A chance encounter with Santa in Spain

Reading your article about the Santa Claus debacle (‘Kids were in tears’: visitors complain of Santa ‘shambles’ at Hampshire grotto, 10 December), one summer my husband (big white beard) and I were sipping a glass of wine in a Spanish cafe. A little girl at the next table asked her father why Santa Claus was there. I was able to say in Spanish that, yes, it is Santa Claus and he is on holiday in Spain, but she mustn’t breathe a word about it. “Santa” sent over a sparkling new euro coin as a reward. Her eyes were like saucers.
Liz Thompson
Oxford

• According to his stylist, Paul Mescal is “often eager to rewear pieces we’ve styled before or items from his own wardrobe” (Paul Mescal sells clothes on Vinted to raise money for Irish charity, 11 December). As a dedicated follower of fashion, I, too, have decided to rewear items from my own wardrobe today. It’s a trend that could sweep the nation.
Rob Watling
Radcliffe on Trent, Nottinghamshire

• A filter made from cotton and squid bone can remove up to 99.9% of microplastics from water (10 December). Production “is cheap, and raw materials are easy to obtain”, say the authors of the paper. How do the squid feel about this?
Peter Gray
Chesterfield, Derbyshire

• How disconcerting to see Angela Rayner criticised for anti‑newtism (Letters, 11 December): I had always thought of her as this government’s authentic voice of the eft.
Mark de Brunner
Burn Bridge, North Yorkshire

• Regarding the rise of the anti-newt lobby, where’s Ken Livingstone when you need him?
Adrian Brodkin
London

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