Why we just can’t wait to stop procrastinating
I meant to write this yesterday but didn’t get round to it (Deadlines may be vital, but so is procrastination. I’ll tell you why … soon, 13 November). I was too busy rereading Samuel Johnson – a famous procrastinator. Never one to mince his words, he nails it in his Rambler essay of 1751: “Idleness never can secure tranquillity; the call of reason and of conscience will pierce the closest pavilion of the sluggard, and, though it may not have force to drive him from his down, will be loud enough to hinder him from sleep.”
Dorothy Clague
Richmond, North Yorkshire
• Our chancellor is taking a gamble (Rules imposed after financial crisis have ‘gone too far’, Reeves tells City bankers, 14 November). Who will pay when it goes pear-shaped again?
Kay S Powell
Llandaff, Cardiff
• We planted our live Christmas tree in the garden in January 18 years ago (Letters, 11 November). It’s now six metres tall and still growing. Decking it with lights each year requires bravery, ingenuity and very tall step ladders.
Paul Hanbury
Ashbourne, Derbyshire
• With regard to the recent letters (14 November) about weather forecasters, my particular gripe is when they describe an average temperature as where the temperature “should be” – as if we should all be the average height and weight.
Ian Wishart
Chislehurst, Kent
• No X please, we’re British (Guardian will no longer post on Elon Musk’s X from its official accounts, 13 November).
Neil Heydon-Dumbleton
Pathhead, Midlothian
• Do you have a photograph you’d like to share with Guardian readers? If so, please click here to upload it. A selection will be published in our Readers’ best photographs galleries and in the print edition on Saturdays.
