It is the subject of some debate in the select committee report as to whether the FE bureaucracy is better described as a “pig’s ear” or a “dog’s breakfast”.

And so FErret would like to take a moment to celebrate those who go to such pains to make it intelligible.

Clearly it was not good enough for colleges to have something called “Centres of Vocational Excellence”. Standards were changing so instead they were able to apply for - the elegant simplicity of the naming still brings a tear to the eye - “The New Standard”.

It only took a few months, but someone it seems felt this was insufficiently descriptive, and now we are stuck with the more cumbersome “Training and Quality Standard”.

In this spirit, FErret proposes to call the FE bureaucracy a “pig’s ear” until June, whereupon we should then refer to it as a “dog’s breakfast”.