"Shamed by the Epstein scandal, riven by infighting: have the UK royals ever been in a bigger mess than this? asks the headline on Stephen Bates's article (6 February). Just a brief look back into history: the civil war between Stephen and Matilda, the Wars of the Roses, Charles I losing the throne and his head, Edward VIII's abdication Dr Violet Moller Marston St Lawrence, Northamptonshire"
"I enjoyed Peter Bradshaw's review of the excellent Ashes and Diamonds (3 February). He quotes the film where Krystyna asks Maciek why he's wearing dark glasses. His answer about it being a souvenir of unrequited love for the homeland is a bitter joke. The eyes of resistance fighters who'd spent months underground, hiding from the Nazis, during the Warsaw Uprising (as memorialised in the equally excellent Kanal) were too sensitive to endure sunlight when they returned at last to the open air."
"In 1964, my elder sister married a Norwegian and went to live in Norway. When my middle-aged parents went to visit, they were shocked at having to sleep under a dyne, pronounced dee-na (Letters, 5 February). They insisted on calling it a downy. In Australia, a duvet is known as a doona. Not sure why. Time now to have a blanket ban on duvet letters and put any future correspondence to bed, I think."
The UK monarchy is compared with earlier national crises such as the civil war between Stephen and Matilda, the Wars of the Roses, the execution of Charles I, and Edward VIII’s abdication. A wartime film scene evokes resistance fighters from the Warsaw Uprising whose eyes were damaged by months underground and could not bear sunlight on return. France’s SNCF introduced family carriages in 1982 featuring play areas, climbing frames, toys and a nursery on long-distance services. Regional bedding vocabulary is noted: a dyne in Norway, a doona in Australia, and a downy preference among visitors. A correspondent proposes ending correspondence about duvets.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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