witch

The report was about orchestras, not brass bands where I suspect the gender disparity would be far worse @Garacesh - you are presuming that most children learn their instrument at school which is no longer the case. I learned at school but most schools have contracted their music departments and no local schools offer a full range of orchestral instruments AFAIK But, a decent comprehensive, and there are two very near me, will offer private teachers for most instruments. My daughter went from learning at school initially to a higher level private teacher at 14. The price of lessons is more likely to be an issue and so possibly resulting in more middle class players, but I know quite a few professional orchestral players and very few are from a private school background. They are far more likely to be from families that put a high value on learning a musical instrument, and who seek out local music initiatives, county orchestras, bands that offer free tuition etc. Why do you think they are academical anyway? Not sure that I see the correlation at all. I come from a family which was very keen on classical music, i was brought up with it, i loved it and chose to play the instrument I loved the sound of. You can start some instruments at a young age, my daughter started the flute at 8 years old, but it is advisable not to start a brass instrument until the teeth and jaw are fully formed as the pressure of the mouthpiece can deform a growing mouth. Not really about the weight although a French horn is pretty heavy when you are 11 years old and only 5ft tall, as I was!

Smallfoot (well there was nothing else on and we get free tickets most weeks) I liked it - it is sweet with a moral message

@JordanT91 No it doesnt. Wind instruments don't, as a whole, need large lungs to play them, so even if women's lungs are smaller this makes no difference. If you google it you will see that it takes more air to play a flute or a bassoon than a tuba! Ditto the dexterity mentioned elsewhere, - flutes, clarinets and other woodwind instruments require enormous amounts of dexterity and are often played by men Double basses are definitely big, yes, but women certainly manage to play them - there are six Double Basses in the BSO and three of them are women. They just lean the instrument a bit more so that they can get to the top and bottom It definitley is NOT a question of ability - but it may well be that girls don't think about playing some instruments

I have friends who have performed in blind auditions in this country and they much prefer it. I'm not convinced of the accuracy of those figures either - unless the BSO is bucking the trend massively, although it is true, they dont have any female trumpets or trombones. 25% of the Horns are female though! Yes, in my lifetime the LSO voted not to admit women! Interestingly, in all the amateur orchestras around me, there are many more female horn players than male, and quite a few female brass players too. (we are NOT brass)

She's still doing the overdramatic sweep when she uses the sonic screwdrver - the perp could snatch it out of her hand at any point

I liked the Rosa Parks thing and yes, it was uncomfortable - I just felt that the "making sure history stays the same" bit has been done many times in other shows

I do hope it isnt going to go on like this - going to different time periods and sorting out problems. That is not what Dr Who is about really

Johnny English I loved it. Yes it's daft, and a bit bonkers - but I love Rowan Atkinson and this character is just about believable, unlike Mr Bean, who I cannot stand

Historically, both my schools had two networks - the admin side was supported by the LEA and they did SIMS support and whatever else was needed. Both schools went over to one network. In one, they chose the LEA to support it - which is why I am not there anymore - and in the other, they chose ME

Does the Tardis still have the bit that goes up and down? I do hope so Custard cream bit was a bit daft and I wasnt that keen on her behaviour - she is very mannered and overdone. Also hated the fact that she was sorry and whiny about them failing to find the Tardis - she gave up far too quickly for The Doctor

I am really struggling to find a supplier for a Lenovo Yoga 11e Can anyone suggest anyone that I can contact?

We merged ours several years ago, and have just one network now. Permissions are set so that nobody can see the admin stuff except admin, and me. Works fine

@Alawil SchoolCare in Ringwood do all mine - their cabling guy is good https://www.schoolcare.co.uk/ 0845 8622660

Z Nation Interesting hmmmm

I liked it - it certainly has potential. could have seriously done without the deaths and the funeral though. Looking forward to the rest. Wish they would go back to the original music

Venom The WHOLE film is how he becomes Venom, and the story is very different to the one in the comics (why?) But hugely enjoyable - poor Tom Hardy spent most of the film looking dreadful (am I allows to say he's still gorgeous though?) I liked it a lot

Yes, we are thinking about that

On the scrounge again Anyone got some working headphones - doesnt really matter what they look like or how scruffy they are, as long as they work - going spare? We desperately need some new ones and there is no money at all to buy some

Which draws a line under that, please

Well done @LukeC

Predator What a load of rubbish. Very dark, impossible to see what is going on most of the time. Gory, pointless violence, a story that made no sense, and a complete waste of time. Luckily our tickets were free

@synaesthesia My local support company - The PSD group (aka SchoolCare) will provide you a quote. Ring them on 0845 8622660. I have just checked with them

One of our favourite movies - would love to see it on the big screen again

https://support.office.com/en-us/article/domains-faq-1272bad0-4bd4-4796-8005-67d6fb3afc5a#bkmk_caniaddcustomsubdomainsormultipledomainstooffice365 might help

That man is a complete idiot. He has changed his name to Arthur Pendragon and he pretends to be a pagan and a druid. My brother-in-law, who was definitely a pagan and a druid, couldnt stand the man as all he wants is publicity for himself!