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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
World
Letters

It’s the original flehmen lips

David Bellis and his three-year-old son, Jacob, with Betty in the background
David Bellis and his three-year-old son, Jacob, with Betty in the background. The horse is not grimacing, writes Judith McGrath, simply hungry. Photograph: Mercury Press & Media Ltd

I am sure that Catherine Shoard realises that Betty is probably a very friendly pony (Opinion, 4 February). Her “horrific grimace” is known as the flehmen response. Betty has curled her lip upwards to sniff the air, to find out if the father and son have any food for her, as she probably associates children with having food about their persons.
Judith McGrath
Sutton Coldfield, West Midlands

• We old codgers are not complacent of youth (Owen Jones, Opinion, 4 February), merely slightly surprised that its radical aspirations are merely to have a slice of the middle-class lifestyle we enjoy and wish to preserve.
Rodney Milne-Day (aged 75)
London

• So, we hear that George Osborne’s grandmother ran illegal casinos (Who was Lord Lucan?, 3 February) – the things one learns at one’s grandmother’s knee.
Sheila Richards
Botley, Hampshire

• Simon Jenkins suggests eliminating white lines and traffic lights (Opinion, 5 February). Seems on the evidence to work well, but how do I cross the road?
Bill Steedman
Edinburgh

• Join the debate – email guardian.letters@theguardian.com

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