What a disappointment to read that over 100 academic philosophers in the UK think that “Plato presents arguments for the existence of a divine creator” (Letters, 27 January). The Timaeus, the dialogue in which hasty readers may think they find such arguments, is explicitly identified by Plato as a parable, “an iconic myth” (29d), not a literalism. But more importantly, Plato’s demiourgos is the furthest thing from a “creator”. He is a copier of eternal patterns, not the maker of anything new. Perhaps such language is merely careless but philosophers should know better.
Boris DeWiel
Prince George, British Columbia, Canada
• While we are hearing about alleged plagiarism of plot (Shape of Water ‘uses Pulitzer writer’s work without credit’, 27 January), what about Guillermo del Toro’s title? It’s the same as the first novel in Andrea Camilleri’s Montalbano series.
Jacqueline Elphick Jenkins
Edinburgh
• John Harris makes some useful points on the impact of Spotify, amplified by the gravitas of the beard that now appears on his byline picture (Journal, 29 January).
Keith Flett
London
• With the welcome return of your former flagship colour on Saturday but no John Fordham jazz review on Friday, I’m feeling kind of blue.
Roger Walker
Bradford
• Please tell whoever is putting {curly brackets} round headings in the Review section to stop it. You can’t use punctuation marks as decoration ... can you :-) ?
Paula Clifford
Kirtlington, Oxfordshire
• Will the Ikea founder Ingvar Kamprad (Obituary, 29 January) be buried in a flat-pack coffin?
David Davidge
Salisbury
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