Friday April 15^th

Dr Donaldson has just left my bedside after listening to my worries with grave attention.

When I’d sunk back on to my pillows he said, ‘We’ll  take them one by one.’

1. Nuclear war is a worry, but do something positive about your fear – join CND.
2. If you fail your ‘O’ levels you can retake then them next year, or never take  them – like the Queen.
3. Of course your parents love you. They didn’t sleep during the time you were away.
4. You are not hideously ugly. You are a pleasant, average-looking boy.
5. Your sister’s paternity problems are nothing to do with you, and there is nothing you can do to help.
6. I’ve never heard of a sixteen-year-old having their own poetry programme on Radio Four. You must set yourself realistic targets.
7. I will write to Mr Scruton (‘Pop-Eye’) and inform him that you were under great stress at the time you wrote the letter.
8. Pandora comes under the heading of insoluble problems.