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Thinking of significant changes the money might make to lifestyles prompted one girl candidate to suggest asking the winners: 'Will this mean you'll now be able to afford Kellogg's instead of Tesco's own brand cornflakes?' A male candidate who never considered they might now quit their jobs said he would ask: 'Does this now mean you will get new overalls? (Because school dinner ladies always wear the same overalls for years)'.Some pix ideas were not much better and included 'squirting champagne around the school kitchen', getting them 'with a big check (sic) and champagne in their uniforms' and to 'pose with flour rubbed over their faces to liven things up a bit'.Several candidates thought they would like to spend some time accompanying the dinner ladies on a shopping spree with their new-found wealth. One male candidate suggested a feature follow up saying he would 'ask to spend a day with one of them on the job'.

Most candidates who tackled question five earned reasonable marks. They were told that their editor had nominated them to help the local talking newspaper for the blind run a recruiting campaign for volunteers and publicise its 25th anniversary in June. One candidate: 'This would be difficult because the PCC Code doesn't allow us to mention people's disabilities unless they are relevant.' This is quoted not to embarrass the candidate if he should recognise his answer but to raise the important issue of whether there is a subconscious unease among young reporters when dealing with disabled issues?

There were several candidates who tackled this question and who asked the right questions of officials, volunteer helpers and carers but then also put to these people questions that should have been put to the blind listeners of the tapes. The classic 'do they take sugar? syndrome' appeared in evidence. Too many candidates failed to indicate that they would make a direct approach to any of the 400 recipients of the service. Another significant group listed among the sources 'one of the blind' or, as some called them, the 'listeners' or 'recipients'.

The moderator couldn't help thinking that this happened so often that it suggested a mere token approach to a class of persons in whose presence candidates might feel uncomfortable. What personal contact do trainees have with disadvantaged groups? Not forgetting the need for politically correct terminology, are trainees being taught to be at ease with and write sensitively about such groups? Another thought for editors, trainers and educators?

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