Owen Jones may well not relish having to sit “in the floor area next to the toilet” on a train (Britain’s railways are a disgrace, 25 August), but on Virgin East Coast, which boasts absurdly of “pimping” journeys, the toilets are often out of order, something extremely rare before Virgin/Stagecoach won the franchise.
Jeremy Beecham
Labour, House of Lords
• We can’t find £20bn (Report, 26 August) to balance the NHS books but we can find £200bn-plus to build and run another fleet of nuclear weapons. Something bonkers going on?
Bruce Kent
Vice-president, CND
• Re Protesters bring the battle (plus sandy beach) to London (26 August): I didn’t notice anyone naked or wearing a swastika-emblazoned T-shirt in the photo of the “wear what you want” beach party. Was there a reason for that?
John Warburton
Edinburgh
• Ann Hindley says (Letters, 24 August): “I really thought that the Post Office was there to provide a public service.” It was. It isn’t.
Peter Empringham
Bristol
• Your article Arresting looks (G2, August) uses a photograph captioned “a group of Teddy Boys, 1962”. This would have horrified the four young fishermen featured. With their Norfolk-style pleated jackets and in some cases 24in bell-bottom trousers, they belong to an early 1960s fashion craze that my research project called the Dockside Dandies of Lowestoft. These young men were unique to our town.
Peter Wylie
London
• I was pleased to see Imogen Tilden’s four-star rating for last weekend’s FolkEast festival and her descriptions of many fantastic performances (Review, 24 August). However, as she did not mention the brilliant Eliza Carthy and the Wayward Band, I can only assume she was not there for Friday’s amazing opening headline act.
Julia Rumsby
Little Melton, Norfolk
• Has anyone else noticed that wrens are more visible and courageous this year?
Jonathan Stanley
Grange-over-Sands, Cumbria
• Join the debate – email guardian.letters@theguardian.com
