MATEY: The word “che” (Che Guevara Profile, Comment, last week) comes not from Guarani, but from several of the languages of the Andean Indians, and means “person” or “people” — hence the names of the tribes, such as Mapuche and Tehuelche. In Argentine colloquial usage it is not “hey, you”, but is more like the friendly “mate”.
— Timothy Warriner, London NW5.
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NYE’S STAND: Aneurin Bevan did not resign over “health spending versus defence”, as Michael Portillo wrote (Comment, last week). He resigned because the Attlee government brought in prescription charges in breach of the welfare state provisions devised by Beveridge during the war on behalf of the Churchill government and adopted by the first post-war government of Attlee.
— Reginald Phillips, Hove, East Sussex.
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WRONG DATE: Internment of aliens during the second world war and the Ministry of Information’s decision not to tell Britain about the Holocaust are not connected, as David Baddiel indicates (News Review, July 25). Baddiel also misleads readers by suggesting that the Holocaust, the systematic extermination of Jews, was in full flow by June 1940. This did not happen until June 1941.
— Dr John Fox, London SE12.
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PROMISES: As the founder of Plan 2000 it was to me personally that Blunkett, Brown, Banks et al wrote, pre-1997, confirming their opposition to vivisection (Focus, August 1). It was also to me that Elliot Morley wrote on behalf of Tony Blair, promising a Royal Commission to investigate the value of animal experimentation.
— Dr Vernon Coleman, Publishing House, Barnstaple, Devon.