Interesting couple of weeks, I decided to change to cable broad band , but on the installation day the company decided that they couldn't actually reach the house with the cable, so I had two weeks without e-mail or Internet access, It was like loosing one of my senses. I eventually purchased a mobile broadband in sheer desperation , slow aren't they? Still it did the trick .Interesting piece on the news this morning about the fact that students who are supported by teaching assistants do not do as well as those supported by teachers , and its not because teachers are trained to do the job, its because they don't know how to use teaching assistants . Don't get me wrong I am not against teaching assistants I know very good and able teaching assistants and I have known some pretty dire teachers . But as a lecturer myself I know from my own experiences that training alerts you to tools and techniques that however naturally good at teaching(or otherwise) you are you would never think of . I am going into "old fart " mode now , Why is it in this country we train doctors ,nurses , teachers to do a job , Then decide that things that they are not prepared for (usually burgeoning paperwork) is more important, and get someone else (not trained ) to do the job that the professionals have spent years training for .You don't get assistant gas certifiers they had to be corgi certified ( sorry I cant remember the new certification) As a nurse teacher we were enjoined to providing a level of education that would satisfy public confidence ,however the actual care was unlikely to be provided by the person we were training , odd isn't it ? I have a theory about organisations , they start as a group of individuals who have a common cause or aim, then they develop a bureaucracy to further the aim , then the function of the organisation insidiously becomes the continuation of the bureaucratic organisation and the original aims become lost and the forms and functions of the organisation become the most important things. just pick any organisation and have a look .