Your comments

Tom Marlow from London
Why are so many announcers on BBC radio and TV now being forced to pronounce words with the 'a' as in gather all the time (e.g. France, laugh) when their natural accent would not say it in this manner. It sounds stilted and trying too hard and you end up with some ridiculous pronunciations (I heard Cape Wrath on the shipping forecast pronounced as "Raff). Announcers should be allowed to use their own accents as long as they are generally understandable (which most are). Hearing a southern accent say words such as "France" and "draughtsman" with that short "a" sounds phoney. Why do they do it and who decided that they should?

Peter - London
So much TV and Radio ( Commercial especially) Broadcasting is now litteredwith appalling speechpatterns. Many announcers seem to have a permanent clothes peg clamped to their noses. Many ape the irritating American speech patterns. many say, " The wather ( the 'a' being pronouced as " a" as in 'gather'. Pity the poor 'foreign students' who are trying to pick up the basic, non-accented English.

pat wade n.e.derbyshire
could we please get away from this constant reference to the artillery made by many people all the time?I mean I'm so fed up of the use of the word 'gunner' instead of 'going to'.It's just a slapdash way of speaking which is used by so many people,from all walks of life ,educated and uneducted alike- even some Royal commentators are guilty!!As for presenters of children's programmes ,couldn't they be encouraged to speak a sentence, from time to time,without including 'gunner'? Could they perhaps start a campaign to rid our language of this constant battering by this heavy artillery? If only!!

Kat (Essex)
As a Northerner living in the South, i *love* the diversity of accents on the news!! I don't care what a newsreader's accent is, as long as it's not so thick that people can't understand what's said, the newsreader doesn't speak to quickly and that they use correct grammar (which is what "proper English" is).

kev, manchester
as a mature student studying english language i find it particularly annoying when people talk about 'speaking properly'. In a country that is supposed to be multi-ethnic/multi-cultural and diverse as england is, it isn't up to us to chastise anyone who speaks with a particular accent or dialect. However i agree with Mike Slade from Winscombe, that presenters should use language in a way that is appropriate to the situation, but we should remember that childrens presenters are talking to CHILDREN and they do not really care whether some-one drops vowels or constanants, or infact uses a dialect they are not used to, as long as they are entertained. if children are not entertained they will switch off and it is not a case of 'being cool' it's a case of being open minded.

Mike Slade from Winscombe
Although not wishing RP on the general public, I think as a public broadcaster, the public has a resonable expectation that announcers and presenters speak English properly and appropriately, setting the hightest possible standards of diction. It is widely acknowledged that presenters of children's programmes fall far short of this, and regular and persistant dropping of consonants particularly grates! 'Compuah' instead of computer would be a regular problem. ALthough some children may speak in this way the BBC's presenters shouldn't. It isn't cool to do so!