I think my old friend and comrade Tariq Ali (G2, 20 February) is a little unfair to Malcolm X when he says that his speech “was not one of his virtuoso performances”. As someone who spoke in support of the motion, I experienced it as a brilliant performance, tailored to the audience he was addressing. In particular he was excellent at dealing with those of the “well-dressed white audience” who thought they could use their public school-honed “debating skills” to put down someone they regarded as an uneducated, ghetto-raised black man. The ovation Malcolm received at the end showed how wrong they were.
Richard Kirkwood
Former treasurer, Oxford Union
• Four and a half pages on a fashion mogul (‘The Kaiser’ who designed Chanel’s rise and invented the fashion industry, 20 February), and a further two for his obituary. One-fifth of a page on Wallace Smith Broecker, a pioneering scientist who warned us of the dangers of global warming. No wonder we are in a mess.
Jean Perraton
Cambridge
• It may be correct to say that Scots invented scones (Letters, 20 February), but they would have cooked them on a girdle, not a griddle.
Mary McMurran
Lancaster
• My own earworm (Letters, 21 February) is also from 1966. I cannot hear “Brexit” without Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich’s Bend It replaying itself in my mind as “Brexit, Brexit just a little bit”.
John Jeakins
Robin Hood’s Bay, North Yorkshire
• Exit of the “three amigos” (Journal, 21 February)? Amigas, surely.
Paul Houghton
Shutlanger, Northamptonshire
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