I'M SORRY to say that the Letters Editor now has disingenuousness to add to his/her genocidal crimes against the apostrophe.

I ended my "Missing apostrophe shocker - latest" letter, (You Say, October 4) as follows: "Long Live the Three Choirs' Festival!"

This was provocatively altered to "Long Live the Three Choirs (') Festival!". If we're going to have an interesting debate, and some of us are pusillanimous enough to find it interesting, let's respect the integrity of our sources.

As for it being "customary" to hyphenate expressions like village streets or county towns, I leave that to your readers' judgements. I've never seen them hyphenated.

I'll try again: Long Live the Three Choirs' Festival!

Please put this letter in Nuts' Corner, top right of the letters page. See how useful the apostrophe is.

Yours sincerely, and I mean that most sincerely

DAVID RYDER,

Worcester.