I am not surprised that students expressed some doubts about replacing exams with teacher assessments (‘I’d 100% prefer to sit exams’: pupils on teacher-assessed grades, 25 February). When I was at school in 1964, my headteacher asked me if the rejections of my applications to study medicine were complete yet. I qualified at UCH London in 1970.
Dr Colin Morison
Canon Pyon, Hereford
• The Common Sense Group of Conservative MPs presumably chose its name through careful study of the Marxist philosopher Antonio Gramsci’s works. “Common sense is a chaotic aggregate of disparate conceptions, and one can find there anything that one likes.”
Peter Brooker
West Wickham, Kent
• Gwyneth Paltrow recommends “fasting until 11am every day” as part of a diet to combat long Covid (NHS warns against Gwyneth Paltrow’s ‘kombucha and kimchi’ Covid advice, 24 February). I regularly eat breakfast well after 11am these days since I see little point in getting out of bed before that time. Does this count?
Tony Purcell
Sheffield
• Bob Marley and the Wailers’ 1975 Live! album, arguably the second-best live album of all time after The Band’s The Last Waltz, appears to be missing from your list (From Daft Punk and Beyoncé to the Band: 10 of the best ever live albums, 26 February). Surely a mistake.
Toby Wood
Peterborough, Cambridgeshire
• Never mind the first snowdrop or cuckoo (Letters, 16 February) – we’ve got washing on the line in West Yorkshire. Beat that.
Dr Mark Wilcox
Holmfirth, West Yorkshire
