Writing written rotten

A reader who tries to be fair-minded has rushed to the defence of governments and councils which are responsible for education and in particular literacy, which has been reported to be in poor health.

He says: “The problem will not be solved by throwing cash at it, providing extra staff or devising a political strategy.

“The problem exists because those who would have been on the margin of good literary skills 50 years ago and might have been saved, are now tapping away at their iPhones and the like and have generated their own language through which the users understand each other – that being the purpose of language.

“They do not and cannot write formal English because they have no need to – and at that age do not realise that in later life it could be a significant asset.”

He concludes: “Therefore, this is a topic where political parties needn’t bother bawling and tooting at each other in the run-up to the election because it makes no difference who is in charge.”