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.
Show of SNP ignorance
THE SNP ignored all the warnings that creating a unitary police force and a unitary fire service would land them with a big VAT bill.
Because they wanted to centralise control, the Nationalists went ahead with the ‘bigger is better’ model.
And now they have the cheek to complain about the VAT bill! They are also unhappy the Police Service of Northern Ireland does not face a similar VAT bill.
This shows up not any unfairness against Scotland but only how little the SNP knows about how Northern Ireland and its assembly are funded.
The model for public spending in Northern Ireland is, for reasons rooted in the the Troubles, more like a local authority than a devolved country. The VAT bill is undoubtedly hurting Police Scotland but faux outrage from the SNP is not helping either. J. ERSKINE, Glasgow
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 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.
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, 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 without a stick.
JOHN TAYLOR, Barry, Vale of Glamorgan.
Taking back control
THE news that foreign boats will still be able to fish British waters is being seized on by the Remain lobby as proof that leaving the EU is folly. Yet Scottish fishermen – ardent Leavers – are relaxed on the issue because they know Brexit was never about shutting up shop behind trade barriers.
What it is about is taking control. We will run our fishing waters, deciding on quotas and catches to ensure the viability of the stock.
European boats can join us, but now we will set the terms – not faroff Brussels. And hopefully we can protect our waters from the depredations of continental boats who used to hoover up sand eels, risking the viability of the entire maritime food chain.
F. DUNLOP, Ayr
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’ve paid hundreds more than will be paid out, but if I stop, I’ll lose the whole pot. I imagine I’ve paid for a lot of pens and free gifts.
Mrs s. KINSON, south shields, tyne & Wear.
Send frauds home
I CAN’T believe the Supreme Court is going to hear a test case 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 64. I was born in 1974 and will work until 68 – two generations affected by pension changes. I work in social care so my pay’s been capped for years. At this rate I’ll be relying on food banks and benefits when I retire.
s. PEARSON, leicester.