The phrase "a lamentable but" is correct and usable in written English.
It can be used to introduce a statement that acknowledges a regrettable situation while also presenting a contrasting idea or fact.
Example: "It is a lamentable but necessary decision to cut funding for the arts program."
Alternatives: "a regrettable yet" or "an unfortunate but".
As long as widespread poverty was something in distant lands, it was a lamentable but acceptable part of the natural order, acknowledged by a few million in aid or a guilty goat at Christmas.
Mark Kleiman points us to a lamentable but revealing column by William Saletan, which illustrates perfectly how the essentially ludicrous Paul Ryan has gotten so far – namely, by playing to the gullibility of self-proclaimed centrists, who want to show their "balance" by finding a conservative to praise.
Some might dismiss their plight as a cause célèbre -- a lamentable but manageable tragedy in a region brimming with more serious problems, like stagnant economies, nuclear proliferation, and rivalries between Sunnis and Shi'is.
A lamentable affair, but, told like that, shorn of all context, it's not unlike a song on the radio, folkloric.
"It is a lamentable fact but an unavoidable truth that Australia at the moment needs the protection of its intelligence services, perhaps as never before.
Boston's postseason losing streak stretched to 13, a lamentable number but fitting for a run that dated back to Shea Stadium, 1986.
Those propounding despicable racial slurs against the duly elected President of the United States are, presumably, a population rounding error and a lamentable, lunatic fringe -- but in the Twitterverse, they are regrettably audible just the same.
"Taking Woodstock" just felt slight, but the red-and-ebony Shanghai spy movie "Lust, Caution" was a lamentable case: a great idea, but filled with pointless elaboration and unnecessary sequences.
The numbers are proof not of racism but of a lamentable fact: Black and Hispanic men are disproportionately stopped because they are disproportionally the perpetrators of gun crime.
The choice helps Mr Davis with his urgent political problem of a $24 billion state-budget deficit, but is a lamentable deal for California.Mr Simon and his fellow financier-turned-politician, Peter Camejo, the Green Party candidate, are trying to make questions like that and others about California's roads, schools and hospitals the core of the election debate.
"We do science and innovation incredibly well, but we have a lamentable record in converting top science into top businesses.
