SIR – Your recent headline, “Theft of lead puts nativity in doubt”, immediately set me thinking that some dishonourable toerag had stolen the baby Jesus, clearly the lead character in that popular seasonal myth.

Only later did I realise that, in this context, the word ‘lead’ actually referred to the soft metal much-favoured by plumbers and as a roofing material. What a wonderfully tortuous language we enjoy!

Graham Hoyle, Kirkbourne Grove, Baildon