Thank you for Kelly McCabe’s delicious 2,000 calorie a day anti-diabetes meal planner (G2, 19 August). Since one of the major culprits of type 2 diabetes is obesity, which is more prevalent among poor people, wouldn’t it be better to save the smoked salmon sandwiches, large prawns, asparagus (out of season now surely), tilapia and parma-ham-wrapped salmon for a special celebration, and instead recommend a menu that is more affordable and achievable for the average household, eg cauliflower cheese, sausage and mash, vegetable curry, omelette with salad, and baked beans on jacket potatoes?
Mary Evans Young
Banbury, Oxfordshire
• Contrary to Bernard Ingham’s latest expression of unabashed ignorance (Letters, 19 August), I did not suggest that at Glyndebourne he “was watching a ballet and not an opera”: quite the reverse, in fact, as The Rite of Spring has never been performed at Gyndebourne. In truth, I do not think that Sir Bernard was actually “watching” anything at all but may, perhaps, have been present at a Glyndebourne performance of The Rake’s Progress in 2010 (a revival of the 1975 staging, designed by his great Yorkshire compatriot, David Hockney). This did contain a brothel scene – described by the Guardian’s opera critic as “tepid” – which may account for Sir Bernard’s memory of “simulated copulation”. On the other hand, he may have been enjoying an erotic dream.
Michael Pyke
Lichfield, Staffordshire
• A common phrase left out from your guide (The criminal’s alphabet, Saturday Review, 15 August) was “the Olympic torch” – the copper who never went out.
Rob Parrish
Starcross, Devon
• Larry Elliott says customers may take their business elsewhere even if it costs more (Amazon delivers a speedy response, 18 August). It is easy to find better deals online. People use Amazon because they are lazy.
Rod Warrington
Chester
• Anyone tempted to continue buying stuff on Amazon should check out www.amazonanonymous.org/better-than-amazon. I have managed to boycott Amazon since the details of this website were published in … yes, the Guardian a couple of years ago.
Marion Redfern
Bromborough, Wirral
