Letter: Marr done good

From Mr Andrew Belsey

Sir: One striking linguistic phenomenon of recent times is the form that could be called the "sporting adverbial". We have all heard football managers assure the viewers that "the boy done good". But tennis players are particularly adept at the form, as is shown by the remarkable triple produced by Andre Agassi after winning one of his matches last week: "I'm seeing the ball real clean and picking it up quick".

Now, however, I see that your political commentator Andrew Marr ("Columnist of the Year") has been attracted by the habit (1 July). In telling us that if Mr Major wins, "he had better win good", is Mr Marr putting down a marker for when the position of Scotland football manager becomes vacant?

Yours faithfully,

Andrew Belsey

Cardiff