Merry Christmas. Early I know, but this is my last effort for the year. Yuletide is an appropriate period for a column devoted to business writing.

Tone is everything in communication and in business letters and emails it is important to nail the introduction.

“In the recent evaluation by the Australian Council for Educational Research, school and community members reported that Direct Instruction was having a positive impact on student outcomes, but the researchers were not yet able to say whether or not the initiative has had an impact on student learning.”

The Beatles auditioned for Decca on January 1, 1962 performing 15 songs in just under an hour.

The intention of Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull’s innovation statement last year was to drive an “ideas boom”.

Much has been made in the battle for political ascendancy of “staying on message”.

As my Irish friends are fond of saying since the incident a few years ago, “Laysus”.

“What do you reckon? Take the Freds, or wait for the Montgomery?”

Eric Blair and Davy Jones understood communication. The former wrote a “dystopian” novel in which “The Party” wants to narrow the vocabulary to narrow the range of thought – manipulation of language as a method of mind control.