On April 28 Alistair Lexden had his 250th letter published in The Daily Telegraph. Passing this milestone keeps him comfortably ahead of all others who have contributed to the paper’s letters page over the years.His record-setting letter commented light-heartedly on Jeremy Corbyn’s bizarre election pledge to increase the number of bank holidays in Britain.
SIR--Sir John Lubbock, the 19th-century Liberal MP whose legislation invented bank holidays, thought there should be quite a few of them.
He was very pleased that “not a single tipsy or ill-conducted person” marred the introduction of his scheme for “ameliorating the lot of the working people” on the first Monday in August 1871.
If, however, the days of leisure were to be increased significantly, absorbing diversions would be needed to preserve good behaviour. Lubbock himself spent hours trying to teach his poodle to read and endeavouring to prove that bees and wasps could distinguish between different colours.
He also promoted discussion of ways to “quicken repayment of the national debt”. Imaginative ideas of this kind would assist Mr Corbyn in raising interest in the extra bank holidays that he favours(report, 24 April).
Lord Lexden
London SW1