Peter Rhodes on missing Wilko, coping with Covid and schools that were built to last, not crumble

Covid-19 is on the rise with certificated deaths soaring from 80 per week in the summer to more than 300 now. We all know what to do: wash hands, avoid crowds, get yourself jabbed, consider wearing a mask. Alternatively, convince yourself it's all a global conspiracy, while crossing your fingers.

The intrepid camera operators who swam within a few feet of great white sharks in the making of Planet Earth III (BBC1) talked of getting to know the beasts. It must be an odd sort of relationship where you perceive the great white as a magnificent, awesome and photogenic creature while it regards you as lunch. I remember an old definition of a shark: “a swimming appetite.”

Thanks for your many contributions on whether the BBC was right or wrong not to refer to Hamas as terrorists. Having painted itself into a corner over the issue the Beeb now cannot use the T-word in any context. Instead, it has settled for the G-word which, with its overtones of criminality, is no less pejorative than the T-word and can sometimes be downright inaccurate. How on earth does the BBC inform its reporters, including some highly experienced journalists and wordsmiths, that someone who uses a machete to behead a baby is a gunman?

Meanwhile, in other news pretty much buried by the Gaza catastrophe, the Government has listed 214 schools now known to be at risk of crumbling RAAC ( reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete). How strange it is that, while Eton College still uses buildings dating from the 14th century, Harrow has some 17th century classrooms and Shakespeare's old school in Stratford dates to the 1570s and is still going strong, RAAC had a design life of just 30 years.