A photographer’s legacy | Getting in the Christmas spirit | Crossword cat | New dictionary entry | Peace prize for Putin

Martin Parr’s photographs are full of wry humour and an affection for the quirkiness of life ( Martin Parr, photographer acclaimed for observations of British life, dies aged 73, 7 December ). He encouraged ordinary people to observe and celebrate the world around us. A few years ago, I had two photographs published on the Guardian’s letters pages, something that would never have happened to me in a million years had I not been inspired by Martin.
Toby Wood
Peterborough

• I enjoyed the article on getting into the Christmas spirit ( 2 December ). Please can Joel Snape provide a list of the 31 festive films he watches in December? For me, the festive feeling starts when I add the first house to my Marks & Spencer advent village bought in 1998 – and getting out my festive tea towels.
Cathy I’Anson
London

A photographer’s legacy | Getting in the Christmas spirit | Crossword cat | New dictionary entry | Peace prize for Putin

Martin Parr’s photographs are full of wry humour and an affection for the quirkiness of life ( Martin Parr, photographer acclaimed for observations of British life, dies aged 73, 7 December ). He encouraged ordinary people to observe and celebrate the world around us. A few years ago, I had two photographs published on the Guardian’s letters pages, something that would never have happened to me in a million years had I not been inspired by Martin.
Toby Wood
Peterborough

• I enjoyed the article on getting into the Christmas spirit ( 2 December ). Please can Joel Snape provide a list of the 31 festive films he watches in December? For me, the festive feeling starts when I add the first house to my Marks & Spencer advent village bought in 1998 – and getting out my festive tea towels.
Cathy I’Anson
London

A photographer’s legacy | Getting in the Christmas spirit | Crossword cat | New dictionary entry | Peace prize for Putin

Martin Parr’s photographs are full of wry humour and an affection for the quirkiness of life ( Martin Parr, photographer acclaimed for observations of British life, dies aged 73, 7 December ). He encouraged ordinary people to observe and celebrate the world around us. A few years ago, I had two photographs published on the Guardian’s letters pages, something that would never have happened to me in a million years had I not been inspired by Martin.
Toby Wood
Peterborough

• I enjoyed the article on getting into the Christmas spirit ( 2 December ). Please can Joel Snape provide a list of the 31 festive films he watches in December? For me, the festive feeling starts when I add the first house to my Marks & Spencer advent village bought in 1998 – and getting out my festive tea towels.
Cathy I’Anson
London

The answer to today’s engineering challenge

Earlier today I asked you to reinvent a component of the sixteenth century Dutch sawmill, which – according to a new book – was the world’s first industrial machine. You can read that post here, along with some great BTL discussion about the world’s greatest inventions. (Spoon or spear? Plough or spectacles? Transistor or trousers?)

Round and up

The answer to today’s engineering challenge

Earlier today I asked you to reinvent a component of the sixteenth century Dutch sawmill, which – according to a new book – was the world’s first industrial machine. You can read that post here, along with some great BTL discussion about the world’s greatest inventions. (Spoon or spear? Plough or spectacles? Transistor or trousers?)

Round and up

The answer to today’s engineering challenge

Earlier today I asked you to reinvent a component of the sixteenth century Dutch sawmill, which – according to a new book – was the world’s first industrial machine. You can read that post here, along with some great BTL discussion about the world’s greatest inventions. (Spoon or spear? Plough or spectacles? Transistor or trousers?)

Round and up

The minimum bet rule model is there in Australia for all to see and the Gambling Commission should act now

Racing enjoyed its biggest win for many years in last month’s budget. The threatened harmonisation of duty rates for betting and gaming was not simply seen off, but routed, with the differential between the two rates significantly increased. As an added bonus, meanwhile, racing was excluded from the small rise in the duty rate for bets on football and other sporting events.

Having celebrated the win, though, the next step is to ensure that the benefits are maximised. And since, in relative terms, racing has just become a more attractive product for bookmakers, what better moment could there be to address one of the major obstacles that many punters face when they want to bet on the horses?

The minimum bet rule model is there in Australia for all to see and the Gambling Commission should act now

Racing enjoyed its biggest win for many years in last month’s budget. The threatened harmonisation of duty rates for betting and gaming was not simply seen off, but routed, with the differential between the two rates significantly increased. As an added bonus, meanwhile, racing was excluded from the small rise in the duty rate for bets on football and other sporting events.

Having celebrated the win, though, the next step is to ensure that the benefits are maximised. And since, in relative terms, racing has just become a more attractive product for bookmakers, what better moment could there be to address one of the major obstacles that many punters face when they want to bet on the horses?

The minimum bet rule model is there in Australia for all to see and the Gambling Commission should act now

Racing enjoyed its biggest win for many years in last month’s budget. The threatened harmonisation of duty rates for betting and gaming was not simply seen off, but routed, with the differential between the two rates significantly increased. As an added bonus, meanwhile, racing was excluded from the small rise in the duty rate for bets on football and other sporting events.

Having celebrated the win, though, the next step is to ensure that the benefits are maximised. And since, in relative terms, racing has just become a more attractive product for bookmakers, what better moment could there be to address one of the major obstacles that many punters face when they want to bet on the horses?