#92

i newspaper, May 4, 2017

I think I have seen this ‘stamp of approval’ heading more times than any other, even ‘snakes alive’, ‘unholy row’ and ‘doggone’. It falls into the category of settling for the first banal thing that comes into your head. And ‘get’ is a horrible word. ‘Win’ would be better.

Here is an idea:

The songbirds heading for your letterbox

If you pick out examples from a list in the intro, you don’t repeat them. You say ‘The other birds featured are . . .’

I would prefer ‘Philip Parker of the Royal Mail’ to ‘A Royal Mail spokesman, Philip Parker’.

If the pictures are so exquisite, wouldn’t it be nice to give the artist a credit? A quick glance at the internet reveals that he is Italian Federico Gemma.

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I cannot stress strongly enough that it takes years of experience to make a good sub-editor. When I was a junior sub, almost everyone else in the department was older and wiser, and the benefit of their experience was passed down to me. A chief sub would often point out how things could be improved. These days most older subs have been dispensed with and there is no one to teach or mentor the younger ones. Staffs have been so reduced that no one has time to guide anyone else.

This clinic is an attempt to pass on my experience using real examples. I would love to receive items from others as I do not read every paper every day. I will add new entries as I come across them.