• I was intrigued by your article on plant-based pork ribs with edible vegan bones (17 August). I would love to know whether vegans find it justifiable to consume foods that look like meat. It could make matters worse by reminding them of how it doesn’t taste like the real thing. Wouldn’t it be better to eat food that isn’t pretending to be something else?
Joyce Lim
Guildford, Surrey
• My local Waitrose has recently gone full bore installing customer-operated checkouts and reducing staff-operated ones to a skeleton. Rather than tempting bobbies off the beat to drink free coffee (Report, 20 August), maybe re-engaging cashiers would be a more profitable and effective way to reduce crime.
Sam White
Lewes, East Sussex
• Re teaching practice in the 1960s, I once overheard staff talking about “forest clouds”, “cowboy angels” and the wonderful use of imagery that a certain pupil had. He had, correctly, reckoned that, unlike John Major’s teacher (Letters, 18 August), his teachers wouldn’t be au fait with popular music and Bob Dylan’s latest musings in Gates of Eden.
Marilyn Rowley
Manchester
• May as well close the annual contest for the best joke at the Edinburgh fringe. No one is going to top the Leith Arches press statement: “We are an inclusive venue and will not allow such views to violate our space” (Report, 15 August).
Mark Boyle
Johnstone, Renfrewshire
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