Wolverhampton | The Guardian | Ageing poets | Union flag | Labour | Starlings
John Harris mentions “the arrival of Conservative MPs in such traditional Labour redoubts as ... Wolverhampton” (Labour’s crisis comes from the huge gap between politics and people, 9 May). Before the 2019 general election, Wolverhampton had had at least four Conservative MPs since 1970, including the long-serving Enoch Powell and his successor with similar ideological affinities, Nick Budgen. So I’m not convinced that “Labour redoubt” is an accurate description of the city’s political complexion.
Michael Cunningham
Wolverhampton
• My late father, Arthur White, was a proud compositor on the Manchester Guardian from 1946 until his retirement in 1984. When I was a child growing up in Moss Side, he told us that you didn’t read the Guardian but wore it. Ironically, he read the Express. He always encouraged me to take the Guardian as it improved his generous pension. I have had it delivered for 50 years, and would rather miss my breakfast than my paper.
Laura Hopkins
Manchester