ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE

12. ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE

Radio 2

Johnnie Walker, the DJ fined £ 2,000 last week for possessing cocaine, was suitably contrite as Radio 2 opened its arms to welcome him back to work. "I'm extremely sorry for all the embarrassment I've caused my family, friends and the BBC," he said.

Embarrassment? My dear old chap, this is absolutely the best thing to have happened to Radio 2's image in years.

There has only been one other significant drags scandal involving a Radio 2 presenter. One day in 1993, Alan Freeman accidentally took an overdose of his arthritis pills. Luckily, there was no lasting damage done to Freeman, but for Radio 2 it was touch and go.

Arthritis pills? This was not the image that the station had been assiduously nurturing. For years, Radio 2 has been struggling to cast off the impression that it thinks hip is something that you can have replaced on the NHS at some point in your late seventies.

This struggle has not been a success. To many listeners, it is the station to which people turn when they start taking an interest in golf, Sanatogen and comfortable cardigans.

It is a reliable friend to lean on when you hear yourself say: "Radio 4 is all very well, but why does everything have to be so brash and loud?".

So for Radio 2 to have a chap on the staff who's had a brush with cocaine and wild living was a lucky bonus. For a short time, Radio 2 producers could turn up at nightclub doors without being sniggered at. (S.T.)

13. ME IMPERTURBE

Me imperturbe, standing at ease in Nature,

Master of all or mistress of all, aplomb in the midst of

Irrational things,

Imbued as they, passive, receptive, silent as they,

Finding my occupation, poverty, notoriety, foibles, crimes

Less important than I thought,

Me toward the Mexican sea, or in the Mannahatta or the

Tennessee, or far north or inland,

A river man, or a man of the woods or of any farm-life of

These States or of the coast, or the lakes of Kanada,

Me wherever my life is lived, О to be self-balanced for

Contingencies,

To confront night, storms, hunger, ridicule, accidents,

Rebuffs, as the trees and animals do. (W.W.)

14. TOBACCO CAN HELP STOP THE HAIR LOSS FROM CANCER DRUGS

TOBACCO plants could be the key to allowing chemotherapy patients to keep their hair, writes Roger Dobson.

Biotechnologists have succeeded in getting the transgenic plants to grow an antibody that neutralises the hair-loss effects of the toxic chemicals used in cancer-fighting chemotherapy.

When a solution of the antibodies is rubbed into the hair and scalp before anti-cancer treatment begins, it protects and preserves the hair follicles from the aggressive toxins in the drug treatment. ( S. T.)

15. In most countries, foreign languages have traditionally been taught for a small number of hours per week, but for several years on end. Modern thought on this matter suggests that telescoping language courses brings a number of unexpected advantages. Thus it seems that a course of 500 hours spread over five years is much less effective than the same course spread over one year, while if it were concentrated into six months it might produce outstanding results. One crucial factor here is the reduction in opportunities for forgetting; however, quite apart from the difficulty of making the time in school time-tables when some other subject would inevitably have to be reduced, there is a limit to the intensity of language teaching which individuals can tolerate over a protracted period. It is clear that such a limit exists; it is not known in detail how the limit varies for different individuals, nor for different age-groups, and research into these factors is urgently needed. At any rate, a larger total number of hours per week and a tendency towards more frequent teaching periods are the two aspects of intensity which are at present being tried out in many places, with generally encouraging results. (P.St.)

16. US FIRM QUITS BISCUIT RACE

THE US venture capital firm Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst, which bought Hillsdown Holdings this year, has ruled out a bid for United Biscuits.

Hicks Muse, which owns the Peak Freans brand, was previously a hot favourite in the City to bid for UB, whose products include McVitie's, Penguin, Jaffa Cakes, KP, Skips and Phileas Fogg.

UB, which is expected to command a price tag of about $l.2 billion, admitted last week it had received an approach that might lead to an offer.

However, Hicks Muse's departure leaves just four serious bidders for some or all of UB.

They are two venture capitalists - Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and CVC Capital Partners - as well as Nabisco, America's leading biscuits firm, and Danone, the French food group that owns Jacob's cream crackers and HP sauce. (S.T.)

17. Between my finger and my thumb The squat pen rests; snug as a gun. Under my window, a clean rasping sound When the spade sinks into gravelly ground: My father, digging, I look down.

Till his straining rump among the flowerbeds Bends low, comes up twenty years away Stooping in rhythm through potato drills Where he was digging.

The coarse boot nestled on the lug, the shaft

Against the inside knee was levered firmly.

He rooted out tall tops, buried the bright edge deep

To scatter new potatoes that we picked

Loving their cool hardness in our hands.

My God, the old man could handle a spade. Just like his old man. (S.H.)