Why for mums like me, breast was never best
SARAH VINE’S observations on breastfeeding ( Mail) struck a chord with me. My siblings and I were bottle-fed, and we are all happy, healthy, intelligent adults.
I never entertained the notion of breastfeeding during my pregnancies, and my grown-up children are healthy and attained first- class degrees from top universities.
I returned to work as a primary school teacher after my maternity leaves, which were nowhere near as generous financially or in time as is the case nowadays.
Sarah’s comments about teachers having to broach the subject of breastfeeding with adolescent boys made me smile.
I couldn’t have countenanced fitting breastfeeding into the normal classroom day, and many years of teaching young people left me in no doubt as to what sort of reaction I’d have faced from them if the subject had to be addressed in the curriculum.
Breastfeeding is not for everyone. I wish the experts would let adults make their own decisions and stop trying to guilt-trip women at a vulnerable time in their lives.
MAIREAD McNulty, limavady, Co. londonderry.
Trust members
I CONTRIBUTED to the National Trust appeal for funds to restore Tyntesfield, a Grade I- listed Victorian Gothic revival house and estate in Somerset, so I was really looking forward to my visit.
I arrived in the rain to learn my pre-booked tour was cancelled because of filming.
It was no consolation to be told: ‘You might get a glimpse of Glenn Close.’ I hope the National Trust’s new director general will value the members, rather than see the charity as a way to make money.
DIANA J. BRASS, loughborough, leics.
Doomed youth
ONE hundred years ago this week, my father Harry Oliver was wounded at Passchendaele. The eldest of 11 children, he lied about his age to join the Royal Welsh Fusiliers. At the Somme in 1916, he got shrapnel in his legs. After recovering, he fought at Passchendaele, where he suffered another shrapnel wound in his leg.
Unlike the majority of former British soldiers, he never stopped talking about the terrible sights he had witnessed. He had no time for religion and chased such callers away from the door.
He experienced the loss of many friends before his 20th birthday. How would today’s teens cope with being in battle? Would they be allowed to take their smartphones and iPads?
PAul OlIVER, Ilford, Essex.
Don’t abuse A&E
WHAT happened to the eightminute ambulance response time (Letters)? Well, it is intended to deal with life- threatening emergencies, not an injured leg.
Maybe the crews were delivering a baby, cutting a driver from wreckage, rescuing a person from a river or talking someone out of taking their life.
People who want an ambulance instantly because they’ve paid their taxes must realise that crews are not needed to treat constipation, move furniture or even deal with a bleeding leg. Calling 999 is for emergencies — you don’t need a lifeguard if you fall in a puddle.
Name and address supplied.
Tale of two knees
I WAS surprised to see surgeons operating on two knees at the same time described as pioneering (Good Health).
Thirty-five years ago, my mother had both knees replaced at the same time at the University of Wales, Cardiff. One operation was done by the consultant surgeon, the other by his registrar.
At the check-up a month later, she was asked how she felt and replied: ‘ Both seem OK, but the left one is better than the right.’
This registrar smiled and said: ‘Thank you, Mrs Taylor, that’s the knee I replaced!’ A month later, my mother was walking around Cardiff without a stick.
JOHN tAylOR, Barry, Vale of Glamorgan.
Waste of money
I WOULD advise everyone to read the small print in any pre-paid funeral plan they are thinking of taking out (Letters). I took out a policy in 2000, paying £12 a month to finance a funeral costing a maximum of £1,400.
I still have to pay £12 a month, so I have paid hundreds more than will be paid out, but if I stop, I will lose the whole pot.
I imagine I have paid for a lot of pens and free gifts.
Mrs S. KINSON, South Shields, tyne & Wear.
Send frauds home
I CAN’T believe that the Supreme Court is going to hear a test case — at taxpayers’ expense — which could mean hundreds of Albanians who claimed to be from Kosovo to win asylum will be allowed to stay in Britain.
Where else in the world would this be tolerated? These people should be put on the first flight back to Albania. The Home Office is presenting a straightforward case, but it appears the judicial system has another agenda.
IAN VERDON, Watford, Herts.
Pension purgatory
MY MOTHER was born in 1953, so will work until she’s 64. I was born in 1974, and will work until I’m 68. Two family generations affected by the Government changing the pension age. To top it all, I work in social care so my pay has been capped for years. At this rate I’ll be relying on food banks and benefits when I retire.
S. PEARSON, leicester.
Snake shock
THE 7ft snake seen on a clifftop in Pembrokeshire (Mail) reminded me of my Royal Navy service in the Far East.
With fellow sailors, I was dropped off on a remote beach for a game of football. When the ball was kicked into the scrub, I went to look for it. As I picked it up, a huge snake slithered across my feet. I stood petrified while my mates shouted: ‘ Where’s the ball, Scouse?’ Finally, it disappeared and I could regain my composure — and get the ball back in play.
BIll tOWNlEy, Ashton-in-Makerfield, Merseyside.