The readers' room: What you thought of G2 this week . . .

✒Can aid make a difference in Afghanistan? Are Britain and America gaining ground on the Taliban? These were just two of the questions Jonathan Steele attempted to answer last Friday, after a visit to Helmand . We say "attempted" because the Ministry of Defence didn't exactly help. "I was invited by our own Department for International Development," Jonathan explained, "but everything I write has to be submitted to the MoD and cleared for publication. Britain is trying to bring good governance to the people of Afghanistan, among which I thought was respect for press freedom. But a soldier even sits in on my interviews." What Jonathan could find out was hardly encouraging, unless perhaps you back the insurgents. "Claims that UK and US forces now control most of Helmand are exaggerated," he reported, while a survey last year found "no evidence . .. . that providing basic services in insurgency areas wins hearts and minds, particularly if they are protected by foreign forces". Over at theguardian.com/g2 , Cellarman thought . . . well, we're not entirely sure. What he wrote was: "Almost a decade on and news of Afghanis' misfortunes drip like poison in Britain's collective psyche. God Bless America." toriello agreed, or possibly disagreed. All we had to go on was: "We are better off simply thinking of Afghanistan as part of the UK now. We should offer the population the chance to become UK citizens and taxpayers, while Taliban fighters could be integrated into the British Army." Was he being serious? Ironic? Sometimes, dear readers, one can be too elliptical. It's good to get things off your chest but even better if everyone else can work out what you're saying. As we could with this post from Oceanboy : "It's staggering to think westerners are trying to develop the country when they genuinely have no idea what the local people think and feel about basic institutions. I used to work in develop-ment in Cambodia, where there is a huge UN/NGO presence. The locals all knew what it cost – the equivalent of $300 per Cambodian per year. You know what? They just want the $300, and I'm sure it would get put to much much much much better use than buying white Land Rovers and per diems for 'consultants'." ✒On Monday Lucy Mangan had a happier story: the British Academy of Film and Television Arts was giving a special award to "the honey-voiced and marmalade-haired colossus who bestrode the television screens from the mid-60s to the late-80s". That's right: Brian Cant , who either presented or narrated such "beloved cornerstones of childhood" as Play School, Playaway, Trumpton and Camberwick Green. You were like a dog with two bones. "Hooray," tweeted @ChrisDWilliams . "About time too," agreed @MisterFusty . "That voice is part of my childhood. @john_self simply pointed out that "Brian CAN". On the website, hadhamman and HoxtonPaul praised Cant's gift for entertaining without patronising, while zootie reminded us: "Brian Cant is God. Fact." There was inevitably some grumbling about the decline of children's TV since Cant's day, but this was a time for celebration, not recrimination. "Bollocks to the royal wedding malarkey," said TimFootman . "This has cheered me right up." ✒We might have hoped for another love-in on Tuesday, when Simon Hattenstone interviewed Alan Bennett . One of Britain's greatest living dramatists, seemingly sweet and avuncular: what's not to like? But Bennett himself was keen to frustrate expectations. "There's a story," Simon wrote, "possibly apocryphal, about Bennett in which he says: 'It's funny that people think I'm so nice. I'm actually a bit of a cunt.' He laughs when I mention it. Oh no, he says, you've got it all wrong. 'It was Rupert, my partner, who said it . . . Difficult, northern and a cunt.' Is that a fair assessment? 'Yes, that's all right, that's fine. I'm quite happy with that.'" At theguardian.com/g2 , some of you were interested less in the c-word than in the w-word. Simon had observed that "willies" have been looming increasingly large in Bennett's work. "Look, Alan," said teaandchocolate , "I love your work, but I have to say that your timing on the 'willy thing' is not great. We are sort of absorbed in a whole rise and fall of western capitalism and a ropey-looking situation in Korea at the moment. But good luck with the whole 'willy thing'." She returned to the subject half an hour later. "Willy! Willy! Willy! There you go! Now, let's move on. His article is a bit like a Year 10 class on Friday afternoon. Good old willies. Just keep them out of sight – it's going to be cold this weekend." (teandchocolate knows what she's talking about, by the way. She used to be a teacher.) "Dear oh dear," tutted PickmansModel . "Not that you're obsessed or anything. Those that think about nothing but willies will tend to see them everywhere." ✒Especially, of course, if they work for the Transportation Security Administration, which handles passenger screening at America's airports . As Hadley Freeman reported on Wednesday, the so-called Underwear Bomber, who tried to blow up a flight to Detroit, has encouraged the TSA to leave no nook or cranny unprobed in the war on terror. Its staff must now "see or feel the inside of the underpants of specially chosen passengers flying out of the United States, using either full-body scans or their own hands" . Or, to put it another way, "they will feel you up, or take naked photos of you". This has left many travellers fuming, while an inventor has come up with "fig-leaf" underwear to block the scanners. On the website, gcb01 knew where this was all heading: "First there was the failed shoe bomber, resulting in millions of people hopping about in airports, then there was the failed underpants bomber. What if the next so-called failure is a failed rectal bomber? Yes, if you want to fly you'll have to submit to a body cavity search. Perverts, apply for airport security jobs now to avoid the rush." "Perverts" was also Atavism 's term for those fine men and women of the TSA. But he had suggestions for anyone feeling humiliated and wanting to get their own back: "Go for a run before boarding your flight – don't shower or change. Eat plenty of tuna – don't brush your teeth. If they put you through the scanner, jiggle suggestively – this is especially effective if you're carrying plenty of extra weight. If they frisk you, give tiny little pleasurable gasps and moans." ✒And so to Thursday, when the readers' room likes to focus on some upbeat or unlikely story to send you away with a warm glow. Think of it as our dog-that-says-sausages moment. This week's comes courtesy of Rob Fitzpatrick, who travelled to the "peculiarly middle-class" London suburb of East Dulwich to meet Sly and Reggie , two forty-somethings with families and careers who mix "raw 70s reggae with lyrics that address the issues affecting their lives: education, politics, money, community. The pair take to the streets of SE22 in a flat-bed Morris Minor pickup – the same model Jamaican reggae legend Charlie Ace used – with their own sound system on board to bring the music to the people. Not that the people always want it . . ." Online, you could watch a video of Sly and Reggie's song Nick Clegg's Fault, which explains the deputy PM's complicity in global warming, swine flu, the Catholic child abuse scandal and so on. hewhofeelsitknowsit had clearly done just that: "That was horrifying and enjoyable in equal measure. Doesn't quite have the wrath of Prince Far I, does it?" Coppi , however, rather liked the sound of this middle-class dub business: "Blood and fire! Me wan fi go inna middle ras-class rave yuh knaa! That's wat ah call mi good life wit Jah Tom an me lickle sistren Felicity: growing rightous 'erb inna 'lotment an 'pon im conservatory or im patio! JAH rastafari: you got to praise 'im you knaaaaa." Yeah, we knaaaaa. I mean know. Keep commenting. Briefly speaking "On the one hand, he prevented World War III . . . on the other, he wrote You're Beautiful. I don't know what to think" - djmikeyc struggles with his feelings for James Blunt "Would you punch a panda in the name of art? Nope but I'd slap a manatee for biscuits" - @honeyinmyveins wins G2's tweet of the week competition. There's no prize, of course "It's still bloody November. We haven't started Advent yet. What's wrong with you lot?" – jekylnhyde conceals his delight at our preview of Christmas events "Having had the same haircut for many years, I am thrilled to see I am finally fashionable. Yeah!!" – @nixCab welcomes back the pixie crop "Pushing down the recycling into bin, received nasty scratch from staple in @guardiang2 magazine" – @ Philippa_Perry explains her "middle class injury" • If you would like to comment on any of the stories in G2, or just want to join in the debates, go to theguardian.com/g2 to add your comments, tweet us @guardiang2 or email us at [email protected] . The most interesting feedback will be printed on the pages of G2 on Fridays.