A tit-for-tat museum tiff with Emmanuel Macron | Brief letters

Sun, 02 Feb 2025, 16:44
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President Macron is to impose a surcharge on non-EU visitors to the Louvre, among whom are, of course, us (

Report, 28 January

), when Britain’s national museums offer free access. With government money stretched, has the time come to levy charges on residents of countries that do not reciprocate? With, perhaps, a surcharge for the French?

Chris Piggott


High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire

• Reading your letters about coffee (

Letters, 31 January

) transported me back to my lower-sixth year studying Spanish. As we queued for coffee from a vending machine, our Spanish class assistant approached with a smile and asked us to repeat after him: “

Nescafé no es cafe

!” His words enter my head every occasion I am offered instant.

Lynn Telford


Newcastle upon Tyne

• Re your letters on German words for weak or ersatz coffee, our family prefers the word

Bodenseekaffee

, which means it is so weak you can see the bottom (

Boden

) of the cup.

Bodensee is

the German name for Lake Constance, where, ironically, I’ve never had bad coffee.

Dr Michael Heinze


Düsseldorf, Germany

• Tim Dowling’s search for the ideal man bag (

G2, 30 January

) should go straight to the cross-body gas-mask bag. Very rufty-tufty, very retro, less than a tenner from the internet – and perfect for your potatoes.

Jonathan Hauxwell


Crosshills, North Yorkshire

• My admiration for the late John Prescott was further increased by his, or his family’s, decision to arrange for two Jaguars at his funeral (

Report, 30 January

). What a fitting final gesture to the press.

John Rushton


Bridge of Weir, Renfrewshire

• Have an opinion on anything you’ve read in the Guardian today? Please

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