Matt Buck's Hack Cartoons

I had the good luck to illustrate a column by David Sherlock, the chief inspector of the Adult Learning Inspectorate. His point was about the importance of difference;

"success in globalised economies lies in difference, not in following the standardised herd.

I have heard a German admiringly call the British "genius bodgers". He meant 'creative, anarchic, original, disputational, inventive and amiably odd'. If we want to develop a successful skills strategy, one that will hold our place in the world's financial big league, those are the things that will have to be its foundation."

He's talking my language - and it made drawing the picture a pleasure too.

It is often possible to hear whingeing about the lack of a skilled workforce in the UK, this usually comes from the CBI and large corporate employers. When one considers the efforts to outsource jobs to other countries and offshore units, one might think UK workers were simply one of too many seals - with balance sheet innappropriate labour costs.