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Tributes roll in today for comedy legend and LGBTQ+ icon Paul O’Grady, while other Metro readers talk about jogging with pets and why the monarchy would never go quietly.

■ As a popular drag queen in Sheffield for the past 20 years, I was devastated to learn of Paul O’Grady’s sudden death at 67 (Metro, Thursday).

As Lily Savage, she helped support the gay community during the dark days of the AIDS pandemic and ensuing homophobia in the ’80s, when many young gay men, like me, were too scared to go to a gay bar.

Lily’s fame certainly helped create a more just world for all of us LGBT+ people, and she is an example of how the LGBT+ community needs to work together and not get involved in a civil war for the rights of transgender and other people. vulnerable minorities in the LGBT+ community. Dan Kahn aka Tia Anna, Sheffield

■ I remember visiting the Royal Vauxhall pub in London in the 1980s. The one and only Lily Savage was on stage and the whole atmosphere was electric. Everyone laughed at her wonderful jokes. God bless Paul O’Grady. We will mourn the sad loss of him forever. Scott, West London

■ RIP, Paul O’Grady. He will definitely be missed by the Battersea Dogs And Cats Home. And what a great tribute ITV showed on Wednesday afternoon. David Sandler, via email

■ After hearing the sad news of Paul O’Grady’s death on Wednesday, I took a different train: the 9:36 am from Norbiton to Waterloo. The lovely guard announced that there was a special message for the group of children on the train because they were going to sing at the Royal Festival Hall and wished them good luck and fun. Cheered me up in the morning, what a lovely watch. Eleanor, Surbiton

■ Very upset to learn of the death of the great Paul O’Grady. I’m sure many other Metro readers will feel the same way. Joe, Wakefield

■ Islington residents who voiced their support on MetroTalk seem to have forgotten that, outside of Islington, former Labor leader Jeremy Corbyn was widely regarded as ineligible, having handed Boris Johnson a landslide of 80 seats in the general election in 2019.

Thank goodness it’s out of his independent ear now. I hope you have a hard time withholding your deposit in the next general election. Kevin, London

■ In Chairman Mao’s China, young men called Red Guards were told to ‘re-educate’ anyone who disagreed with the communist party line. Teachers and intellectuals were beaten and imprisoned.

I see parallels with today’s ‘wake’ culture. It is becoming dangerous to express any opinion that disagrees with what is perceived as ‘woke’. Ahmed, Ilford

■ Regarding the MetroTalk debate on book rewriting, fiction writing is no less an art form than painting or sculpture. Rewriting books in the name of ‘sensibilities’ is, then, a defamation of art. If you’re really so easily offended by old language, you shouldn’t be reading or watching stuff from back then. Ash, Sussex

The protests would not be enough to force a King Andrew to abdicate

■ S Manning (MetroTalk, Wednesday) claims that even if he were the queen’s eldest son, Andrew could never be king because public outcry would force him to abdicate.

I’m afraid this is just wishful thinking and misses the point of my original letter – that a monarch holds office for life.

Andrew is stupendously arrogant with a strong sense of entitlement. Does S Manning seriously believe that a few protests would lead him to abdicate? We have only had one monarch who did it and that was Edward VIII, who did it simply because he put pleasure and personal needs before any sense of duty.

Andrew would just sit back and weather the storm. Besides, the idea, as S. Manning suggests, of his daughter Beatrice being queen fills me with horror. Veronica Bates, Westbury

■ Surely people don’t understand the point about monarchies. When royalty or autocrats seek to become ‘relevant’, that is, political rather than apolitical, they sign their own death warrants. That was the fate of the ‘Three Eagles’ of Habsburg Austria-Hungary, Hohenzollern Germany and Romanov Russia, as well as the House of Savoy in Victor Emmanuel III’s Italy. (King Carlos III and his heirs would do well to learn about European history.)

As for abolitionist republicans, London’s Greville (MetroTalk, Tuesday) claims that “most European republics are thriving,” while University of Greenwich’s Dr. Peter Vlachos (MetroTalk, Tuesday) mentions only Finland, Switzerland and Slovenia in
the continent. Since when did three become ‘many’? To Martin, Nunhead

And another thing

■ Anyone else sick of the jog-a-dog brigade? Not content with running alone, they inflict the same on their pets.

Dogs like to walk, so they can stop and sniff where other dogs have been, and urinate on it. Worst of all are owners attaching the dog leash to their bikes, which is potentially dangerous for both the cyclist and the dog. Russia, Stockport

■ The French are to be admired for opposing their government’s intention to raise the state retirement age from 62 to 64. Our state pension age is already 66 and will increase to 67 in the coming years.

Isn’t it strange that we simply allow our government to continue to raise it without a murmur? Eddy G, Salford

■ Regarding the article (Metro, Wednesday) stating that two-thirds of us swear repeatedly to relieve pain, and that neuroscientists say it really helps. For me, swearing just isn’t enough. When I severely dislocated my shoulder on top of an Alps in Austria, swearing didn’t help. Singing was the only thing he did.
When the rescue services got to me (it took an hour), I was bellowing nursery rhymes at the top of my lungs. They must have thought I was crazy. Peter K, Wallasey

■ A preposition is an incorrect word to end a sentence. jeff, nuneaton

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