I was dismayed to read that fewer adults are attending public libraries (Report, 17 August). The library service has been neglected for years, but concern has become crisis under this government. A BBC freedom of information disclosure has revealed the scale of the disaster: 343 libraries closed; a quarter of staff lost; book stocks and hours slashed. I’m delighted to hear Labour leadership contenders Jeremy Corbyn and Owen Smith stressing public service. It’s time to save our libraries from the Tory axe.
Alan Gibbons
Campaign for the Book
• Could it be that the major decline in library usage a result of extensive closures since the imposition of George Osborne’s ill-conceived austerity programme? In my experience areas such as Walsall where libraries have (so far) been retained have seen an increase in use.
Stan Zetie
Streetly, West Midlands
• Britain undeniably issues some of the world’s finest commemorative stamps (300th anniversary of Capability Brown, 16 August). I wonder if Royal Mail has any plans to let the public to buy any? Shops invariably offer only the dull booklets of standard ones, and even my local sub-post office usually shrugs when I ask and says, “Sorry, we haven’t been sent any of those.”
Ben Staveley-Taylor
Oxford
• My thanks to Martyn Brown (Letters, 13 August) on the subject of inheritance taxes and the Duke of Westminster’s estate. It’s why I read the Guardian.
Martin Dowling
University of St Andrews
• I assume that the 3D model of the clitoris (G2, 16 August) didn’t provoke more comment because a substantial number of men were unable to find it.
John Mulrenan
London
• Do you ever publish short letters that are neither pithy nor witty?
Kevin Ramshaw
Wolsingham, County Durham
• Join the debate – email guardian.letters@theguardian.com
