Overlooked benefit of having the Queen

http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/apr/22/overlooked-benefit-of-having-the-queen

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Yes, Suzanne Moore (G2, 21 April), and then there was my son Oscar Moore, whose PWA (Person With Aids) column appeared monthly in Guardian Weekend from April 1994 till his death in September 1996 at the age of 36. Macmillan published the series in its Picador paperbacks in 1996 under the title PWA – Looking Aids in the Face. Like Robert Mapplethorpe, Oscar too was once a beautiful man and, like Derek Jarman, he also lost his eyesight. The Guardian may not remember him, but his family and friends (and no doubt his one-time editor Deborah Orr) won’t forget this clever, funny and, above all, courageous man.Elisabeth MooreDarlington, County Durham

• “DfE assuming ownership of all the land” says it all (Editorial, 22 April). Why else would George Osborne have announced forced academisation in the budget? All those lovely playing fields in prime locations just waiting to be sold off. Anyone see a pattern here? Ann PughWalsall, Staffordshire

• Those looking for an alternative name to Boaty McBoatface (Letters, passim) could do worse than trawl the late Iain M Banks’s SF Culture novels. He gave his Mind spaceships marvellous names such as Contents May Differ, Passing By and Thought I’d Drop In, plus the magnificent Just The Washing Instruction Chip In Life’s Rich Tapestry. It would be a fitting tribute to such a fine author. Nick Brannon Glarryford, County Antrim

• Joan Smith (The Queen’s reign of abject failure, 20 April), missed one vital benefit of having the Queen: she is the only one who can constitutionally sack the prime minister…Greville BaggWaltham Abbey, Essex

• Aren’t you supposed to be a newspaper with broad republican sympathies? What on earth is “Her Majesty the Queen” doing in your birthdays column (21 April) and what has happened to Elizabeth Windsor who I believe turned 90 on that day?Robert PlumbSmethwick, West Midlands

• A full page of puzzles (Letters, 21 April) and still no chess.Patrick BakerGloucester Chess Club

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