Puzzling punctuation - Rules of the apostrophe

Punctuation pedants should not be criticised for emphasising the importance of the typographical marks we use to ensure clarity in our written language.

Writers, grammarians, lawyers, and US Supreme Court judges have been arguing almost since the 1790s about the way in which the placing of the three commas in the Constitution’s second amendment does or does not impinge on the right of citizens to bear arms.

They are known as the most consequential commas in America’s history.

But what of the apostrophe? Two of them show up in this paragraph, more than somewhat superfluously, since — we trust — the words they decorate need no clarification.

Has the apostrophe at last had its day? Britain’s Apostrophe Protection Society folded this month, with its founder pointing his finger at “the ignorance and laziness present in modern times”.

Local councils in Australia, the UK, and the US use them incorrectly on street signs or deliberately omit them. Most Americans admit they’re baffled by the rules of the apostrophe, as it seems, is Boris Johnson.

His letter to the European Council asking for an extension to the exit deadline contained an apostrophe in its reference to “our long history as neighbours and friends in this continent our people’s [sic] share”.

How many more generations will pass before the piece of punctuation that so many find puzzling passes too, preserved in Ireland only for the O’Brien’s, O’Mahony’s, O’Neal’s, and the rest?