Faced with adverse legal advice, the government has reinstated local elections and will pay £100,000 for Reform UK’s legal costs (Report, 17 February). But last Friday, faced with a unanimous unlawful verdict from three judges on the proscription of Palestine Action, the government intends to appeal. Why is it that the law, both in the UK and internationally, can always be ignored when it comes to Palestine?
Phil Tate
Chester
• One of the finest songs inspired by a book (From Brontë to Ballard, Orwell to Okri: the best songs inspired by literature – ranked!, 12 February) is Woody Guthrie’s Tom Joad, based on John Steinbeck’s novel The Grapes of Wrath. In 17 verses, Guthrie distilled the essence of Steinbeck’s harrowing chronicle of the Joad family’s enforced migration from Oklahoma to California in the Great Depression.
Mike Pender
Cardiff
• You say (Pass notes, 16 February) cabbage is “having a moment”. You’re a bit behind the times. My daughter has sung at the biggest cabbage festival in the world, the Dithmarscher Kohltage, in Germany. Oh, and my granddaughter – born there – is eligible to be “cabbage queen”.
Hilary Brown
Kincraig, Kingussie
• Two thousand words on pigeons, with no mention of Tom Lehrer’s song Poisoning Pigeons in the Park (The Norwich pigeon wars: how birds are dividing a UK city, 17 February)? Time for a revival!
Tim Gossling
Cambridge
• I have to question the numbers given in your report (18 February). If 45% births are by C-section and 44% vaginal deliveries, how do the other 11% of babies get out?
Linda Weir
Kirby Muxloe, Leicestershire
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