One notable house you omitted to mention in your editorial on writers’ abodes (18 August) is Newstead Abbey, the splendid gothic ancestral home of the greatest of the romantic poets, Lord Byron. Although subject to some later Victorian renovation, it remains “embosomed in a happy valley” where “Through thy battlements … the hollow winds whistle”.
Michael Wild
Princetown, Devon
• Towards the end of an evening dancing at Wolverhampton Civic Hall in the 1960s, any couple closer than a chaste ballroom-dancing hold would be tapped on the shoulder by a man in the middle, guarding our morals (Letters, 19 August).
Jennifer Macwhinnie
London
• A study in Lancet Public Health has found that heatwaves pose serious risks for the over-60s (Report, 17 August). Meanwhile Richard Tice, a 61-year-old man, tells us to stop fighting the climate crisis and enjoy the heatwaves.
Mike Pender (well over 60)
Cardiff
• You report (18 August) that Andy Burnham announced his drive to end rough sleeping outside No 10. I do hope someone tells Larry the cat.
Pauline Jeffreys
Cardiff
• I’m not sure the tuna would agree that it was a “success story” (‘Success story’ hailed as bluefin tunas caught off Yorkshire for first time since 1960s, 19 August).
Mike Smith
Hythe, Hampshire
• Surely the way to celebrate conservation success is to leave the tuna in the North Sea to breed?
Colin Merry
Lincoln
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