Oxford University Press has produced new materials for primary schools aimed at encouraging boys to read. I’m not qualified even to start pondering the biosocial reasons why young boys apparently read less well than girls in British schools – but  I was amused by the name of this initiative. It’s called Project X ….

…which suggests the literacy gurus don’t know much about biology. As even a semi-literate geneticist might point out, whatever the handicap these boys have, it’s certainly not due to X, although it might be related to having a Y chromosome.

According to a radio interview about the OUP project, reading for pleasure is one of the best indicators of academic success – so I needn’t feel guilty when I lose myself in a silly novel. But, incidentally, does anybody have any suggestions for the male equivalent of ‘chick lit’?

Liz Wager is a freelance writer, trainer and publications consultant who works for a number of pharmaceutical companies, communication agencies, publishers and academic institutions. She is also the Secretary of COPE (the Committee On Publication Ethics) and a member of the BMJ’s Ethics Committee.