In a week when the budget, the death of screen icon Elizabeth Taylor and an imminent anti-cuts march loomed large, it’s good to see that posters in the TES online staffroom can still discuss the important matters.

One subject that got posters going was whether it’s acceptable, as a pupil, to sport a love bite. TSingh95 asks: “What do you think when you see a student with a hickey? Does your opinion vary depending on what type of student it is? Whether it is a boy or girl? Whether they are smart or not?”

A few posters thought it really depended on the age of the student, while most thought it was “downright tacky, whatever the age, gender, or academic ability”.

Spotting obvious evidence of youthful tomfoolery is opportunity enough for a barbed comment from some: “I see the mosquitoes were bad last night,” is the suggested reaction from ctadewal.

Tomd0801754, meanwhile, remembers a story from his own schooldays, when his product design teacher pulled out a 20 pence piece and theatrically announced he was giving him it to buy a Curly-Wurly for his girlfriend, so she could chomp on that rather than his neck. “Yes, I laughed,” he says. “But it is safe to say it was the last time I went to school with one.”

www.tes.co.uklove-bites.