses are drawn from the communities they serve, so it is no surprise they show exactly the same poor behaviour.”

Professor Ashton added:

“Thirty per cent of health staff don’t wash their hands enough. On a typical shift it should be around 140 times a day.

“Add to that the fact that large hospitals have poor cleaning programmes. In the old days a cleaner was responsible for one particular set of wards and she would ensure it was spic and span.

“Now, with privatised cleaning services, there are large numbers of temporary staff who have no loyalty to a ward or hospital. Some even have restrictions on the amount of cleaning products they can use under the terms of their company’s contract.”

Is the Professor being unfair to hospital staff?

What is your experience?

A leading agricultural show ended in disarray when a young woman performed an impromptu striptease among the cattle lines.

As security officers at the Royal Welsh Show rushed to the scene and tried to restrain her, she was hosed down with water normally used to wash the cattle, preventing them from getting a grip on her.

The stripper ended her table-top performance by throwing her thong into the crowd, which was returned on the end of a pitchfork.

The show in Builth Wells, mid Wales, is a high point of the agricultural calendar, this year attracting a record 240,140 visitors over four days.

The incident happened at a party on Tuesday night held amid cattle lines belonging to breeders from the Welsh Black Cattle Society.

The 102-year-old society, whose patron is the Prince of Wales, said it was outraged at hearing of the "unsavoury" event, and was investigating the claims.

Bob Williams, the society's president, said they were "very concerned and upset" about the incident.

He added that the Prince of Wales "won't be very pleased about it either".

OK - This will be the last posting on obesity.

A house had to be partly demolished to enable the emergency services to take a 52-stone man to hospital.

A fire service crane was used to bring out Nicholas Sturley, 40, after the window and exterior wall of the upstairs bedroom at his home had been knocked out.

Mr Sturley, who was suffering from severe stomach pains and vomiting, was then found to exceed the maximum weight a stretcher could take by 17 stone.

As he was also too large to be transported in an ambulance, a fire engine was used to take him from his home in Lowestoft, Suffolk, to hospital in Gorleston, Norfolk.

Teams of firemen, paramedics, doctors and police officers worked for 13 hours to rescue Mr Sturley after his GP called the emergency services last week to say that he required hospital treatment.

(From a Daily Telegraph article)

Following my article yesterday about "Big In Bed", I thought you might be interested in the above.

It is "The Great Bed Of Ware". (Ware is in Hertfordshire, England.)

The Great Bed of Ware is the most famous and perhaps the oldest bed in the UK. It is now in the Victoria & Albert Museum in London and was bought in 1831 for the national furniture collection.

The bed dates from the reign of Queen Elizabeth I and is mentioned in Shakespeare's 'Twelfth Night'.

It measures 11 feet x 10 feet and was built by a Hertfordshire carpenter, Jonas Fosbrooke.

It was originally at the White Hart Inn at Ware, but it was at the Saracen's Head in the town throughout the early 1800s.

In 1870 it came into the possession of William Henry Teale, the owner of Rye House which he had converted into a pleasure garden. He put the bed on display there and it became a great attraction.

In the 1920s, the pleasure garden began to decline in popularity. Rye House and the Great Bed were then owned by Christie's brewery. The brewery sold the bed in 1928 and three years later it was acquired by the Victoria & Albert Museum.

I don't know whether it was made for one (or two) big people - or many small ones!

However, if you are obese, I don't think you will be getting this one on the NHS.

"NHS HAS TO BUY TOUGHER BEDS TO COPE WITH FAT PATIENTS"

(Newspaper article)

This is another example of the drift towards obesity.

Following the American trend?

"Hospitals are spending thousands of pounds on reinforced beds to accommodate patients weighing more than 40 stone!

Mortuaries are also having to increase the size of fridges in which bodies are stored as figures show that more than two thirds of the UK population are now clinically overweight.

A hospital in Suffolk has been forced to buy a specialist bed that will take a patient weighing up to 71 stone and two operating tables that can take people weighing up to 50 stone."

Very few cases of gross obesity arise from medical conditions.

It is usually just a case of eating too much.

Do you agree?

Matt

I AM AWAY FOR A FEW DAYS.

COLIN

Harrow, one of the world's most famous schools, whose pupils have included seven former British prime ministers (including Winston Churchill) has admitted that one in eight of its pupils starting A-levels failed a basic literacy test.

The school, which charges fees of £23,625 a year, blames the examination system for failing to penalise errors in grammar, punctuation and spelling.

A survey of pupils as they entered the lower sixth form last year found 20 out of 160 failed the literacy test, although almost two-thirds of those who did not pass had gained an A* or A in GCSE English a few months earlier.

Common errors included "disapoint" for "disappoint", "ocurrence" for "occurrence", "principle thing" for "principal thing", "stationary will be issued later today" instead of "stationery" and "passed few days" instead of "past few days". Poor use of the apostrophe led to "We watched it's disappearance" and "the green partys concern".

As I have said so often, the examination system is failing us - with lowered standards giving supposedly good results.

Unfortunately, many "qualified" teachers don't know the basic rules of English grammar either.

And don't get me going on the standards of speech and pronunciation!

But it has all happened before:

As the thermometer nudged 100F in the summer of 1911, an MP in a committee of the House considering the Coal Mines Bill "in rather a hesitating manner removed his coat". Before long, we reported, 20 members were in their shirtsleeves.

Among readers' suggestions for coping with the unrivalled heat that summer was for gentlemen to wear cummerbunds lest apoplexy descend from the head to the stomach.

Matt

If man evolved from monkeys and apes, why do we still have monkeys and apes?

If work is so terrific, how come they have to pay you to do it?

How is it possible to have a civil war?

Is a castrated pig disgruntled?

If you try to fail, and succeed, which have you done?

If the black box flight recorder is never damaged during a plane crash, why isn't the whole airplane made out of the stuff?

If most car accidents occur within five miles of home, why doesn't everyone just move 10 miles away?

Do infants enjoy infancy as much as adults enjoy adultery?

Atheism is a nonprophet organisation.

And whose cruel idea was it for the word "Lisp" to have an "S" in it?

Today I am in my grumpy old pedant mode, with two minor rants:

(1) The "Daily Telegraph" seldom has grammatical errors, but I question this headline to an article in yesterday's issue - "The secret to a 78-year marriage?"

Surely it should be "the secret of"? I think they are confusing it with "the key to".

(2) Yesterday I attended a Golden Wedding Anniversary reception in the village hall of Bursledon, Hampshire and took this photo of a plaque commemorating improvements carried out in 2001:

I wonder how many people using the hall have noticed the mistake?

What do you say?

Is Selfridge's "in" Oxford Street - or "on" Oxford Street?

All of my life I have said "in" but, more and more nowadays, I hear "on".

Once again, I think it is an Americanism that has been adopted into the English language.

Perhaps it is a generational thing and to the young "in" sounds strange.

But, I am OLD.

I even remember the curved outside staircases to the top decks of London red buses - and trams and trolley buses.

P.S. Is it Selfridge's or Selfridges?

And does it matter?

TONY BLAIR will fly off on his summer holiday knowing that on his return he will be the first serving British prime minister to be interviewed by police in a corruption investigation.

(The Times)

"I WAS REFUSED A JOB BECAUSE I'M WHITE"

A history graduate has been rejected for a job in a royal palace because he is white.

Brighton and Hove council told Kieron Keenan he could not apply for the job of trainee museum assistant at The Royal Pavilion because he is not of African, Afro-Caribbean, Asian or Chinese descent.

Mr Keenan, a 23-year-old graduate, said: "It's astonishing. In order to be seen to be less discriminatory towards ethnic groups the council has used a law which is blatantly discriminatory against another ethnic group.

"Apparently it is perfectly legal. I feel very annoyed.

"To get a graduate job in the history field is very hard and I have been automatically barred because of my skin. I am perfectly qualified to do the job.

"I didn't even get the chance to apply because the advert made it clear you could not apply unless you were non-white.

"I couldn't even get as far as filling in the application."

Comments?

BRITONS "SLEEP IN DIRTY DUVETS"

20,000 of these miniscule monsters could be living in your duvet.

Britons are likely to be sleeping under duvets which are riddled with dust mites and dead skin, research shows.

Tests carried out on 10 duvets at the University of Worcester found they held up to 20,000 live house dust mites.

And a survey also revealed two-in-five Britons admitted to not washing duvets every six months.

The worst case was a duvet that had not been washed for 11 years and contained 45g of debris including skin scales and house dust mite faeces.

"This content has serious implications for health as the contaminants can cause symptoms of asthma, rhinitis and conjunctivitis and irritate existing cases of eczema," said Professor Jean Emberlin, director of the university's national pollen and aerobiology research centre, which carried out the research.

Seven of the 10 duvets tested had never been washed - two of which were more than a decade old.

How often do you wash yours?

And what about those in hotel bedrooms?

Matt

I make no apology for returning today to my pedantic views on English Grammar.

Which, if any, of the following is/are correct?

(1) He is a friend of Alan's

(2) He is a friend of the family's

(3) He is a friend of the family

(4) He is a friend of the families

(5) He is a friend of Alan

(6) He is a family friend

(7) He is Alan's friend

(8) The family doctor

(9) The family's doctor

(10)The familie's doctor

(11)The families' doctor

Answer: The three shown in italics are all grammatically INCORRECT.

However, (1) and (2) are so commonly used, even by so-called educated persons, that perhaps they have now become CORRECT!

I always think that "He is a friend of Alan's" begs the question "Alan's what? His dog? His mother?

But I am facing a losing battle. The English language is forever changing and developing.

It's all about communication and being understood.

Grammar doesn't matter any more - or does it?

A woman pumps a fist during a ceremony for the Communist Party of China

Whatever the future holds for the Deputy Prime Minister over the next few days and months, he can at least reflect that a down-at-heel and rather whiffy part of east London will always carry the name of Prescott.

British Waterways announced plans yesterday for a magnificent £15 million lock and flood-control structure on the River Lea, which will be essential to the success of London's Olympic 2012 site. It will be called the Prescott Sluices.

There is already a green tidal channel there - close to where the storm outfall for the East End's sewers enters the river - which has been called the Prescott Channel since it was dug in the 1930s.

Officials from the London Thames Gateway Development Corporation, set up by John Prescott to mastermind a vast growth area along the Thames, revealed by their grins yesterday that the structure will always, for them anyway, be associated with their former boss.

(From BBC News)

It has all been happening at Wimbledon.

First complaints about Miss Sharapova grunting and then a male streaker.

After losing to Miss Sharapova in the women's quarter finals yesterday, her fellow Russian Elena Dementieva complained that it was all a bit too loud. Her problem, though, was how to call in the umpire without looking like a bad loser.

"Personally, I think it's a little bit too much but that's the way she's been playing for a long time," said Miss Dementieva, 24. I think the umpire should maybe step in and come down on her a little bit, but that's just the way she is.

BBC commentators stepped into the debate, with Pat Cash, the former Wimbledon champion, suggesting that the on-court microphones should be turned off.

Miss Sharapova remained defiant. When told about Miss Dementieva's comments, she said: "That's her opinion. I wouldn't change a thing. I've done this ever since I started playing tennis and I'm not going to change."

Security on Centre Court was under review after a streaker carrying out a stunt for Dutch television disrupted the Sharapova-Dementieva match.

Sander Lantinga, 29, a presenter of the Dutch show "Try Before You Die", ran on court wearing nothing but socks and trainers and performed a cartwheel.

He had been sitting two rows from the front and a friend said later that he had queued overnight for tickets and had been wearing an outfit held together with Velcro.

A spokesman for the All England Club said: "It was quickly apparent that the individual posed no threat to players or public and the incident was dealt with summarily and swiftly."

Miss Sharapova, who looked away as the streaker ran past, said afterwards that she had been reassured because security guards had laughed.

Police said the man was cautioned for a minor public order offence.

The Queen examines a sculpture of Prince Charles made by David Cregeen during a visit to the Royal Commonwealth Society in London

"FINGERPRINT SCANDAL OF 700,000 KIDS"
(Daily Mirror headline)

Is it a scandal, or a good idea?

The article continues:

"FURY erupted yesterday after it emerged an estimated 700,000 children are being fingerprinted at school.

Systems in 3,500 primary school libraries allow pupils to take out books by scanning their thumb prints instead of using a card.

But campaigners warn the technology is a massive invasion of privacy and a step towards a "database state".

And there are fears schools having children's fingerprints could lead to the information being stored on government computers with DNA records and personal details.

It is also seen as "softening up" resistance before people are asked for biometric data such as eye-scans to put on compulsory identity cards.

Phil Booth of No2ID said: "Are we sending our kids to school or to prison? We wouldn't accept fingerprinting for adults without informed consent so it is utterly outrageous that children as young as five are being targeted."

But Andy O'Brien, managing director of Micro Librarian Systems which makes the fingerprint systems, insisted there was nothing sinister about the new scanning technology.

He said: "Ultimately, this is completely optional.

"If parents object because they don't like the use of biometrics their children can still use a library card or pin number.

"But this can make libraries a really cool place to go for children.

"We have never had a single parent object to it, the children love it and it solves the problem of lost library cards."

Other schools are increasingly using fingerprints to allow pupils access to premises or even to get into canteens."

What do you think?

Now we are no longer in the World Cup Competition, will all those flags be removed from cars and vans?

And will you take down that huge one hanging from your bedroom window?

Shopkeepers - what are you going to do with all those unsold flags that you stocked to jump on the band-wagon?

Perhaps you will keep them for four years, when we may have a better team.

A West Bromwich couple was told that their wedding reception booked in the local social club hall had been cancelled, because it had been decided to use it to show this afternoon's World Cup match between England and Portugal.

Now another hall has been found and the happy couple hope to celebrate an England win - AFTER their wedding.

How many others will actually be in church during the match?

And how many husbands-to-be have thought of postponing or cancelling the ceremony?

As usual, Matt has a word for it.