Each day, at breakfast, I turn first to your wonderful country diary column to provide cheerful sustenance against the unremitting gloom to follow elsewhere. Sadly, Nic Wilson’s dramatic account (1 February) of the kingfisher being taken by a sparrowhawk, following its own hunt, had just the opposite effect. Friends of the three-spined stickleback may feel that justice was done, but I’m still choking on my cornflakes and coffee.
Paul Clarke
Horsham, West Sussex
Alice O’Keeffe makes no mention of people like me who live alone, when she mused on the loss of her social life (I feared the social isolation of lockdown most – but I’m tougher than I thought, 1 February). A partner and two sons would help considerably to mitigate the feeling of social isolation. Yes, it would be challenging being cooped up with just family for a long period, but I’d happily swap with her.
Sharman Finlay
Portrush, County Antrim, Northern Ireland
Sir Simon Robey didn’t earn £137m (Former chancellor George Osborne to become full-time banker, 1 February). He got paid £137m.
Dennis Hawkins
Leominster, Herefordshire
Having decided to chuck in jobs that might on occasion promote the general good, George Osborne has finally revealed his true colours as he gleefully embraces Gordon Gekko’s enduring maxim: greed is good.
Quentin Falk
Little Marlow, Buckinghamshire