I was puzzled by the Guardian print-edition headline (19 December) that said “Apes recognise peers they haven’t seen for years”. I can’t speak for other peers, but I don’t think I have met any apes since I went to London zoo many decades ago. And I certainly wouldn’t recognise any of them again. Do the apes in the zoo study their visitors that closely?
William Wallace
Liberal Democrat, House of Lords
• While a review of all classical music throughout the whole of the UK for a whole year cannot include everything, I was surprised that Andrew Clements didn’t mention Scottish Opera’s Il Trittico last spring (Bittersweet symphonies: UK classical music 2023 in review, 14 December). Each of the three productions was remarkable.
Cliodhna Dempsey
Edinburgh
• “Truly outstanding piano recitals were few and far between,” writes Andrew Clements. Perhaps he missed Paul Lewis’s magisterial recitals of Schubert Piano Sonatas. I was privileged to attend three – the performances were profound and moving, and full of new meaning.
Margaret Jacobi
Birmingham
• Peter Bone has claimed that 86.8% of the electorate didn’t want to remove him from office (Report, 19 December). Yes, but 60% of that same electorate didn’t want him as their MP in the first place.
Robin Sutton
Bualadubh, South Uist
• “A woman’s work is never done … at Christmas”, says the headline on Chloë Hamilton’s article in your print edition (Journal, 20 December). How true! So why does Father Christmas continue to get all the credit?
Jan Pahl
Canterbury
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