We should remember that it was Michael Gove who, as education secretary in 2013, removed probability from the English primary mathematics curriculum and replaced it with the teaching of Roman numbers (Statistical illiteracy isn’t a niche problem. During a pandemic, it can be fatal, 26 October).
Peter Bailey
Birmingham
• The frequent haphazard misquoting from Hotel California, prevalent throughout lockdown, continues (Ending lockdown, airport testing and Dominic Cummings: your Covid questions answered, 27 October). It is “You can check out [not “enter”] any time you like, but you can never leave”.
Chris Ellicott
Bath
• I remember an episode of Red Dwarf when, asked to put the ship on red alert, Cat changed the orange light bulb for a red one. Feels like that here as we prepare to enter tier 3 (Report, 29 October).
Dr Neil Denby
Denby Dale, West Yorkshire
• Halloween 2020 is surely the first one where people without masks are the scariest.
Adrian Jordan
Hollywood, Worcestershire
• A scary week (‘Sleeping giant’ Arctic methane deposits starting to release, scientists find, 27 October). I found hazel catkins well formed on Wednesday, which alarms me much more than any pandemic.
Elaine Steane
Oxford
• What a lovely word snollygoster is in Puck’s cryptic crossword (24 October). I wonder whether there may be an opportunity to use it over the next few days.
Christine Sinclair
Skelmorlie, North Ayrshire
• The caption on this article was amended on 1 November 2020 to correct the year. A previous version said the photo was from 2001.
