I’ve not seen any wasps either, now that you mention it (Letters, 4 November). What I have seen are the first daffodils of the spring – in November, when autumn hasn’t properly happened yet. Oaks and ashes are still holding their green leaves. I expect winter-flowering cherry, winter camellias, winter iris and daffs “January” and “February Gold” to make early appearances (and to be reported on the letters page as prodigious), but along the grass verges of the North Circular Road, seeded with spring bulbs, dainty, yellow and orange narcissi bobbed in the slipstream of the traffic on 3 November. Is there now a worrying decline in seasons?
Ilona Jesnick
London
• The real tragedy of the closure of the post office in Seer Green, Buckinghamshire (Letters, 4 November) is that there will no longer be the facility in the village for its inhabitants to draw their pensions and benefits. Many who do not drive, such as my brother, rely on this service to collect the money that they live off. It is also a vital asset in providing other postal services, as well as newspapers, cards, stationery and confectionery.
Elizabeth Rawlins
Newcastle upon Tyne
• Why would Boris Johnson set up a new fund of £1m for protecting journalists and their reports on corruption (Media, 6 November), when there are already organisations dedicated to this work who undoubtedly need the money? Self-promotion perhaps? And why did the Guardian publish an article praising him for it?
Marge Berer
London
• Kathy Kirkbright (Letters, 7 November) asks for a Greek-derived term for “government by dirty old men”. My colleagues at lunch suggested “miarocracy” (the rule of the filthy), which seemed better than “miaropresbyocracy” (clumsy and too literal) or “katapugonocracy” (wrong implication).
David Harvey
(Formerly Department of Classics, University of Exeter), Exeter
• May I suggest “satyrocracy”? The satyrs were goaty woodland gods who hung around with Dionysus, the god of wine, and enjoyed harassing nymphs.
Elizabeth Manning
Malvern, Worcestershire
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