Michal B Paradowski (Letters, 27 September) refers to chips as “fluffy on the inside and proudly skin-on”. No chip shop in the north, where we know about these things, would ever serve chips with the skin on. Never heard of it, never experienced it. Maybe it’s different in Cambridge?
Sue Leyland
Hunmanby, North Yorkshire
• Robert Gibbs (Letters, 26 September) says “Only toffs can afford nannies”. Far from it. Financially it was very difficult but, as a single mother, employing a nanny was the only way to provide for my child and work as a doctor, which I did full-time. I agree with his main point about the need for a “maternal state” (positive) rather than a “nanny state” (pejorative).
Name and address supplied
• It’s not only toffs who have nannies. Many Scottish children call their grandmother Nanny, including my seven grandchildren. It’s a shame this term has become a jibe.
Caroline Ellis
Edinburgh
• If you are so worried about plastic lids, why not just make hummus yourself (Letters, 29 September). It is the easiest food to make and you can tweak it according to your preference.
Val Mainwood
Wivenhoe, Essex
• If the government intends the increased policing of benefit fraud to remain with the DWP (Report, 24 September), someone will need to keep track of the department’s penchant for error, misreading, misunderstanding, obduracy and bureaucratic bullying.
Gary Yershon
London
• It’s not just black men who are being discouraged from prostate-specific antigen (PSA) blood tests (Report, 27 September), it is the male population generally. The PSA test is not recommended by the NHS because of a high false-positive rate, especially in black men. A biopsy to confirm the diagnosis is also not ideal. The best screening test is an MRI, but the NHS has a national shortage of scanners. There are also too few radiographers to perform the tests. It will take years to recruit and train them.
Dr Michael Peel
London
