Peter Mandelson at the Labour party conference in Liverpool in 2023. Photograph: Stefan Rousseau/Stefan Rousseau / PA
Letters
Peter Mandelson and savvy senior women
The limits of power | A supportive teacher | Not likely | Nine times tables | Accountancy clue
Amelia Gentleman says that Peter Mandelson reached out only rarely to senior women (Mandelson messages could form a manual in the dark arts of wielding power and keeping it, 3 June). Could this be because senior women are far more savvy and less prone to obsequiousness and false flattery than many of their male counterparts?
Helen Ryan
Blandford Forum, Dorset
Peggy George (Other lives, 10 May) was indeed known for caring support. In 1971 I was the first girl from Sandfields comprehensive to receive an offer from an Oxbridge college, but was held back by the requirement for a language qualification. Peggy gave up her lunch hours to coach me through Latin O-level. So grateful.
Dr Jane Scullion
Hebden Bridge, West Yorkshire
“Likely” is taking over the journalistic world. Now even Zoe Williams is doing it: “you were likely making the wrong decision” (Opinion, 1 June). Surely “you were likely to be making the wrong decision?” Or “you were probably making the wrong decision”?
Adam Hilton
Newton St Petrock, Devon
Yes, we do get it now (Letters, 2 June)! Most of us over 63 got it long ago. Please can we now call a stop to letters about the nine times table?
Barbara Foster
Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire
A little known use of the number nine is that, where digits are transposed (such as writing 32 instead of 23), the difference is always divisible by nine. Useful in my old accountancy days. When looking for errors in reconciliations it was often a good clue.
Garry Clarke
Trefor, Gwynedd
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