Shovel those peas

SIR – I might agree with Mike Stones (Letters, March 3) that table manners are deteriorating, but the convention that one should never hold a fork as if it were a spoon is ridiculous.

Anyone who has tried to eat peas from the back of a fork must accept that it makes no more sense than trying to eat ice cream from the back of a spoon.

Tools of any kind are designed to make life easier, not more difficult, and they should be used accordingly.

Nicholas Young

London W13