MANY tests have been developed to assess intelligence (IQ). As far as I’m aware, no similar tests to measure common sense exist.

Some intelligence would seem to be a pre-requisite of learning rules and laws, but is intelligence alone sufficient to be able to apply such rules and laws in appropriate and fair ways?

Perhaps such application requires a degree of common sense. But the question remains, how is the level of common sense assessed?

Perhaps it may be developed through experience, especially with the help of monitoring and feedback. The strict application of rules, without common sense being applied, may easily result in those very rules being viewed in a poor light.

In recent years, a minority of primary school teachers have interpreted health and safety legislation so as to determine that, for example, three-legged races and sack races should be banned.

Surely, reasonably-minded parents would not agree with such a strict interpretation which deprives their children of a lot of fun.

Similarly, any fair-minded football fans who watched the officials’ decision for the first goal in the Liverpool v Sunderland Premiership game must have questioned the level of common sense applied. Perhaps Stuart Attwell (referee) and all of us should consider where he/we stand on that issue.

J Keith Banks, Hett, Durham.