Excellently written and compelling argument by Vince Cable (Progressive MPs must fight Corbyn’s hard line on the EU, 28 July) but, if he wants more of us Jeremy supporters to join him, he should stop describing the far left as being in a “time warp”. I, for example, have six progressive grandchildren, my own company, and I teach leadership and management in world-class business schools. If Vince spent more time reminding people that only 24% of the British people voted to leave, he might get more support from the likes of me. But let me help him with a simple solution on Brexit – ask our European partners to also leave the EU and then, after some important changes, relaunch as the European Association one month later. That way we can get on with our lives and not plough steadily over the cliff.
John Vaughan
Ilkley, West Yorkshire
• Julia Raeside was right to positively review Against the Law (G2, 27 July), but it is a mistake to class words such as “bender”, “fag”, “poofter” and “shirtlifter” as euphemisms. In the context of the 1950s and 60s, they were usually vicious terms of abuse and could be accompanied by varying degrees of threat.
Peter Bardsley
Sheffield
• Dr Brigid Purcell (Letters, 27 July) asks for joined-up thinking on the cause of a drop in male fertility. Flick back through the Guardian archive to 3 June where Margaret Atwood points to the oestrogen-imitating plastics leaching into our water supply.
Margaret Squires
St Andrews, Fife
• What with meagre sperm and opaque air we soon won’t know whether we’re coming or going.
Brian Smith
Berlin
• Noel Hodson believes that the government frightened away investors in his Oxford-built electric mini in 1979 (Letters, 26 July). Could that have been because the car’s name, the Microdot – the term for the most popular means of taking LSD at that time – promised potential buyers the kind of trip which the car was unlikely ever to provide?
Mike Hine
Kingston upon Thames, Surrey
• Jane Austen’s Catherine Morland wasn’t just a fan of cricket (Letters, 25 July). She also liked baseball, long before they took to the game over the pond.
Mary Scanlan
London
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