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Re Annabel Downs's letter (6 May): the government has no plans to change the rules requiring councils to provide allotments to local communities. What we are doing is reviewing old and unnecessary duties imposed on councils in order to free them up from Whitehall red tape and, as part of this, we have published a list of duties which included allotments. As the prime minister said last Wednesday, "it is extremely important that allotments are made available … it is a great movement, and it has my full support".
Bob Neill MP
Parliamentary under-secretary of state, Communities and Local Government
• Page 3 of yesterday's paper informs us of the combined wealth of £390bn of Britain's richest (Report, 9 May). While the following page (Report, 9 May) warns of suicide threats by people worried about loss of benefits. What a wonderful country we live in.
Brian Mendes
London
• With reference to Ian Jack's article on Rabindranath Tagore (7 May), a quick perusal of the index to the Penguin International Thesaurus of Quotations reveals that, rather than being neglected, Tagore's name is preceded by an asterisk, denoting the selection of more than 75 quotations from a single author. A total not exceeded by George Orwell or John Ruskin.
RH Burdin
Preston, Lancs
• If Do the Standing Still is the easiest of dance record instructions (Letters, 9 May), is Rodgers and Hart's Dancing on the Ceiling, which includes the words: "He dances overhead / On the ceiling near my bed", the hardest?
Neville Denson
St Bees, Cumbria
• Marilyn Shaw (Letters, 9 May) might be interested in a Frank Skinner anecdote about performing stand-up in Birmingham some years ago. He asked the audience why on earth would anyone call a newspaper "the Smethwick Telephone". A reply came from the audience: "Because it's from Smethwick!"
Robert Plumb
Smethwick, West Midlands
• No sign of any cuckoos in Bury – almost as rare as Lib Dem councillors.
Martin Hayes
Bury, Lancashire
