How To Vanish

Our telephone number has the wrong number for almost a decade. I tried asking the stupid Piltel to change it but they haven't. Until I discovered the beauty of being invisible.

Don't you know that according to the BBC, almost half of Britons are ex-directory. Meaning they are not listed in their telly directory.

"With Britain's much-discussed long-hours culture, there is a sense that workers' few hours at home are sacrosanct. Having slaved all day, we want at least one sphere where we can defend ourselves from intrusion and observation," it noted. How true.

And there are many professions where because of contact with potentially unstable members of the public, considering disappearing from the listings would be advisable.

If you are a criminal lawyer, judge, social worker, journalist, estate agent, or a host of other professions who might have made enemies during the course of your work, not "being in the book" is a must. The Police Federation, for instance, advises officers working in some specialist or more risky roles to consider it.

So, maybe Piltel may not be stupid after all.