ranterseditor@gmail.com
JULY 27:
Dr Syntax (Ms appropriation, July 20) is spot-on in bringing the heavies to task for describing Kate Middleton – or any single young woman – as Ms.
The Observer Style Book says: ‘Use Ms unless subject specifically styles herself Miss or Mrs.’
I think they have got that instruction completely arse-to-cock. For a married woman to be required to point out to a reporter – ‘specifically’ – that she is called Mrs is ludicrous. A former prime minister of my distant acquaintance referred to herself, when the situation arose, as Margaret Thatcher. So it would have been Ms Thatcher, in copy at the Obs, then, would it – the lady not having ‘specifically’ referred to herself as Mrs?
The paper’s stable-mate, The Guardian is far more sensible: ‘We use whichever the woman in question prefers: with most women in public life (Ms Booth, Mrs May, Miss Widdecombe) that preference is well known; if you don't know, try to find out; if that proves impossible, use Ms.’
The Times says: ‘Ms is nowadays fully acceptable when a woman (married or unmarried) wants to be called thus, or when it is not known for certain if she is Mrs or Miss.’
And that is also ok, if she actually says she wants to be called Ms – except that, as the good Doctor points out, it provides a get-out for any incompetent or lazy reporter.
– John Dietrich
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Trust the ‘blunts’ to get a simple picture caption arse about face (Ah yes: I remember it well, July 20). The photograph of the two ‘toffs’ and the urchins was in fact taken outside Lord’s 
Cricket Ground and not under the portico at Waterloo Station.
It was captured during the Eton v Harrow annual cricket match at the famous old ground in July 1937.
The picture is not cropped or altered in any way and the boys on the right are not looking at ‘something completely different that is going on off-stage’... they are really, REALLY looking at the boys from Eton because they might as well be men from Mars, and even today I’m sure Etonians dressed in their school ‘uniform’ would also cause some amusement in certain parts of our capital.
It was taken for Picture Post by photographer Jimmy Sime ... why did he take it? I think the fact that it is a great image and he must have had a very good eye for a picture might just be stating the bleedin’ obvious.
By the way, the Eton v Harrow match is still played yearly at Lord’s to this day.
- Brendan Monks, Sports Picture Editor, Daily Mail
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Congratulations, very well done; shows what can happen when good memories and good writing come together. – Austin Wormleighton
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From Grey Cardigan at Press Gazette:Congrats on the new blog. There’s some interesting stuff on there already (which may or may not get stolen at some point!)
Feel free to link to The Grey Cardigan column in the Opinion section at www.pressgazette.co.uk .Your readers might enjoy it. Regards - Grey
[What Mr Cardigan may not know is that his excellent column is not readily available on-line – unless readers pay a subscription. Press Gazette charges ₤50 a year to read him, which also includes access to any letters, obits, or articles that any of OUR readers might have submitted to the Gazette as copy free of charge – just in order to keep the wheels of communication turning. Is that a good deal? Possibly not. But it is encouraging to get the approval of Mr Cardigan, who might well be the last Old Fart who is still in harness. – Ed.]
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Please count me out of this. I have better things to do with my precious time than go down memory lane with ex-journalists I never worked with and whose experiences I care even less about.It’s a pity you have some [sic] much time of [sic] your hands that you have to spend it surfing the web. Sadly you appear to be turning into a lonely old recluse. Snap out of it! – Dennis Casson
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FROM JULY 20:
Excellent. I am really enjoying the articles and the memories. I look forward to the weekly update but hope the pressure on the deadline doesn’t get to you; maybe it will provide the necessary spark of adrenaline in recalling those venerable days? - Colin Hills
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A great idea and a good read! - John Izbicki
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Retired Old Hacks prove that they are not so much in their dotage, as in excellent anec-dotage. Congratulations. - Richard Evans
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Wonderful. - Mike Gallemore
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Not bad for a bunch of Old Hacks! – Henry Hain
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My only concern is that you may have set the ‘bar’ too high in your Blog Pub. I fear it will be difficult to sustain such a standard of excellent writing and story-telling. But, here’s hoping! – Anthony Lee
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A masterstroke, if I may say so. – John Blauth
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Well done on the blog. – Quentin Letts
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This is great, look forward to future editions. – Sue Bullivant
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[Living In a Democracy by Paul Bannister, July 13] Wonderful writing and fascinating details. I want more, please. – Dawna Kaufman (Los Angeles).
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The blog is brilliant. I have forwarded the link to all my friends who can read. – D J Brand
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I have just had almost two hours reading the new Gentlemen Ranters blog site and it is great. I am sure that it will be a success. I shall make its existence known to my friends. My best read in a long while. – Derek Jebson
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Read it all at one go. Great stuff. A wonderful mix. – John Garton
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[There Stands The Enemy by Ian Skidmore, July 13] Ian on Nye Bevan reminds me of a visit by Arthur Scargill to South Wales during the 1984 miners’ strike. It was a cavernous sports centre and the press area was a very prominent, raised structure surrounded on all sides by strikers and their families and supporters. In the middle of his typically fiery speech, Arthur turned and pointed at the assembled hacks, film crews etc. Deriding the stream of NUJ donations to the strike welfare fund, he raised his voice to a virtual shriek and exclaimed: ‘Don’t send us your shekels. Stop spreading your lies.’ If he’d added the single word ‘Attack’, we’d all have been dead. – Colin Randall
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