Have I read your report correctly (Buyout baron, 4 April)? James Murdoch ceases to be chair of BSkyB but remains a director – a marginal reduction in influence, given the shareholding represented – while Tom Mockridge, News International's chief executive and a BSkyB board member, becomes deputy chair. This looks to me like a significant strengthening of NI's influence over BSkyB: more of Rupert's brass neck. I hope Ofcom is taking note.
Christopher McDouall
Cambridge
• This idea of a nuclear plane is not new (Rise of the drones, 2 April). Admiral Rickover in the 1960s had the idea and much research was done at General Dynamics in Fort Worth, Texas. Shielding was the weight enemy and it never "got off the ground" literally or as a project. I personally know several people involved in the project. With no people in the craft, this might be more feasible but, as a retired nuke expert, I suspect that the dangers on a crash breakup of spreading contamination might make this project a non-starter.
Danny L Moore
Texas
• The number of gay people depicted on Royal Mail stamps (Letters, 3 April)? One: Freddie Mercury. Among the 126 people similarly honoured, Mohandas Gandhi also has a unique distinction – as the only person who wasn't white.
John Cranston
Norwich
• I once heard of a lady who used an old handbag for transporting dog poo (Letters, 3 April). Unfortunately she was mugged – but her glee at the thought of the mugger's face when he discovered his haul quite made up for her discomfort.
Alison King
Malvern, Worcestershire
• I'd like to put in a word for the multiple river Avons, meaning "river river" as in the Welsh afon and Gaelic abhainn (Letters, 4 April). Similarly, different waves of invaders gave us Penmore Hill, or hill-hill-hill.
Roger Harrison
Letchworth Garden City, Hertfordshire
• South London, 4 April, first grandchild arrived (Letters, 3 April)! Last year, nothing.
Richard Stainton
Whitstable, Kent