The news that the Guardian is to adopt US spellings for some American proper nouns is to be commended (Mind your language, 21 November, theguardian.com). Generally speaking, US spellings represent the spoken sound to a slightly greater degree than the British. However, it should be remembered that this development originated largely from the initiatives of Noah Webster, whose more ambitious plans for English spelling modernisation were halted abruptly by the US Congress. In the interests of ease of learning and greater literacy, it is surely time to revisit that initiative.
Stephen Linstead
Chair, English Spelling Society
• Even before the supreme court decides, are we to hear the prince’s 27 letters have somehow “gone missing” from the ministerial files (Report, 26 November)?
Les Wheeler
Liverpool
• Notwithstanding the merits of Tony Blair’s award (Report, 26 November), how can Save the Children justify spending not an insignificant amount, out of its scarce resources, on such a superfluous event like the glittering “Illumination Gala” at New York’s Plaza Hotel no less. When I’ve donated money to this charity it was in the belief that the money would be spent on caring for children in places like Gaza, Iraq, Syria and west Africa. I shall never give it another penny in the future.
Asaf Mir
London
• Just checked back out of interest the books I have read over the past few months (Woolf is for women – and Mailer’s for men? How readers favour authors of own gender, 26 November). John Keegan, Andrew Martin, Benjamin Black, Peter Ackroyd, David Kynaston, Robert B Parker, CJ Sansom, Richard Flanagan. But no, I am not male. I did read Middlemarch earlier in the year...
Rosemary Duff
Norwich
• Facebook is criticised for failing to stop the plot to kill Lee Rigby. I await the inevitable bad press that MI5 and MI6 will face for their lamentable failure to provide us with a place to share our photos with friends.
Angela Ford
Cullompton, Devon
