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Letters: What happened to bells on bikes?

Jesus wept Sir: Sam Dunning’s brilliant exposure of the corrupting links between Jesus College, Cambridge and the Chinese Communist party (‘Centre of attention’, 5 February) raises the question of how the college can be rescued from its current leaders. Their virtue-signalling gestures (the Benin bronze, the Rustat memorial etc) have already prompted many of us

Are the Winter Olympics suffering the effects of climate change?

No snow The pistes are covered with artificial snow and the hillsides are bare. Are the Winter Olympics a victim of climate change? — Skiing events at the games are at Yanqing and Zhangjiakou, north-west of central Beijing. Both have arid climates where a remarkable proportion of rain falls in the summer. Yanqing averages just

2539: Wider – solution

The six unclued lights and PLAYWRIGHTS (35/26) are FETCHER/Fletcher (13), CHILLER/Schiller (22), WESTER/Webster (34), MEANDER/Menander (38), PRIESTLY/Priestley (6) and COTEAU/Cocteau (12). Title: cf. Thornton WILDER. First prize Ronald Morton, Basingstoke, Hants Runners-up Emma Staveley, London E3; Peter Marginson, Wilmslow, Cheshire

What’s the point of Boris?

The anger against the Prime Minister for failing to observe the rules which he imposed upon the rest of us is justified. Even so, there will come a point at which the public starts to ask: aren’t we spending too much time obsessing about the parties? Johnson’s electoral mandate gives him the chance to redeem

Letters: The Christian case for cash

Naysayers needed Sir: I was struck by James Forsyth’s observation that in 10 Downing Street, ‘hard truths and hard choices are too often ignored… because the Prime Minister’s top team fear he will find them uncomfortable’ (‘The battle to save Boris’, 22 January). During a working life spent in business, I came to realise that

2538: Green Light! Cross! – solution

The unclued lights are towns on Gozo (go + zo are defined in the puzzle’s title). Apologies that this crossword was misnumbered when it was set. Entries for both ‘2535’ and ‘2538’ — and combinations thereof — were included when the winners were picked. First prize Alan Connor, Kew Runners-up Jeannie Chamberlain, Rushden, Northants; Neil

Read in full: Sue Gray’s partygate report

Sue Gray’s long-awaited investigation into Downing Street parties during lockdown has just been released. Here is the full text: On 8 December 2021 the Prime Minister asked the Cabinet Secretary to carry out an investigation into allegations reported in the media relating to gatherings in No10 Downing Street and the Department for Education during November

What Boris must do now to survive

When Omicron struck, Britain was already the most boosted country in Europe. Our programme was so advanced that 80 per cent of pensioners were already triple-jabbed. This helped force the new variant into reverse in the first days of January, with hospitalisations half of the previous peak. A country whose economic recovery had already surpassed

Letters: The BBC licence fee is a protection racket

Russia’s star Sir: Wolfgang Münchau is surely right to highlight the risk posed to European peace and stability by Germany’s strategic myopia (‘In the pipeline’, 22 January). But he may be in error to assert that ‘Russia is in the ascendant’ — at least in terms of the fundamentals. Russia no longer makes it into

2537: My Lord! – solution

The exchange that gave rise to the expression CURATE’s (19 Down) Egg was ‘I’m afraid you’ve got a bad egg, Mr Jones’, ‘Oh no, my Lord (puzzle’s title), I assure you, parts of it are excellent’, from a George du Maurier cartoon in Punch (1895), widely accepted to be based on a similar cartoon in

Are tsunamis becoming more deadly?

Stumped again Were England always so hopeless playing Australia at cricket? Since the first match in 1877 there have been 72 series between England and Australia. Australia have a narrow advantage of 34 series wins against 32 to England, with six draws. But measured on individual matches, Australia have a far bigger lead, with 150

Letters: Our broken civil service

Beyond the party Sir: Rod Liddle is spot-on in arguing that the attitudes revealed by ‘partygate’ extend to senior civil servants (‘The truth about that No. 10 party’, 15 January). He gets the extent wrong by tarring all public-sector workers with the same brush, which would include all NHS workers, and is not true. What

2536: At rest – solution

The unclued lights (3 composers, 3 artists and 3 writers) are all buried in Père Lachaise Cemetery. The name should have a grave (accent), which is also thematic as it is a cemetery. First prize Miss Charlotte Bull, Leyton, London E11 Runners-up Mrs J. Warburton, Hertford; Prof. Colin Ratledge, Leven, E. Yorks