Toby Wood suggests that Jeremy Corbyn’s new party should be called the Allotment party (Letters, 8 August). More appropriate would be the Diggers, after the radical and egalitarian group that emerged during the English revolution in the 1640s. Its members were rightly identified by Tony Benn as “the first true socialists”.
Lynn Williams
Barry, Vale of Glamorgan
• In view of the commitments that setting up a new party involves, maybe Jeremy Corbyn, come next February, might try the no-dig method on his allotment. It will save time and his back.
Chris Palmer
Doonfoot, Ayrshire
• My apologies to Jeremy Corbyn (Letters, 8 August). I am with him on the folly of selling allotments. Let’s hope climate change does not also rob us of the joy of lifting parsnips from frozen ground on our allotments with a pickaxe, as I have occasionally. But then I am a bit long in the tooth.
Dariel Francis
Tunbridge Wells, Kent
• Wondering about Jeremy Corbyn’s gardening practices, I recall the plight of Lonnie Donegan. His follow-up to the magnificent Rock Island Line was Diggin’ My Potatoes, which was banned by the BBC for being too suggestive. I hope there’s no one trampling on Jeremy’s vines.
Ed Marshall
Scrooby, Nottinghamshire
• Stephen Pound, ex-MP and chair of Framfield Allotment Association, plants his spuds on Good Friday (Letters, 8 August). That, however, is a movable feast; in Ireland we plant them on St Patrick’s Day, and harvest them on the Twelfth of July.
Sharman Finlay
Portrush, County Antrim
• Have an opinion on anything you’ve read in the Guardian today? Please email us your letter and it will be considered for publication in our letters section.
