THE GLASGOW HERALD

Today,  while waiting at the airport,  we picked up a discarded copy of The Glasgow Herald newspaper. We nearly fell off the bench at what we read.

There,  on page 6,  the paper's "UK Political Editor",  Michael Settle,  describes Sir George Young as "the Commons Speaker".  Even we,  who take little interest in politics,  know that Sir George,  6th baronet and Old Etonian, is,  in fact,  Leader of the House of Commons and Lord Privy Seal.  We know because we have always taken an interest in Sir George as being one of the more decent "one-nation" Tories and we always see him on the Front Bench with a very perplexed look on his face at every mad pronouncement from this bizarre government,  as if he cannot really believe what he is hearing.

We know that The Glasgow Herald is going down the plug-hole with every passing day and we wonder how  much longer the newspaper can  last.  It contains schoolboy howlers virtually every day and its journalists appear to have difficulty with a lot of standard words.   We know,  for a fact,  because we saw it recently, that   the different meanings of    the words  "principal" and "principle" are quite beyond them.   That's probably because most of the staff are schoolboy anyway.  But,  are the sub-editors not supposed to be  semi-literate at least?

If we thought that the paper would last longer than two years we would certainly apply for the post of "UK Political Editor",   or even Editor,  ourselves.  In the meantime,  in an attempt to stave off closure,  we urge the proprietors to provide the remaining journalists with both The Chambers Dictionary and Chambers Essential English Grammar and Usage.  


And they can always check directly with the House of Commons what Angus Brendan has been up to.  Presumably,  they may know who Angus Brendan is,  but we certainly wouldn't bet on it.