On cancer and perspective
Well done George Monbiot for a forthright, courageous, and above all philosophical account of his experience with prostate cancer (23 March). He’s right: the best way to cope with this is to have the positive perspective he describes.
The only thing I would add, on the basis of my own excellent guidance in helping me with my current prostate cancer scare, is that there is still much to be said for continuing existing routine checks for prostate cancer despite the limitations of the PSA blood test while we are pressing for the better test that George refers to. Such checks significantly increase the odds in favour of early detection and treatment of this insidious disease.
I wish George well in his future treatment and life in general. I for one look forward to reading commentary pieces from this “argumentative old git” long into the future.
Terry Hewton
Adelaide, South Australia
Pigs are treated cruelly
I was disappointed that in your five-page article about bacon (How can bacon be so bad…? 23 March) there was no mention of pigs or factory farming, nor was there a photo of a pig. People might be less willing to eat bacon or pork if they thought about the fact that most of it comes from intelligent creatures with feelings, who are treated cruelly in many ways. Piglets have their tails cut off without anesthetic, most male pigs are castrated, again without anesthetic or painkillers, and almost all modern pigs are forced to spend their whole life confined in small cages inside concrete buildings. If you have a strong stomach, google “cruelty to pigs” before you eat your next piece of bacon or pork.
James Webb
Kyoto, Japan
Another side of Nigeria
Thank you to Chitra Nagarajan and the Guardian Weekly (Focus on abductions warps view of Nigeria, 9 March). I lived in north-east Nigeria for two years and find it frustrating to have so little context for the sporadic reports of abductions. The deaths of men and boys are almost expected, given that communities usually try to protect the vulnerable; yet, we hear only about the kidnappings, as if they happened by magic. I hope this opinion piece leads to more detailed reporting by The Guardian. What I really hope is that the violence and abductions cease.
Judith Umbach
Calgary, Alberta, Canada
The mystery of David Byrne
The secret to deciphering the inner David Byrne (“Is there another way to live?”, 30 March) through his corpus is, I think, that there is none – all he throws are curveballs. There are musical concepts – not as overt as Bowie’s – but which is the twitch in twitchy? Revisit his and Eno’s composition, My Life in the Bush of Ghosts, with its array of musical genres (and rhetorical spoken-word) sourced from around the planet and moulded into rock-n-roll by adding on beats and changing tempos. Yet it all works, with a spooky joie de vivre.
Dorian Lynskey’s assessment of him as “a neutral observer of his own life” is key – he’s outside – a performance-artist of himself. He is a chronicler of his milieu with a lower-case “c” and meant to stay that way. Perhaps he can only be limned from the genres and spheres he has chosen to avoid.
RM Fransson
Wheat Ridge, Colorado, US
Give May some credit
I felt compelled to write when I read “The gaunt post-Brexit future towards which May is stubbornly leading us will make Britain a poorer, meaner, lonelier and shabbier place” (Leader comment, 9 March). I would like to remind the British people that, May was a campaigner for Remain. She is now faced with leading the country after the mess that Boris Johnson and Nigel Farage created.
Do people realise how hard it is to sell a product that you don’t 100% believe in? Her job is not easy considering the position she is in. The British people should at least be thankful that they have a prime minister who tries to hang on despite the odds, despite what she believed in (pro-remain) because she was given the responsibility to do so.
Evangeline Mañalac
Oslo, Norway
Briefly
• The wonderful story by Patrick Collinson (Finns are world’s happiest people, 16 March) greatly raised my spirits. With the great poverty, injustice and inequality and other problems that plague the world, it is so encouraging to know that progressive societies like Finland exist.
Steven Katsineris
Hurstbridge, Victoria, Australia
• So “the western alliance has the nobler record of underpinning stability and spreading prosperity.” (Sergei Skripal and the sowing of discord, Leader comment, 16 March). Stability and prosperity such as in Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria …
Art Campbell
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
• I wish to point out that, in reality, building Stonehenge (Party like it’s 2500BC, 16 March) was a very clear employment project designed by the women to keep their men busy and out of the house for long periods. Women taking advantage of men’s proclivity for showing off feats of strength continues to this day.
Nancy Scott
Elora, Ontario, Canada
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