Fewer gripes, less angst

Huzzah for Richard Ford, a literate American who has been plugging his book 'The Lay of the Land' at the Edinburgh Book Festival. The man – interviewed on the Today programme 10 minutes ago, knows the difference between 'less' and 'fewer'. He's a rare example of the species. It's one of the gaffes that makes me shout at the radio, when supposedly well educated pundits refer to 'less people' or 'less times', blissfully ignorant of the useful word 'fewer'.
I'm not sure Richard Ford will enjoy America in the next decade or so. He was incredulous that the voting public should have gone for an actor (Reagan): 'an actor!' in the 1980s. Ford is soon going to have to stomach the prospect of a presidential election featuring Arnold Schwarzenegger and George Clooney.