Frost-slain daffodils

which have nothing to do with a bit of news that delighted me today:  Stonewall’s 2016 list of the best employers for LGBT staff is topped by…
 
MI5!
(That’s the UK’s version of homeland security.)
 
Once upon a time, when I was a responsible and upstanding member of the British workforce, I applied for a job which meant the government would check that my background and behaviour were not, and would not be, a threat to national security. At that time, the high risk factors were being gay and knowing Soviet citizens. (Probably being a Northern Irish Catholic was not a great move either.) I went along to my formal interview in the Foreign Office, told them about the Soviet citizen I knew and promised to alert them if she ever did anything untoward or if I was ever seated on a plane next to one I didn’t know.
 
I gave them the names of two friends who could vouch for my being responsible and upstanding. I did not tell them that one of these friends was gay.
 
I got the job. I very much doubt they checked my friend’s background and behaviour.
 
Anyway, full circles are very pleasing.