Note to Mia, from Brisbane: you have struck on one of my pet peeves...and you are wrong. Using the apostrophe to denote possession in a proper noun ending in "s" should be followed by a second "s" if there is another sound to account for. An example: Bridget Jones's is correct, because of the sound made when pronouncing the word. An example of when an apostrophe would not be followed by a second "s" is Illinois'

I am glad that you take such an interest in proper spelling, grammar and punctuation. Keep up the great work!

Bill , San Diego, CA

A good read is The Eve of Destruction about the '73 war. Marwan must be the one referred there to as the"source." However, he is portrayed as a double agent, actually duping the Israelis as to first whether there would be a war, and then as to the exact time hostilities were to begin.

Bob, Los Angeles, CA

A couple of years ago 'Suad Hosni' or 'Soaad' not sure how to spell it exactly was thrown off a building in London. She was sick and depressed although in yer youth years she was the most beautiful actresses ever known to Egyptian cinema. Rumors circulated that she was in some way also related in some way to egyptian a very powerful and brutal intelligence persona one of the most brutal men that headed egyptian intelligence also around the time of 1973 war. or maybe just before during nassers time. some believe that she was writing her diary for publishing...

i dont know.

God have mercy on his soul and all good people from all religions who do the right thing and are not scared of any man.

Badran, Los Angeles, CA

Why is it that so many Americans feel the need to comment on this site? Don't they have newspapers of their own?

For the information of Mr Paddock, Blair was PM of the United Kingdom, not England. I find any favourable comparison between Blair and Churchill a ridiculous slur on our great WWII leader.

Blair will always be remembered for conning his people to go to war on behalf of the president of a foreign power.

As for the "War on Terror", where was the US when we had our own war on the terrorists of the IRA? Greeting Gerry Adams and helping him raise funds for the bombs and bullets to murder our troops. (Rudolph Giuliani now a leading candidate for US President pushing the "War on Terror" ticket as hard as he can.) Sickening!

Nick Saywell, Zagreb, Croatia

Please, save your country. You are on a course to multi-cultural mayhem. The Muslim mind does not perceive your acquiescence
as compassion, but rather as weakness, and they will respond accordingly.

David Maxwell, Covelo, California

Just a note.
The author of EVE OF DESTRUCTION is not Harold Bloom but Harold Blum.
yours,
Ted

Ted Feder, Sao Paulo, Brazil

Sorry Mia. You're right but by luck. From Strunk and White, "Elements of Style," Macmillian, NY, 1979, p. 1.

"1. Form the possessive singular of nouns by adding 's.

Follow this rule whatever the final consonant. Thus write,

Charles's friend
Burns's poems
the witch's malice

Exceptions are the possessives of ANCIENT proper names in -es and -is, the possessive Jesus', and such forms as for consciences' sake, for righteousness' sake.""

Now I will submit that Australian English grammar may be different than American english grammar.

Peter, Auburn, USA

James in NYC,

Its the US which is run by a man of dubious intelligence, and seems to be lost. If we had not followed Blair blindly into Iraq we would have saved the lives of hundreds of thousands.

akram, London,

Just want to comment on the latest error in your language, mia.
Copy editors, especially the Jameses and Joneses in their ranks, know full well that "princess" contains an internal "s" and thus regally avoids the need for a possessive apostrophe "s."
You are right on one thing, though: "Princessess's does look pretty stupid, especially with that superfluous "s" after the plural "-es" (that would be the fourth "s" in "Princessess's" for anyone counting).
By the way, mia, it seems like the words needed to flesh out your second phrase into a sentence are themselves MIA.

BubbaSqueal, Vancouver Island, Canada

Topaz Phil from little Wellington, Nevada ..... perhaps in your small town the only form of news you receive is from "Jerry Springer"; but if you had half a brain you would know that assassinations in the intelligence community usually are not driven by religious zealotry. Not to mention, that it is still unclear who this lad was spying for in the first place since some Israelis consider him an Egyptian spy. If a Brit betrays England and sells military secrets to China, and then Chinese economic secrets to America, and somehow ends up dead ... would you say that he was killed by Protestant or Buddhist zealots? Get out of Wellington, and mix with people from different backgrounds. And for God's sake turn off Fox News.

Saphira, Toronto, Canada

ummm.... islam may teach peace but the reason everyone assumes islam has a hand in violence is the fact that it is only people who believe in islam that blow themselves up for the glory of allah. islam is the only religion whereby the believers want to die and islam is the only faith where the only sure way to paradise is through death. c'mon folks not every muslim is a terrorist but most every terrorist is a muslim.

very sad to see people fall into this type of belief.

james stovall, manchester,

On behalf of us Americans who are not bloodthirsty and foaming at the mouth, I'd like to respectfully disagree with Mr. Paddock's comment.

When our nation was founded, the notion of representative democracy was paramount. The people's (those of voting age and wealth, etc .. but nonetheless) will was to be enacted and protected by the Congress and the President. Somehow, this view has been so distorted over the last 240 years as to now be read as: certain peoples' will should be carried out and if yer not with us, yer with the terrorists!

World: my apologies for Mr. Paddock.

David Owen, San Francisco, CA

Never Fear. Every square inch of London is watched by big brother. Cameras everywhere. I am sure Scotland Yard is moments from an arrest. Didn't do much to save one of the richest in the world though did they!

Trey Jurden, Canton, Georgia USA

uh, mia in Australia, you should know that St.James's is correct. It is archaic, to be sure. But that is the official designation of the Palace.
It is an historical anachronism that is maintained.
One would expect that an Australian would know her English history.

denis, McCall,

Mia,Brisbane, Australia......Yes agreed the spelling mistakes are getting worse each year I notice in both the FT and the Times newspapers, this maybe because the Government does not properly fund schools and thus we are turning out a generation or more of pupils many of whom cannot speak or write proper english.
Perhaps the Times and FT should employ people who CAN spell.This is not simply about this article but it is all over the place on occasion.

Sergei, London, UK

Why on earth are there loads of Americans on here bemoaning the fall of England? What on earth does this story have to do with that?

I am a bit concerned about this though.. seems like there's a lot of dodgy billionaires heading towards London, and other people's conflicts are being played out on our streets.

Owen, London, UK

I can bet you this is gonna be pushed under the carpet or blamed in some way on Israel or the USA

Alex., Brooklyn, US

Mia, I think from your comment it is very obvious that your first language is not English. "St James's Palace" is perfectly acceptable, particularly because it is pronounced with the double S sound, whilst something like "Jesus' disciples" is not always.

The plural "princesses" (you inexplicably added an S to the end) can only ever have an apostrophe following it, because (unlike St James) it is a plural noun. "Princesses's" will always be a nonsense by any English-speaker's standards. Please get it right before you get so scathing.

Seb C, Isle of Man,

Mossad dropped him like a dirty shirt.

Tom, Phoenix, AZ

Tony Blair heads toward history because he failed to not follow the (idiotic) lead of George W. Bush.

Benjamin Fader, Yonkers, NY

Mia, your complaint is not necessarily correct. See Strunk and White's "Elements of Style", which has for many decades maintained that the possessive of "Charles" is "Charles's".

Ãœber Pedant, Borkborkborkshire, Uzbekistan

Actually, you're wrong, "mia". In standard English, either treatment is correct. Sorry if you don't like the look of the spelling as published, but it's perfectly acceptable (and historically, it's the preferred treatment.)

Carter Packard, Cambridge, Mass. USA

And i guess the Murder of the Russian Billionaire in the UK within the last 12 months was also carried out by Isamic Assasins ?

Please Grow up,

Anthony, London, UK

Trust an Aussie to teach everyone else English! In fact, you're wrong Mia. The rule on apostrophes is: if it's a one-syllable noun ending in "s", the possessive form is 's, e.g. St. James's Park. If it's a two or more syllable noun ending in "s" then only the ' is added, e.g Jesus' teachings.

Dylan Cross, Bad Neuenahr, Germany

Mia in Brisbane -- You have it backward, actually. While the modern tendency is to treat singular words ending in "s" the same as plurals (e.g. St. James' Palace instead of St. James's Palace), singular nouns should receive an apostrophe and an "s" when they are possessive. The four accepted exceptions are Biblical or classical names (Moses' or Xerxes'), corporate names formed from a plural word (General Motors'), personal pronouns (yours), and words preceding "sake" (appearance' sake).

Not sure how your comment related to the above story, though.

JK, Colorado Springs, Colorado, USA

To mia in Brisbane,
I know this debate has nothing to do with the article above, but you can actually use either form, as per the quote below from an english grammar website:

For names ending in -s:
In speaking we add the sound /ª z/ to the name, but in writing it is possible to use either 's or just '. The 's form is more common. e.g. Thomas's book, James's shop.

Jamie, London,

'Never fear, Islam is a religion of peace' what has that got to do with the price of fish Topaz Phil??!!?!?

Rufus, Cologne, Germany

In response to Mia, actually both St James' and St James's are acceptable, although St James' is more common. Noted that English is not your first language.

Alex Wilson, London,

"Why can't we all get along?"

Rodney King, Los Angeles , CA/ USA

Islam has little to do with this.

Traitors of any religion are often murdered by the people they betray.

You don't need religion to explain this one.

Suspicion obviouslyfalls on the Egyptians or some other avenger, but don't rule out Mossad either as he might know things about their operations that would embarass Israel.

Mark Strand, Washington DC, USA

Wait. Does this article propose that an Arab would actually talk to a son of pigs and dogs? Impossible. At the very least he would have been afraid that he would get some on him.

Steve Eisenberg, Pembroke, New Hampshire

What is the point of publishing incorrect rants about punctuation?
James's is correct.

Adele Winston, London, UK

Iam sorry i fail to see why you bring in islam into this.
pay attention to the world news lately its Americans the world dont trust.
so you heading should be NEVER.FEAR AMRICANS ARE HERE FOR DEMOCRACY.WE WILL INSTALL A PUPPET ON YOU TO GIVE YOU FREEDOM.

Imran, Hamilton, canada

The England of Nelson and Churchill is long gone. The Englandof Arthur Batchelor is here. God help you all.

Bill Maher, Beverly Hills, California, USA

To Topaz of USA

What on earth has this got to do with religion??

General point: why are there so many Americans making comments on here, we hardly see any "local" comments!

Joe, London,

Thanks to Phil and James for their incredibly insightful, meaningful and very useful comments. Let's wait until we hear how he actually died before we speculate, eh? Also, if he was a traitor to his country in what way does his murder reflect that of Alexander Litvinenko? Litvinenko was merely a strong critic of Putin who probably knew his dirty secrets. I trust no-one reading this is shocked to learn that foreign agents operate in the UK.

Also, assuming Marwan was a traitor then could someone please explain to me the necessary connection between his murder and Islamic fundamentalism? Surely elements of the Egyptian security services or even Mossad (to protect their secrets or to protect their real source who is still at large) would be more likely candidates.

Nigel Jaggers, Newcastle,

Eh? England is lost? Just because you can't find it on a map doesn't mean it's lost. What's your comment got to do with the article anyway?

Damian, Simor,

You die the way you live, it's the way ALL arms dealers should go.

K Bauslaugh, Caglary, Canada

Ashraf was a kind and intelligent man who loved his country may his soul rest in peace.

nena, woodbridge, usa

Spy or not, he seemed to have very strange bed fellows. He might have been murdered for any number of reasons, with such shady associates, he probably did very shady things and that is what got him killed.

Alexandra Macina, New York, NY

Topaz Phil comment proves that Islamaphobia is alive and well. This article, like the assassination of Alexander Litvinenko, the former KGB agent, has nothing to do with Islam but Islamaphobics like Topaz Phil will read into it with their skewed view of a quarter of the worlds population.

Adam Johnson, London, England

Re James Paddock, NYC, USA

England may well be lost, but the rest of Britain will flourish, as Scotland, Wales and Ireland once more assert their sovereign right to direct their own affairs at home and in the worls at large.
The UK has served its turn and we aare now moving on, looking to a larger Union where Scotland and the other Celtic nations will take an active part in the direction of the EU.
What England will do when all the Scots in the (British) armed forces leave (approx 24%) will be interesting to see.

Alas, it would appear That Mr. Paddock, not alone I'm afraid, confuses England with Britain. If he can't understand the relatively simple geo-political makeup of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland then he must be really confused with his own countries 46 states and 4 commonwealths.

David Glen, Glasgow, Scotland

Re: Topaz Phil - are you insinuating that this was done in the name of religion?! If so, then I sadly fear that further elections of bumbling morons posing as presidents is around the corner, because with a plentiful supply of people such as yourself, that is exactly what we will get. In case you have not noticed, this person is supposed to have betrayed his fellow Arabs, so what they did (if done at all) is toeing the line to "live by the sword, die by the sword".

One thing I cannot fathom is that if this is an English matter, then why do people from the other side of the Atlantic have such strong opinions? Would it not be worthwhile to abolish the current situation at Guantanamo and THEN pass judgement on others?

Rehan Ashraf, East Ham, London,

the above comments were brought to you by the people who believed the Reichstags fire was an external terrorist attack and that the united states foreign policy towards the middle east and asia over the last 60 years has nothing to do with the present trajectory of history.

Fear is the first step towards fascism. Do not be afraid.

Derby City Espresso, Louisville, KY, USA

Not just England my friend. The US is also lost, and we are doing it to ourselves.

Kim Workman, Sterling Heights, USA

England will awake from her pacifist dream to fight her enemies, or she will lose her identity as a nation and a people. It's that simple.

Ms. Campbell, Worthington, Ohio

Personal note to outgoing Prime Minister Tony Blair.

History may judge your time in office a disappointment, failure, tragedy, but I say thank you for having conviction and the courage to lead. We live in selfish world where there are msny who are slow to act if they act at all. Men make mistakes and errors in acting, the fear of making mistakes and being wrong.
Apathy, indecisiveness far more tragic.
It's what you do next that counts. Please continue to be strong and do many good deeds. Our world still needs heros in whatever form they come. Even politicians

Nick C, Seattle, Usa / wa

Mia,

Actually, it is correct English to include the 's, but dropping the last s is also correct and more socially acceptable.

Jeff, Columbia, Mo

S's is a debatable issue. Modern common usage indicates that s' is archaic if not obsolete. One of the first indicators that a person is not listening is when they criticize the speaker's delivery. Whether or not to use an archaic form of possesive punctuation misses the point. Islamofascists will halt at nothing to achieve their goals. A retired billionaire is considered fair game as an example, just as a beheaded dissenter. Any religion that believes that the 8th Century was the pinnacle of human civilization needs to be regurgitated. And this is from someone whose name ends in S.

Phil Seamans, Albuquerque, NM USA

Suspitious indeed.

Guy Emett, Corvallis, USA

Mia in Brisbane, Australia

I echo your punctuation corrections, and English (vis a vis American English) is my first language. Aside from the
punctuation, I enjoyed the article as this confirms some of
my notions about counter intelligence and espionage.

Cheryl D. Shaw, Las Vegas , NV United States

I am sure that the issues behind Mr Marwan's assassination (if thats what it was) are far more complex than the commentators below would have us believe. Can people please stop using this facility to post ignorant and irrelevant comments. What has Tony Blair's leadership got to do with this?

Rob K, Norwich,

Good Lord, it looks like London is becoming assasination central. What's up with that.?

Tom, Philadelphia, USA

Mia, just wanted to correct you - actually, for names (and particularly biblical names such as James), the correct possessive is James's.

James, Los Angeles, USA

Alas, Mia, that rule is outdated. You can use both James' and James's. Only classical names still follow this rule. So you can use Titus', but not Titus's.

The word "princessess" doesn't exist. It's "princesses" (and you'd use your discretion and just use an apostrophe, otherwise you'd sound like you were speaking parseltongue).

My first language isn't English, but I do have an MA in it ;)

starling, Lancaster,

i wish Topaz and his like stop dragging Islam in every incident that happens. Islam preaches peace, but if people want to follow violence it is not the fault of the religion. And why pick on Islam?? There are so many non Muslims who hav resorted to violence and killings but their faith has never been accused?? Topaz get a life, your Islam bashing is out of sync

waf, London,

Er... Earth to James Paddock, Earth to James, can you hear us?

This tradgedy has nothing to do with Islam or England, whatever else it's about.

Blogs attract their fair share of nutters don't they?

Bill, York,

The spelling was correct. It is correct to write "the Court of St. James's". This has often been disputed over the years and confirmed as correct as written. Perhaps someone else can explain why.

Charles Fenwick, Glyndon, MD, USA

>Just want to comment on the latest error in the English language

At least in American English, you're wrong here. When a noun ends with an "s" whether you add an 's or just an ' depends on whether the noun is plural.

For example:
Bill and Dan Brooks are the owners of that car.
That's the Brooks Brothers' car.

Brooks Brothers (the store) has good parking.
That's Brooks Brothers's parking garage.

Alex, Philadelphia, PA

To Topaz Phil

What has Islam got to do with this? If he was assassinated, it was not done for "Islam Security" but for Egypt's Security. I do not know if Topaz Phil reads a lot but if he did, I am sure he would have read about many assassinations, coups, murders, attempted murders and wars that were created by Christian MI6 or CIA agents.

Garba Maigoro, Kano,

Er... Earth to James Paddock, Earth to James, can you hear us?

This tradgedy has nothing to do with Islam or England, whatever else it's about.

Blogs attract their fair share of nutters don't they?

Bill, York,

To Mia:
Looks are deceiving and so is your comment. Although adding an apostrophe to a singular word ending in "s" looks better, it's simply a matter of house style. The Times' (I happen to not like adding an "s" in my house) style happens to be different than what you may usually read, but it doesn't make it wrong. This is one of those English rules that is not set in stone. Check out some other publications. Do some research before you proselytize, princess.

Johnny Reb, Erie, CO

St. James's is correct.

Charles Fenwick, Glyndon, MD, USA

In response to Mia's post, she is incorrect to say that you cannot use "James's". Both James' and James's may be used in this case. The both singular possessive uses would be correct. Also, "princessess" is actually spelled "princesses". She is in fact correct, her "princessess's" word does look pretty stupid, but only because of her actions. Further, the plural possessive does not contain an "s" on the end, so the correct spelling would be princesses'. Mia, please check your word use authorities before posting something such as this post. They may be found easily throughout the web.

Charles, Washington, DC

Mr. Paddock, that was brilliant. Great Britain and the U.S are sinking in quicksand, due to the onslaught of the religion of peace.

Mack, Morris, NJ

I am writing this from close to St. James's Church in London,England. The Underground Station is also "St. James's Underground".I wish Mia from Brisbane, Australia good wishes in her adventures in English.

A.Reader, London, England

mia:
In this case, St James's is the official spelling. But I do agree with you that many errors are made because of the terminating 's' plural possesive.

Robert Burch, Toronto, Canada

mia- Strunk & White say quite the opposite of what you say. They say NEVER say James' palace, and ALWAYS say James's. The reporter here followed proper English grammatical principles.

George, Houston, Texas, USA

Just want to comment on the latest error in the English language. When a word ends in 's' e.g. James' palace and not James's palace. The first culprit to introduce this error is Bridget Jones's diary. It is wrong and it will never look right so stamp it out before it becomes the norm. Just imagine if you are writing the word princessess' gowns, how many "s" do you want to put in ? Princessess's look pretty stupid. Get it right and this is from a person whose first language is not English.

mia, Brisbane, Australia

Never fear, Islam is a religion of peace.

Topaz Phil, Wellington, Nevada, USA

England is lost. Like Churchill before him, the voices of insanity and illusion, failed to follow the lead of Tony Blair. And so it heads toward history.

James Paddock, NYC, USA

Tony Blair is probably the best world leader Britain has had since Churchill, though Thatcher is a close tie with TB. Marwan was often in Saudi Arabia when i worked there in the American Embassy and we followed his whereabouts closely.

daveinboca, Boca Raton, FL USA

Crazy Mossad/CIA/Al Qaeda/MI6 people are always up to no good, blaming each other for the ills of the world. Just a bunch of drug-smuggling goons, the whole lot of them.

John Q. Pubic, San Francisco, USA

If he was indeed assasinated for his alleged undercover activities, Harold Bloom shoulders some of the responsibility for his death.

amy, WA, USA