To those readers offended by foul language, I say f*** off - and earn points for it. Dumb Britain dumbs down still further. From The Times:

Pupils are being rewarded for writing obscenities in their GCSE English examinations even when it has nothing to do with the question.

One pupil who wrote “f*** off” was given marks for accurate spelling and conveying a meaning successfully.

His paper was marked by Peter Buckroyd, a chief examiner who has instructed fellow examiners to mark in the same way. He told trainee examiners recently to adhere strictly to the mark scheme, to the extent that pupils who wrote only expletives on their papers should be awarded points.

To gain minimum marks in English, students must demonstrate “some simple sequencing of ideas” and “some words in appropriate order”. The phrase had achieved this, according to Mr Buckroyd.

So if he'd written "off f***," would he still have got the points?

He also acknowledged that the language was inappropriate – but added that using the construction “different to” would also be inappropriate language.

That's right. It's just like confusing "may" and "might" or using an Oxford comma. And who are we to judge? Philip Larkin started with the F-word and worked it up into a whole poem.

The choice phrase, given in answer to the question “Describe the room you’re sitting in”, on a 2006 GCSE paper, was not punctuated. “If it had had an exclamation mark it would have got a little bit more because it would have been showing a little bit of skill,” Mr Buckroyd said, “We are trying to give higher marks to the students who show more skills.”

Words fail me, but what the f*!$%%, who needs them?