There is a far better way for Sainsbury’s to cut shoplifting than using facial recognition tech (Report, 2 September). It is simply to employ more staff to serve at the checkouts rather than increasing the use of self-service terminals. Last time we went to the Sainsbury’s Whitechapel store, there were no staffed checkouts at all and no floor manager to complain to, just self-service tills and one harassed member of staff trying to keep an eye on things.
Mary Pimm and Nik Wood
London
• Regarding Zoe Williams’ dealings at her local tip (2 September), if the recycling centre isn’t interested in old but working computers or monitors, how about asking your local school? Our local primary was happy to take my old but fully working Apple iMac and Mac mini.
Ken Scott
South Milford, North Yorkshire
• Manchester may have had “Corporation Pop” (Letters, 1 September), but in Birmingham we had “Corporation Brylcreem”. Incidentally, at our municipal baths you could get a dollop of real Brylcreem from a machine for a penny.
John Fisher
Hitchin, Hertfordshire
• Re the Mercator projection of the world (28 August), I remember my political hero Tony Benn saying that when he was a minister, he decided to hang a map of the United Kingdom upside down on his office wall. This, he explained, would give him a different perspective on the way in which Britain was governed. How we miss his clarity of thought and compassionate approach to politics.
Ben Ruston
Richmond, North Yorkshire
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