Guardian leaders used to find it impossible to mention Michael Gove without referring to his courtesy. Then came his laughably self-important implosion after the referendum, and it seemed we’d heard the last of this invisible trait. But now here’s Anne McElvoy, describing Gove as “intellectually respected” (Opinion, 3 January). The man who says that anyone whose views on education he disagrees with is “the blob”, and that “people in this country have had enough of experts”. Could Anne please name a few serious thinkers – well, one will do – who gratefully draw intellectual sustenance from Michael Gove?
Robert Green
Thames Ditton, Surrey
• Maybe it’s my working-class origins, but I’d always thought that “earned” implies pay commensurate with the amount of work done. By what stretch of imagination did Sir Martin Sorrell “earn” more than £70m last year (In just 28 hours, top bosses are paid more than a typical salary, 4 January)?
Chris Baker
Minety, Wiltshire
• I am ashamed of you, suggesting that “to get along with our mothers-in-law” is a typical New Year resolution (Editorial, 4 January). We feminists are fed up that “mother-in-law” is still a standard joke. Where are the jokes about father-in-law, son-in-law, daughter-in-law?
Lorrie Marchington
High Peak, Derbyshire
• Reading Penny Pepper’s article on being able to get access to disabled toilets (Opinion, 4 January) left me sympathetic and moved until I got to the part where she admitted that she had used them for a shag. Really? Sympathy out the window.
Geraldine Blake
Worthing, West Sussex
• Being ever playful with language, I don’t see why we shouldn’t allow a single kudo (Letters, 31 December). On growing my first ever crop of a single asparagu, I was delighted. It may even have engendered an applau.
Sam Cowen
Amersham, Buckinghamshire
• The postman wears shorts (Letters, 4 January) because he has to run to do his job – like everyone else in the now privatised but former public sector.
Ailsa Johnson
Pendeen, Cornwall
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