Zaki Cooper (Letters, 5 December) trundles out the tired old cliche, regularly disproved by history, that faiths are but different paths to the same end. The common “values and morals” he goes on to list are no more than the basic tenets of secular humanism. All that is added by “faith identity” is an element of the supernatural, the primacy of a random deity and the slew of sexual, dietary and cultural regulations that divide the human race into numerous factions.
Tony Reeves
London
• Fining poor people is cruel and ineffective, says retired magistrate Nigel Reynolds (Letters, 5 December). Our jobcentres sanction hundreds of the incompetent and mentally ill, driving them from poverty into destitution, cruelly but ineffectively to get them into employment. Our overcrowded prisons are full of recidivists, demonstrating their ineffectiveness. Apart from the occasional parking ticket, is any punishment effective?
Alison Cholmondeley
Wells, Somerset
• What is not clear about the resurgence of “papa” (Pass notes, G2, 5 December) is whether we are talking about the traditional English “pa-pah” or the American “pappa”. The former may be in danger of being forgotten, as is “ma-mah”. A few years ago I heard an actress, who should have known better, reading letters to Queen Victoria from her daughter and saying “Dearest Mamma” throughout.
John Thornton
London
• I’d write to thank Bob Horn (Letters, 7 December) for noticing my attempt to dethrone Keith Flett, but obviously the Guardian isn’t going to publish another letter from me now for years!
Jill Wallis
Aston Clinton, Buckinghamshire
• A red, white and blue Brexit (Report, 7 December)? Should go down well in France. And the Netherlands. And the Czech Republic, Luxembourg, Slovakia and Slovenia.
Roy Saunders
London
• The occupants of my wormery absolutely devour the Guardian Sport section (Letters, 6 December).
Maurice Hughes
London
• Join the debate – email guardian.letters@theguardian.com
• Read more Guardian letters – click here to visit gu.com/letters
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