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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Entertainment

John Lennon wasn’t joking about Jesus

The Beatles give a news conference in New York, in August 1966
The Beatles give a news conference in New York, in August 1966. Photograph: AP

“The Beatles joked about being bigger than Jesus” (I’m a Swiftie, but the staggering size of the Eras tour has left me feeling alienated, 13 July)? Not quite. One Beatle, John Lennon, during a wide-ranging interview with Maureen Cleave, discussed the decline of Christianity. He compared this to the rise in fame of the Beatles, who Lennon stated were “more popular than Jesus now”. This was a statement of opinion, was probably factually correct, and was in no sense a joke.
Cherry Weston
Wolverhampton

• Rows between spouses over who is responsible for losing things (Letters, 12 July) are nothing new. On 6 January 1663, Samuel Pepys wrote that he was “vexed at my wife’s neglect in leaving of her scarf, waistcoat, and night-dressings in the coach … though, I confess, she did give them to me to look after, yet it was her fault not to see that I did take them out of the coach.”
Karl Sabbagh
Defford, Worcestershire

• Larry Elliott is right (Labour should scrap two-child benefit cap sooner rather than later, 14 July). In 1943, Churchill told the nation: “There is no finer investment for any community than putting milk into babies.” If Keir Starmer disagrees, he should explain why he believes we have higher priorities than Churchill had in wartime and why some of the poorest families in England should have to pay for them.
Martyn Thomas
Emeritus professor, Gresham College

• Jane Sutherland asks where she can buy the Guardian at 5am (Letters, 15 July). I get my copy delivered electronically, usually around 2am UK time (6pm the previous day where I am) by subscribing to Guardian Editions. I’ve finished reading it by 5am.
Jim Reynolds
Vancouver, Canada

• Now that Gareth Southgate has resigned, please don’t tell Michael Gove there’s a vacancy (Labour will be ‘more Southgate, less Gove’ in trying to end division, says Nandy, 15 July).
Jude Carr
London

• In reply to Ron Brewer (Letters, 15 July), Elizabeth Baker would say “Result!” if an MP discovered how poor their local bus service is.
Elizabeth Baker
Birmingham

• Have an opinion on anything you’ve read in the Guardian today? Please email us your letter and it will be considered for publication in our letters section.

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