Readers have shared their thoughts on a range of topics, from garden snails to international politics, in the latest batch of correspondence.
Snail trails as art
Mari Girling of Oxford praised Josie George's Country diary piece on snails, calling it "a wonderful piece of writing." Girling highlighted George's perceptive reading of snail trails as art and quoted John Bunyan, who wrote that the snail "goes but softly, but she goeth sure" and that "others range and glare, but find no good." Girling agreed with George's observation that humans are "cruelly dismissive of everything that is not us," and offered "three cheers for resilience and for the small, disregarded and humble."
Netanyahu's UN speech questioned
Mark de Brunner of Harrogate, North Yorkshire, questioned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's claim that Israel's war in Gaza is the "opposite of genocide." De Brunner asked what the "opposite of genocide" could possibly be, and how it could apply to the widespread destruction caused by Israeli forces.
Crisp flavour rankings debated
Peter West of London defended Torres Fried Egg crisps, which were given two out of 10 in a ranking of 100 unusual crisp flavours. West argued that the crisps taste like fried egg, which is exactly what they are meant to do, and questioned the "egg ick" reaction. He suggested that tasting as described should be a positive for any food, comparing it to down-rating beef crisps because they taste of meat.
Manchester City's KC appointment
Andrew Ray of Stony Stratford, Buckinghamshire, noted the appointment of KC David Pannick by Manchester City FC as a coda to recent correspondence about nominative determinism. Ray observed that the mood is clear, whatever the spelling, following the club's guilty verdict on breaking the Premier League's financial fair play rules.
Martin Constantinides of Whiting Bay, Isle of Arran, added a brief comment: "Appeal? Don't, Pannick."
