Miffed amateur

Tom McCool, chief executive of the Scottish Vocational Council, speaking at a conference on the implications of school examination reforms, admitted that one of the reasons he hated having to follow John Ward, chairman of the CBI Scotland, was the difference in quality between their visual aids. "Mine are like T shirt and jeans compared to haute couture," he admitted. But when the audience burst into guffaws at the sight of his wobbly, hand-drawn slides (Professor Ward had impressively printed, full-colour bar charts), he added mournfully: "I thought you'd be polite enough to disagree."