Your interactive budget game (20 November) might seem frivolous, but trying the various options confirms that easy choices are possible that would be widely acceptable to both ordinary people and the financial markets. I was able to generate a £26bn surplus and reduce the basic rate of income tax to 19%, and end the two-child benefit cap at the same time. This was done by limiting pension relief to 20%, closing capital gains loopholes, increasing tax on gambling, reforming council tax and levying banks, which all pass the fairness test. So, chancellor, it really is that easy if you have the political will to improve the lot of ordinary people.
Mark Bellchambers
Crawley, West Sussex
• The late John Smeed, a lecturer in German literature at Durham University, once began a review: “Books about books about books are seldom a good thing.” He conceded, however, that the work under consideration was an exception. Similarly, I consider Alex Dickie’s letter about letters about letters to be exceptional (Letters, 17 November).
James Fanning
Greifswald, Germany
• My driving instructor was a Mr Gere (Letters, 21 November). And, as a purchaser of the Guardian, does my surname make me an expert at nominative determinism?
Peter Reader
Romsey, Hampshire
• In the 1960s, we had a district nurse with the surname Gotobed.
David Bushell
Caterham, Surrey
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