John Harris (At good old Glastonbury the new politics finds a home, 29 June) finds it all very hopeful, but your photo of festivalgoers walking through a sea of rubbish on page 10 (The morning after, 30 June) suggests the opposite. Where’s the respect for the environment and any sense of personal responsibility? Perhaps politics, however new, will always be saying one thing but doing another.
Sue Stephenson
Barrow-on-Humber, North Lincolnshire
• Liberal Democrats can’t change anything from second place. To make Britain more liberal – from protecting human rights to tackling the housing crisis, from greening the economy to making the case for migration – we need to win so that we can make a difference. Our next three major electoral tests are in London, Scotland and Wales. As the leaders of the Scottish and Welsh Liberal Democrats and deputy leader of the Liberal Democrats in the London assembly, we are urging Liberal Democrat members who want to win to support Tim Farron. Tim is an outstanding campaigner: he is the only Liberal Democrat in the country to have retained his seat with more than half the vote. But more importantly, he has a special ability to connect with ordinary people and get our liberal message across. We are convinced Tim is the right man to help us to victory so that liberal policies can be delivered in practice.
Willie Rennie MSP, Kirsty Williams AM, Stephen Knight AM
• “Titty” just means “small” in the Norfolk dialect (Letters, 27 & 29 June), usually accompanied by “totty”, as in the song Who’s That Little Ol’ Boy, by the late Allan Smethurst (The Singing Postman): “Who’s that titty totty little, Who’s that little ol’ boy?” Hear him on YouTube and consider that that’s how we kids used to talk to one another in my 1950s primary school days.
Derek Chown
Suffolk
• So they are changing Titty to Tatty (or Kitty). Even Jane Austen can be misinterpreted: in Northanger Abbey we learn that “When Catherine Morland was 15 ... she longed for balls.” And Tennyson always gets a laugh with “‘The curse is come upon me,’ cried / The Lady of Shalott.” This could run and run.
Sheila Kingham
Oldham
• The fatuity of Tim Hunt’s remarks – when was distinction ever an excuse for stupidity – has been well matched by the fatuity of some of his supporters’ comments. Brian Cox has told us that scientists over 70 are likely to be “unreconstructed” (Report, theguardian.com, 16 June). Ladies of science: rise up. This plea comes from a practising (male) 84-year-old.
Professor Charles Stirling
University of Sheffield
• Can I get a Maryam T-shirt (Letters, 30 June)?
Chris Hughes
Leicester
