Publish and be praised

It is the distinction awards season. All over Britain hospital doctors are hand delivering envelopes marked “Strictly private and confidential.” Inside are computer generated forms that never quite manage to position themselves correctly on the page.

The completed forms contain lists of achievements, something of which most people would be proud. Doctors, however, are oddly furtive about them. We sidle up to one another like Michelle of the Resistance, “Listen carefully, I shall photocopy this only once.” …