Maybe it is time for a prohibitive tax on junk food – and free, healthy school meals for all children (Majority of Britons ‘will be overweight’ by 2030, 6 May). Surely the first of these could – and should – pay for the second. Prevention is certainly cheaper than the cure.
Fiona Carnie
Bath
• Does the ONS take account of this when making their projections for life expectancy? If not, there is no justification for raising the retirement age.
Karen Fletcher
Sheffield
• The boffins claim to have identified three key years in pop music, 1964, 1983 and 1991 (Report, 6 May). Ridiculous! What about 1968, when Hawkwind refused to play the Isle of Wight and set up their own stage outside? Later, Hendrix came out and did a jam with them.
Roger Greatorex
London
• Regarding Charlotte: royals’ choice will keep all the family happy (5 May), I’m just back from the exhibition of Gillray’s prints at the Ashmolean Museum. One cartoon, The presentation – or – the wise men’s offering, features two prominent politicians kissing the newly born Princess Charlotte’s backside. It was published in 1796. I can’t help wondering if any part of it is no longer relevant. No me neither.
John Nash
Child Okeford, Dorset
• You uncritically quote Save the Children’s report showing the UK in a very bad light in terms of maternal mortality (Report, 5 May). While many childbirth campaigners would argue that much could be improved in the UK’s maternity services, our system of reporting of maternal mortality is the envy of the world for its accuracy and usefulness. It is very misleading to compare results with countries that cannot give accurate figures.
Gill Boden
Cardiff
• Imogen Fox does Amal Clooney’s dress a disservice (G2, 6 May). The top is constructed like the armour of the Terracotta Army and the skirt is the rice paddy field terraces (especially from above).
Eleanor Yates
Winchester
