ABSTRACT
The letters ‘P’ and ‘E’, dropped casually into a dinner party or bus stop conversation, are guaranteed to evoke dim and distant memories which may include (depending on who your conversation is with) reference to knickers and vests, cold weather, cross country runs in the rain, indomitable teachers, personal injury (or worse, bearing witness to a major health and safety disaster which would see the toughest children running for cover) and of course being picked last for playground games. Occasionally, the conversation may err towards a critique of so-called liberal educational theories which are said to denounce competition (your own stance on this will be based on whether you were in fact picked last or not), the supposed evils of the 1980s teacher strikes or the government’s stance on selling off school playing elds. If your conversation is with a parent of a primary-aged child, then expect a whole other can of worms to be agitated, usually with reference to the annual sports day.
