'Children can read their way to a better future'

Spending your childhood reading Harry Potter could save you froma lifetime of poverty.

But a bleak future of being skint could be the result ifyoungsters spend their days surfing the net, playing computer gamesand watching the telly.

At least that's what Prime Minister, Gordon Brown seems to think.

The Scot, who spent much of his childhood holidays with relativesin Insch, helped launch the National Year of Reading.

Mr Brown claimed burying your head in a book was the best way toavoid a life of deprivation.

But one of the North-east's leading educationalists disagrees.

Former director of education for the Grampian Region, JamesGraham has …