As a former working-class lad from Southport who has spent years singing with the Cape Town Male Voice Choir, I would like to mention that we once shared a stage with Pretty Yende, and with Bryn Terfel at the Royal Festival Hall. One of our young members, straight from a Cape Town township, is currently at an opera school in Italy. Sod you, Dominic Raab (Why on earth shouldn’t Angela Rayner go to the opera?, 30 June).
John J Bolton
Cape Town, South Africa
• I live in the Peak District and often see groups of Duke of Edinburgh students walking. A couple of days ago, walking near Hayfield, I passed a group of young walkers and, like Adrian Chiles (29 June), asked “D of E?”, and they replied “Yes”. However, they were looking very happy. They then went on to tell me that they were just finishing – was that the reason they were happy?
Joan Bond
Birch Vale, Derbyshire
