I was intrigued to read about the outdoor recreation valuation tool Orval (Top 10 green spaces in England and Wales for ‘welfare value’ named in study, 2 May). The degree of precision ascribed to the value of parks and outdoor spaces – eg Southampton Common at £7,408,252 – was amazing. Had the researchers had several bottles of the famous Belgian beer also called Orval?
Ken Lambert
Sheffield
• I wonder if Boris Johnson could be related to the pushmi-pullyu, that extraordinary beast discovered by Doctor Dolittle? So keen is he to fight the Russians in Ukraine (Report, 2 May), while here he has awarded a peerage to his close friend Evgeny Lebedev, now Lord Lebedev of Hampton and Siberia, who has named his dog Boris. Should he come clean?
Anna Ford
London
• I protect potential Daily Mail readers from contamination (Letters, 3 May) by turning the supermarket pile upside down so that only the back page is visible. If the front page is particularly offensive, I pick up the stack and relocate it to the toilet roll shelves.
Mike Hine
Kingston upon Thames, London
• Re John Harris’s article on the demise of the levelling up agenda (1 May), I gather levelling up has now been superseded by cocking up and covering up.
Prof David Waugh
Durham University
• Bob Seger can go one better than the Hollies’ use of “encumber” (Letters, 3 May). His US hit single Like a Rock uses “unencumbered”.
Simon Ireland
Eastbourne, East Sussex
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