CHRIS RUNDLE

WHAT'S THE ONE THING BETTER THAN ICE CREAM IN THE SUMMER? HOMEMADE ICE CREAM... AND IT'S NOT DIFFICULT TO MAKE, SAYS CHRIS

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ONE thing I have come to understand well during my career is that ignorance and stupidity are often no barrier to promotion.

I have encountered innumerable examples of how people have been propelled up the greasy pole of management while lacking woefully in the fundamental, background knowledge that would normally be required for them to discharge their duties.

Which is why, for instance, many years ago, I found myself having to explain to a newly elevated newspaper executive what I was referring to when I wrote about the Gherkin, he, apparently, having never heard of one of the most distinctive elements of the London skyline.

Then there was the senior official within Defra to whom Somerset cidermaker Julian Temperley was assigned when he was trying to obtain EU recognition for his cider brandy and who told him airily he knew all about cider: one made it by boiling up apples.