Write route; rout's wrong

If writers could spell JD and I would have little to blog about, but is it too much to expect civil servants to have at least a basic grasp of English?

A press release just in from the Department for Transport (a multi-million-pound rebranding of the Department of Transport... don't get me started!) refers to the rout of a major road.

Following a battle, there could indeed be a rout along a major road, although the road itself could hardly be said to have joined the rout. A joiner might even rout the edges of wooden signposts along the road. But if they mean route, why not write route?

And on the subject of civil servants' shortcomings, did you know there's a committee with wide powers over transport in case of emergencies? Fair enough... but because it sometimes meets in Cabinet Office Briefing Room A, it is known as COBRA. Remember, this name was, presumably, selected by the same senior civil servants who are entrusted with our safety following a national disaster.

Someone ought to make them meet in Room B, thus encouraging to stop thinking up silly acronyms and start taking their job seriously.

Thank goodness it's Friday.