No wonder they can't believe it's not butter!

A LEAF (Linking Environment And Farming) survey has provided what is possibly the most depressing news of the year, aside from any imminent release of an album by Simon Cowell's "Little Fix (sic)" X-Factory (sic) winners.

The headline is that 2% of 16-23 year-olds surveyed thought that butter comes from chickens, while a further 24% actually hadn't a clue. 10% didn't know that milk came from cows, while 15 thought it came from pigs. 23% were unaware that eggs come from chickens, while a further 12% think they come from wheat, maize or oats.

Now, while all the respondents no doubt know that a Blackberry comes from the Carphone Warehouse, this crass ignorance defies belief, and is unbelievably embarrassing. One would think that in this day and age, regardless of one's level of education, the origins of milk and eggs would be universally known.

It's not surprising though.

Standards of English and comprehension continue to slip, while companies like Edexel continue to operate as totally dysfunctional parasites, sponging off taxpayers' money providing a less than sub-standard service. And the saddest part is that the government with its ridiculous outsourcing policies - outsourcing taxpayers' money to the reprehensively incapable - lets them away with it as their Chief Executives continue their upward spiral into the Sunday Times Top 500 Rich List on the back of absolutely inferior quality and service. With, no doubt, an Honour from Her Majesty thrown in.

And this professional inferiority continues beyond schooling.  When the graduates, irrespective of whether they know the origins of milk or eggs, are faced with the appalling advertisements placed by recruitment consultants, operating on behalf of the totally dysfunctional HR industry, it doesn’t get any better. Yes, the recruitment consultants are all working for “leading” or “global” players, all with incalculable turnover, yet offering barely less than a parsimonious remunerations. However, the quality of the diction and grammar is barely on the lighter side of dreadful.

Confusion reigns between “it’s” and “its”. Their “client” seem to be totally confused as to whether it should be a possessive singular client or a possessive plural client, often appearing as “my client are”. And spelling is often atrocious, despite it being easier than ever to automatically spell check a document.

People appear to be too busy-busy to get the basics right.

It’s no wonder the kids don’t know where milk or eggs come from. And no, you can't buy them  from the Carphone Warehouse.