Your article on house sparrow numbers (Saturday sketch, 8 November) should not be so gloomy. The sparrow is alive and very well in Victoria, with recent sightings inside the cafe at the Melbourne Museum and fluttering along the shelves of the Woolworths supermarket in Docklands. No meal outside in New Zealand is without our little friends chirping around you very boldly. I do wonder, however, what endogenous species have been sacrificed to allow the sparrow to flourish so mightily in the southern hemisphere.
Peter Crowle
Shotesham St Mary, Norfolk
• The Staples Christmas catalogue that came with Saturday’s Guardian offered “Gifts for Girls” including a colouring pack, stickers, hot water bottle, perfume factory and 3D puzzle butterfly; among the “Gifts for Boys” were a microscope, telescope, plasma ball, geometric shapes and 3D puzzle skeleton. Shocking that a major company still promotes the message that science is for boys, not girls; and even more shocking that some parents and girls will be influenced by it.
Catherine Stothart
Chester
• Heartened by the Ecotricity “Nothing Happened” advert in Friday’s Guardian, I was somewhat concerned later when I was using my mobile and got a message from Google Earth saying “Unfortunately, Earth has stopped”, and offering me the options “Report” or “OK”. I thought I’d report it, as I can’t say I’m OK about it…
Chris Stanton
Guildford, Surrey
• If Green support is emerging from Clegg’s “discredited rump” (Letters, 6 November), does this also mean that Liberal Democrat support is bottoming out?
Michael Cunningham
Wolverhampton
• Are the “Westminster bed-wetters” (Editorial, 10 November) in danger of turning this country into the nappy state?
Austen Lynch
Garstang, Lancashire
• On the back of a canoe club member’s T- shirt in Tennessee: “Paddle faster. I hear banjos” (Letters, 10 November).
Billy Morrison
Ayr, Scotland
