A week may be a long time in politics but it can seem like an eternity in a monastery. We all seem to have been scampering from one urgent job to another and I notice that jawlines are becoming a little set and tempers a little frayed. It is timely therefore to be reading St Benedict on kitchen service. The sixth century kitchen was not a very attractive place — no gadgets, no extractors to keep the heat and steam levels down, no ergonomically designed tools and work-surfaces, but lots of beans and pulses to try to make appetizing, in season and out. Odd, then, that Benedict should single out working under such conditions as promoting mutual love and be anxious that no one should be excused kitchen service unless unwell or, like the cellarer, busy about multitudinous tasks elsewhere. Food can easily become a source of friction, while some people have strange attitudes towards tasks they regard as menial. I think Benedict uses kitchen service as a concrete example of the need for mutual service, and in the case of those with less skill, mutual forgiveness. "Respect the cook, it could be you" is the watchword for today.