The new east-west train service between Oxford and Milton Keynes has been delayed due to the government and rail companies insisting on driver-only trains. We have just experienced a mass stabbing of passengers by a lone attacker on a busy train in Cambridgeshire, where a railway employee made a heroic attempt to protect them (Report, 2 November). Is this really the time for leaving the public and the train driver at the mercy of single manning?
Jessica Holroyd
Milton Keynes
• Three cheers for the lost, lamented A-level history personal study. Some students undertook original research and some, like Cathy O’Neill in 1977, unearthed a real gem (Lost grave of daughter of Black abolitionist Olaudah Equiano found by A-level student, 1 November). Worth 25% of their final grade, it was the part of the course which students enjoyed most and from which they learned the most about history.
James Turtle
Former archives education officer, Gloucestershire Archives
• Last Wednesday’s wordsearch puzzled me. As a former primary school teacher, I am aware that anything can be used as a girl’s name these days. But Bidet? Really?
Linda Weir
Kirby Muxloe, Leicestershire
• Your report (2 November) says the recent theft from the Louvre in Paris took place “in broad daylight”. It set me to wondering what “narrow daylight” looks like.
Dr Neil Denby
Denby Dale, West Yorkshire
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