DISGRACEFUL. That's the only word suitable to describe one of the most shocking Government cock-ups I've come across.

Staff and pupils at Ash Hill Primary School in High Wycombe were delighted to learn a few weeks ago that they had won a prestigious DfEE school achievement award.

The school had been been praised in a recent Ofsted report for providing an excellent education for children in a deprived area, so no-one had any reason to think the credit was not well deserved.

Then two weeks later came the shocking news that it's all a big mistake. The DfEE had made an error and has withdrawn the award.

The school's plans for a plaque and logo to show the achievement will now have to be binned.

Everyone realises that teaching morale is plummeting and this award would have put a smile on the faces of many at Ash Hill.

It's great to be recognised for your efforts but then to be told it's a mistake is astonishing and really does not put positive thoughts into your head on the way to work on a Monday morning.

A number of questions have to be asked of the DfEE. How could such a bungle happen in the first place?

And secondly, once the mistake had been realised, should they not have given a little more thought on how to handle it?

A quick investigation by some suit would have shown that a school like Ash Hill is worthy of recognition for its progress in recent years.

The DfEE should have thought of the harm and embarrassment this retraction would make and thought it better to let the school keep its award.

The scheme was meant to be a boost for the teaching profession and a good PR exercise for the Government.

They shouldn't have bothered.

POLITICAL parties can be a daft lot. They are constantly sending in dozens of press releases hoping that a few of their words will make it into print.

And they are always first on the phone if they think they're being ignored. That's why it really annoys me when you ask them for information and they can't be bothered or are unable to do a proper job.

When working on a piece for the local elections, we asked each party to provide us with a list of candidates. The Tories managed to send through names without mentioning which party they belonged to.

The Lib Dems forget to put the wards their candidates were standing in and Labour sent a list with the first few letters missing on the first names.

That's OK with a unusual name but when you get 'arry' at the start, it's a bit dangerous to guess. After all, if we get it wrong the phones will be ringing at once with incandescent party agents demanding a correction.