Oh, synchronicity.

I have a missing word problem. It's in the cluster "hang-up, have a down on, bias against, unresolved childhood problem". As in "Why do English Ministers of Education always seem to have a __________ about teachers?" They always seem to have had a bad experience during their education, without having had a teacher who really enthused them and counteracted it. There seems to be a deep-seated need to make even giving things difficult and painful for the recipient. Any English teachers will know about the way we have to apply for new money, and it is the most depressing activity I have ever taken part in, being separated from others, not combined as in Ofsted. I exclude the Scots, whose government justs wants to give the money in return for less than a normal working day. And I know there is a word for this baggage they are lugging around with them, but I just cannot recall it.

Penny