Giles Fraser (I’m not feeling very Les Mis about my nicked candlesticks, 21 March) misrepresents the bishop’s candlesticks in Les Misérables. In no way were they church property, as they were among the last of the bishop’s personal possessions, inherited from a great-aunt. When he finds they are missing, he tells his housekeeper: “For a long time I have wrongly kept this silver in my possession. It belonged to the poor.” Though Victor Hugo was no Christian, he certainly knew the Gospels, including Mark 10.21 and Luke 18.22.
John Whittaker
Hull
• How can Simon Jenkins (Opinion, 23 March) simultaneously believe that grouping people by “genetic clusters” is dangerous and “Politics cannot defy tribal sensibilities”?
John Doherty
Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire
• The 12-sided pound coin is going to be a major headache for vending machine/parking meter etc manufacturers (Report, 18 March), and it will cost a small fortune to refit existing facilities. How many parking meters are there in the UK? If the Treasury/Mint wanted a novel design, an odd number of sides, eg 11, would be far better, because, with judiciously calculated arcs for the edges, the coin can roll smoothly – like the 50p piece – because the coin has a constant diameter. An 11-sided coin with the same diameter as the current £1 coin would be the option with zero cost to society at large.
Andy Smith
Kingston upon Thames, Surrey
• Even now letters written to consultants are not seen by the patients (Letters, 21 March). Years ago I got a letter from a GP asking me to see this CMB (chronic miserable bugger) with multiple joint pain.
Mohammed Wajed
Retired consultant rheumatologist, St Albans, Hertfordshire
• How ironic that the Against modern football T-shirt is “just” £19.99. On my minimum wage that’s about three hours’ work, or the equivalent of Wayne Rooney paying about £20,000.
Ian Mutter
Woodbridge, Suffolk
