So, I'm thinking about designing a new website. I like my current one (http://www.patricksamphire.co.uk), but it's been like that for a while.

The only problem is, I have the artistic and design skills of a duck. I just can't do this stuff. The solution is obviously to steal ideas. So, anyone got any examples of really good websites that I could use for "inspiration"? Writers' sites are probably the first stop, but any good sites might help.

If I can't manage a better one than I have now, I guess I'll just leave it the way it is.

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Once a year, when the exam results come out, there is the same outcry. At the age of 18, students take A-level (Advanced-level) exams. And, once again, the number of people getting the highest grades will have increased slightly. Naturally, the loud and reactionary element are shouting that exams are getting easier.

They're not. Exams are as hard now as they ever were. I'd go as far as to say they are harder. When I took my Chemistry A-level, all you had to do was memorise pages and pages of chemical reactions. You didn't really need to understand them. Now, you don't have to memorise, but you do have to understand. To me, that is a good thing.

Exams are not getting easier. The simple fact is that students work harder and are better taught now than they have ever been. When I was at school, I did almost no homework and didn't pay much attention to lessons. Nor did anyone else at my school. We didn't have to. A month of revising from text books allowed me to memorise all I needed to pass the exams. Now, you have to pass the coursework too, and really understand the concepts.

The idea of teenagers being better disciplined and harder working now than in the past is anathema to older, reactionary people. It doesn't fit with their idea of teenagers as being thugs and criminals and drug-takers. But it's true anyway.