David Evans’ letter on poetry commissioned for the Queen’s Silver Jubilee (February 11) was fun and informative. Larkin’s earnest submission was obsequious and banal, confirming that the royal commissioned poem is still the very, very bad poem. Larkin’s Hughes pastiche, on the other hand, was earthy and hilarious. Perhaps only satire can provide a true artistic response to royal pomp. Simon Armitage, please take note.
Tom McFadyen
Kirkintilloch, East Dunbartonshire
Given the Government’s instruction to schools not to show political bias (Report, 18 February), when the £12m Platinum Jubilee Book is sent to all schools, teachers will be- they required to distribute anti-monarchist leaflets to compensate?
Chris Ballance
Drumnadrochit, Inverness-shire
Franz Liszt’s first public piano recitals in the 1830s were a real game-changer, both musically and culturally (Letters, February 17). Before Liszt, concerts were usually private affairs in the homes of aristocrats. It was Liszt and Paganini who first reduced a public audience to screams and swoons.
Simon Lawton-Smith
Lewisham, London
Sub-postmasters should certainly be rewarded by those who received huge bonuses while Horizon’s flawed computer system was running (Report, Feb. 17).
Elizabeth Ashby
Greatford, Lincolnshire
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