Re “like” (Letters, 23 April), when and why did women almost universally become “ladies”? Is it because “woman” includes “man”? I am with the apocryphal bloke who answered an inquiry with “that’s no ‘lady’, that’s my wife”. I may in time become a Lady (though I am not holding my breath) but until that time I am happy to be and prefer to remain a woman.
Salley Vickers
London
• The report of the Manchester United v Tottenham FA Cup semi-final named Spurs’ Christian Eriksen as man of the match (Football, 23 April). On the same page, United’s Alexis Sánchez was named as player of the weekend. How does that work?
Mike Pender
Cardiff
• Polly Toynbee (Journal, 23 April), aptly quotes John Donne: “No man is an island…” There is another bit, slightly further into Meditation XVII, that says it all: “If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less.” I think it was the mention of Michael Gove that put this into my mind.
John D Walsh
Swindon, Wiltshire
• Re Richard III’s trial (Letters, 23 April), I hope that among the books consulted by the prosecution will be Alison Weir’s The Princes in the Tower, which, without naming Josephine Tey, refutes all of her arguments for Richard’s innocence.
Hugh Brogan
University of Essex
• Scorchio (Letters, 21 April)!
Ian Grieve
Gordon Bennett, Shropshire Union canal (nr Hack Green nuclear bunker)
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