The phrase "a former mail" is not correct in standard English usage.
It seems to be an incorrect combination of words, as "former" typically refers to a person or position rather than a type of mail. An example could be: "He was a former mail carrier before he became a teacher."
Alternatives: "a previous mail" or "an earlier mail".
That prompts the most telling quote of all in Wilby's article, which comes from a former Mail columnist who says: "If Dacre goes it will be the end of the Daily Mail.
"It's like a ducking stool," a former Mail editor said.
"I subsisted largely in a state of paranoia and panic for most of my time there," a former Mail journalist told me.
May's existing special advisers include Elizabeth Sanderson, a former Mail on Sunday journalist who has been credited with presenting a more personal side to May's public image.
MacGregor, a former Mail executive and seven-year veteran of the Telegraph titles, would not comment on the matter on Friday.
Turtle (her actual name) is a red-eared slider who lives in Brooklyn, the property of a former mail carrier who was kind enough to lend her to me for the day.
As a former mail-order operator, he was quick to see the advantages of the Internet, investing heavily in in-house control systems and in a website that at the moment is mainly intended to tease customers into stores rather than to offer online purchasing.
In a joint letter to the two men orchestrating the industry's attempts to create a new regulator, the former Mail on Sunday editor Peter Wright and Trinity Mirror director, Paul Vickers, the editors argue that the internal discussions have been a failure.
This was reiterated in a question by Peter Wright, the former Mail on Sunday editor representing Associated Newspapers.
Martin Gafsen, group property director at the Royal Mail Group, said: "Nine Elms is a key area of regeneration in London and we look forward to our former mail centre site being part of a thriving, revitalised area".
A former Daily Mail man, Gallagher became editor of the Telegraph in 2009, succeeding Will Lewis.
