David Hibbert is indeed right in noting the loss to the town caused by the Oldham Evening Chronicle ceasing publication (Letters, 14 February). Nothing could ever compare with its arresting headlines used in informing local residents about “what is going on”. My own collection began with “Cat saves owners as fire grips armchair” and extends through “Braking bus shakes children” to “14 die in Bay blaze, but Oldham man is safe”. Never to be repeated.
Christine Peacock
Prestwich, Manchester
• Two other contenders for best banned songs (The 10 best banned songs, G2, 15 February) came from the mid 20th century and both were also sung by the incomparable Billie Holiday: Gloomy Sunday (the Hungarian Suicide Song) and Cole Porter’s Love for Sale – too explicit for the 1930s (and into the 50s).
Peter Richards
Southend-on-Sea, Essex
• Neil Burgess (Letters, 16 February) states that Winston Churchill, through his rhetoric and diplomacy, managed to bring the US into the second world war. I suspect that the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor was somewhat more persuasive than Churchill.
Marco Federighi
Sevilla, Spain
• Is GPT2 actually the source of Theresa May’s speeches (Big Brother is reading you, 15 February), or does she rely on an earlier version?
Paul Wilson
Penrith, Cumbria
• Jack Critchlow (Letters, 16 February) and the Cornish will agree that the pronunciation of scone is of less importance than the sequence of toppings. Here in Cornwall, jam first is how we ensure that the taste of the best clotted cream in the world is unadulterated. If our cream tasted like that in Devon, I expect we’d want to hide it as well.
Roderick Clarke
Truro, Cornwall
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