Peter Rhodes on highly-paid incompetents, a curious job advert and a parable of luck in the snow

ON the very last day of the pheasant-shooting season, having survived countless shotgun blasts over the preceding three months, a hen pheasant was killed by a car on the lane where we live. On the frozen verge the corpse became an instant banquet for grateful crows which might otherwise have perished in the cold. Somewhere in here is a parable about bad luck. Or possibly good luck.

IT is also a reminder that while shotguns may take their bag, the most efficient reducer of Britain's wildlife population is the family saloon.

AS the clock ticks, a reader sneers at Brexit voters thuswise: "We know which side of the divide those with no educational qualifications voted, don't we?" So it's just a matter of education, is it? As it happens, one of the the most highly educated people I know voted Leave. So did a number of acquaintances, all with degrees. But that's not the point. The 2016 Referendum was not an opportunity to show off our learning. People voted not on how many A levels they had but on their life experience and vision of the future. And a professor of Spanish in London is unlikely to have the same life experience or outlook as an electrician in Peterborough or a trawlerman in Hull. If you have a moment, see Gary Younge's excellent and thought-provoking column on the Guardian website under the headline: "Working-class leavers were not motivated by self-interest, but by values."

THE Birmingham Labour MP Jess Phillips denounces the £30,000 minimum pay threshold for EU workers to be considered "skilled." As she puts it: "I have met many people who earn way more than £30,000 and have literally no discernible skills, not even one." Well, what do you expect if you work in the House of Commons?

THROUGHOUT this Brexit saga, the activist Gina Miller - she's the one who campaigned for the Article 50 procedure - has insisted that her aim is not to wreck Brexit but to ensure the proper democratic and legal steps are followed. She surprised some fans when she famously told the BBC in 2016: "We need to move on – we’re all leavers now.” Miller has just joined a campaign called Lead not Leave. She declares: "Why don't we stay (in the EU) and ask to renegotiate the special deal we have .. ..and let’s say: Let’s lead rather than leave." C'mon, Gina, get down off that fence.

COBBLERS corner. My thanks to the reader who forwarded a job opportunity advertised by a bank. It is for something called "Head of Customer Journey." Part of the job description tells us the successful candidate will "work with Transformation and Digital Innovation to design and map out further . . . journeys, ensuring that existing and accelerator activities are effective." Sounds to me like they want a new driver for the minibus but I'm probably wrong.