Love letters

I read somewhere the other day that more than a third of people won't actually have put pen to paper in any way over the past six months. And, that schools are giving up teaching 'cursive' writing as digital skills begin to take over the world. Why swirl and loop with a pen when everyone can use and read typed text. This is in spite of research that shows that writing by hand improves creative writing skills and fine motor skills, especially in children. Hand writing connects hand and brain beautifully - and literally. As my friends and colleagues know, I'm a keen 'by hand' card and letter writer. I'm told that my missives bring pleasure and I surely love to receive cards and letters back from them. A recent article in The Guardian by that prolific writer, Simon Jenkins, mourned the passing of handwriting. We risk losing personal expressions of individual character - our own 'hieroglyphics' - to impersonal printed fonts. No-one could deny that a love letter holds more meaning, power and beauty when handwritten on paper than one delivered by digital text across some online platform.