Spleen - as ever - enormous common sense and a valuable insight into the real nursing profession.

I have to add that, after working in Higher Education for 30+ years, to dismiss degrees as bits of paper and the issuers of degrees as printers of money is a bit of an insult to all my ex-colleagues (I'm retired) who continue to dedicate huge chunks of their lives to educating people as well as they possibly can. These colleagues are dedicated and hard-working - especially so in the health professions, where not only the student workloads but also the demands of the professional institutes and authorities are very high.

I don't believe that every sphere of working activity has to have the background of a degree, but I do believe that the better educated our country is - the more that people can use logic, reason and brainpower to make sense of the world around them - the better our society as a whole will be.