Clik here to view.
As a former correspondent for the Observer in Washington, and a Liberal, I may be qualified to say that Heather Mallick talks codswallop when she says that our Conservative government verges on being Stalinist as it seeks to "hunt down" its enemies – presumably including me (Comment, 4 May). That sort of overripe Bushite rhetoric may apply to the quest for al-Qaida, but not to Canada, where – Heather Mallick excepted – we still tend to cross the road to get to the centre line.
Raymond Heard
Toronto
• So the Canadian prime minister (40% of the vote, 53% of the seats) is "George W Bush, minus the warmth and intellect". He may not have Mr Bush's innocent charm, but even his detractors acknowledge his considerable intellect. There is much to dislike about Stephen Harper (eg incompetent weapons procurement and "spend-but-don't-tax" fiscal management, disregard for science and the environment, control freakish anti-democratic tendencies, prison-building enthusiasm, slavish support for Israel, etc) without resorting to exaggeration.
David Richinger
Zürich
• A Diary item (22 April) said I threatened to walk off the platform during a debate on drugs, "when an audience member pointed out that his brother had been for many years an ardent campaigner for the legalisation of cannabis". The story doesn't make sense, and is not true, as one phone call could easily have established. I did in fact begin to walk off the platform, but because of a crassly patronising remark from a fellow member of the panel and because of what seemed to me to be the ludicrously unbalanced nature of the whole event.
Peter Hitchens
London
• In his review of The Information by James Gleick (Review, 30 April), Ian Pindar says: "Nobody called their newspaper the Telephone." Oh yes they did – the Smethwick Telephone.
Sam Davies
Liverpool
• It didn't take much to get Wills and Kate off the front page, did it (US gets its man, 3 May)?
Bob Epton
Brigg, North Lincolnshire
