Could the Internet make English easier?

As most students of English find out, many words are spelt with silent letters, Cs which sound like S and other tricky problems.

Now one of our most senior language professors says the Internet will kill off many of these confusing spellings within 50 years. Professor David Crystal says many simpler spellings will become more and more commonly used on the internet but it will take time.

He said it was not a good thing or a bad thing that spelling was changing. But it was inevitable.

Who will be Who?

Dr Who is one of the UK's best-known TV programmes, and it is celebrating its 50th birthday this year.
It is about a time-travelling alien called The Doctor. He looks human, and his spaceship is a type of blue phone box which people used to call the police in the last century.

Matt Smith, the actor who has been playing The Doctor for three years, has announced he is leaving the series. When actors leave, The Doctor "regenerates". Now there is lots of talk about who will be the next Doctor. So far the role has always been played by a white male, but there are lots of suggestions that the next actor should be female or from a different racial group.

Parents helped to make daughters more ambitious

The Government is planning to produce a guide for parents of daughters to help them through choosing school subjects and careers.

The idea is to make sure that girls are encouraged to be ambitious for their futures.

Queen was crowned 60 years ago

We celebrated the Queen's Diamond Jubilee last year. That marked the anniversary of Queen Elizabeth inheriting the throne when her father died.

However, the Queen was not formally crowned till later. So this week there was a special service in Westminster Abbey, on the anniversary of the Coronation itself. The Coronation crown, which has not been out of the Jewel Tower since 1953, was in the Abbey for the service and so was the throne on which the Queen was crowned.