On Thursday I went to my GP to have a flu jab (Letters, 18 and 19 October), only to be told they had no stocks for those over 65 and I had to come back in a fortnight. When I murmured something about the NHS collapsing around our ears, the nurse said, very firmly: “It’s not the NHS, it’s the private company they have contracted to supply us.” She was so right: it’s capitalism that is collapsing around our ears.
Mary Brown
Stroud, Gloucestershire
• I do hope that this flu jab correspondence doesn’t go viral.
Chris Osborne
West Bridgford, Nottingham
• I agree with Simon Jenkins (19 October) that cannabis should be legalised. It would stop the needless criminalisation of those who use it and allow its distribution and sale to be done safely. That said, I haven’t used cannabis for many years (I did inhale). I find a glass or two of cask or craft beer is rather more pleasurable, and the hop is actually quite closely related to cannabis.
Keith Flett
London
• Re Anthea Bell (Obituary, 19 October), my favourite of her many wonderful “translations” were the two Roman legionnaires, Sender Victorious and Appian Glorious. They were keeping in custody the noisy Gaul, Cacofanix. Wonderful!
Howard Groves
Worcester
• How peculiar that a list of “inspiring female guitarists” (18 October) omits the guitarist widely credited with creating the rock’n’roll sound, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, and, to add insult to injury, one of the all-time best British guitarists, Joan Armatrading.
Paul Tattam
Chinley, Derbyshire
• No Bonnie Raitt? Are you kidding?
Martin Datta
Lincoln, Linconshire
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