AT LUNCH

this weekend a chartered accountant friend, who’s a bit of a financial wizard, asked my son (12) why the new GCSE grades were numbered 1-9 not 1-10. had his father goofed? no, said the boy, the point is, if you get a 9 it means 90 per cent or above. You can’t get more that 100 per cent in any test. Cue silence from the financier. And wonder on my part that my son is better at explaining government policy than his father, and those who are actually paid to do it.