SIR Mr Punch, a figure of colonial violence (White people were creators of racism, says chief librarian, report, August 30)? What a nonsensical aspersion on the cheeky chap voted an icon of England in a 2006 poll.

That white, Victorian patriarch, CharlesDickens whose works can still, Im sure, be consulted in the British Library wrote in a letter in 1849: The street Punch is one of those extravagant reliefs from the realities of life which would lose its hold upon the people if it were made moral and instructive. I regard it as quite harmless in its influence.

The Victoria & Albert Museums website is to be congratulated for its dispassionate and informative history of Punch and Judy, including references to the Punch and Judy College of Professors and to Punch and Judy showmen (swatchel omis).

Thats the way to do it!

Duncan McAraBishopbriggs, East Dunbartonshire

SIR I was particularly surprised that a bust of the botanist Sir Joseph Banks has been singled out for posthumous accusation.

At the request of Banks (asEndeavours chief botanist), Captain James Cook took a racially diverse team of civilian scientists with him on the Endeavour. They included George Dorlton and Thomas Richmond.

In Tahiti, Banks forged a great friendship with Tupaia, who joined the Endeavour as an honoured guest. Tupaia was a polymath who was greatly respected by Banks and Cook and was skilled in geography, meteorology, navigation and other indigenous arts. Without his help the Endeavour mightnot have returned to Britain. Sadly, he perished in Batavia (now Jakarta) and his death deeply upset Banks. Another Tahitian, Omai, travelled to England and was taken around the country by Banks. While he was in England, Omai was feted by society. He was introduced to King George III and taken to the state opening of Parliament before returning to Tahiti.

Far from plundering, Sir Joseph Banks introduced useful plants and sources of food around the world, including pigs to the indigenous people of New Zealand and breadfruit to the Caribbean and central and southern America (where it is now a staple food).

James HughesTewkesbury, Gloucestershire

SIR The cultural revisionists now on the attack are iconoclasts destructive, not constructive. They are giddy on their own virtue and power, though often plain wrong in how they select their targets; they are in the process of upsetting large numbers of people, and act at no real cost to themselves all while achieving nothing of any substance for the victims they claim to be helping.

Mark BaleOxford

SIR Rather than fixate on our history, surely we should be using our intellectual, economic and political influence to address the many current, gross obscenities of our modern world.

Examples include the persecution of Uighurs in China; the persecution of Christians, Yazidi and Shia in Iraq and Syria; the worldwide trafficking of young girls; the lack of civil rights for citizens of Saudi Arabia, Russia, Venezuela, the Yemen and beyond; and the plight of Myanmar's Rohingya.

Denise BackhouseWoking, Surrey

SIR Andrew Smith (Letters, August 30) should study the positive impact of Ebbsfleet International station to reassure him that the proposed new station in Thanet will bring benefits.

It is likely to remove commuter traffic from the towns, speeding up journey times for commuters and for those travelling locally. These benefits will also be experienced by many living outside of Thanet.

Edward ChurchFaversham, Kent

SIR The current economic situation is vastly different from the position in February 2020, when Boris Johnson decided to press ahead with the HS2 rail project. Any money saved from its cancellation should be diverted towards providing additional capacity in hospitals and schools.

Susan HopcraftWarwick

SIR KL Parsons (Letters, August 30) voices concern for the future of small retail outlets that rely on office workers for their income if everyone is working from home.

My concern is also for those office workers when employers realise that, thanks to modern communications, home could easily be in India.

Terry LloydDerby

SIR Journalists and some others may find working from home satisfactory but there are good reasons why most workers outside manufacturing, construction, services and similar occupations are gathered together in offices. Trainees learn from working with and observing their superiors.

More telephone lines are available; colleagues can take a call and hold it while you are already on two, and if the job involves markets then much can be learnt simply from the activity (or otherwise) of other people in the room.

Civil servants need to be in their departments for the short chat next door, as well as for the short-notice official meeting and not least for the Minister [or permanent-secretary], can I come and see you for five minutes? moments.

Stephen GarnerColchester, Essex

SIR Professor Phil Turner, one of the countrys leading orthopaedic surgeons, describes the impact on patients as hip and knee replacements have been postponed over the last five months (report, August 30).

End-stage arthritis is not adequately treated with painkillers; indeed, prolonged opiate use is neither effective nor good for the patient. Thus, it is imperative that the prolonged waiting times for arthritis surgery be addressed. However, while waiting for surgery, overweight and obese patients should take the opportunity to reduce their pain by losing weight.

Clinical trial evidence from Denmark shows that overweight and obese people with knee osteoarthritis can lose about 10kg of body weight (one and a half stone) using total diet replacement formula diets and maintain that weight loss, with a large reduction in symptom scores especially for pain. Reduction in knee pain improves sleep quality and makes movement easier. We have seen patients able to play with their grandchildren again and get back on their bicycles to cycle around Copenhagen.

In Denmark we have demonstrated that weight loss before knee replacement surgery is feasible. In Britain, a feasibility trial which combined weight loss with analgesia, insoles, and exercise is under analysis. This type of dietary intervention is already in use in Scotland and in an NHS England trial for diabetes remission.

Dr Anthony LeedsSenior FellowProfessor Henning BliddalDirector, Parker Arthritis InstituteCopenhagen, DenmarkProfessor Hamish SimpsonConsultant Orthopaedic Surgeon, University of Edinburgh

SIR Customer service, which has been in its death throes for as long as I can remember, has finally been sent to the madhouse by Covid-19 (Letters, August 30).

Telling us that our call is valuable, or will be answered shortly, is no consolation when struggling through five futile attempts to make contact by telephone, totaling 100 minutes of wasted time.

No email address was available, so I wrote a letter, to which there was no reply. When my call was finally answered, I was told somewhat sheepishly that the company did not like letters. Ironically, when wanting my business, the same company had sent me a letter.

Kathleen DickHarrogate, West Yorkshire

SIR Like Zoe Strimpel (Features, August 30), I feel sorry fornice people called Karen whose name has made them objects of derision for being domineering and unwoke.

The same thing happened to those unlucky enough to be called Kevin about 20 years ago, when the name was deemed typical of an uncouth youth.

Fiona WildCheltenham, Gloucestershire

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