We are very sorry to hear of the death of John le Carré (Report, 13 December). What a lovely man! We met him last October in Parliament Square while on the People’s Vote march and he stopped for a chat as I was handing out homemade cookies to keep us all going while waiting for the speeches. He was very easy to talk to, and we were delighted that he and his wife had also come all the way from Cornwall to join the march.
Sally Smith
Redruth, Cornwall
• Suggestions for maintaining sanity in the face of this government’s incompetence (Letters, 13 December)? Wine for run-of-the-mill incompetence and spirits for the more monumental idiocies.
Carole Newton
Exmouth, Devon
• Sanity? Read everything written by Marina Hyde and John Crace in the Guardian. Their columns will ensure that some of your tears will be from laughter rather than just despair.
Jerry Green
Cranage, Cheshire
• Dear Santa, please can I have an election and a new government for Christmas? If I promise to be a really good boy, please can we rejoin the EU as well? Thank you, Santa.
Dr Roger Walker
Clayton, West Yorkshire
• Your front-page photograph of the prime minister (14 December) shows a man who appears pale and under stress. He is obviously suffering from a condition that has affected many of us for several years. It is called “long Brexit”.
Mike Kelly
Waltham, Lincolnshire
• News of Nigella Lawson and her “meekrowarvey” (Emma Brockes’ digested week, 11 December) makes me think about my parents and their habit of calling those lovely seasonal treats “mants peas”.
Joanna Mattinson
Shrewsbury, Shropshire
