Howard Jacobson (There is no excuse for a man not to wear a suit…’, Weekend, 14 October) reinforces the view that opera is elitist and unapproachable. Nothing could be further from the truth. If the music moves you it doesn’t matter what you wear. And if Mr Jacobson knew his Marriage of Figaro from his Don Giovanni, he would know that Mozart was one of the most anti-establishment of composers, and wouldn’t have cared what anyone wore.
Sao Bui-Van
London
• When two neutron stars collide, Prof Andreas Freise expects them to immediately collapse into a black hole “leaving behind a bit of dust and stuff” (Report, 17 October). At last a scientist who speaks my kind of language.
Alan Woodley
Northampton
• I visited Epidaurus as a medical student (Letters, 19 October). Needing a text to speak from the stage, and with no Greek, ancient or modern, I resorted to Latin and Levator labii superioris alaeque nasi, the lip-sneering muscle with the longest name. A large proportion of the other visitors crossed themselves, and I left, to avoid further embarrassment.
Dr John Davies
Lancaster
• Rafael Behr (With evidence of a failing Brexit, who needs prophecy?, 18 October) might have made Jeremiah sound a bit more prescient and up to date by not quoting him in the King James version of the Bible.
Rev Canon Nicholas Jowett
Sheffield
• Three-legged stools are always stable, which is why they were invented for use in Welsh cowsheds, where the floor is uneven. They are not, as far as I know, self-levelling (Letters, 19 October).
Peter Jones
Oldham
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