I’m currently typing as First Dates Hotel plays on TV. If you feel any worries about the future of the human race this is the programme for you – it will confirm all your fears about idiots breeding and the gene pool going down the plughole. Looking on the bright side, if we need to lose a few million people to save the world I would start with anyone who has ever been on a scripted reality TV show. They are probably lovely people, but I’m not feeling in a generous mood.

I went to an NHS course this afternoon and am feeling in an evil mood. It lived up to my expectations, which were low. Three hours could have been condensed into about twenty minutes, and the quality of information was patchy, as was the quality of instructor. One was very good. One was not. We have another three hours of it next week. I’m not looking forward to it.

To be honest, I attended better courses when we were on the farm. This is particularly noticeable in the case of asking questions, when the two presenters seemed unable to answer anything that wasn’t on their list to talk about.

Back to the original subject – do you think that watching reality TV, or even having it in the background, can cause a loss of brainpower? It certainly feels like I’ve had something drain from me during the time it was on. Of course, it might just have been the will to live.