For some time now, the temperature of the contents of my bladder has been rising, hearing ‘st’ pronounced by BBC presenters as ‘sht’- so ‘street’ becomes ‘shtreet’, ‘student’ becomes ‘shtudent’, ‘strong’ becomes ‘shtrong’ etc. But last night boiling point was finally achieved when I heard a continuity-announcer not only refer to a programme containing ‘shtrong’ language, but also refer to two of our major cities as ‘Nottinam’ and ‘Birminam’.

I understand that language evolves, but is this how? Really? WT actual F?