Last week I found myself saying: “No, I am telling the truth, I’m not doing a Boris Johnson.” Am I the first person to say this useful self-evident phrase?
Richard Dimbleby
Northampton
• Boris Johnson apparently praised Munira Mirza as a “powerful nonsense detector” (3 February). Rather surprising then that it took her 14 years to detect the “nonsense’” right under her nose.
David Cottee
Cambridge
• Mark Flinn (Letters, 4 February) observes that Simon Parkin did not mention in his long read the sinking of SS Arandora Star. In fact, Parkin writes about it vividly and at length in his book, The Island of Extraordinary Captives, on which the long read was based.
Dr Peter Phillips
Swansea
• In the mining village that I lived in as a child, someone slightly unpopular with my parents was “badly liked” and someone more unpopular was “very badly liked” (Letters, 3 February).
John Rippon
Durham
• Whenever someone asked my father if he would care for another drink, his reply was invariably “a bird never flew on one wing” – a saying that he said originated in his hometown of Dublin.
Veronica McGregor
Sudbury, Suffolk
• You can’t have too many books (Letters, 4 February). The real problem is too few shelves.
Jeremy Jago
Nottingham
• Have an opinion on anything you’ve read in the Guardian today? Please email us your letter and it will be considered for publication.
