Sarah Matthews (Letters, 10 December) describes the difficulty that she experienced in getting a flu jab from her GP and local pharmacist after having been exhorted to do so as an over-65 by Trevor McDonald in an NHS advert. When I was experiencing similar difficulties I discovered that while the NHS had spent a great deal of money on such adverts, no provision had been made for supplying an adequate number of vaccines to meet the extra demand to which such advertising would inevitably lead. A serious case of left hand/right hand perhaps?
Harvey Sanders
London
• Further to Jacqueline Angell’s advice (Letters, 10 December), I stood for election for the Labour party, repeatedly, in the not very leftwing heart of Buckinghamshire, following in my daughter’s footsteps. Despite doubling her vote to a respectable, if definitively losing, figure, I rarely met people who would admit to supporting me or the party beyond an occasional “congratulations” on getting a letter printed in the Guardian. Such quiet words appear to be the shibboleth among true but hidden believers in the shires.
Peter Hutchinson
Chalfont St Giles, Buckinghamshire
• I think you’ll find that the “Royal Navy sailor” (History today, Letters spread, 10 December) is a United States sailor. His white cap, the stars on his collar, and his eagle badge are a dead giveaway.
Erik Williams
Cardiff
• I’m sorry to hear the good folk of Ashfield don’t want to be told what to do by Brussels (‘It’s all a bit of a mess’, 10 December). Will they be quite happy to instead be told what to do by Washington, Moscow and Beijing?
Kit Jackson
London
• Sneaky! The photo of Theresa May on Monday’s front page (10 December) is a cropped picture of her attending church (Letters, passim). Surely you wanted us to know that her life continues as normal?
Nick Morris
Blackheath, Surrey
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