Édouard Louis’s article (Review, 11 February) provides incontrovertible evidence that everything must be learned again from scratch by each new generation. Louis complains that “he could not find the world of his childhood anywhere in literature”. More than 50 years ago, my late husband Alan Sillitoe (the English Camus, according to his French translators), equally conscious of the need for such material, was writing his first novel and stories: Saturday Night & Sunday Morning and The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner.
Ruth Fainlight
London
• All plastic should be biodegradable and/or recyclable (How plastic got into our fish, G2, 15 February). However, most food wraps are not. This is what makes up 90% of waste in my black bin. M&S is the only exception.
Lorrie Marchington
High Peak, Derbyshire
• “History will judge us by the difference we make in the everyday lives of children.” Nelson Mandela’s words reflect the spirit of the UN convention on the rights of the child. Thank you for your editorial (10 February). How very low this UK government is prepared to fall.
Beverley Naidoo
Bournemouth
• The soap opera that is the Trump administration has more than a whiff of Acorn Antiques about its production values.
Julian Roberts
Ilkley, West Yorkshire
• When I was growing up in Saltcoats in the 60s there were three cinemas: the Regal, the Countess and the La Scala (Letters, passim).
John Murray
Aberdeen
• In the 1960s Weetabix ran an ad campaign to persuade us to eat two at a time (Letters, 15 February). It gave away stereoscopic picture cards in each packet, with this jingle: “The Weetabix went in two by two, Hurrah! Hurrah! / The Weetabix went in two by two, Hurrah! Hurrah! / You can get the viewer from Weetabix, / It will only cost you one and six. / Please may we have Weetabix every day.” Even now I regard one Weetabix as only half a breakfast.
Sue Gibson
Newark on Trent, Nottinghamshire
