Are we proud of our victory in helping to overthrow the dictator Muammar Gaddafi? After 12 years, Libya still has no government that can maintain critical dams. No one asked the Libyans if chaos was better than Gaddafi. Our success in promoting misgovernment has now cost many thousands of lives (‘Sea is constantly dumping bodies’: fears Libya flood death toll may hit 20,000, 13 September).
Joseph Hanlon
London
• Re deterring moles with a pickled onion (Letters, 12 September), my family copy of Markham’s Farewell to Husbandry, dated 1660, says this: “An excellent way to take Moals, and to preserve good Ground from such annoyance: Put Garlick, Onions, or Leeks, into the mouths of the holes, and they will come out quickly as amazed.”
Richard Norman
Canterbury
• Plagued by a mole this summer, I resorted to pickled onions and sat back in my conservatory with a cup of tea, only to witness a moley paw flick the vegetable from his tunnel.
Simon Boswell
Blackburn
• Having assumed since babyhood that Goldilocks was a girl, I was surprised to see that a clue in the quick crossword in Tuesday’s paper used “blond” rather than “blonde” to describe the “fairytale protagonist”. Is nothing sacred?
Margot Sutton
Coreley, Shropshire
• Far be it for me to defend the education secretary’s outburst, but when she said “sat on their arse” (Letters, 8 September), perhaps she was just being gender neutral rather than grammatically incorrect?
Tony Cornah
Sheffield
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