Thank you for your fascinating first edition (5 May 1821). I found myself smiling wryly at the first paragraph of the editorial – plus ça change.
Ellie Sedgwick
Halesworth, Suffolk
• Having never voted for a winner in any election ever (more than 55 years and counting) makes me a supporter of proportional representation.
Ian Campbell
Bourne End, Buckinghamshire
• The imitations attributed to blackbirds by various readers (Letters, 3 May), including squeaky gates, Nokia ringtones etc, sound suspiciously like the kind of audio tricks played by the notoriously imitative starling, a similar bird that also sings from aerials and treetops.
Anthony Cheke
Oxford
• Could you please stop showing pictures of power station cooling towers in reference to pollution (Report, 4 May)? The only stuff coming out of cooling towers is steam.
Harold Pearson
Coventry
• Does the data on pollution damaging older men’s thinking (Report, 3 May) perhaps explain the decline in the quality of parliamentary debate?
David Barnard
Cholesbury, Buckinghamshire
• We expect your devoted readers will wish to know that we have just finished making our final 12lb of marmalade for the year, which we had to postpone because we accidentally ran out of jars. Back on course now.
Beatrice and Desmond Painter
Bournemouth, Dorset
• Have an opinion on anything you’ve read in the Guardian today? Please email us your letter and it will be considered for publication.