Rich pickings from the sports pages for English lessons

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2022/aug/28/rich-pickings-from-the-sports-pages-for-english-lessons

Version 0 of 1.

Cricket writing | Tubeless toilet rolls | Soldier beetles | Coastal grandmothers | Counting the decades

As an English teacher in a comprehensive school 40 years ago, I would trawl the Guardian sports pages for synonyms and metaphors to use in class. It was always a fruitful search, but what rich pickings I would have had from Barney Ronay’s excellent article on Ben Stokes (Ben Stokes finds right Test vibes with blend of craft and aggression, 26 August). Guardian writing is truly the best.Pamela DevonaldLouth, Lincolnshire

Peter Purves is rightly concerned (Rise of tubeless toilet paper a ‘complete catastrophe’, says Blue Peter star, 26 August). How on earth are we going to sow and transplant our leeks? Does everything our parents and grandparents taught us have to be flushed away despite having some residual usefulness?Peter and Teresa BaddeleyPainswick, Gloucestershire

Claire Stares (Country diary, 26 August) says soldier beetles are often known as “hogweed bonking beetles” due to their propensity for mating. For years my wife and I have called them “shaggers”.Ken GreenCaerphilly

I note that six out of the eight women you spoke to about the “coastal grandmother” fashion trend live in Brighton or Hove (Report, 26 August). What are they wearing in Bridlington, I wonder?Toni SilverEastbourne, East Sussex

You say the England cricketer Jimmy Anderson is “sailing into his fourth decade” (25 August). Aged 40, he is already into his fifth.Phillip Khan-PanniNaas, County Kildare, Ireland

Have an opinion on anything you’ve read in the Guardian today? Please email us your letter and it will be considered for publication.