A saga has been going on since last week when I missed the year 11 parents evening. It has involved my trying to contact the head of maths at my son’s school and him trying to contact me in return. Despite it being 2007 where we have a wealth of technology it has taken a week for us to speak to each other. Something very strange has happened with Matt’s coursework, something he himself cannot explain and it has resulted in him being scored zero for it. In essence he has lost 20% of his total marks and will need to score a B in his final exam to receive a C. It is suggested he handed in what had been a practice paper done in class as his course work. Matt said he was confused, and other people also confused had attended a maths after-school group to make sure they got things right. Matt is essentially lazy when it comes to extra curricular activities, he is happy to work at home but after school clubs have never been his thing. I don’t blame the school and really if he doesn’t understand he has to learn to ask. But I wonder why it has taken a year for this whole thing to come to light. Tonight we are going to a meeting about some kind of after school maths thing he now has to attend so that he can make the best of a bad job.

Arsenal play Tottenham in a local derby, cup extravaganza this evening. My brothers and dad (though luckily he is currently in Dubai) are Spurs fans, and I will have to accept a certain amount of ‘flack’ if Spurs win. If the opposite happens of course I will maintain a dignified silence. Anyway the second leg is next week.

Meantime, it is academia and not work I am interested in this week, so nothing here about the NHS. I am also happy to report that I managed to leave university today without my car being clamped and it costing me £75!