yes i've complained before about having to sing for your supper, but i still find myself resenting those emails (written in that dreadful civil service style!) asking you to rsvp with your bios "for the minister's background info." i mean that doesn't even make sense - isn't that either your background for the minister's info, or the background info for the minister? you can't use a possesive genitive in this manner. (Q: why is it so hard to write a bio? can't one just stop griping, do that, forget it and have a good meal? A: well yes of course, by gaspode's sausage law, but can't one just go to a dinner and meet people without precirculated bios? deputy secretary of manpower forsooth. and half the people going will be psc scholars, i suppose. i think thursday night will be better spent with books and apples and tea.