Scared that students taking an exam might cheat, teachers at the posh Harrow School in England took the unusual step of banning them from using the Internet and re-routing their email so it could be read by the headmaster. The irony of the exam being concerned with Nazi foreign policy has not escaped me.

According to The Sun the school suspected a plot to cheat in the GCSE history exam as fellow pupils at a sister school in China had taken the same one a few hours earlier. The newspaper says that the headmaster, Barnaby Lenon, "read every email sent by pupils who took the paper."

Lenon said "We blocked internet access for pupils taking the exam and re-routed all emails to read them." Yet he also admits there was no evidence found of any plot or any cheating, adding that they could have used mobile phones instead.

Perhaps he should apply for a job with the British Government, given the record it has regarding email privacy.