Is there any hard evidence that leads a group of academics to state “British universities are the strongest and most attractive in Europe” (Letters, 9 January)? Have they taken account of the decline in student numbers, especially among those from the EU?
Jenny Ridley
Canterbury
• I appreciate the irony of your lead letter (10 January) with its concern for the “dispossessed” who have “had enough” coming from a Tory MP. Cheeky.
John Airs
Liverpool
• Sound designers can’t tell one neigh from another and picture editors can’t tell one horse’s mouth from another. That horse in your article isn’t neighing (G2, 7 January) – it’s displaying the flehmen response, curling its upper lip to capture pheromones and other scents in its mouth. Stallions do it near mares in season, but mares do it too, particularly when they have recently foaled.
Emma Dally
London
• I wonder why a “glass half full” person is seen as more positive than a “glass half empty” person (Shortcuts, G2, 9 January). If your glass is half empty you never lose. You always expect the worst and are never disappointed when things go wrong. If the worst doesn’t happen that’s a bonus. It’s a win-win!
Estelle Smart
Malvern, Worcestershire
• Among the many reasons why I am a lifelong reader of the Guardian is the expectation of a long life. The death announcements (9 January) bear out my point. Two at 82, 92, two at 94, 96 and 103.
Penny Jaques
Oxford
• Join the debate – email guardian.letters@theguardian.com
• Read more Guardian letters – click here to visit gu.com/letters
• Do you have a photo you’d like to share with Guardian readers? Click here to upload it and we’ll publish the best submissions in the letters spread of our print edition
