Patrick Wintour’s analysis of the similarities between the Vietnam and Iran wars (Could Trump’s Iran ‘excursion’ be a bigger global turning point than Vietnam?, 31 May) states: “The predicted ‘domino effect’ of communism sweeping south-east Asia … did not materialise, save in Cambodia and Laos.” The changes in these two regimes would not have happened if the US had not carpet-bombed large parts of these countries, neither of which was at war with it.
David Rennie
Cardiff
• “I think going silent would be very good, and that could be for a long time,” says Donald Trump (Iran threatens to suspend peace talks after ‘violation of ceasefire’ in Lebanon, 1 June). Is this a rare moment of self-awareness?
Andrew Gore
Linton, Cambridgeshire
• “Is Blair ‘really’ a Tory?” asks Polly Toynbee (Opinion, 2 June). In the late 1990s, when I was the producer of BBC Radio 4’s Any Questions?, an audience member suggested this as a question for the panel: “Tony Blair MP is an anagram of I’m Tory Plan B. Discuss.”
Nadine Grieve
London
• Is anyone surprised that Keir Starmer’s messages disappear without trace (No 10 confirms Starmer’s WhatsApp messages automatically delete, 2 June)?
Dr John Doherty
Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire
• All this talk of the nine times table (Letters, 3 June) has left me at sixes and sevens.
Dorothy Mitchell
Sunderland
• The increasing complexity of the letters on the nine times table just shows how Adrian Chiles’s method, which I also use, is the best. No need for sums, just look at your fingers.
Pat Stevenson
Holywell, Northumberland
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