Child 4 is learning to drive. As each has been through the process, I’ve been reminded of just how terrifying and stressful the test itself is and was, even back in the day. And the more times you have to take it, the worse it gets. So why do we still put kids through this torture? Surely completing the right number of hours with a licensed instructor is a better way to judge competence than half an hour of high tension with a stoney-faced civil servant? And it’s the same, I’d say, with A Levels and GCSEs…
“The working-from-home illusion fades”
Are workers working from home more or less productive than those catching the 7.02am to London Bridge every day? ‘Probably sitting at home in their bleedin’ jim-jams’, said someone recently of a less-than-helpful call centre employee, the assumption being that, were they surrounded by colleagues and with a manager cracking the whip, he or she would have sorted his energy bill more efficiently.
