I was at the dress rehearsal of Marnie at the ENO which was received rapturously by the audience. What a pity that Tim Ashley’s review has such a dismissive heading (A psychological thriller that fails to deliver a thrill, 20 November) when in the review he says it is “superbly done”, praises the singers and their acting, and the staging for its “elegant fluidity”. It is conducted “with great sensitivity”. “The playing and choral singing are outstanding”. This may well put people off from going to see this challenging but fascinating new work – essentially for following the book rather than the Hitchcock film, something that the composer and librettist have made explicit.
Sarah Carter
Canterbury
• A colleague speaking about his home country assured me: “In Pakistan politicians make money while in office whereas in the UK they do it after they leave.” Kezia Dugdale could show a bit more respect for this time-honoured tradition (Labour split as Dugdale joins reality TV show, 21 November). The pace of the MSP’s new move has the appearance of premature remuneration.
Geoff Reid
Bradford
• Can anyone explain why Cornwall, the second poorest region in northern Europe (Letters, 18 November), has six Conservative MPs? Is this a textbook example of Marx’s false consciousness?
David Kennedy
Menston, West Yorkshire
• Further to Tony Fletcher’s reference to “milky coffee” (Letters, 20 November), a coffee stall in a park in Edinburgh in the mid-19th century offered “café au lait, with or without milk”.
Derek Janes
Duns, Scottish Borders
• The mispronunciation that makes me sigh is the French word for women’s underwear, for which almost everyone now says lohn-je-RAY. So universal has this become that anyone trying to pronounce it correctly would be thought pretentious, or simply wrong.
Lindsay Camp
Bristol
• Join the debate – email guardian.letters@theguardian.com
• Read more Guardian letters – click here to visit gu.com/letters
