According to Business AM this morning, Ryanair is now insisting that would-be pilot recruits must submit CVs by e-mail and also pay a £50 handling fee to cover the admin. But the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development's Dianah Worman objects, saying:" there is not much consideration for diversity and equality here." Employment lawyer, Mark Shrives, thinks that the insistence on online applications may be illegal because computers are mainly used by young people and therefore older people may be discriminated against.

Excuse me. When I fly, I'm not interested in "diversity" or "equality" in the cockpit. I want a pilot who knows how to fly the thing and nowadays that certainly includes the ability to work a computer. It's called competence.

I suggest that these politically correct types form their own airline. They can finance it themselves, design their own planes - perhaps "Blairbuses" - and allow the passengers to elect the flightcrew from among themselves on each trip. Let Air PC be filled with PC passengers. I'll stick with Ryanair.