What a glorious photo of children playing with found objects in their den near Byker Bridge, Newcastle, in 1971 (18 May). The vivid imaginative games they will have played of keeping house, sibling rivalries, parenting, as well as the sheer fun of transporting hefty items to the secret world of the den, are all depicted in that wonderful collection. It was not “junk”, the word used in the photo’s title, but treasure for learning about life and the world.
Christine Beels
Leeds
• Marina Hyde’s analysis of government employee calibre and its “random nitwit generator machine” (17 May) recalled for me the comment of an exasperated tenant farmer on a local estate: its management “knows nowt about owt that it’s yonder for”.
Tim Burnett
Kirkby Lonsdale, Cumbria
• Allegations of sexual assault, pornography, cash for cronies, bullying, peerages for donors, lies, U-turns, incompetence, lies, parties, drunkenness, fines, investigations. Is this what “the dissolution of parliament” means?
Kevin Donovan
Birkenhead, Merseyside
• Stephen Decker (Letters, 11 May) says Keir Starmer “has every right, plus the skill, to test that judgment in court”. Is he not aware of the maxim “A lawyer who represents himself has a fool for a client”?
Wilfred Goldspink
Windsor, Berkshire
• Seen at a campsite in Abersoch, Wales: a hungover camper pouring Newcastle Brown Ale on his cornflakes (Letters, 16 May).
Don Fitzpatrick
Altrincham, Greater Manchester
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