North and south are not poles apart | Brief letters

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Your claim that at least north is still north" (Terrawatch, 6 January) sounds as reassuring as it is wrong. I've always taught my students that opposite poles attract. The north pole of a free magnet will point north. Therefore the earth's north pole must be a south pole. Historically, north has sometimes been north, but currently it is south. Oddly, my students found my teaching methods confusing.
Matt Atkinson
CEO, Lighthouse Learning Multi-Academy Trust, Southampton

As a participant in the Oxford University/ONS Covid-19 infection survey, I provided a mouth and nose swab on 14 December. On 6 January I received a letter, dated 4 January, informing me three-plus weeks later that I do not have a current" infection.
Graeme Innes-Johnstone
Elland, West Yorkshire