Jonathan Jones writes that, on the Abbey Road LP cover shot, the Beatles were “in perfect step” (Four blokes and a zebra crossing: the banality and beauty of the Beatles’ Abbey Road cover, 22 August). As was much commented on at the time, three of them were as described, all leading with their left leg, but Paul McCartney was not only barefoot (as indeed Jones noted), but was actually leading with his right. Imagery- and symbolism-wise, we may make of that what we will.
David Barlow
Worcester
• In an otherwise interesting and thought-provoking read, Miriam Margolyes laments that she hasn’t “the courage to be a Marxist now” because Vladimir Putin “puts me right off” (‘The country of my birth has lost its heart’: Miriam Margolyes on how to fix broken Britain, 23 August). Putin is a rightwing nationalist and conservative who leads a state-capitalist economic system. Although he was a KGB officer during the Soviet era, his actual governance and ideology stand in direct opposition to Marxism.
Rose Woolstencroft
Blackpool, Lancashire
