Questions...

After almost every transaction (and especially online transactions), we’re asked for feedback. There’ll be a pop-up or an email enquiring “Have you got five minutes to fill in a questionnaire?”, to which the most logical response is a snort of derision. These online companies know so much about us already. Take the merest peek at a video compilation (Cumshot Cavalcade, say) and, for weeks afterwards, your every online click will be accompanied by questionable ads and recommendations.

Having hobbled into the Howden Medical Centre this morning, with my gouty foot, I got home to find an email in my inbox. Another sodding survey. How likely is it that I would recommend the medical centre to other people? If chatting to a poorly friend, I’d certainly be more likely to recommend a visit to the Howden Medical Centre than to, say, an off-license or hardware store. But that’s assuming they happened to be in the vicinity of Howden, rather than, say, Exeter or Aberdeen. There may come a time in my life when I do have “five minutes to spare” to fill in an online survey, but it’s not here yet.

Licensed today: Branthwaite Brow in Kendal...