• You report (Dissatisfied Tory MPs flock to ERG-inspired pressure groups, 11 November) that only 59 Conservative MPs self-identify as members of the Common Sense group, and that of these only 28 are prepared to be named. I believe your report, because you couldn’t make it up.
David Cooper
Nafferton, East Yorkshire
• It’s not only gulls that match their dining to human timetables (Letters, 15 November). We eat breakfast and lunch at our kitchen table with a great view of the bird feeders through the window, and we are joined every day at more or less the same time by many garden birds: goldfinches, green finches, blue tits, sometimes a nuthatch. We are convinced they know that it is time to join us for something to eat.
Fran Turner
Milford-on-Sea, Hampshire
• If you are an older person who says, “I don’t care if I get the virus, I’ve had a good life”, you are missing the point – it is not an instant death. You might end up in a hospital bed that would otherwise have been given to someone who really wants to live. You might suffer pain, you might die alone, you might survive, but have long-lasting effects. You will almost certainly infect others. If you catch the virus, others will suffer too.
Carol Granère
Evie, Orkney
• The character assassinations, spinning, misogyny, poisonous leaks and mendacious briefings in Downing Street have been riveting (‘What goes around comes around’: the intrigues behind Lee Cain’s departure, 12 November). Is someone writing the opera?
Dr John Doherty
Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire
• I suspect everyone involved is getting their “Mexican firing squads” confused with their “Mexican standoffs” (Letters, 15 November).
Ralph Jones
Rochester, Kent
