Do you agree with our readers? Have your say on these MetroTalk topics and more in the comments.
Are schools too serious?
Regarding your story about the dad who dressed up as a gorilla to collect his daughter from school (Metro, Tue).
I think the world’s gone mad.
The school governors appear to have had a sense of humour bypass. He did it for a joke. As for the other parents who were allegedly concerned, I cannot see how this is a safety issue.
What with this and the 12-year-old girl being removed from a diversity class for wearing a Union Jack dress last week, I just think schools are becoming too serious at times. Kim Redding, Hornchurch
A gorilla suit in ‘sweltering summer’?
Chris Napthine says he has had lots of messages of support after being reprimanded for dressing up in a gorilla outfit outside a school, with people asking, ‘What on earth is this country coming to?’
Well, what I want to know is what on earth was he thinking of, putting on a gorilla suit in the middle of a sweltering summer? Surely there are a multitude of other ways he could have achieved his goal.
Nonetheless, I’m glad that he had the sense to remove the mask at the school so that the school were well aware it was him – otherwise they may well have thought that a gorilla had driven up to the school, parked the car, removed its seatbelt and closed the door behind him when getting out. Dec, Essex
Attention-seeking? Reader comments on Mr Napathine’s gorilla suit antics
I fully support the school on the gorilla costume fallout and feel that their response has nothing to do with being ‘woke’ – as the dad, Mr Napthine, suggests. He just sounds like an attention-seeker to me. I can well imagine he is the village ‘comedian’. Steve, Staplehurst
Is it being ‘woke’ or being considerate?
Well done gorilla man, you got your five minutes of fame. But this isn’t the school being woke, it’s about being considerate to all the other children at that school. Jane, London
Let’s remember the meaning of ‘woke’
Chris Napthine got his moment in the spotlight with his tale of woe after turning up to collect his daughter dressed as a gorilla (as you do).
He also perfectly exemplified the casual, misinformed use of the word ‘woke’, applying it to mean a perceived overreaction to his own odd behaviour rather than what it actually means. He then threw a perfect lack of understanding of trans issues into the mix, with his observation of how ‘a kid can identify as a cat but a dad can’t dress up as a gorilla’.
I would suggest that some self-reflection on Chris’s part, regarding his own lack of accountability and awareness, might be more fitting before running to the papers trying to gain sympathy for his unusual behaviour catching up with him. David, Birmingham
‘Preposterous plans’ in Farage’s Reform?
Re the fuss over Superman being woke (MetroTalk, Tue), I like to think ‘woke’ means ‘not racist’. Ergo if you are not woke…
Separately, thanks for giving Nigel Farage’s Reform plans a brief outline (Metro, Tue). These preposterous plans are unfunded, unenforceable and a bit silly. Imagine trying to send our criminals to El Salvador? I did chortle. Neil Dance, Birmingham
Reader says Southern Water are ‘rewarding failure’
Regarding Southern Water boss Lawrence Gosden’s ‘outrageous’ pay rise (Metro, Mon). If this represents ‘common industry practice’ then that, to me anyway, is rewarding failure.
Nice work if you can get it. John, Langley
For 7 to 70, or just the woke and trendy? Reader comments on Dr Who
I was disappointed to read the article about Doctor Who writer Mark Gatiss saying the show is not for ‘grumpy old’ fans (Metro, Fri).
As a bit of a ‘Whovian’ who has watched just about every episode there has been since 1963, I would like to think the show is for everyone, from seven to 70 (and beyond), not just for the woke, trendy few.
Perhaps viewing figures might improve if there were more Daleks and Cybermen etc. Come on BBC, realise what a good family show it should be. John Coyne, Leeds
Thank you Keith!
Being marooned at home for weeks following a cardiac arrest in June, I was delighted to enjoy the Metro – supplied courtesy of Brighton and Hove buses – when I attended the local hospital for a vital cardiac consultation last Friday. What a super newspaper the Metro is. Handy-sized, with news, politics, world, technology, kids stuff, puzzles, sport and such fascinations as Guilty Pleasures, travel and entertainment – and all this in glorious colour.
It is phenomenal for a freebie. As an impoverished pensioner I ask myself who really needs a paid-for paper when the Metro is so comprehensive, colourful and complete?
Well done team Metro – long may it continue. Keith Jago, Brighton
Six years of construction, and ‘not a single mile of track has been laid’, reader comments on HS2
I had to laugh reading Monday Metro’s Today in History. In 1904, the 4,607 miles of the Trans Siberian railway was completed after 13 years.
It was built across great steppes, rivers, mountains, forests and marshes – many uncharted and often frozen by snow and ice. It was an extraordinary achievement for the engineers of the day.
Meanwhile, this nation of ours, having invented the railway, cannot even build a 140-mile connection across gentle countryside – and six years after construction began, it is reported that not even a single mile of track has yet been laid for HS2.
Yet many companies, consultancies and advisers have made an absolute mint in fees and profits from HS2.
It is just a shame they never made an actual railway. Peter, London
