“Elder was thought of as evil,” writes Mark Cocker (Country diary, 20 February). The folklore says that you should never bring it indoors – to burn it brings death and disaster. This isn’t entirely surprising, as elder contains cyanogenic glycosides and volatile neurotoxic alkaloids that are released when burned. Hence: “Burn it not or cursed ye be.”
Crispin Partridge
Whittington, Norfolk
• A little bit of Immigrant Song by Led Zeppelin should kill any bodily function noises emanating from a toilet cubicle, and offer a singalong opportunity for a number of users at the same time (Decades on, I am still traumatised by my visit to the school toilets, 15 February).
Helen Orme
Widnes, Cheshire
• A beautifully inspired use of monochrome for your gallery of photographs (20 February) from this year’s monochrome Baftas (The return of #BaftasSoWhite, three years after diversity outcry, 20 February).
Tony Green
Ipswich, Suffolk
• Any further self-denial that I had entered middle age (Letters, 21 February) ended the day that I took out a full year’s doorstep-delivered, paper-copy subscription to the Guardian.
Mark Schulz
Horney Common, East Sussex
• “Welcome to my world,” I can hear my daughter, a deputy headteacher, say (Sheffield school criticised for saying job applicants must be ‘wedded’ to role, 20 February).
Annie Clouston
Barnard Castle, County Durham
• Have an opinion on anything you’ve read in the Guardian today? Please email us your letter and it will be considered for publication in our letters section.
