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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Politics

A return to the scene of a big political stink

David Cameron in Downing Street on 14 November 2023
‘Interestingly, it’s seven years since David Cameron fled, having unleashed a fart of near-nuclear proportions on the polity of this country. Now he’s back – and we have not forgotten.’ Photograph: Anadolu Agency/Anadolu/Getty Images

In Brief Lives, John Aubrey wrote: “This Earle of Oxford, making of his low obeisance to Queen Elizabeth, happened to let a Fart, at which he was so abashed and ashamed that he went to Travell, 7 yeares. On his returne the Queen welcomed him home, and sayd, My Lord, I had forgot the Fart.” Interestingly, it’s seven years since David Cameron fled, having unleashed a stink of near-nuclear proportions on the polity of this country. Now he’s back – and we have not forgotten (Can Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton make it as a comeback king?, 17 November).
Marion Doyen
Leamington Spa, Warwickshire

• Having retrieved David Cameron from his shepherd’s hut and reinstalled him in the Palace of Westminster, No 10 could show a bit more initiative by consulting the creators of the Abba Voyage show, and bring Margaret Thatcher back in virtual form for the Downing Street TV cameras.
Henry Fryer
Bishop’s Waltham, Hampshire

• John Boaler’s letter on various ministers and their short tenures (14 November) seems to me to be the Twelve Days of Christmas for our times – Thirteen Years of Tory Rule, with the “five gold rings” refrain now “five prime ministers”. I’m sure another reader can come up with the rest of the song.
Sally Smith
Redruth, Cornwall

• David Cameron wants the UK to help the UN end global hunger (Report, 18 November). Maybe they could start by ending it in the UK?
Michael Miller
Sheffield

• It seems little wonder that Reed Bowden suffers from hearing loss, given that he lives in Great Snoring (Letters, 16 November).
Chris Robins
Kidlington, Oxfordshire

• Do you have a photograph you’d like to share with Guardian readers? If so, please click here to upload it. A selection will be published in our Readers’ best photographs galleries and on our Saturday letters spread in the print edition.

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