In sickness and health

It is not just exercise fans who have to put up with intrusive music and media (Letters, passim). Last December I attended my local diabetic clinic to find a wide-screen TV set in the waiting room. Worse still, it was showing ITV1. After half an hour of Trisha I was called in to have my blood pressure tested. It was much higher than normal and I have been on medication ever since.
Nigel Stapley

· I am getting a bit tired of employers constantly whinging about people "pulling sickies" (Medical notes, Health, May 6). What about all those occasions when people go to work when they are feeling unwell. If this was recorded the picture would, I suspect, be very different from the one constantly painted.
DA Rainbird
Merseyside

· While I agree with Simon Hoggart (Diary, May 10) about the genius of John Graham (Araucaria), his clue to "bullshitter" ignores the fact that archers call the centre of their target the gold, not the bull.
Chris Parker
London

· What a great idea of John Prescott's (Report, May 8) to send a fireman by motorcycle to see if a fire appliance is really required on a 999 call. Better still why not get people to send a postcard (2nd class stamp) to their local fire station to say when they are going to have an emergency.
Paul Sturman
Hemel Hempstead, Herts

· Back page of Saturday's Food magazine told us: "Say no to plastic bags. Where there is a choice, go for produce that uses least packaging". Saturday's Guardian Weekend came wrapped in a plastic bag. Looks as though I shall have to start choosing my Saturday reading more carefully.
Graham Martin
Aston Somerville, Worcs

Wrexham