Slang making the headlines

RECENTLY there have been numerous letters deploring the incorrect use of English. On the World News page (Yorkshire Post, February 7), you carried a photograph of a Spanish cargo ship which had lost power and slammed into a jetty off Anglet in Southwest France.

Your reporter, name unknown, referred to the engine’s loss of power as “engine conked out”. Not the first time that this slang expression has been used in your paper. Come on Mr Editor! Lead the way.

Praise for NHS

From: Janet E Brook, New Road, Middlestown, Huddersfield.

I HAVE recently undergone treatment at St James’s Hospital in the radiotherapy department.

I was very impressed with the excellent standard of care. The receptionists, doctors, nurses and radiographers were so kind and caring and gave tremendous support at this difficult time.

I would like to say a very sincere thank you to everyone concerned.

Class conflict

From: Lewis Proll, Vesper Gate Mount, Leeds.

YOUR contributor AW Clarke excoriates Ofsted chairman Lady Morgan, implying strongly that she has no credibility as a leader of education having taught for “all of four years”. As the author is so well-informed, could he please tell us how much experience of teaching in state schools Education Secretary Michael Gove has?