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whatever we get.
     
     
    Jim Walker, our second in command, has been temporarily promoted to ensure a smooth transition until the take-over is complete. As I walk into the staff base some days later, I find him sitting there, spreading words of wisdom about the likely lay of the land. Does he have a favourite? Apparently not, or so he says. What he can tell us however is that whoever gets the job will be wanting to make big changes. Thanks for the tip Sherlock! The second and final round of interviews is Thursday, he tells us. This means that by the end of the week we should have name and gender. After that, it is just a case of checking for any criminal records and just making sure he or she is not a murderer.
     
“That's unlikely” I say naively.
“Not as unlikely as you think” replies Jim. “I know a guy who was offered the job and turned out to have murdered someone.”
“You know a murderer!” I cried out, unable to stop myself.
“Well, yes, I know more than one. They are nice people you know.”
    I have never pondered the question from that angle before and, as I rack my brain, I can't find the faintest trace of even a petty thief in my acquaintances. I must lead a very sheltered life. “The guy I knew murdered his mother in law” offers Jim in something that sounds like half an explanation and half an apology. Well, I suppose, when you put it that way, there must be thousands of men out there guilty of murderous intent towards their mother in law. To his credit, this one was only guilty of being more of a man of action than a man of words. Actions speak louder than words they say and his spoke so loud that they reached the sensitive ears of the Education Department. Thank God they are here to protect us from Evil!
     
     
    Well, the office ladies have had their wish granted: A man got the head teacher job. I must confess, I can somehow see where they're coming from. Women in power are the most frightening thing to see, whether they are head of state or head of anything else. If a woman is determined to go to the top, she will stop at nothing and crush anything or anyone in her way in the most vicious attack. Poets and dreamers have often speculated on how wonderful and loving a world governed by women would be. Let's have it out with the truth, it would be a disaster. When women decide to fight, they fight to the death. They make better and more cruel dictators than all the South American ones put together. I suspect that they have been denied access to power for so long that when they finally get it, they feel under constant threat that it will be taken away from them. In any case, that is my theory.
     
    Women who aspire to high positions are easily noticed by the way they walk. They will usually pass you in the corridors in a busy and assertive swagger that says 'I mean business', even though they might only be on their way to relieve a pressing need. The best you might get out of them in this situation is a contrived smile or a dismissive hello. You see, they don't have time for common place pleasantries. It goes without saying that their attitude changes dramatically should they cross the path of someone higher up in the hierarchy than themselves. Even more so if that person happens to be a man. The smiles then come on, combined with the most outrageously flirtatious attitude that would get any man down on their knees and begging for mercy. Of course, once they get to the top, that very same man will have to suffer, unless he is as handsome as Ross Hall of course. In any case, none of this really matters since it's a man.
     
     

October: High order priority questioning – Bloom's taxonomy.
     
     
    The newly appointed head isn't the only big news that is coming our way this month. The full school inspection that was due to take place in November has been moved forward to October, just when we return from our October break. Panic has swept through the whole place. Everyone has only three weeks to get