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Abu means "father of" so must not be separated from the name that follows, ie, Abu Qatada at first mention remains Abu Qatada ("father of Qatada"), not simply Qatada

alcohol and driving the legal levels are: blood 80mg per 100ml; breath 35mcg per 100ml

Apple Computer, not Computers, for the Mac company

assault rifle an outmoded term to be avoided. The British Army standard SA80 is a rifle

Britannia the decommissioned former Royal Yacht. Refer to her at first mention as HMY Britannia, or the Royal Yacht Britannia, thereafter Britannia

BSkyB: News Corporation, parent company of The Times, owns 37.2 per cent of BSkyB (British Sky Broadcasting Group Ltd). So use the formula: BSkyB, in which News Corporation, parent company of The Times, has a 37.2 per cent stake ...

Cafcass the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service

Chinese names use the Pinyin rather than the traditional Wade-Giles, so write Beijing, Mao Zedong (though Chairman Mao or just Mao are acceptable), Zhou Enlai etc. Normal style is to place family name first, then given name, so that the actress Zhang Ziyi, for instance, becomes Zhang at second mention

Choose and Book (initial caps) is an NHS initiative allowing a patient to choose his or her hospital or clinic and book an appointment with a specialist

civil partnership the legal name for what is commonly referred to as "gay marriage"; this phrase, which may offend those with diametrically opposed views on this new arrangement, should be put in quotation marks (for linguistic clarity) in headings, and in copy at first mention only. In some contexts, quotation marks may be perceived as pejorative, and that is not their purpose here. So avoid writing: "Mr Smith and Mr Brown were 'married' two years ago"; instead write, eg: "Mr Smith and Mr Brown have had a civil partnership for two years". Dictionaries currently define marriage as a union between a man and a woman. A suggested shorthand for headings is civil union.

claims and facts remember to distinguish between a claim and a fact, particularly in headlines/standfirsts. Witnesses to rioting telling amid confusion of up to 600 people dead did not justify an unequivocal standfirst death toll of 600

confectionery sweets, cakes, etc; confectionary is a place where confectionery is made

county abbreviations these may be used to save space, but only in special circumstances such as postal addresses at the end of letters, in listings etc. Do not use them in ordinary text, eg, news, business, sport etc body copy.

Bedfordshire (Beds); Berkshire (Berks); West Berkshire (W Berks); Buckinghamshire (Bucks); Cambridgeshire (Cambs); Carmarthenshire (Carms); Denbighshire (Denbighs); Derbyshire (Derbys); Dumfries & Galloway (Dumf&Gall); Glamorgan: East Glamorgan (E Glam), West Glamorgan (W Glam), Mid Glamorgan (Mid Glam); Gloucestershire (Glos); Greater London (London); Greater Manchester (Manchester); Hampshire (Hants); Herefordshire (Herefords); Hertfordshire (Herts); Lancashire (Lancs); Leicestershire (Leics); Lincolnshire (Lincs); Middlesex (Middx); Northamptonshire (Northants); Nottinghamshire (Notts); Northumberland (Northumb); Oxfordshire (Oxon); Pembrokeshire (Pembs); Shropshire (Shrops); Staffordshire (Staffs); Strathclyde (S'clyde); Wales: Mid Wales; North Wales (N Wales); South Wales (S Wales); West Wales (W Wales); Warwickshire (Warwicks); Western Isles (W Isles); West Midlands (W Mids); Wiltshire (Wilts); Worcestershire (Worcs); Yorkshire: East Riding (E Riding); North Yorkshire (N Yorks); South Yorkshire (S Yorks); West Yorkshire (W Yorks).

Other counties and regions (whether administrative or postal, eg, Cornwall, Cheshire, Essex, Gwynedd, Highland, Powys, Somerset, Surrey) should not be abbreviated

County of Avon no longer exists as an administrative area (qv unitary authorities), but some official statistics are still collated under "Avon". Also some local services still have "Avon" in their titles, eg, Avon and Somerset Constabulary. On occasion, it may be appropriate to refer more loosely to the Bristol area. The four local authorities comprising the former county are Bath & North East Somerset, Bristol, South Gloucestershire and North Somerset

currencies always convert to sterling on news, sport and features pages - usually at first mention of the foreign currency. On business pages commonly used foreign currencies need not be converted unless to help the flow, and the headline should reflect the article's original currency rather than a sterling equivalent.

dad and mum l/c in general context, reserve caps for when it is clear that that is/was the family name in use

Deloitte has been rebranded. Except in historical contexts, eg, when accounts have been signed by Deloitte & Touche, simply use Deloitte and not, eg, Deloittes, Deloitte Consulting etc. (Deloitte & Touche LLP is the legal entity through which Deloitte now provides service in the UK, and to which its UK partners belong; Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu is the Swiss Verein [association] to which each individual member firm belongs)

departments (government) A full list comprises:

Department of Health (DH)

Department for Constitutional Affairs (DCA)

Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS)

Department for Education and Skills (DfES)

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (not the Environment; Defra)

Department for International Development (DfID)

Department of Trade and Industry (DTI)

Department for Transport (no longer for Transport, Local Government and the Regions; DfT)

Department for Work and Pensions (DWP)

Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO), qv

Her Majesty's Treasury (the Treasury)

Home Office

Ministry of Defence (MoD)

Northern Ireland Office (NIO)

Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM)

Privy Council Office

de rigueur roman; not de rigeur

Dexy's Midnight Runners despite much evidence to the contrary, please use the apostrophe

diabetes: type 1, type 2 etc, no cap, no hyphen

elderly, aged, old be sensitive in the use of these words. As a guide, do not use for people under 65 and be aware that there are many over this age for whom "elderly" is not an appropriate adjective. A sensitive consensus is building for the term "older people"

FDA is the name by which the First Division Association, the union that represents leading civil and public servants, wishes to be known.

final-salary scheme (with hyphen)

Formica (cap, proprietary) please be sure not to use the brand name in a generic sense to describe decorative plastic laminates

fury please avoid temptation to over-use this short headline word. "Fury" is rarely expressed or intended; anger or even mild disappointment is more likely

Germany and Austria use Herr, Frau (for all grown women, whether married or not), and Fraülein

gulag do not use when labour camps is meant; Gulag (cap) was the Soviet organisation that ran the prisons and forced labour camps

Holy Grail (caps) when referring to the Last Supper; holy grail (l/c) when used figuratively (as mecca)

hoody plural hoodies

in order to simply wastes two words. Delete "in order"

Jaafari, Ibrahim Prime Minister of Iraq (not al-Jaafari)

jail, jailer (not gaol, gaoler): remember that an offender aged 15 cannot be "jailed"; he or she is sentenced to detention in a young offender institution (qv)

jail sentences totting up the total number of years to which a number of defendants have been jailed is meaningless. Give the sentences of named individuals. If room does not allow, list the sentences of principal offenders and report that so many other people were jailed or whatever.

Kadima party or simply Kadima for Ariel Sharon's new creation (cf Likud, the Likud party). Explain occasionally, but not invariably, that Kadima means "Forward"

leave, leaving prefer to depart, departing

Lions (rugby) officially the touring rugby union team is known as the British Isles; alternatively, the Lions. At a pinch, they may be referred to as the British and Irish Lions. They are not the British Lions

log jam two words

Maryinsky (not Mariinsky, despite internet evidence to the contrary) for the name of the theatre home of the Kirov Ballet.

Meles Zenawi is Prime Minister, not President, of Ethiopia. Mr Meles at second mention

metrics in general, we should prefer the metric, with imperial conversions in brackets at first mention. Whenever converting, try to keep a sense of propertion: it is nonsense to express, for instance, an estimated 15ft as an excessively detailed 4.57m. If the first figure is no more than an estimate, the conversion may safely be rounded to a similarly approximate 4.5m.

metrosexual note that the term was coined by Mark Simpson, a British journalist, not by Marian Saltzman, a US writer

mobile phone do not abbreviate to mobile even after first mention; cellphone in US only

Newton Abbot single t for the Devon market town

NHS Blood and Transplant, a special health authority replacing (Oct 2005) UK Transplant and the National Blood Authority

NICE retains its u/c acronym, but is now the the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence

Olympics no need to capitalise venues that do not yet exist, eg, the Olympic (note no -s) aquatic centre. Tessa Jowell is the Olympics (note -s) Minister (caps) as well as the Culture, Sport and Media Secretary

omega-3, omega-6 etc, l/c and hyphen, for fatty acids

Plan B (caps) as in "The Treasury has no Plan B for the economy turning sour"

petrol bomb not Molotov cocktail

police ranks wherever possible outside lists, avoid the inelegant abbreviated forms such as Det Con, Det Chief Insp. Spell out, even if inconvenient sometimes. The use of WPC (Woman Police Constable) is allowed historically, eg, WPC Yvonne Fletcher (murdered outside the Libyan Embassy in London in 1984), and also contemporarily, eg, WPC Sharon Beshenivsky (shot dead in Bradford, 2005), when emphasis on the gender of the officer is pertinent, and in headlines; more generally, use PC for all constables. PC also acceptable in headlines.

Revenue & Customs is the new name (Apr 2005) for the combined Inland Revenue and Customs and Excise bodies. At first mention, refer to Revenue & Customs (abbreviated HMRC, if need be). In an article primarily about taxation, use Revenue at second mention; Customs in a piece about smuggling or duty etc. See Customs and Excise

ringtone one word

Royal Family in England and Wales, refer to the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall (the Prince and the Duchess at subsequent mention). In Scotland, the usage the Duke and Duchess of Rothesay is permissible. The Duchess is technically the Princess of Wales, but does not use the title; nor do we

Saddam Hussein Saddam after first mention; if required in full: Saddam Hussein al-Majid al-Tikriti. Accused with him are Barzan Ibrahim Hassan al-Tikriti, Taha Yassin Ramadan, Awad Hamed al-Bandar, Abdullah Kazim Ruwayyid, Mizhar Abdullah Ruwayyid (son of the latter), Ali Dayim Ali and Mohammed Azawi Ali. Members of the Iraq special tribunal include Rizgar Mohammed Amin, presiding judge, and Raid Juhi. Saddam's lawyer is Khalil Dulaimi (not al-Dulaimi), and his UK-based defence co-ordinator is Abdel-Haq al-Ani. See also War in Iraq

sat-nav l/c and hyphen for acceptable abbreviation for satellite navigation system

sellers' pack for home sales (not seller's). Also known in the trade as home information packs, abbreviated to Hips
spiky not spikey

supercasino one word

super-union hyphen

take part prefer to participate

T&G (formerly the TGWU): the Transport and General Workers' Union (now with an apostrophe)

Terrorism Bill reference may be made to the terror Bill, but not the Terror Bill

to be fair this phrase is a waste of space and its introduction might be seen as casting a hint of doubt on what went before. Please avoid

Topshop, Topman one word for these fashion emporiums

war crimes tribunal cap only when using the full title, the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia. It sits at The Hague and has a President and a Chief Prosecutor. Be specific in dealing with war crimes: they relate only to the treatment of prisoners in the custody of a military force

WWF is now the name of what was the World Wide Fund for Nature and for legal reasons must not be used for the World Wrestling Federation (say the federation if a shorter form for the wrestling group is needed)