How sad that your Christine Keeler obituary (6 December) should continue the misogyny directed at her all her life: she “preferred to call herself a model, while others labelled her a prostitute”; her writings were “lurid”; “she made things up”; enjoyed “the seedy life of Soho”. As a young woman, Keeler was groomed by older men like today’s sexual predators, but she also raised children, and continued to work, write and publish.
Professor Maggie Humm
London
• In what way does your front-page picture of Christine Keeler portray 75 years of a woman’s life? Is this the message we women should absorb about our value as human beings?
Shelagh Linsley
Seaham, County Durham
• You rightly quote Natural England in saying that wildlife habitats should be expanded and better protected to help species survive extreme weather (Alert over global warming’s radical impact on UK birds, 5 December). Yet today I watched a tractor needlessly trimming hedgerows laden with berries, three days ahead of warnings of another cold snap. Will they ever learn?
Mark Lyall
North Cadbury, Somerset
• One response to Richard Clark’s question “why would anyone in the neglected areas of the English regions have surged towards the Labour party?” (Letters, 4 December) might be that Labour councils are doing their best to protect their residents from the impact of savage cuts imposed by the coalition and Tory governments since 2010 and to which there is no end in sight.
Jeremy Beecham
Labour, House of Lords
• Liam Beadle’s article (Why your vicar may go rogue, 6 December) will surely ring bells for many priests. It reminded me of a former colleague’s wife, who, on arrival at her husband’s new parish church, deigned to move a flower-stand from its accustomed place. The woman “in charge of flowers” came straight over and punched her! Welcome to our friendly church!
Fr Alec Mitchell
Denton, Greater Manchester
• Tonight at 8pm, BBC One, BBC Two and ITV offer cookery programmes. Terrestrial TV truly has hit rock bottom (G2, 6 December).
Tom Frost
London
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