Forty
years ago, fewer than 5% of UK undergraduates achieved a First Class
degree. By 1995, this had risen to 12% and by
2011 it was 15%. Last year it reached 17%, more than 3 times the 1975 number. The same creep has occurred with 2:1 degrees. Presumably,
British undergrads are getting cleverer and cleverer, as are CSE and A
Level students. My research on this was stimulated by reading of
a British couple who apparently died of an overdose of prescription
drugs in India. He got a First in English at a Manchester Uni and
she'd got one at Stockport College. I thought 2 Firsts would be a
rare occurrence but it's probably not these days. By the way, the
fewest Firsts are given to Law students and the
most to students of mathematical sciences.
Talking
of prescription drugs . . . There are criminals in all professions,
of course, but I'd have thought pharmacists were towards the more
honest end. However, Spanish police have just arrested more than a
hundred of them for buying products to sell on at a higher price,
though not to the public.
I
wouldn't want to give the impression I haven't benefitted from the
Spanish help-for-friends culture. I've had work done by accountants,
lawyers and notaries for which no payment has been sought and all
attempts to pay rebutted - simply because I was introduced by a
friend. The most common of these non-exchanges is a waiter/barman
friend who simply refuses to take both payment or tips from me or my
daughters. Unless the bill is large, in which case he simply fails to
include some items. I'm not at all sure his boss doesn't know what's
going on as this practice is widespread in bars. I've still got
enough Anglo-Saxonism left in me to find this embarrassing but, with
each passing year, this diminishes. If you're born into the system,
though, I imagine you'll never have any problem with it. Like my
teacher pupils who thought their friend wasn't cheating when she asked
for their help an hour or two before her exam. Horses for courses.
What I've called it over the years is a favour-bank system. One
which can only really function if the people you deal with don't move
away from your home town. Which
is much less likely in Anglo-Saxon countries, of course.
Where money is, therefore, a more reliable medium of exchange. "How
much do I owe you for petrol?" is a question you're
unlikely to hear in Spain.
Helping
you with your Spanish:-
1. The plural of
virus is virus.
2. Sacar de mi
cosecha means (says my friend Dwight) 'To use my own work".
4. Lobi is
an Anglicism for grupo de presión. Little wonder.
3.
The plural of lobi is
not lobis but lobbies.
It seems.
Finally
. . . Filleting a box of memories in my basement yesterday, I found
my old Iranian AA card. The one that names me Devil
Colin Davies. In English at least.
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