Your Letters
A bumper crop to make up for yesterday's non-appearance.
As the proud owner of a double-barrelled surname, I'd like to thank you for alerting me to an issue of great importance - the . I now plan to use it as much as is possible, lest we see it leap-frogging out of our grammar.
Sophie Bowley-Aicken, Ireland
I like that strikes by the Post Office are now so frequent that they are like a new product.
James Hayward, Eindhoven, The Netherlands
Re the Friday Challenge. Norfolk Island's motto "Inasmuch" is actually pretty lofty, since it's a reference to Matthew 25:40: "Inasmuch as ye have done unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.'" It's a good snappy motto and I suggest we pinch it instead of making up our own.
Eleanor
reminds me of the rhyme:
Oh dear what a calamity,
Gwyneth Coles got stuck in the lavatory.
She could be there Monday to Saturday...
CB, Oxfordshire
Was it just me who detected a hint of sadism in the last sentence of ? "Goodnight, and sleep tight." What after thinking about bed bugs? I don't flaming well think so.
Tom, Leeds, UK
Re the , if the Carbon Trust takes "several months working out that 75g of greenhouse gases are given off in the production of a 33.5g bag of Walkers crisps", then what is the carbon footprint of "several months" of carbon footprint calculation?
Iain C, Leamington Spa
Daniel Norgan (Wednesday letters), the potato's CO2 will return to the atmosphere after consumption so has no net affect, but the plastic packaging could be locked away in landfill for centuries. Is this accounted for in the figure?
Doug, Berkhamsted
Does anyone else play 'Guess the most read'? I look at all the stories and try to guess which will be in the top 5 most read. 10 points for each correct story and a bonus of 50 points if you have all 5 in the correct order. An unofficial, and therefore cannot be banned, game for the Monitor.
Chick
To all ya'll boasting about how quickly you can read (Friday letters), if I had the luxury to read fiction (I'm a history grad student) I wouldn't be inhaling novels. Rather, I would be savouring them like a fine meal. It is book abuse to be so wasteful of turns of phrase and imagery.
Veronica, North Carolina
I did everything right with my passport photo a number of years back but get stopped because of the hideous hairdo I had. Why didn't someone tell me I looked like Worzel Gummidge?
Emma, Germany
Whilst doing summer work in the Passport Office in the late 1960s I did see the photo which had to be returned to the lady as it showed her from waist up, naked. And one clerical officer had to be stopped from requesting another lady to attend in person to prove her "distinguishing feature" which she claimed was a mole on her upper inside thigh.
Keith, Lismore, Ireland
Re the - my left or their left?
Ian, Bristol