You don’t have to be a megastar diva like Barbra Streisand, who rang Steve Jobs about a problem with her personal computer (Report, 27 August), to get the chief executive’s assistance. A few years ago I was trying to send a book, via Amazon, to a friend incarcerated on death row in Texas (the prison department only recognised Amazon for the dispatch of books). My problem was to match the way the address was written to the way the Amazon order form was designed. I emailed Jeff Bezos, the chief executive, and he fixed it for me.
Terry Philpot
Limpsfield Chart, Surrey
• Of course we don’t want Guardian crosswords to be too easy (Letters, 29 August) but whereas setters used to set puzzles for people sitting in their armchairs or on the train with a Biro and perhaps a dictionary, they now assume we are at our laptops with a range of helpful websites at our command. Nowadays I seldom manage to complete the crossword in my bath before the water gets cold, as I used to. I have to turn to the internet to have any hope of finishing.
Rosemary Chamberlin
Bristol
• I’d been following the concerns raised by your correspondents that the cryptic crossword is getting harder, turned to Arachne’s latest offering and completed it in less than 10 minutes. I can only conclude that the problem lies in the declining quality of the Guardian readership.
Paul Dennehy
London
• When it is considered dangerous to use a mobile phone when driving, even a hands-free one, by what logic is it acceptable to record to camera, or do a broadcast interview with a passenger, when driving (How Corden cracked America, 27 August)?
Robert Powell
Sedbergh, Cumbria
• Being an elderly lady, I treat with grave suspicion any phone numbers that I do not recognise. I must therefore apologise to the “lovely young Harry” (Letters, 25 and 26 August) if I have failed to engage him in conversation.
Elizabeth Dunnett
Malvern, Worcestershire
• Join the debate – email guardian.letters@theguardian.com
