5 APRIL 2008, Page 63

Q. At the risk of attracting a further accusation of

pedantry, may I draw your attention to the inadequate use of punctuation in your articles concerning the ‘black taxi rapist’ (8 and 15 March)? The simple insertion of a hyphen (as in, ‘black-taxi rapist’) would have averted any possible accusation of racial stereotyping. I write to correct you since there are readers (mainly of the Guardian newspaper) who believe that it is their duty to take offence at such things on behalf of others who couldn’t care less. This case provides clear proof that the much-maligned and largely discarded hyphen still has an important role to play in modern journalism.

A.M., Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk A. Readers will be in full agreement with you. Thank you for highlighting this inadequacy.