Put it down to our age but we couldn’t avoid laughing when we talked about assaults on teachers, parents and staff by children aged 5-11. If we lived under the rule of ISIS we could understand it. We’d think hard about challenging even a 5 year old with an AK47. Maybe teacher training should include sessions where they are taught to shout ‘boo’ in a very loud voice! That said, we couldn’t remember problems of this type when we went to school. I’m sure education gurus would tell us that the methods by which we were taught and disciplined restrained our creativity. Maybe that is why we are frequently shocked by the behavior – teachers would call it creativity - of some of the children we see and hear in public places. Ain’t progress wonderful! Oddly enough, five Chinese teachers who worked for a month in one of our local Hampshire schools tend to agree with us. They found many of the children disruptive and unable to concentrate. But what do they know? After all, Chinese schools are only at the top of international ratings for maths, sciences and literacy while the ratings for UK schools is mediocre. The headmaster of the school concerned said he found the lessons delivered by the Chinese teachers boring. Let’s hope their Chinese students aren’t competing for jobs with his students in the not too distant future.   

    Chaotic scenes at Calais as illegal immigrants go for broke and stampede the laughingly named barriers in their attempts to reach the UK.  I have similar fencing at the end of my garden to dissuade deer from eating the roses! Here we are in the 21^st Century and we don’t appear to have the technical competence to stop these marauding bands. We can only assume that political leaders on both sides of the channel find it impossible to differentiate ‘can’t’ from ‘don’t want to’. The technology and materials are available, only the will to take action is missing. That said, an answer lies on our own shores. These immigrants are illegal, hence the adjective. If it were made clear that all illegal immigrants would be returned immediately to their home country, the flood would stop and human rights lawyers would have to seek another way to earn their exorbitant fees. Some hotels would also need to seek holidaying customers that might demand a reasonable level of service.

    With the news that Clarkson and the lads are joining Amazon TV, there should be some decent programmes to watch next year.  Top Gear and Top Gear Light, which one will claim the number one spot. We thought we’d seen it all while JC, Hammond and May were with the BBC, but with bigger budgets and the gloves off they’ll be flying without safety nets next year. Maybe their new show should be named Extreme Gear. The BBC version got our thinking caps on. Chris Evans is on the short side so he’ll find it difficult to find a vertically challenged Hammond lookalike. Maybe he could borrow one of the disruptive kids that assault teachers. And for May we expect a tall, mini-skirted replacement – probably of the opposite gender, but who knows? Let battle commence.

    We like the advice from Jean Monnet University in France.  They say that a fifteen-minute walk five times a week would be life extending for older people. That’s our sort of advice. We worked out that parking at the far end of many of our regular pub haunts would meet the requirement. The improved fitness would probably mean we could stand an extra glass of wine with lunch.

    Scottish education has generally been applauded as high quality but under the SNP we can expect remarkable results in the future.  This year’s higher math’s exam has received flack from students who sat the test. The students took to social media – required reading for politicians – to complain that the test was too difficult when compared to past papers. Their complaints received instant attention. The Scottish Qualifications Authority decided the paper was harder than it should have been and adapted the marking to take this into account.  Their ‘adaptation’ dropped the pass mark to 34%. Students in England will note the change with glee. The lesson – social media can generate significant improvements in your exam grades. Watch next year's results.

    David Cameron is talking tough about the Chilcot report (again) saying he wants a date for publication.  We won’t be holding our breath, Dave. RIP Chilcot.