Claire Ratinon doesn’t need to dance round veg beds with a rake to deter moles (I’m proud of my wildlife-friendly patch, but I really don’t dig this mole, 8 September). Brush the soil off the molehill, find the mole hole and drop in a pickled onion. Cover up the hole and relax while the moles go to your neighbour’s garden. Children find this an entertaining thing to do, and it works.
Helen Keats
Brighstone, Isle of Wight
• In the correspondence sparked by Adrian Chiles (I love history programmes. But there’s one trend that makes my blood boil…, 6 September), the offending tense does not appear to have yet been described as the “historic present”, as it was when I was being taught grammar in the middle of the last century.
Hannah Kent
Kingston upon Thames, London
