18 SEPTEMBER 2004, Page 79

Q. I am working as an amanuensis for a well-known

figure. The job is live-in. My boss has openly boasted of the fact that her entire family has `supernits' which are impossible to treat since nit nurses were removed from schools as part of the Human Rights agenda. How can I avoid catching them?

M.G.B., Boar's Hill, Oxford A. Presumably you have fresh linen on your bed. Ensure that you do not loll on sofas or against chair or car seat backs, and do not pore over maps or books with any member of the family or allow your head to come within two feet of theirs. As an added precaution, spray your own head with a mist of tea-tree oil This should see off the potential nuisance.