Peter Mayle’s view of the locals in his area conformed to Parisian as well as English stereotypes (Obituary, 22 January). Seeing a local woman reading the recently published Une année en Provence when it first came out, I started to excuse myself for Mayle’s depiction of those who had worked for him. Mais non, she insisted. It was completely vrai and so amusant.
Anne Corbett
London
• It takes a lot to cheer me up in the gloomy days of January but Tramp’s Spinal Tap themed crossword (23 January) made me smile all day.
Carol Hartzenberg
Headley Down, Hampshire
• My Californian girlfriend in 1971 expressed concern when my friend informed her in his very “cockerney” accent of his need to go home for a “barf” (Letters, 23 January) before our planned night out.
Derek Leon Elton
Todmorden, West Yorkshire
• If a government spokesman can claim that “the best route out of poverty is through employment and since 2010 an extra 3 million are now in work” (Report, 24 January), why is child poverty increasing?
Alan Neil
Stockport
• Enough already with the bell-ringing jokes (Letters, 22 January). A peal of bells is a carillon. Carillion is a word dreamt up by some branding executive. Consider yourself tolled off.
Alan Woodley
Northampton
• I see Oslo no longer appears in Around the world on the Weather page. Is this lack of space in the tabloid or a result of the Norwegian government’s remarks about post-Brexit trade relations with the EU ?
Lynne Pointer
Bampton, Oxfordshire
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