It rained and there was some interminable ugly dancing, but the Olympics opening ceremony also showed the beauty of Paris. It is summed up by the quotation from Montaigne beneath his statue near the Sorbonne: “Paris has been dear to me ever since my childhood. I am French by virtue of this great city, its incomparable variety, the glory of France and one of the noblest ornaments of the world.”
Michael Bulley
Chalon-sur-Saône, France
• Just watched someone on a raft singing “Imagine there’s no countries” after about 200 of them had floated down the Seine waving their flags. Could you make it up?
Jan Wiczkowski
Prestwich, Greater Manchester
• Feeling smug. The photographer Paul Browning spent three days in a field waiting for his photo of two harvest mice that appeared in your print edition (Eyewitness, 27 July). We sit in our urban garden watching nine of them playing in the wild flower patch every day.
Sue Hinton
Newcastle upon Tyne
• Years ago the aim for geriatric medicine was “adding life to years, not years to life”. Bearing this in mind, I think I will continue an evening glass of wine with my dinner (Why scientific support for alcohol’s health benefits is fading, 27 July).
Suellen Pedley
Stanford-in-the-Vale, Oxfordshire
• I asked for the Guardian in a village shop in Suffolk last week (Letters, 24 July). The shocked shopkeeper replied: “Oh, we don’t do politics here.” All the other usual papers were available.
Margaret Rosemary
Sheffield
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