Like Louise Christian (Letters, 15 May), I instructed barrister Keir Starmer (as he was) in an appeal about the right to protest, but we were successful. In 1999, Margaret Jones and Richard Lloyd challenged their conviction for “trespassory assembly” (during a Stonehenge protest). The lord chancellor was part of the three-to-two majority that affirmed a public right of peaceful assembly on the highway.
Philip Leach
Middlesex University
• Reading Adrian Chiles (I thought my umming and erring made for better radio. I was wrong, 10 May), surely the ultimate de-ummers must be the brilliant Hansard writers, who could make even John Prescott sound like a Ciceronian orator.
Jerry Emery
Lewes, East Sussex
• Meurig Bowen’s plan to promote classical music is a good one (Turbocharge philanthropy, conga to Beethoven, ditch the ukuleles: 10 ways to save classical music, 16 May). As an early-years teacher, I introduced children to a variety of music. Everything was sung to three chords on the guitar; the advantage over a piano is that you can keep a beady eye on the class.
Monica Channell
Beckenham, London
• We once acquired an elegant cat who quickly made it clear that she hated people and wanted to be alone. We christened her Garbo (Letters, 17 May).
Caroline Boyce
Dollar, Clackmannanshire
• When my wife and I named our dog Geoffrey because of his shy, bookish demeanour, we had no idea so many human Geoffreys enjoyed the inland waterways. Or how thin-skinned so many of them would be.
Ian Grieve
Gordon Bennett, Llangollen canal
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