The home secretary says that the Home Office is not fit for purpose (Report, 22 October). It was not always so. When Alice Bacon was a minister at Education, having moved there from the Home Office in the late 1960s, she told me, then Guardian education correspondent, that it was like moving from a Rolls‑Royce to a Mini.
Richard Bourne
London
• Marilyn Rowley’s problem of being woken up by the irritating BBC Sounds jingle (Letters, 17 October) can be solved by setting the sleep timer in the Sounds app to turn the programme off after 45 minutes (In Our Time lasts 50).
Tim Martineau
Prenton, Merseyside
• So, Reform councillors in Kent have been told by their leader to “suck it up” (Report, 20 October). If that’s another Guardian typo, they’ve certainly succeeded.
Tony Mabbott
Rotherham, South Yorkshire
• Interesting that taxpayers may have to pay £558,000 in compensation to evict Prince Andrew from the Royal Lodge (Report, 21 October). I’m sure crowdfunding could manage that.
David Prothero
Harlington, Bedfordshire
• With “calls for Andrew to face a police investigation...” (Report, 19 October), I bet he’s sweating now.
Pete Lavender
Woodthorpe, Nottingham
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