Simon Jenkins (Second homes can be a blight and a blessing on British towns. We need the right balance, 25 June) describes the places where people like him live part-time as “favoured communities”. A thriving community must include young families – a vital group excluded from my village because second-home buyers keep prices and rents stratospheric. Only policies that challenge this will bring back vibrant rural communities, and that includes taxing people with second homes to subsidise affordable housing.
John Hambley
Snape, Suffolk
• In the 20 best films set on trains (23 June), why is there no place for the 1937 comedy Oh, Mr Porter! starring Will Hay? I saw it as a child (a postwar rerelease) and enjoyed it then as now. The film is only partly on a train, but that’s the bit everyone remembers.
Henry Spyvee
Guildford, Surrey
