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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Lifestyle
Letters

Hamsters and the chocolate torture treatment

A hamster
Reader Bob Corkey has an ingenious idea for using lolly sticks as roof shingles on a hamster house. But the hamster might not be so keen. Photograph: Alamy

Following the coalition government pension reforms in 2015, is it any wonder that many people have been tricked out of their life savings (Scammed pension pot holders losing average £91,000, campaign warns, 14 August)? As our Queen famously remarked when she visited the London School of Economics after the 2008 financial crisis, “Why did no one see it coming?
Kay Powell
Cardiff

• What’s with all these people claiming to have met Denis Healey (Letters, passim) reporting what he said in some sort of “northern” orthography (“Ah think”, and so on)? Yes, he did come from Leeds, but his pronunciation was not dissimilar from that of Roy Jenkins. Can we level the field? Let’s have Boris Johnson reported as saying “fahk business”.
Frank Welsh
Balsall Common, West Midlands

• The traditional use for lolly sticks is to name seedlings (Letters, 14 August). But if you consume enough Magnums you could make yourself a nice box for your 35mm film canisters.
Annette Dent
Keighley, West Yorkshire

• Lolly sticks make great roof shingles on a hamster house. The lingering aroma of chocolate drives the little buggers mad.
Bob Corkey
Tralee, Co Kerry

• My girlfriend’s first pet dog was called Wendy, which I consider to be a completely inappropriate name for any animal (Letters, 15 August).
Wendy Moir
Crossgates, Fife

Brilliant cartoon by Steve Bell (15 August). But where was Paul Dacre?
Bev Littlewood
Richmond, Surrey

• Join the debate – email guardian.letters@theguardian.com

• Read more Guardian letters – click here to visit gu.com/letters

• Do you have a photo you’d like to share with other Guardian readers? Click here to upload it and we’ll publish the best submissions in the letters spread in our print edition

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