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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Lifestyle

The joys of January, from classy telly to quiet pubs

The Vienna Philharmonic orchestra performs under the baton of the German conductor Christian Thielemann during the New Year's Concert 2024.
The Vienna Philharmonic orchestra conducted by Christian Thielemann performs during the New Year's Concert 2024. Photograph: Dieter Nagl/APA/Wiener Philharmoniker/AFP/Getty Images

I’m with Emma Beddington – I like January too (Yes, it’s cold, it’s wet and it’s dark – but here are nine reasons to love January, 14 January). It kicks off with the mighty Vienna Philharmonic – just about the only time you will see one of the world’s great orchestras on our philistine telly. The pubs are quiet because all the wine-gum-and-a-bucket-of-water amateur drinkers are dry-Januarying, and you can easily book a restaurant because the same lot are dieting or have turned vegan.
Michael Fuller
Harpenden, Hertfordshire

• You report that the world’s five richest men have seen their wealth double in the last three years (15 January). As we are always being told that hard work is the route to becoming richer, can we assume that these men have worked twice as hard since 2020? And have their employees similarly seen their earnings double during this time?
Pete Dorey
Bath

• I am pleased that the recent TV drama highlighting miscarriages of justice for post office staff has had a profound effect on the public. It is a pity that the recent drama Time, which highlighted the plight of women in prison and the adverse affects of maternal incarceration on children, has not resulted in the same reaction.
Liz Harrington
Burnham-on-Sea, Somerset

• How could any article ranking the best “crime-fighting duos” (15 January) omit Brett Sinclair and Danny Wilde, or Hercule Poirot and Captain Hastings? But one omission grates more than the others: Mrs Peel and John Steed, you’re most definitely needed.
Seyan Dattani
London

• Do you have a photograph you’d like to share with Guardian readers? If so, please click here to upload it. A selection will be published in our Readers’ best photographs galleries and in the print edition on Saturdays.

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