Whenever London mayor Boris Johnson lifts his head above the parapet and speaks he manages to stick his foot right in it (“Now is the time to dust off your Latin and Ancient Greek and help classics from becoming history”, 8 July).

Again, he forgets that the rest of us did not get a silver spoon. In fact, we did not even get to lick the spoon.

Latin has nothing to do with anything for most people and since half of all British schoolchildren cannot read or write to the level that would get them five A*-C GCSEs including English and maths, perhaps we should think of those subjects first.

Orion, Via www.tes.co.uk.