Letters: In brief

Sir: David Aaronovitch quoted from The Concise Oxford Dictionary to berate those using incorrect terms to describe the disturbances in Dover ("Let Dover stew in its disgusting narrow-mindedness and prejudice", 18 August). It's a pity he didn't refer to his dictionary again before penning, "Ann Widdecombe, there to pour magnesium on troubled waters". Sir Humphrey Davy, who is credited with the discovery of both magnesium - a metallic element that is relatively unreactive - and sodium, which reacts violently with water, must be spinning in his grave.

JOHN WALTON

Crawley, West Sussex