It was interesting to see that students at Saltley Academy in Birmingham are being encouraged to follow the tenets of Saint George (The ‘Trojan horse’ school opening pupils’ eyes to the brutal realities of Islamic State, 13 July). I hope it is pointed out that Saint George was probably born in Turkey and that his mother was Palestinian. They should also know that as well as being England’s patron saint he is revered by Muslims and Christians in Palestine, and is the patron saint of many other European countries. He is indeed a multicultural hero.
Janice Gupta Gwilliam
Malton, North Yorkshire
• Patrick Barkham (Notebook, 14 July) thinks “Hedgehogs cleared of corn circle dementia” might be the Guardian’s best ever headline, but I’m not sure it beats the line a sports subeditor put on the match report of a game where the Crystal Palace striker Gerry Queen had his name taken by the referee (Queen booked in Palace brawl); or that attached by a features sub to a review of a woeful film about Cleopatra (The biggest asp disaster in the world).
David McKie
London
• The Guardian style guide defines elderly as 75 or over. Why then were three of the neighbours invited round by your journalists for your feature (Fancy a cuppa?, G2, 14 July) aged 66, 74 and 74? No wonder they were confused. Not exactly the isolated elderly group Jeremy Hunt was targeting, I suspect.
Jennifer Clifton (age 66)
Otley, West Yorkshire
• Re your photo (Eyewitness, 14 July) of Marc Quinn rubbing his sculpture Frozen Wave (The Conservation of Mass) with a cloth, well, there goes the received wisdom that you can’t polish a turd!
Linda Marriott
North Hykeham, Lincolnshire
• For a number of years we had a blackbird that replicated our whistle to call in our cat (Letters, 14 July). Amazingly it survived to pass this skill on to one of its offspring – I wonder what happened to it?
Dave Mills
Wolverhampton
