It’s a great honour to be called a mugwump | Brief letters
by Brief letters from Technology | The Guardian on (#2MHX4)
Post EU rail franchises | Mugwump | Family relationships and language | E-readers
John Draper makes a good point about competitive tendering for rail franchises within EU member states - but isn't the main point about renationalising the railways that there won't be any new franchises to bid for (Letters, 26 April)! Whether Caroline Lucas wants Britain to remain in the EU or not is therefore irrelevant.
Paul Tattam
Chinley, Derbyshire
" Think before you speak, foreign secretary (Report, 27 April). The term "mugwump" was used in the US to describe an independent Republican who refused to support the party ticket (sound familiar, Boris?) in 1884. I don't think Jeremy will take too much offence: the term derives originally from the Algonquian Indian language and means "chief" or "great man".
Ralph Willett
Sherborne, Dorset