Chris raises a perennial issue.  Communications and advertising courses at colleges are still largely fed by students coming off arts foundation courses, hence the lack of graduates with a passion for words and an aptitude for commercial writing.  There is a mere handful of colleges offering SPECIALIST copywriting modules or tuition.  There is a huge irony here.  Significant numbers of the coming generation have rediscovered the joy of text - in all forms.  In their personal lives, youngsters are busy texting, blogging, writing song lyrics and poetry; they read voraciously; they have an appreciation of typography and calligraphy.  As often with undergraduates, they struggle to see the link between their own behaviour and what's asked of them by their tutor, a creative brief or the job market.  There is a missing link.  And it seems that a much closer relationship between industry practitioners and professional academics is needed more than ever.

Articulation comes in all forms. It's not until you have aspired to a mastery of words, can you ever know when to dispense with them altogether.

I wandered lonely as a curry...

I'm a copywriter, and am constantly surprised by how little stock many clients seem to put in the words they use...  They'll spend tens of thousands on a new website, but baulk at the idea of spending a little more making sure that the actual content they are using.  Even though it's the only element that gives their customers the information they have come looking for.

I do sometimes wonder though whether it's only those of us who appreciate words who notice when they are used incorrectly.  Maybe the reason so many spelling and grammatical mistakes slip through the net is because a decision has been made that they're not really that important any more; and that's a self-reinforcing viewpoint if ever there was one.

It's a shame really, although I also like to think it gives me the edge as a copywriter, because it makes my copy, good copy, stand out all the more.  Suddenly clients understand what they've been missing, and the difference it can make.

Hoisted by my own petard there, just completely missing out some words.  Oh well, it's Friday, and I had a couple of beers over lunch.  It'll be better on Monday, I promise!

Who or what is "views agent"?  And what are they/it on about?

Having watched a film on Scott Walker the other night, I am not surprised by anything anyone says or does any more...weird or what!

whoops Charles! caught in the glare of the spotlights as soon as you state you are a copywriter. The world pores over your every word to check for mistakes. I used to work as a copywriter but now I just annoy people in blogs by pointing out their spelling and grammar errors.

Are agencies demanding good writers? If not, then where is the argument? If they are really being sought out and appreciated where's the encouragement for the next generation of writers?

I've worked with words my entire career - journalist and client-side marketer - yet when I decided to look at jumping the fence into agency land at 31 / 32 I was told that my age and lack of excperience in agencies would be a barrier. Why? Because I only write commercially for a single client and am too old to apply my established skills to the agency environment? I've been writing long-copy, body-copy, advertising-copy, web-copy, technical-copy, news-copy, headlines, taglines for years - I haven't won awards (I haven't entered any) but my skills are solid and my experience is broad.

Perhaps it's only regional agencies that demand previous experience and you London-types are more open-minded? Haven't a number of advertising's truly great wordsmiths found their calling later in life?

Perhaps I've just got old and bitter?

I do wonder if agencies genuinely want skilled, experienced, (established?) writers - or do they just want to moan about a perceived lack of skill amongst the young upstarts?

Son of a ... looks like it's catching.

Should've read:  If they aren't really being sought out and appreciated where's the encouragement for the next generation of writers?

More haste less annoying c*ck-ups.

What can be done about this issue? I graduated a year ago and have had to learn it all from scratch in my first job. On my BA Advertising course they didn't teach us to write anything more than headlines, and it's only thanks to an amazing mentor that I'm becoming a confident copywriter now. I'll definitely be heading back to my old uni to put more emphasis on the importance of learning to write for advertising. We all should.