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Letters to the Editor

LettersThursday 8 October 2026 · p. 27

Nobody looks up any more

I sat on the bus for half an hour and counted. Of twenty-two passengers, twenty were looking down at a phone. The twenty-first was asleep. The twenty-second was me.

We used to look out of the window. We saw the seasons, the cows and the neighbour’s new car. Now people know the weather in New York but not that it is raining on them.

I do not wish to be old and grumpy. But I want somebody to see the cows.

The window seat, Linköping

Verdict, 2056

By 2056 everyone looked up again – the phones were in their glasses. The cows were still alone.

– Ali

100% agree. The worry lives on!

The verdict from 2056

How did it turn out? Write the verdict as it would appear in the paper in 2056. The verdict with the most votes is stamped on the letter.

  1. By 2056 everyone looked up again – the phones were in their glasses. The cows were still alone.

    – Ali

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LettersWednesday 7 October 2026 · p. 21

The sourdough has taken over my kitchen

It began during the pandemic. My husband was given a dollop of sourdough by a colleague, and it has lived with us ever since. It has a name. It has its own shelf in the fridge. It is fed more often than the cat.

I have nothing against bread. But when a man asks how the dough is “feeling” before he asks how I am, something has gone too far.

Am I alone in living in a three-way relationship, one third of which is yeast?

The other woman in the kitchen, Lund

Verdict, 2056

In 2056 the dough was 30 years old and was inherited by the children. The cat was never as well loved.

– Lena

100% think we’ll be laughing at this in 2056.

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LettersWednesday 7 October 2026 · p. 24

Podcasts at double speed are not listening

My son listens to everything at double speed. Books, lectures, even his girlfriend’s voice messages. He says he is “saving time”.

What will he do with all the time he saves? Listen to more things at double speed, of course.

I have calculated that at this rate he will have lived an entire life before forty. After that I suppose it gets boring.

A father at normal speed, Västerås

100% think we’ll be laughing at this in 2056.

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LettersThursday 8 October 2026 · p. 30

The e-scooters are taking over the pavement

Yesterday I had to step into the road three times to get past e-scooters that someone had left in the middle of the way. One was in a bush. One stood in a fountain.

Nobody owns them, nobody puts them away and nobody seems to know where they are going. They are like pigeons, but with batteries.

I propose that the council introduce a pound for stray scooters, just as there was once a pound for loose horses.

Pedestrian since 1951, Malmö

Nobody has judged it yet. What do you think?

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