You report that research on skeletons in Cambridge suggests pointy shoes worn by medieval monks caused hallux valgus (Medieval fashion for pointy shoes linked to rise in bunions, 11 June). A more likely cause may be that the monks suffered from gout due to excess alcohol consumption, given the British Medical Journal report that found a “high prevalence of hallux valgus in gouty patients”?
Trevor Lyttleton
London
• I’m only 53 so don’t qualify for all this septuagenarian stuff (Letters, 20 June), but last week I rode a 10-mile time trial in 21min 43sec. Decent, but I did 20min 55sec last year, albeit on a faster course. Later on, I farted the first three notes of the main theme from Mars, from Holst’s Planets suite. I have to say that the latter achievement was more gratifying.
Bill Hawkes
Canterbury, Kent
• A typical day for this 71-year-old: Wake up. Listen to the Today programme. Get incensed. Read the Guardian. Get incensed. Go for a walk to let off steam. Watch the evening news. Get incensed. Go to bed.
Bob Epton
Brigg, North Lincolnshire
• What chance a photograph of any street in any UK city could match the litter-free one taken in Tokyo that was published in your print edition?
Sam White
Lewes, East Sussex
• To add to Mary Bolton’s letter (17 June), my school’s navy-blue knickers had a pocket for your hanky – something that reduces my granddaughters to howls of laughter when I describe them.
Kate Burgess
Boston, Lincolnshire
• Have an opinion on anything you’ve read in the Guardian today? Please email us your letter and it will be considered for publication.
