While dogs might not be considered “productive” in the true sense of the word, I feel Will Self (Out in paperback, Review, 7 April) is failing to recall the extraordinary work they accomplish for humans: sniffing out bombs, guiding the blind through cities, getting help from someone else if their owner is having a seizure, not to mention being able to alert a diabetic if they are about to have a hypoglycaemic episode. The list goes on. My own cat never fails to let me know when I’m on the computer too long, too late at night, writing letters such as this one.
Sandra Jensen
Hove, East Sussex
• Penelope Woolfitt (Letters, 11 April) mentions among others the art of Eric Fraser (not Frazer) in the Radio Times in the 1950s, but he continued to draw wonderful illustrations for the magazine well into the 60s and 70s. Especially memorable was his work for Christmas and Easter editions as well as for broadcasts of Shakespearean plays. I still have an album of those I cut out and kept as a teenager.
Ian Arnott
Peterborough
• I am delighted that the owners of Tesco have made a healthy profit this year (Report, 11 April). Does this mean they will return to the taxpayer the large volume of tax credits on which their poorly paid employees rely in order to make ends meet?
Suzanne Bosman
London
• Regarding female newsreaders (Letters, 10 April), Nan Winton read the news throughout the 1960s, and here in Scotland we had the wonderful Mary Marquis who preceded Angela Rippon.
Margaret Squires
St Andrews, Fife
• “The London Book Fair … an exemplar of the global … outward-facing economy” (Letters, 11 April). Just as well – at £55 to enter, it certainly isn’t encouraging most people in.
Chris Hardy
London
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