He continued to collect fossil fish from the old red sandstone, a passion he had had since childhood. Stewart also discovered the largest sapphire ever found in Scotland and characteristically he put it on display in the National Museum. Until his early eighties he was a regular attender and much-welcomed participant in the activities of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, of which he had become a fellow nearly half a century ago.Tam Dalyell. Fungus: supposedly unattractive stuff, grows on dead wood, name given to the Bogeyman by Raymond Briggs, generally gets a rather poor press, and so on Obviously, therefore, it is time for a reassessment. Now The Independent has come forward to help to advance both the frontiers of readers’ knowledge and the cause of rehabilitating the reputation of fungi

Fungus.

Supposedly unattractive stuff, grows on dead wood, name given to the Bogeyman by Raymond Briggs, generally gets a rather poor press, and so on Obviously, therefore, it is time for a reassessment. Or, more properly, the map of IFAs, or Important Fungus Areas. Those with a taste for wild mushrooms will be delighted, as will those who understand that fungi are just as important to our rural environment as all the pretty stuff such as wild flowers, trees and small furry mammals.The most important fact which you should absorb on this subject, however, is that the word “toadstool” has no scientific meaning but is occasionally used for mushrooms that are inedible. Now, that is almost as interesting as the fact that one of the main differences between frogs and toads is that frogs have teeth.As we said, we take the business of advancing the frontiers of our readers’ knowledge most seriously.. The idea that the social divisions of Britain’s education system would be remedied by requiring all parents to pay fees is not immediately persuasive – not even if fees are means-tested so that the state pays for children from poorer families. However, Anthony Seldon should be congratulated for his provocative pamphlet for the Social Market Foundation in which he makes this proposal. In effect, many parents “buy” their children places at good state schools by paying the premium on house prices in a particular catchment area.

Mr Seldon draws attention to a study earlier this year by Warwick University which found that it can cost up to £20,000 extra to buy a house in a good catchment area, and up to £40,000 more in the South East.It is simply no use for the defenders of the principles of comprehensive education, – which are still valuable and well worth defending – rejecting proposals such as Mr Seldon’s simply because they would make existing practice transparent.The Seldon plan should be rejected because, although it would blur the division, which it rightly calls a “gulf” between the private and state sectors, it is likely to make the divisions within the present state sector not just more explicit but wider over time. Fees would vary to reflect the desirability of schools, and entry to the “better” schools would be restricted, even more than at present, to the better off.Mr Seldon’s other argument also fails to pass muster. He says that, as with the health service, the need for higher spending on education is so great that it cannot be met out of taxation alone – voters simply will not tolerate it. Only if parents pay (some of) the fees themselves will taxpayers be willing to stump up the money our schools need to become consistently world class.

This proposition, however, has less validity than in the case of health care. Spending is rising fast in education and, provided that pay scales can be freed to recruit, motivate and retain enough teachers, there is no huge future unmet need.Mr Seldon’s pamphlet serves, however, to draw attention to the many ways in which parents with means and application are able to manipulate the existing system in such a way as to make a mockery of the ideal of comprehensive education. Religious labels in particular are exploited in socially divisive ways. This is yet another argument for a government U-turn on faith-based schools.. The News of the World has been named and shamed into retreating from the more extreme folly of its recent campaign to identify paedophiles, but it continues to engage in scaremongering, sensationalism and incitement to vigilante action. Instead, it published, at the request of the police, photographs of four men convicted of sexual offences against children whose whereabouts is unknown.As John Prescott, the Deputy Prime Minister, made clear, this was a Crimewatch-style exercise, in which the police are, in effect, asking the public for help and information about people who have committed crimes in the past and who may pose a threat now.This is quite different from the original News of the World campaign, which was a matter of “naming and shaming” people on the Sex Offenders Register, whose whereabouts were known.