According to the Office of National Statistics, the UK population is projected to increase by more than four million to 65.6 million over the 10 year period to 2018. This increase is equivalent to an average annual rate of growth of 0.7 per cent between mid-2008 and mid-2018 with the population reaching 71.6 million by 2033.

I was somewhat surprised, therefore, to read this week that having projected this figures some time ago, no one in Government had thought that this baby boom may put further strain on our schools and an already acutely crowded primary school system.

Thousands of our young children are already being taught in temporary structures and the east London boroughs of Barking and Dagenham are looking at leasing space in former stores owned by MFI and Woolworths.  Sutton in south London is seeking permission to raise the class size limit for infants to 32, and others are expected to follow suit.

This is a worrying trend. 

Educated children are the best potential asset for growth we have in the UK and education is not an area that should be put under strain. 

Let’s get together to invest in our children now and build more schools.  The aim must be to reduce class size, attract more teachers who will want to work in better conditions and concentrate on fewer pupils, and ensure parents don’t have to endure the stress and anxiety associated with finding a decent school to educate their child.  This shouldn’t be the right of an elite minority.

It only seems like yesterday that I used a facsimile machine for the first time and the instant transmission had me giggling with incredulity. Yet, just a few short years later, the wonders of the internet are second nature to me. With the click of a mouse I can communicate in any language and interact with anyone just about any where on the world, in real time.

I use language tools a lot, particularly for French. I can speak it a bit, but with the technology available, I’ve become lazy. So, it is easier to communicate in print, rather than to speak on the phone. That is a shame because French is a beautiful language and the riches of colour and tone communicated by voice, are lost.

You only have to look at the beautiful hand crafted text in the Royal Manuscripts exhibition at the British Library, to see that every script is unique and encompasses something of the person who wrote it. There is something quintessentially human and individual in the irregularity, and imperfections that were lost when metal type and the printing press were introduced. Metal type text, still contained a little of the human element and irregularity that gave it an element of character, compared to the bland perfection of electronic text. If we don’t make an effort to hold on to individuality and diversity, I fear that the technological age will standardize everything and we will lose something very precious to our quality of life.

It’s the same with language. According to UNESCO, it is estimated that nearly half of the 6000 plus languages spoken today will disappear by the end of this century.

There was a terrible smell coming from my (beautifully refurbished) loo last week.  Not the usual type of bathroom odour one would expect.  This was something far, far worse. 

I asked all my friends to have a sniff to see what they thought.  (Friends are good like that aren’t they?) The consensus was bad.  Very bad.  Must be the drains or a Victorian sewer problem, we agreed.

The drains man was quick to respond and very helpful.  ‘Sorry, madam, it’s not your drains,’ he said,  ‘but I think you have a decomposing rat somewhere!’ 

Field mice don’t trouble me, but London rats and dead one’s at that (particularly one that I can’t easily locate), isn’t good.

Come to think of it, I did hear scratching the other day coming behind the partition wall but didn’t give it a second thought. Now I can’t think of anything else. 

I could almost bear the ghastly smell (how long do rats take to decompose anyway?), but it’s the rest of the family, who may have sent out a search party, that I’m more worried about.

Any advice would be welcome.