Your interview with Jacqueline Wilson (7 February) says: “Legend has it that [DC Thomson] named their new magazine Jackie after her.” But editor Gordon Small has rebutted this oft-repeated myth. I freelanced for Jackie for many years from the start, and Gordon told me that what is true about its title is that because John F Kennedy was assassinated shortly before Jackie’s planned launch, a meeting was held to decide if it should be postponed out of deference to his widow. It was not.
Peter Bird
North Creake, Norfolk
• I see you use the strange expression “self-confessed anarchist” (Shock at landslide win in Delhi for radical party, 11 February). It is obviously necessary to give the paper’s writers and subeditors a reminder that being an anarchist is not a criminal offence, and there is consequently nothing to confess.
Dr Harry Harmer
Eastbourne, East Sussex
• How curious: “Ecotricity donates £250,000 to Labour…” (Guardian, 11 February). “We’ll donate up to £60 to the Green party when you join Ecotricity…” (Ecotricity advert in Green party magazine). Not putting all their eggs in one basket, evidently.
Audrey Urry
West Bay, Dorset
• “Athens port in a storm” (10 February)? More geographical puns so bad they’re scarcely puns at all, please. A little bit of Norwich is a dangerous thing, Belgians can’t be choosers and cleanliness is next to Godmanchester? They’re too good, I know. Perhaps readers can do worse.
Brian Smith
Berlin, Germany
• In view of the concern some people have for the inaccuracy and emotive connotations associated with the term “three-parent babies” (Report, 4 February), I wondered if “mélange à trois” should be used instead?
John Hood
London
