World Cup mystery and black history
The photo of Jack Charlton holding the Jules Rimet trophy on your obituary page (12 July) has a black man in the background at Jack’s left shoulder. Can anyone identify this person? There were no black players in the England World Cup squad at the time or on the coaching staff. Is this another example of black people being airbrushed from history?
Philip John
Hammersmith, London
• One historical event could be added to the Black History timeline in your series of wallcharts. Simon of Cyrene was made to carry Jesus’ cross to Calvary. He was from Africa. He may have been black or of mixed ethnicity. We’ll find out in heaven!
Very Rev Keith Johnson
Tamworth , Staffordshire
• How come this government can change its mind on Covid-19 policy (stay at home/stay alert/oh, just go out and forget about it), Huawei (we’re having it/we’re not having it/we’re removing it entirely), face masks (nope/yes), but on the most catastrophic matter, a no-deal Brexit, there is no change?
Carol Hedges
Harpenden, Hertfordshire
• Could the Guardian begin to publish a running tally of all the money being spent to put Brexit in place, eg the £93m being spent on the the slogan “check, change, go” (Brexit was meant to make Britain global. It has made us friendless, 14 July)? There are so many more organisations and people that could benefit from even just a fraction of this money.
Jenni Coats
Ilfracombe, Devon
• “Clunk, whirr, dribble” (The long read, 14 July). It looks like your subeditors are ahead of the government with their catchy three-word messaging, eg “Check, change, go”, and the rather wordy “Stay alert, control the virus, save lives”.
Jim Golcher
Greens Norton, Northamptonshire
• Join the debate – email guardian.letters@theguardian.com
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