The 'A' level results prove once again that the cleverest people in the country are all 17 or 18. They should run the place. Not only could they solve Global Warming and the Middle East Crisis, but they'd know who Gnarls Barkley was and how to operate an iPOD without getting into a cerfuffle.

Of course, the downside would be that every time you switched on the news, you'd see some oik with his trouser waistband six inches lower than his underpants.