Driven to the right side of the road? | Brief letters

From the answer to question five of The kids’ quiz (14 March), we learn that people in Britain drive on the left-hand side of the road to keep their right hand free for sword fighting. Does that mean that just about everywhere else in the world people drive on the right-hand side of the road to keep their left hand free for shield wielding?Simon ChapmanMarseille, France In the Saturday quiz (14 March), Glengarry Glen Ross is named as one of four “films with no female characters”. In fact the film does credit “Coat check girl”, played by Lori Tan Chinn, who delivers the immortal line: “Slow tonight.”Rendel HarrisLondon On children fibbing (Letters, 19 March), my brother, the late Tom Hibbert (of Smash Hits, Q magazine and Observer fame), showed early promise of invention when asked by our mother how a large tear in his trousers had appeared. He replied rather scornfully: “Haven’t you heard of moths what eat holes in people’s clothes?”Jimmy Hibbert Porthmadog, Gwynedd Somebody should advise Robin, who said he was looking for someone 5ft 6in tall, what my father once said to me (Blind date, 14 March)

Jimmy Kimmel on Trump Pearl Harbor joke: ‘Everything he knows about it begins and ends with the Ben Affleck movie’

With The Late Show with Stephen Colbert on hiatus until at least 27 March, late-night hosts on Thursday discussed Donald Trump’s snafu while meeting Japan’s prime minister, his caginess over Iran, and new findings in the Epstein investigations.On Jimmy Kimmel Live!, the host discussed Trump’s visit to Japan and meeting with Sanae Takaichi. As a welcome gift, the prime minister presented the US president with 250 cherry trees to commemorate the upcoming 250th US anniversary.“This is a guy who paved over the Rose Garden,” commented Kimmel. “What is he going to do with 250 cherry trees? He’ll probably use them to build a Waffle House or something

A bust of Barbra Streisand and beautiful memories: Richard E Grant’s garden – in seven extraordinary items

The actor has played many classic roles and his love of film is clear in his garden, from the Saltburn proscenium arch to the pergola where Meryl Streep and Paul Rudd have partied the night away Step into Richard E Grant’s garden in Richmond, London, and you’ll be met with a rather unconventional sight. Instead of the daffodils and tulips you’d usually find in an English garden at this time of year, Grant’s space is full of props and decorations from the films he’s starred in – from Saltburn to Carrie Cracknell’s 2022 adaptation of Persuasion.After any job, he says, “I go to the production department and try and buy or bribe my way” to get pieces to put in his garden. The space has, until now, been a private spot for Grant to entertain his actor friends. But now he has shared it with the world as part of the Royal Horticultural Society’s new podcast, Roots

Natural History Museum tops UK attraction list with record visitors

London’s Natural History Museum (NHM) was the most popular attraction in the UK during 2025, with its renovated gardens, new climate gallery and lack of entry fee leading to record-breaking numbers of visitors.More than 7.1 million people passed through its doors, a 13% increase in visitors year on year and an all-time record for any UK museum or gallery.Bernard Donoghue, the director of the Association for Leading Visitor Attractions (Alva), which compiles the annual ranking, said the NHM’s success was partly down to its renovated outdoor spaces.“It’s an astonishingly fun, joyful day out and it’s free,” Donoghue said

Stephen Colbert on DHS pick Markwayne Mullin: ‘Has a history of being real dumb and real angry about it’

Late-night hosts recapped Markwayne Mullin’s risible confirmation hearing for homeland security secretary and Maga’s struggles to sell the war in Iran to sticker-shocked Americans.On Wednesday’s Late Show, Stephen Colbert looked into the resignation this week of Joe Kent, Donald Trump’s director of the national counterterrorism center, in protest of the administration’s war in Iran and the fact that “Iran posed no imminent threat to our nation”.“So the US is going to war in the Middle East without an imminent threat to our nation … AGAIN?” Colbert joked, sitcom-style.“Now, before anybody sends this guy an Edible Arrangement in the shape of the word ‘hero’, keep in mind: he sucks,” he continued, before reminding viewers that during his failed 2022 congressional bid, Kent paid Graham Jorgensen, a member of the Proud Boys, for consulting work, and worked closely with Joey Gibson, founder of the rightwing group Patriot Prayer. Kent has also blamed Israel for the 2003 US invasion of Iraq

Seth Meyers on Trump’s Nato about-face: ‘This is just how Donald Trump does friendship’

Late-night hosts mocked Donald Trump’s rejection by Nato allies for help with the strait of Hormuz and a White House visit from the Irish prime minister for St Patrick’s Day.On Late Night, Seth Meyers recalled the many, many times that Trump insulted Nato, only to turn around and ask them this week for help with strait of Hormuz, blocked by his war with Iran. “You called them obsolete, sloppy and bad, and now you want their help?” Meyers marveled. “It’s like breaking up with someone and then immediately asking them for help moving – ‘I know I called you obsolete and sloppy, but I didn’t say you were bad at carrying things! Now hop to it, fatso, I gotta date tonight!’”The response from Nato members has been a resounding no, even from US allies like Germany and Britain. “You mean to tell me your genius plan of continually insulting them for 10-plus years and then begging them to help you out of a jam you got yourself into didn’t work?” Meyers laughed