Don of the dread for our silent Taoiseach

Failure to contest McGregor praise won't end well

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THE older you get the more bulging the "seemed like a good idea at the time" file of life seems to grow.

I found myself this week casting my mind back to one such moment.

It was the brave new world after corporal punishment was outlawed. Teachers needed new creative ways to discipline any challenge to their authority.

The leather was out. But old-fashioned humiliation was still in fashion.

A method favoured by one teacher of ours was to place boys kneeling before him and the rest of the class for any perceived misdemeanour.

I found myself invited to assume the position on one occasion.

From somewhere inside, a fusion of DNA, upbringing and a contrary nature combined to send an electrical pulse to my brain. And I declined.