Although we love the idea of choice - our culture almost worships it - we seek refuge in the familiar and the comfortable.

Nothing is perfect. Life is messy. Relationships are complex. Outcomes are uncertain. People are irrational.

It seems inevitable that the magic of the written word will fade.

Obviously, every child should be given the best possible opportunity to acquire literacy skills.

One reason we resist making deliberate choices is that choice equals change and most of us, feeling the world is unpredictable enough, try to minimise the trauma of change in our personal lives.

A strangely reflective, even melancholy day. Is that because, unlike our cousins in the northern hemisphere, Easter is not associated with the energy and vitality of spring but with the more subdued spirit of autumn.

Parents should be encouraged to read to their children, and teachers should be equipped with all available techniques for teaching literacy, so the varying needs and capacities of individual kids can be taken into account.