A subheading last week said a BritainThinks/Observer poll on the attributes of the main party leaders showed that “voters rate [David] Cameron as sly”. While nominating the fox as the animal that best represents the prime minister’s personal qualities, it was actually chancellor George Osborne whom poll respondents labelled as “sly”. (“What qualities do we want in a leader?”, In Focus, last week, page 32).
An article on the closure of the current Forth Road Bridge in Scotland referred to the completion of “the third road crossing” next year. The new bridge will indeed be the third crossing at Queensferry, but only the second road bridge. (“‘The silence on the Forth Road Bridge is the ghostly revenge of Scotland’s steel industry’”, News, last week, page 13).
A hyphen in an editorial last week on education reversed the meaning of a sentence when it said “… government should not approve new faith-free schools and academies unless they demonstrate they intend to market places to parents of all and no faiths”. (“Faith in Britain’s schools should not mean segregation”, Comment, last week, page 38).
Write to Stephen Pritchard, Readers’ Editor, the Observer, Kings Place, 90 York Way, London N1 9GU, email observer.readers@observer.co.uk or telephone 020-3353 4656
