Leading article: Language barrier

As if to emphasise the insanity of the Government's decision to axe compulsory language lessons for 14- to 16-year-olds before boosting their take-up in primary schools, a new survey by the Centre for Information on Language Teaching shows that one in five firms are losing business to overseas competitors because of their employees' lack of language skills. What a pity they will have to wait nearly a decade before those primary school children now taking up language subjects get out into the jobs market.