Fish

If you've been listening to the wireless then you will have noticed that on Wednesday the BBC reported a proper news story and not something featuring Robert Peston (due to my not owning a television receiver, I have so far been fortunate enough not to witness this gentleman putting the shits up the working public. I'm staying at the country seat for a few days and despite there being several televisions here, the folks prefer ITN. I still haven't seen him). My immediate thought about sticklebacks being declared piscene geniuses was that a revered (and oft quoted as a piece of quite useless information) part of my Nuffield biology was now in question. Anyone of a similar vintage to myself may well remember the story about the sticklebacks in a research lab tank that appeared to get particularly excited at precisely the same time, each and every day. Except Sundays. I think I've remembered this correctly: the male fish display a red flash when on the pull. This would provoke aggression and excitement in surrounding fish depending, of course, on their gender. A sharp-eyed technician noted that the unexplained agitation coincided with the delivery of the post and of course, the Royal Mail then used, as it still does, red vans. The measure of fishy intelligence in the 1960s presumably didn't included the ability to decide whether a threat or potential suitor was of an aqueous or terrestrial nature.

However, it is a shame that some sections of our society still appear to display even less intelligence than a two inch long animal commonly found swimming in ditches. By the way, these morons call themselves British nationalists. I do hope you didn't cast a protest vote.