I know how difficult it’s been for schoolchildren since the lockdowns and ‘fire breaks’ played havoc with the education system and consequently their exam results.

I dreaded those exams which were designed to provide us with qualifications that impressed prospective employers or enabled us to stay on for two more years for our ‘A’ levels which opened the door to the lofty university world.

But school can be tough for youngsters who might only be good at subjects they find interesting. I have a friend who regularly got 2 out of 100 for Physics and Chemistry tests, having never grasped the subjects from day one.  Yet he passed his English Language & English Literature exams and eventually became a professional writer.

As they say in some Parisian restaurants, “It’s horses for courses.”

However (you knew that was coming, didn’t you?), I can’t be the only person who this time of year gets irritated by endless ‘live’ TV reports from schools where pupils are receiving their GCSE or ‘A’ level results.  Depending on how their results turn out, they either hug their friends with glee or slope off to have a cry in the school bogs.

In news terms, August is known as “The silly season” and it’s no coincidence that ‘Nessie’ usually gets spotted this month, as she has this year.

The obsession with reporting exam results is due to that bugbear of mine…rolling news, which was dropped on us without any of us being consulted whether we wanted it or not.

In August the news channels needed to fill 24 hours screen time with something! And exam results were the answer!

I long for the time when we learned what was happening at home and abroad from our local and national newspapers and the early evening and 10 o’clock TV news when both BBC and ITV covered every major story in 30 minutes.

I honestly don’t think people are any better informed now than they were 20 years ago.  They’re just over informed.

Please write a 500-word essay on whether that’s a good or bad thing and hand it in by lunchtime.