There’s not enough boredom in school today, and, judging by this report from the Independent, that’s something that the splendidly-named Zoe Fail (among others) wants to put right: “Teachers say children need more boring lessons to help them deal with the world beyond the classroom door. Pupils needed to get used to the idea that life wasn’t a constant “Disney ride”, said delegates at the Association of Teachers and Lecturers annual conference yesterday. “I don’t have the energy to do all-singing all-dancing lessons every day, five-days-a-week, each term,” supply maths teacher Zoe Fail explained, to loud cheers. “Children are not bored enough. They are over stimulated. Being bored encourages thinking skills and imaginative play.”

Terrific stuff, and then there’s this: “Teacher after teacher said that they believed their students to be incapable of handling the mundane aspects of everyday life beyond the television screen or interactive whiteboard.”

Too true, life is a grim trudge, and it can never be too soon to point this out. And no, Oliver Twist, you can’t have any more…