Letters: Briefly

l YOUR feature "How we met" (Review, 8 October) states that Elvis Costello "lives between Dublin and London". Shropshire, presumably? I can do far better than that. I live between Paris and the Isle of Lewis; also between Reykjavik and the north coast of Sardinia.

Alan Martin

Huddersfield, West Yorkshire

l IN DISCUSSING the possible beneficiaries of a Blair-appointed Shadow Cabinet ("Labour women in showdown", 8 October), you mention Clare Short, the "left-winger". Considering how much of a loyalist she is to the party leader, culminating in her attack on parliamentary hopeful Liz Davies, don't you think this tag no longer applies?

Tim Mickleburgh,

Grimsby, Humberside

l I WAS interested to hear that Alan Howarth's sanity is being questioned by top apparatchiks in the Conservative Party. Does this mean that the rest of us who are opposed to corrupt autocracy should keep our heads down lest we, too, are branded mentally unstable and sectioned off to mental institutions? Come back Stalin, all is forgiven.

Tom Hardy, London SW12

l IF Jeffrey Archer's latest plot is based on Robert Maxwell and Rupert Murdoch, can we expect it to be called Worst Among Equals?

Roger Levy, London N10

l WHAT irony! Margaret Thatcher's longevity is being celebrated at the expense and shorter life-expectancy of those whose habits support the Philip Morris tobacco company ("Tobacco giant pays for $1m Thatcher bash", 8 October).

Margaret Fitzgerald

Howth, County Dublin

l IF Monique Roffey chose to make a "mini-drama shot on Super-8 with a hand-held camcorder" she may have some difficulty; Super-8 has to be used in cine-camera, a camcorder uses videotape ("Film-makers: come out of the closet", Real Life, 8 October).

David Maccini, London SW18