Alberto Alemanno’s article notes the cynical response from business (and citizens) to the EU regulating the plastic bottle cap to stay attached to the bottle (How the plastic bottle cap became a parable for the value of EU regulation, 27 May). Go to any Kenyan beach on the Indian Ocean and it will shame you for laughing at this supposed “overregulation”; millions of detached plastic bottle caps lie among the washed-up seaweed along the beaches. EU regulations are not made by idiots just to irritate people.
Guy Hibbert
London
• While your article (UK heatwave triggers price rises for hot tubs and air conditioning units, 27 May) contains some useful advice on price comparison, a more accurate version of the headline would surely be “Suppliers profiteer from UK heatwave”. In the words of the great Nina Simone, tell it like it is.
Shareen Campbell
Bristol
• Your correspondents suggest unnecessarily difficult ways to do the nine times table (Letters, 25 May). The answer always adds up to nine. The first digit is one less than the multiplier and the second is what is what you add to the first to get nine. So 7 x 9 = 63. Simples!
Jeff Warren
London
• As a picture book editor, I was delighted to see you shine the spotlight on this underappreciated art form (‘I am very serious about being silly’: children’s illustrators on the art of storytelling, 30 May). Now please walk the walk by making space for more than a couple of picture book reviews per month.
Jen Long
Abingdon, Oxfordshire
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