WORKING from home puts one dangerously at the mercy of the telephone. I try to make my calls on governor’s business while my minded babies watch Teletubbies, but invariably I get an answering machine, or a secretary saying “He’s in a meeting, can he call you back?” Then he or she does, just as I am changing a nappy, pulping vegetables, or trying to work out if the pot-plant the baby has eaten is poisonous. (You feed some to the cat.) As secretary of our County Governors’ Association, I get calls - frequently lengthy ones - from individual governors with problems. I can very rarely provide an easy solution, but it is always fascinating, and good to know that there is someone worse off than oneself.

The local media also call me for instant comments on education issues. The latest one is the Great Killer Tomato debate - should genetically-modified food be banned from school meals?

I love doing local radio. Secure in the knowledge that no one is listening, I can be as inflammatory and outrageous as I choose. Ironically, I recorded two successive interviews over the phone for different radio stations within half an hour recently, following remarks made by a local MP. The topic? Excessive workloads for governors.

Joan Dalton