Peter Rhodes on jabs, more jabs and how not to dress for a job interview

The only interview tip I can offer comes from many years ago, shortly after an ill-advised parachute jump. The interview panel were very polite but I suspected things were going the wrong way the moment they spotted my plaster cast.

I wonder how many British Army veterans recognised the battle drills when a group of Ukrainian soldiers accepted the surrender of a Russian armoured vehicle and its crew, as seen on YouTube. There was no rush, no celebration, no idiotic firing of weapons in the air.

These Ukrainians were cool and disciplined. They stayed in cover, well spaced from each other and maintaining all-round defence. This incident may have happened in Ukraine but the British Army has been training Ukrainian soldiers for months and those tactics looked straight out of Catterick, Pirbright and Salisbury Plain. Money well spent.

Here's a strange thing. According to the Covid-jab instructions from the NHS, if you've had a positive test and you're over 18, you should wait 28 days before having the jab. But if you're aged 12-17, you should wait even longer - a whopping 84 days. I'm sure the experts know what they're doing but, given the prevalence of the disease, the ease with which it re-infects sufferers and the millions of kids crowding into schools and colleges this autumn, what are the odds against any teenager going 84 days after a Covid test without getting a new infection?

This is big jab week. Tuesday was my flu jab and today is the Covid jab. Until recently I doubt if I'd have bothered with either, never having been troubled with chest infections. This time round, like millions of others of a certain age, I'll be grabbing anything the NHS sees fit to chuck at us.

I have had more jabs in the past two years than in the preceding two decades. It's a strange fact of life that the older you get, the more you want to live for ever. No wonder this planet is so crowded.