I have been in this bizness long enough to know that we shouldn't fro stones at greenhouses.

By that, I mean jernalists always ask for problems when they highlight other people's bad spelling because it is a fact there will be a howling error somewhere in their own article.

However, this nonsense about universities saying they won't mark down bad spelling has upset me. Spelling seldom comes easy. I've had to spend years learning its tricks and rules and, when I don't know the answer, I have to consult a dikshonary.

It's like football, swimming or playing the piano. Practice (or should that be practise?) makes purfect.

Now the International (Internashunal, surely?) English Spelling Congress has voted for a noo set of rools called Traditional Spelling Revised (TSR) to make life easier for stoodents.

Out go silent letters like "w" in "wrong" and "k" in "knee" because 200,000 children leave primary school every year unable to read or rite properly. Sorry, but couldn't that just be because their parents and teachers have failed them?

Besides, what does it say to those students who have worked hard to master the language?

Lowering the bar is a coward's way to solve any problem. Oh, and we aren't supposed to have problems any more. We just have "challenges."

What if we lower the standards for rocket scientists and doctors while we are at it? That will lead to the deaf of all of us.

I have no gripe (ish) with our language evolving. I have reluctantly agreed to add the objectionable "lol" (laugh out loud) to some of my texts but I stubbornly continue to follow the rules of grammar.

Like the Highway Code, they are there for a reason. You miss-use a coma at your peril.

There is a world of difference in the two statements "Let's eat, grandad" and the plainer and rather more frettening "Let's eat grandad."

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