A minor but strange 21st century misunderstanding. I was e-mailing a senior American scientist about a nomination for a publishing award organised by Booktrust, the very respectable indpendent charity which encourages the discover and enjoyment of reading. I didn't get a reply although the scientist is well known to be efficient and courteous. We chased him by phone and it transpires that he'd deleted the email because 'Booktrust' in the subject field suggested it was spam. It must have been the 'trust' bit. In the Internet world, as in the world of advertising, words seem to take on opposite connotations - essential means 'don't need it', great value means 'shoddy', cutting edge means 'won't work', easy to assemble means 'impossible'. And of course publishers have been known to transgress in book blurbs...

Later this week I'm going to write a little more about the new Shakespeare project we've developed with the Royal Shakespeare Company. As it's a Sunday you might have time to check out this fascinating interview with its editor, Jonathan Bate. You can find out more here and this is a poor reproduction of what is a brilliant jacket.