Re Aditya Chakrabortty’s article (One blunt heckler has shown just how much our economists are failing us, 10 January), GDP is a crazy measure for prosperity: a country’s GDP equals the aggregate income of its inhabitants. Therefore car accidents make us richer, because the income of repairers goes up. War contributes significantly to global GDP, as arms manufacturers make a mint and destroyed cities need rebuilding. And London’s highly paid financial specialists make a “healthy” contribution to UK GDP.
Wiebina Heesterman
Birmingham
• Your recipe for green peppercorn and lemongrass coconut broth (Cook, 7 January) really appealed, but in a tour of four supermarkets I could not find any green peppercorns. Thank goodness for the oriental supermarket in our town. Could recipe writers give advice on where to find these speciality ingredients?
Julie Walsh
Leamington Spa, Warwickshire
• The likely appointment of Jared Kushner (Trump hires his son-in-law for top job in White House, 10 January) reminds me of the line “the son-in-law also rises”, invoked when Peter Jay became ambassador to the US under the premiership of his father-in-law, James Callaghan.
Michael Cunningham
Wolverhampton
• On the basis of his approach to high office so far, the president-elect seems to be swamping the drains.
Colin Brown
Edinburgh
• “Jesus’s transfer to City delayed by paperwork problem” (Sport, 11 January). Plus ça change…
Brian Smith
Berlin, Germany
• Why not eat the bees’ legs (Letters, 11 January)? The knees are the best part.
Bernard Taylor
Billingham, County Durham
• Well, so is not the new er (Letters, 11 January); it’s the new well.
Jennifer Coates
London
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