It is almost beyond ironic that this Tory government should announce – on International Women’s Day – that it will make available £5m to celebrate the centenary of British women achieving the vote, when Tory austerity measures have impacted appallingly on women (Labour finds women pay highest price for austerity, 10 March) and gender equality remains alive and kicking.
Ann Kramer
Hastings, East Sussex
• I notice that in the photo of the empty and shuttered corner of Doncaster illustrating Owen Jones’s account of his trip there (Opinion, 10 March), that those interested in the property must phone a London number. Capitalism, innit.
John Bailey
St Albans, Hertfordshire
• I’ve taken Philip Hammond to task on productivity before (Letters, 30 November 2016), but let me leap to the defence of his alter ego “Spreadsheet Phil”. Far from being the last refuge of the actuary (deathlessly described as someone who finds accountancy too exciting), a well-designed Excel spreadsheet is a thing of beauty and a joy to use.
Tim Grollman
London
• Max Bell’s complaint and listing of all the swearwords in an article (Letters, 10 March) reminded me that, when we joined the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC), we were warned that it was the “BB of Fuck Counters”!
Mike Bor (BBFC examiner 1984-2000)
London
• I didn’t so much mind the swearing in the Sharon Horgan interview, but I did have to Google to find out what a “head shop” is. Thank you for alerting me to a currently neglected market opportunity in our Somerset village.
Nigel Gann
Chiselborough, Somerset
• My mother, born on Scotland’s east coast, brought up on Isle of Lewis, lived in Dumfriesshire, told me that the confection with currants in pastry (Letters, passim) is a fly cemetery. Her brother-in-law was a baker and confectioner, which adds further confirmation to this definitive appellation.
David Francis
Chorley, Lancashire
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