Tankertrashnav, I do applaud your post #191. Having myself harrumphed at M Parris this morning, I was inspired to email Broadcasting House:
I'm a huge BH fan, and usually a fan of Matthew Parris. But I was surprised and dismayed to hear his remark about Eurocopter this morning. He seemed to suggest that the word was being used as some kind of insult - but can it be that this well-rounded, polymath journalist doesn't know that the company that makes the EC135 is called Eurocopter? The clue might even be in the 'EC' bit of EC135. Eurocopter is, by some standards, the biggest helicopter manufacturer in the world.
He might also be interested to know that his apparent bigotry did not escape the notice of the sometimes estimable PPRuNe, aka the Professional Pilots' Rumour Network, in which a poster by the name of Tankertrashnav posted this:
Latest tripe from the media:
On the Radio 4 Broadcasting House programme this morning, Matthew Parris (normally a journalist I admire) said scornfully "some of the more right wing press are referring to the EC 135 as a "Eurocopter" - I suppose because it's of European manufacture ".
You might feel inclined to pass this on to Matthew P.
I'll let you know if any of them get back to me. But not holding breath