Rishi Sunak’s “levelling-up fund” (Report, 25 November) of £4bn for England should be seen in perspective. It is the same amount that 4,000 London bankers paid themselves for a year’s “work” at the height of austerity.
Mike Wilson
Wigton, Cumbria
• Barbara Thompson, a vaccination trial volunteer, laments the lack of biscuits for participants (Letters, 25 November). Pah! In the 1960s, Guy’s hospital in London used to give blood donors a bottle of stout. A decade later, when my wife and I gave blood in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, the going rate was a small loaf and a tin of herrings. Settle for nothing less, Barbara.
Alex Kirby
Lewes, East Sussex
• I enjoyed the Pass notes column on the demise of cricketers’ teas (25 November) until the penultimate line. “Scone, but not forgotten” doesn’t make sense in these parts.
Richard Elliott
Tollerton, Nottingham
• There is no need for the Guardian to print Christmas wrapping paper (Letters, 26 November): any page can become wrapping and it means I don’t have to use labels as everyone recognises a present from me.
Dr Peter Baker
Prestwood, Buckinghamshire
• Regarding toilet roll shortages, when I were a lad, we had an outside toilet with a wooden seat and a nail for the torn-up newspaper (Letters, 26 November). My dad bought the Daily Express every weekday and I hated its awful content. I asked him why he bought it. His answer: “It’s the most absorbent.”
John Hackney
Hyde, Greater Manchester
