For the first time ever, I agree with Bonzo!

Ther are 2 logical formats - DMY or YMD and the latter is more suited to mechanical sorting and should therefore be the standard.

I must confess to still using DMY, and misread MDY. (911 to me is in a week's time - or it's a Porsche.) For international use I always use 02NOV11 to avoid confusion. Not all computer apps can cope with this.

Phil