Re Theresa May’s assertion that a citizen of the world is a citizen of nowhere (Key points, 6 October), the theologian and pastor Eberhard Bethge was my father-in-law. He survived imprisonment by the Nazis but saw many of his family and his closest friend, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, executed for standing against Hitler. As a young woman I asked him what, in his opinion, was the most important thing in life. He answered: “To be a good citizen of the world.”
Sara Bethge
Barnet, Hertfordshire
• It would be interesting to hear Theresa May’s take on the teaching assistants’ strike (G2, 11 October). At conference she made a commitment to “putting fairness at the heart of our agenda and creating a country in which hard work is rewarded”, and she spoke of her wish for “a country that works for everyone”. So does she support the hardworking teaching assistants in challenging a 25% cut in their very modest salaries?
Terry Loane
London
• We bewail the current loss of trust in the government’s pronouncements. But Paul Brown’s Weatherwatch (11 October) about the falsification and destruction of wind direction records after the 1957 Windscale radiation leak, following on Ian Cobain’s reporting of similar secrecy over colonial records (Review, 8 October), confirms no government is trustworthy.
Alison Leonard
Hebden Bridge, West Yorkshire
• Further to Alison Shipwright’s observation (Letters, 10 October) that, according to the Saturday Guardian, no women had played any sport of note over the course of the week, I propose that the media undertake to headline their sports news as “Men’s football”, “Men’s cricket”, etc.
Karen Jones
London
• Yet another classic Grauniadism: “Luxury homes slump ‘not as bad as thought’” (Report, 10 October). Surely the intended headline was: “Luxury homes slump ‘not as bad as hoped’”.
Richard Grover
Caernarfon, Gwynedd
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