Manning crisis | Having a laugh | Kemi\u2019s conundrum | Vertical drinking | Ann Droid and self-driving taxis<\/p>\n
As someone working in human resources who has spent years encouraging colleagues to use the word \u201cstaffing\u201d rather than \u201cmanning\u201d, I find it ironic that in reviewing the TV series Furious, which is \u201cpowered [by] female rage\u201d (27 July), Lucy Mangan wrote that its lead character Alice Black \u201cis manning the FBI tip line\u201d.Kathy AshtonYork<\/p>\n
Mark Lawson states that Jimmy Cricket\u2019s \u201cretained native accent allowed him to rhyme \u2018faffing\u2019 with \u2018laughing\u2019\u201d (No smut, no swearing, wrong-feet wellies and a silly hat: the gentle comedy world of Jimmy Cricket, 4 August). As most of the UK\u2019s English speakers would say, these words do rhyme. It is only some from southern England and a few other areas who pronounce laughing incorrectly. Gordon GlassfordCorby, Northamptonshire<\/p>\n
As Kemi Badenoch still supports Joshua Bonehill-Paine because he has been deradicalised (Kemi Badenoch gives former neo-Nazi advisory role after he withdraws as Tory candidate, 5 August), perhaps she\u2019ll now campaign to allow Shamima Begum to return to the UK.Mary HuttyBath<\/p>\n
\u201cVertical drinking\u201d is not the problem (Council wants pubs in London\u2019s Soho and West End to ban standing, 6 August). It is the inability to remain vertical while drinking that is where the trouble begins. Austen LynchGarstang, Lancashire<\/p>\n
I will only accept a safety driver in a self-driving taxi if it is\u00a0Ann\u00a0Droid (Leicester Square, please guv\u2019: Self-driving taxis cleared for London streets \u2018later this summer\u2019, 5 August).Margaret SquiresSt Andrews, Fife<\/p>\n
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