Joy of chess keeps dark times in check | Brief letters

Flicking through the paper, I remarked that it was all bad news and upsetting items. Then I came across the centrefold photograph taken in Erzurum, Turkey and found myself close to tears. Young and old chess players together in a coffee house. What a great picture.
Carol Taylor
Darley Dale, Derbyshire

Regarding unusual measurements (Letters, 15 March) my Scottish mother used to send me to the local Co-op to purchase a forpit of potatoes: a fourth part of a stone, ie three and a half pounds. The cost in 1950 was thruppence, compared to £1.60 for the same weight of spuds today.
Dr Allan Dodds
Bramcote, Nottinghamshire

We must not forget the measurement of beauty, the Helen, which is enough to launch a thousand ships, and the milli-Helen, which is the beauty required to launch one ship.
Bob Bowling
Heysham, Lancashire

Ed Davey suddenly remembers that so-called UK nuclear weapons are effectively controlled by the US and Trump (Report, 15 March) but simultaneously forgets that the presence of nuclear weapons is key to making the UK a potential target. We would be much better off without them, financially, morally and defensively.
Philip Gilligan
Milnthorpe, Cumbria

If Keir Starmer heeds Ed Davey’s advice about developing our own independent nuclear deterrent, can we be sure that the contract won’t go to Serco?
Simon Theobalds
Shawford, Hampshire