So, if you rob Peter to pay Paul, Peter and Paul both suffer, according to that great mystic, John Major (John Crace’s sketch, 22 April). Until I fathom out what he means, I will continue to go along with George Bernard Shaw’s observation: “A government that robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul.”
Allan Saunders
Ely, Cambridgeshire
• Instead of using a helicopter to ferry rocks up the Old Man of Coniston to repair footpaths, why not make walkers carry stones with them to the top in their rucksacks (Eyewitness, 22 April). If it takes 100 tonnes of rock to repair the damage caused by “hundreds of thousands of hikers”, that sounds like less than a kilo each: two butties, a bottle of water and an apple. And the extra weight will make them fitter.
David Reed
London
• How appropriate that on 23 April, Shakespeare’s (reputed) birthday, the crossword should be set by Puck.
Martin Perkins
Orpington, Kent
• I’ve had a free Pret coffee and I’m male, late 60s but with a nice smile (Skinny latte or litigation? Pret’s freebie favours risk ugly backlash, 23 April).
David Simpson
Datchet, Buckinghamshire
• In the correspondence regarding the first combined naval-army operation in history we have had Gallipoli (1915), Toulon (1793) and, most recently (22 April), Marathon (490BC). What about the Trojan war (circa 1250BC)?
Tom Hamor
Sheffield
• Driving to the Bluewater shopping centre from the A2, I’m always puzzled by the instruction to “Use both lanes” (Letters, passim).
Philippa Lowe
London
• I’ve always been encouraged by the car park pay machine at John Radcliffe hospital advising that “Change is possible”.
Mike Haddrell
Wantage, Oxfordshire
