The death penalty was abolished 50 years ago this week on 9 November 1965. The murder of Becky Watts was a distressing and disturbing event (Report, 12 November), but it is not a reason to bring back hanging. As Roy Jenkins, central to the campaign for abolition, would no doubt have noted, not taking a life for a life is one marker of a civilised society and that remains the case five decades on.
Keith Flett
London
• Helmut Schmidt (Obituary, 11 November) shares with Mr Gladstone the distinction of having given his name to an everyday object. The German sea-captain’s cap which he usually wore, once known as a Prinz-Heinrich-Mütze (after the younger brother of Kaiser Wilhelm II), is now commonly referred to in Germany as a Schmidt-Mütze.
David McAvoy
Wigan
• I read with interest the report on coastal erosion and the steps we should be taking to lessen the risk of flooding and destruction (12 November). The words of a coastal and marine adviser named Phil Dyke deepened my concern.
Ruth Gallagher
Wakefield, West Yorkshire
• My memories of Bayko (Letters, 12 November) go back to the wartime when a friend and I built a whole village with her set and sprinkled flour over our models for snow, then charged our parents and friends six pence to come and see it. The modest sum we made we sent to Madame Chiang Kai Shek, who had an appeal for some good cause which I can’t remember. I can’t remember either why we chose to send the money to her, I think we were just fascinated by the name.
Shirley Scrivener
Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire
• If we’re going to abolish noxious two-word phrases, how about “throwing money”, from any politician refusing to fund a service properly (eg David Prior, Letters, 12 November).
Liz Meerabeau
New Malden, Surrey
• Join the debate – email guardian.letters@theguardian.com
