A recent edition of the Guardian's letters page has showcased the sharp wit of football supporters, alongside a range of other reader observations on topics from gardening to artificial intelligence.
Football Rivalry Takes a Cultural Turn
The correspondence was sparked by a report on the legacy of Bradford's year as UK City of Culture. Margaret Pinder from Beverley, East Yorkshire, highlighted how the title has become fodder for terrace banter. She noted that Bradford City fans have been heard chanting "City of culture, you'll never sing that" at matches, a direct dig at their rivals.
Pinder recalled that during Hull's tenure as City of Culture from 2017 to 2020, Hull City fans retorted with what she deemed an arguably more witty chant: "You're only here for the culture!" The letters page thus captured a unique intersection of sporting rivalry and cultural pride.
Readers Question Gardening Advice and AI Reliability
Elsewhere in the postbag, Kathryn Schofield of London raised a practical concern about a recent article encouraging gardeners to plant 'tredges' – tree hedges – to boost biodiversity. She pointed out that a recommended species, Crataegus laevigata, can grow to 8 metres by 8 metres, questioning the assumption about the size of the average British garden with the remark: "How big do they think our gardens are?"
From Manchester, Michael Ainsworth commented on the famous King William's College quiz, published annually in the paper. He observed that while setters have long had to contend with solvers using search engines, the rise of AI presents a new challenge. He noted that AI tools now provide answers, but with mixed success: "around half of them correct, the rest laughably wrong."
From Canals to Crosswords: A Quirky Assortment
The eclectic mix continued with Ian Grieve from Steyning, West Sussex, who reassured a previous letter writer that the boat named 'Gordon Bennett' was safe, albeit costly in mooring fees. He humorously suggested a deranged president might order a drone strike against it due to jokes about his hair.
Linda Mockett of Winnersh, Berkshire, offered a playful critique of the newspaper's layout, questioning the logic of printing the solution to the jumbo cryptic crossword on the same page as the puzzle itself. Finally, Siobhán Ní Chuanaigh from Dublin extended a New Year's Eve wish to Puzzles the six-whiskered cat, a familiar illustration in the print edition, wishing it a very "5, 3, 4" – a cryptic clue-style greeting surely appreciated by dedicated solvers.
The collection of letters, dated around 29 December 2025, demonstrates the wide-ranging and often humorous engagement of the Guardian's readership with current affairs, traditions, and the newspaper's own content.
