A film odyssey with a built-in interval | Brief letters

Brief letters: Long movies | Football and private equity | Dating dinosaurs | Cause of death

I have never had a problem with the lack of intervals in screenings of films like the three-hour Andrei Rublev or even the four-hour The Travelling Players (‘An intermission is a must’: why Greek cinemas are adding a loo break to The Odyssey, 31 July). But my DVD of the two-and-a-half-hour 2001: A Space Odyssey contains an “intermission” lasting several minutes. It’s almost as if the manufacturers were unaware of the existence of a pause button.
Alan Pavelin
Chislehurst, London

• Children’s homes, care homes, doctors’ surgeries, dentists and even vets are among the caring services left exposed to the ravages of private equity. Yet when it comes to football, there is a massive outcry (Andy Burnham calls on Infantino to resign over ‘outrageous’ World Cup plans, 1 August). Do we really believe that kicking a ball is more important than protecting vulnerable people?
Liam Browne
London

• As the curator of geology at Whitby Museum, I sometimes ask visitors if they have any questions about our exhibits (Letters, 2 August). One day, a man pointed at the giant ichthyosaur skeletons and said: “Am I right that these reptiles died out well before there were any humans?” “That’s right,” I replied. He pointed at the labels: “Then how do you know what they were called?”
Roger Osborne
Snainton, North Yorkshire

• Following on from Dr Terry Scragg and the “short illness” (Letters 27 July), on asking my grandma what one of her friends had died of, the reply was, “Nowt serious”. I later took this to mean old age.
Robert Greenwood
Skipton, North Yorkshire

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