The letter (9 August) from an NHS doctor about the National Childbirth Trust triggered a memory. In 1989, full of enthusiasm in my first pregnancy, I joined the NCT. My husband and I had our separate reasons why he would not be present at the birth, which satisfied us. I applied to several local NCT antenatal classes. All rejected me because I would not be accompanied at the birth. Behind the medical orthodoxies lie social orthodoxies. There is no flexibility to include the individual. All must conform.
Honor Cooper
London
• “A 2,100-year-old Roman shipwreck carrying about 500 amphorae has been discovered three miles off the coast of Mazara del Vallo in Sicily,” you report (10 August). I wonder if in 2,000 years there will be a headline about an Evri van being discovered with about 500 parcels, one of which might have been addressed to me.
Norman Paterson
Anstruther, Fife
• Three in four riverbanks in England are off limits to the public (Report, 25 July). What with water extraction, dogs jumping in carrying toxic flea treatments and river levels dropping alarmingly, shouldn’t we be introducing a right to roam as a basic right for otters, kingfishers, fish and all the other wildlife struggling to drink water?
Elaine Fullard
Oxford
• As a Quick Crossword fan, may I offer you a clue to use in the future: “Thames Water (9)”. Solution: “Shameless” (Thames Water’s £1m payout to finance chief is ‘unacceptable’, says government department, 10 August).
Allen Challender
St Albans, Hertfordshire
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