To fair my handwriting is appalling....

And looking at the note, the spelling mistake in the surname could be just down to a writing style that should be appearing on 'my left foot'.

You can also knock him for spelling and hand writing, but it appears that this was an undrafted, from the man letter....

Would you prefer a letter that had been drafted by a clerk, checked by senior advisers and then merely copied?

One or t'other, you can't have both.

I am off to throw up now, as I have defended gordo.

Fug,I think you'll find that should be pedantry.

I think you'll find there should be a space after that comma.

No but at least he could have got his missus/secretary to double check before sending. Thus saving himself from even more scorn.

I don't like the man, but have to say I'm amazed that he actually spends the time to write individual letters.

So that'll be Ainsworth then!

Just to clear something up: It was not Napoleons lieutenant. It was 'Grants Captain'. General Ulysses S Grant reportedly had a Staff Captain that he used to run his battle plans past. He reckoned that this guy was a bit dense and if he could understand the plan then it was possible that all his Corps commanders could follow it.

BTW Napoleon had one of the finest Chiefs of Staff in Marshall Berthier and, yes, Berthier was sometimes the only one who could read certain words written down by Napoleon. (99% of Napoleons orders were dictated)

As to Brown give the guy a break, it's like shooting fish in bath tub with him.

"I don't like the man, but have to say I'm amazed that he actually spends the time to write individual letters"

I think you may find that Thatcher, Major and Blair all handwrote letters to the families of the fallen, its nothing new.

To put this into context, Mrs Janes has lost her son. Her most cherished memories of him will come in the form of photos and letters. With that in mind, it's understandable that she feels bitter and angry. Having said that, the PM has hand written a letter of condolence to a grieving mother which, errors aside, is bloody nice of him. I don't see why this has become a hand-wringing debate.

He has proven to be a bit of a fvck up as of late, hasn't he.

True…

And they seemed to spend more than 30 seconds on theirs unlike the One Eyed Mongwriter

Labour hasn't had an MP that understands Defence and the Services since the days of Callaghan and Healey. Roy Mason was probably the best they've had, but even Fred 'Sleepyhead' Mulley was better than any of the current crop. You can't expect anything different from a bunch that the service values of honour, decency and comradeship are the opposite of everything they stand for. A man who writes about courage but wouldn't recognise it if it bit him - just standby for more of the same.

Roger Hutchinson

What a complete waste of Newspaper ink and Bandwidth, agree with a lot of folks on here this is just distracting from real issues.
Brown is a waste of skin, but to go off the deep end because a nearly blind man who most of us acknowledge is a halfwit at best has made some spelling mistakes and has messy handwriting. Some people need to get a grip.

Off for a bleach bath as I now feel dirty defending him.

It is interesting to see how many spelling / grammar mistakes there are in this thread alone...

The bloke is a cnut but thats old news, the more people attack him for what could be perceived as fairly minor things the more chance there is of him receiving sympathy from some quarters and that is the last thing he deserves, let him dig his own grave, no need to help.

Well, I for one think that this outrage is both well timed and well aimed.

Often, when I stand there in the polling booth, looking where to put my cross I think:

Should I base this on policy and whether I agree with them?

Should I base my hard won and important vote on whether I believe this party will carry out their manifesto?

Do I think that this particular member of that party really understand what is important to my locale?

And then, I invariably spoil my ballot paper thinking that for this election campaing we really haven't focussed on spelling and hand-writing characteristics of the candidates. And that is a shame. Perhaps instead of a televised debate we could have a spelling-bee and ask each candidate to write 300 words on "what I did in the holidays".

Shouldn't 'nob' have a 'k'?

The Mrs stole the car this morning! When I text her and asked why she just replied with"I assumed the outrage bus would get you to work" and hinted at this story.

It's a total non story, as much as I hate Brown...

I'm outraged that you would consider using the bus for personal use.

I think this has more to do with a mother's anger at the death of her son and directing of blame at someone, anyone, than at the spelling in a letter of condolence.

It's not an insult, it's a mistake. He might have terrible support/admin staff, but IMHO her anger is misdirected in this case.