I share Mandy Merck’s scepticism about the political, as opposed to rhetorical, persuasiveness of Hilary Benn’s speech (Letters, 5 December), but she is wrong to equate fascism with nazism. Of the many variants of fascist ideology and politics, few share nazism’s eliminationist antisemitism; but what they have in common with Islamic State is a millenarian ambition rooted in fantasies of purification and domination.
Jane Caplan
Emeritus professor of modern European history, University of Oxford
• Matthew Taylor’s otherwise excellent article on Gary Neville (Sport, 5 December) fails to mention Phil’s twin and Gary’s sister, Tracey Neville, an England netball international and now coach of the England netball team. Shame.
Nick Bidmade
London
• Pity you didn’t name whoever it was at ITV who apologised for muddling up Sir Lenny Henry and Ainsley Harriott (Report, December 5). Still, those white middle-aged television executives are all alike to me.
John Cranston
Norwich
• Bit harsh on Mike Godwin (Letters, 8 December), whose only offence seems not being present at the Philip Larkin knees-up. He was, after all, only following in the steps of the great man, who found solitary solace in the “blent air” of a churchyard and whose love of spending time with a “crowd of craps” at a party was well-documented.
Jonathan Taylor
Cornwall
• There is a “discussion” each year in our family as to whether the T-Rex shall be allowed to lie down with the lamb in the model nativity scene beside the Christmas tree (Letters, 8 December).
Richard Harley
Alresford, Hampshire
• Was Hitler initially regarded as a rather overblown chump with a bonkers haircut (Trump calls for ‘total and complete shutdown’ of borders to Muslims, 8 December)?
Rob Harris
Westbury-on-Severn, Gloucestershire
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