Without Sin

Sir: Theodore Dalrymple (If symptoms per- sist. . . , 25 November) makes the common error of assuming 'immaculate conception' to relate to parthenogenesis. In fact, it refers to......

Marvin's Palimony

Sir: I write in defence of Lee Marvin, whom Jeffrey Bernard referred to as a 'shit' in his 11 November column (ironically, the anniversary of the end of the first world war).......

One Happy Party

Sir: Peter Oborne asserts that the 'feud' between Robin Cook and Gordon Brown is `on a momentous scale, analogous to the great divide that split Aneurin Bevan and Hugh Gaitskell......

Well, Well, Wells

Sir: After reading John Colvin's review of Did Marco Polo Go to China? by Frances Wood (Books, 18 November), I recall a passage from H.G. Wells's A Short History of the World......

Manifest Tosh

Sir: My father was British Consul-General in Nice in 1940. When France fell, he felt it was his duty to drive the Duke of Windsor to Spain lest he should be captured by the......

Warmer Northern Cyprus

Sir: Michael Church (`The republic the world forgot', 25 November) is right to sug- gest that there are reasons beyond politics for bringing Northern Cyprus out of the cold, but......