I am a keen watcher of UK BBCTV news programmes, but sometimes get furious at what is said by the broadcasters.

One bugbear is the weather forecasts. Here the presenters sometimes refer to "The North-East", but don't mean the North-east of the UK, but the north-east of ENGLAND. As I spent 25+ years living in north-east SCOTLAND, this frequently got me pricking up my ears, thinking they were talking about Aberdeenshire, only to discover they were referring to an area hundreds of miles south of where I lived.

Another annoying habit of the London weather presenters is saying "such and such will be happening from the word GO" - which has always got me saying "But when was the word GO said, and in what situation, and who said it???" To me it is an almost meaningless phrase, but it keeps recurring on the weather forecasts. A similar problem exists with "The North", which might mean Northern Scotland (which equals the northern UK), but might also refer to northern England.

For years I also observed the way places were indicated in the news. If it was a location in England, the placename would be followed by the name of the county, to make it clear where it was. BUT, if it was place in Scotland, it would be "Irvine, in Scotland", rather than "Irvine, Ayrshire",. if they were to be consistent. I suspect the practice reflected the newswriter's lack of knowledge of Scotland, rather than an attempt to denigrate. To me, it showed how poor their own education was.

Recently I have noticed an improvement, especially where they have used a local reporter in Scotland to tell the news story. Perhaps their newsfeeds are better prepared as well.