20-05-2025
We're no strangers to love on this island
Thank you for the letters (16 May) about Keir Starmer's 'island of strangers' speech. The item in John Crace's Digested Week (16 May) on the same subject was magnificent. I also loved Michael Rosen's poem (My Island of Strangers, 17 May). Thinking of poems, as I read Duncan Campbell's obituary (16 May), I thought of his wife Julie Christie's poem in praise of sprouts, written for a charity book and republished in the Observer in VandecasteeleCupar, Fife
Like Michael Rosen, during a recent hospital stay, I was fortunate to be cared for by an island of strangers. My surgeon was Dutch, his No 2 was Irish; the rest of the excellent staff were predominantly Asian or African, and one of the nurses was aptly named LeManLondon
Thank you, Michael Rosen. To adapt the words of Blanche DuBois, we have often relied on the kindness of BartonParbold, Lancashire
As Emma Beddington rightly says (18 May), pets cannot share gossip, catch your eye in public when something amusing happens or chew over a family drama. Nor can they teach you to read, prescribe medicine when you are ill, put out fires or detain the person who stole your car. Give me people any WhiteReading, Berkshire
For authenticity, shouldn't Monty Don's dog-friendly garden at the Chelsea flower show feature trees decorated with small hanging plastic bags (Report, 20 May)? Martin DattaLincoln
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