When the Oxford University Press brings out a new edition of one of its dictionaries, the publishers often choose to issue provocative press releases announcing scurrilous new words they have included, which usually guarantees them a crop of useful headlines and a few harrumphs from J Humphreys on the Today Programme.

Recently, though, publicity has been generated for the academic publishers by a mother from Northern Ireland. Lisa Saunders was helping her son with his homework (what?) and found the latest edition of the Oxford Junior Dictionary did not contain the words ‘moss’ or ‘fern’ (You might enquire why the child couldn’t spell these simple words, or why he didn’t know what they were, with such a diligent mother to advise him). This prompted her to review earlier editions of the dictionary – aimed at 7-8 year olds – from the past 30 years right up to the latest, published in November 2007.

When Max Mosley sued the News of the World for invasion of privacy last July, and won, Paul Dacre’s paper launched a vicious personal attack against Mr Justice Eady, the High Court judge who made the ruling. He ordered his hacks to write pages of frothy-mouthed vindictive in which the judge’s personal life was attacked from every angle. It was disturbing to witness a full-grown man behaving like a small child who thought someone was trying to take away his favourite toy. (see my blog post: “Why are the Mail backing the Screws?” July 27th.)

The papers for which Dacre is responsible, the Mail and the Mail on Sunday rival the News of the World in their lust for the blood of wounded celebrities. The Mail on Sunday in particular, under the specious guise of Guardian of the Moral Values of Middle England, loves to get down and dirty among the private traumas of the rich and famous.