The Guardian has joined much of the media in misdescribing the Japanese constitution as “pacifist” (Japanese MPs pass bills ending ban on troops fighting abroad, 17 July). Restricting what a country’s armed forces are able to do – as was supposed to be the case with the Japanese constitution – might be a good thing, but has nothing to do with pacifism. Pacifism entails a rejection of the idea that a military response is ever appropriate, in any situation. A pacifist constitution would have ruled out the existence of armed forces completely.
Albert Beale
London
• I stood for Labour in South Norfolk in 1983 (Letters, 20 July), coming a bad third to the Conservatives and the SDP-Liberal Alliance (but I did save my deposit). The main reason for the heaviness of my defeat was the Falklands war, with many rural working-class voters taking serious exception to my CND badge and my being labelled “the peace candidate” by the local press. I also frequently had my posters torn down by the National Front. Nevertheless it was all a great experience.
Alan Holzer
Halesworth, Suffolk
• I was in Germany, aged four, in 1946 with my brother and sister. My dad was a captain with the British army of occupation. We were taught the Nazi salute (Letters, 20 July) by Trudi, in whose house we were billeted, but had to say “Heil Hitler, das Schwein ist tot” as we gave it. An early introduction to irony or what?
Peter Branston
Brentford, Middlesex
• Archie Bland (Food fight, 18 July) is wrong to suggest that no one has noticed the shrinking packs of Philadelphia: Nigella’s cheesecake recipe requires 200g of cream cheese.
Caroline Feinstein
Deepcut, Surrey
• Unlike your correspondent (Letters, 17 July), I do want to turn the Guardian letters page into pedantry corner. The Crystal Palace v Blackpool match he referred to was played on 2 September 1970, not 1971.
Michael Cunningham
Wolverhampton
