I would like to suggest that, when reporting on the outcome of court cases – particularly contentious or high profile ones such as that recently involving Charlie Gard, or the employment fees decision in the supreme court, but really more generally – you should provide a link (online and in print editions) to the location of the actual judgment on the web (most of them being available on the BAILII database fairly promptly after handing down). That way, people could more easily read the actual decision themselves, inform themselves of the actual issues and evidence the judge heard and took into account, and thus better appreciate the result arrived at. That might avoid much of the misinformed discussion – thinking in particular of the Charlie Gard case – that takes place “below the line” and otherwise online.
Claire Hodgson
West Rainton, County Durham
• “Italian scandal sends BT profits tumbling 42%”, “Capita mired in training scheme scandal”, “No easy ride for the new face at scandal-hit Uber”, “Barclays bill for PPI scandal increases to £9.1bn” – could you have squeezed the word scandal into any more of the headlines in the Financial section on 29 July? That’s four scandals over three pages. Impressive.
Jon Myles
Isleworth, Middlesex
• A thought experiment: if the entire fast food industry were closed down tomorrow, to be replaced by food grown and cooked at home, the national economy would apparently (Letters, 29 July) be slashed by £9.4bn; we would all, collectively, be poorer by this amount. Would we? Would our lives feel £9.4bn poorer?
Richard Middleton
Crossmichael, Dumfries and Galloway
• Re your Travel section feature (What did the Vikings ever do for us?, 29 July), the Vikings also gave my wife and myself Dupuytren’s contracture.
Peter Collins
Bromley, Kent
• Peter Criddle (Letters, 31 July) must get up extremely early to have a letter published on the same day as an article he refers to (Country diary, 31 July).
Julia Gristwood
Ware, Hertfordshire
• Smallest carnivore? If you must have a mammal, how about the pygmy shrew?
Val Spouge
Braintree, Essex
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