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Status anxiety

In defence of Michael Gove’s grammar guide

If I had people replying to letters over my signature, I’d give them a style book the size of a telephone directory

27 June 2015

9:00 AM

27 June 2015

9:00 AM

Few things are more likely to provoke the disapproval of the bien-pensant left than criticising someone’s grammar. The very idea that one way of speaking is more ‘correct’ than another is anathema to them. Under the guise of being helpful, it asserts the supremacy of the white educated bourgeoisie and seeks to rob the working class and ethnic minorities of any pride in their own culture.

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Toby Young is associate editor of The Spectator.

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