Mea Culpa: the Tories are down on the farm, clutching at straw

The Conservatives are in such trouble that they are trying to persuade farmers to vote for them. This week we reported Rishi Sunak’s visit to a farm, where he tried to feed some sheep that ran away: “Sunak was openly mocked by his rivals amid images of him speaking on hay bales.” We city folk were put right by Nigel Fox, who said that the bales in our front-page photo looked like straw rather than hay. “One is bedding, the other food for the winter.” I am sure we knew that really.

Stuck in the middle: Then there is that “amid”, a word we have used a lot recently. What does “amid images” even mean? Here it means “as we publish photos of him”. We could have said “as he spoke on hay bales and tried unsuccessfully to feed sheep”.

One of our most muddled uses of “amid” was in a headline after England’s game against Denmark on Thursday: “England caught between midfield ideals amid search for attacking force.” That is too many “mids”. We have the England team stuck in the middle, between one ideal and another, both relating to the “mid” field, and all happening “amid” a search. What I think we meant was that Gareth Southgate cannot seem to decide on a midfield strategy that would give his team the chance to attack. If so, we could have said that.

No going back: In a boxing report last weekend we said: “Riakporhe ran out of steam and he reverted back to his early bad habits.” Thanks to Roger Thetford for reminding us that “revert” means “go back”, so the “back” is superfluous.

Served up: Still on the sports pages, a report on the cricket said: “England kept their T20 World Cup defence alive in Antigua as they dominated a rain-shortened 10-over thrash against Namibia to put the ball in Scotland’s court.” If we are going to use sporting metaphors, we should get the right sport. A tennis metaphor does not work in cricket.

Americanism watch: We have recently formalised our policy on US English: copy written by our US staff primarily for a US audience is in US English, but if it is intended for a British audience, and in particular if it is in the subscription edition, it should be in British English.

However, we slipped up a few times in our British edition. On Monday, a headline started: “If you want a pay raise…” That is “pay rise” in British English, as Philip Nalpanis pointed out. And on Tuesday, in a report of Ian McKellen’s fall from the stage, we said: “The Independent has reached out to McKellen’s representatives and the Noël Coward theatre for further comment.” Linda Beeley asked: “Couldn’t you have just asked them?” That, or “contacted”, is indeed our style.

Fishy modesty: We had a lovely malapropism in a travel article about Malaysia: “Arriving at this oasis of calm, we let go of the final stresses of our journey listening to the sound of running water from a delicate and elegant fountain, contentedly watching coy carp swim around a pool while we waited for our therapist.” The idea of giant goldfish pretending to be shy is so delightful that it seems a shame to point out that they are koi carp.