Category Archives: Letters to the Editor
The people of Staithes DO care
It is a truth universally acknowledged that any article or letter which dares to question the merits of a town or its people will quickly provoke a fierce rebuke from affronted natives in the local paper’s letters page. In this … Continue reading
Filed under Council hatred, Letters to the Editor, Local pride
Carpet diem: doormats in Huddersfield
I’ve heard of newspapers hitting doormats, but have rarely heard of doormats becoming the content of newspapers themselves. Tuesday 25 January 2011 was the day when domestic carpet maintenance concerns finally exploded onto the news agenda in Huddersfield. Huddersfield Examiner, … Continue reading
Filed under Health & safety gone mad, Letters to the Editor
Whitby: joggers and dog owners not welcome
The letters page of the Whitby Gazette is a reliably wonderful festival of misanthropy. Serving as a weekly noticeboard of human hatred, nearly every issue of the paper sees someone publicly attacking their fellow Whitby residents for crimes committed in … Continue reading
Filed under Letters to the Editor
It’s a dog’s life
It seems the concept of dog ownership will always give rise to existential debate in the letters pages of regional newspapers. This correspondent doesn’t take kindly to another reader’s jibe that not having a dog = not having a life. … Continue reading
Filed under Letters to the Editor
The plight of Caistor’s tree in a box
From time to time, local newspapers attract people who are prepared to engage in Letters Page War with other correspondents. In this case, narky oddball Nino Hoblyn of North Street, Caistor, drags the new editor of the Market Rasen Mail … Continue reading
Filed under Letters to the Editor
Petrol prices: the penny drops
It is a truth universally acknowledged that there is nothing more satisfying than successfully filling up with petrol to a precise pound. However, a conspiracy is afoot (or is it a leg?). The people of Greater Manchester are being systemically … Continue reading
Filed under Consumer rights, Letters to the Editor
Foaming at the mouth
Another example of a regional newspaper’s letters page being used for a heavily sarcastic public ‘thank you’. This time it’s thank you for NOTHING. The anger in this letter keeps building wonderfully, much like foam freshly sprayed from a can. … Continue reading
Filed under Heartless bastards, Letters to the Editor
Take the time to say ‘thank you’
For most people, a ‘thank you’ letter conjures distant childhood memories of being forced to put pen to paper and thank an auntie for the hideous jumper she sent for a birthday. But it appears there are people out there … Continue reading
Filed under Community spirit, Letters to the Editor
Into the Dragons’ Den
Reader mistakes Huddersfield Examiner letters page for pitch in the Dragons’ Den shocker! Thank you to Anna Holden. Huddersfield Examiner, 24 June 2010: A tissue, a tissue? AN Examiner motoring column recently praised a vehicle for the provision of cup-holders … Continue reading
Filed under Consumer rights, Letters to the Editor
Putting ‘Pen’ to paper
The title of ‘Sunderland’s Most Judgmental Man’ is a fiercely contested accolade, but there’s little chance of it being taken away from Mick “The Pen” Brown any time soon. Further to his previous coverage here, it’s time to gently prod … Continue reading
Filed under Letters to the Editor
The Cult of Alfred H Lister (Part II)
Welcome to the second installment of the most wonderfully-crafted bundles of wisdom from Alfred H Lister, long-standing literary treasure and ‘letters columnist’ of north-east England. (Read Part I here.) Police are yet to establish Alfred’s motive for this letter inexplicably … Continue reading
Filed under Cult of Alfred H Lister, Letters to the Editor
Rules and Regulations
We could do with some government regulations against letters to newspapers like this. The Bolton News, 12 May 2010: Don’t let health and safety rule your life I BELIEVE we live in a Politically Correct and vastly over-regulated country, I … Continue reading
Filed under Letters to the Editor, Utter bullshit
“The Pen” is mightier than the sword
Aside from stories about dog-dirt-riddled pavements or brave ‘Supermums’ repeatedly giving birth in order to achieve unnecessarily large families, the undoubted lifeblood of the regional newspaper is the mentally-unhinged serial letter writer. With boundless dedication to the cause and, occasionally, … Continue reading
Filed under Letters to the Editor, Utter bullshit
It’s all over the letters page, you give me road rage
This letter has it all: hysteria, self pity, physical insults, human insecurity, a touching element of forgiveness, and excessive exclamation marks!!! If you know the malicious mini driver in question, or indeed if you are her, please get in touch. … Continue reading
