Your excellent editorial on fixed-odds betting terminals (21 August) omitted an important factor in the debate. Last year I submitted a freedom of information request to the Metropolitan police which revealed that since 2010 there has been a 68% rise in violent crime associated with betting shops in London. Customers, having lost large sums of money, can resort to violence out of anger or frustration. On occasion they attack the machines, but at other times assault the staff who may be working alone in the premises.
Dr Alan Smith
Bishop of St Albans
• During a visit to a salon de thé in Troyes (Letters, 23 August), our choices of proper tea were put into little muslin squares and tied up with ribbon, which then had boiling water poured on them in the cup. We had been expecting it to come in pots, but these worked brilliantly. Following the salon’s example, we have had a tea timer for some years, which has three timers built in: orange sand for three minutes, blue for four, and green for five.
Roy Kettle
Hitchin, Hertfordshire
• The Miremont salon de thé in Biarritz does the best English Breakfast cuppa this side of Harrogate. And the waiter explains why “eclair” is a masculine noun (it’s from the French word for lightning).
Paul Masterman
Shifnal, Shropshire
• Soon after I gained my PhD (after my retirement), I booked a North Sea ferry using my doctoral title (Letters, 22 August). Big mistake – there was a knock on our cabin door around 5.30am from a crew member, asking: “Excuse me, but is your husband a doctor?” Aaargh!
Susan Major
York
• As ardent supporters of Middlesex County Cricket Club we are proud to wear pink shirts alongside others of all ages, regardless of what colour the balls are (Letters, 17, 18 & 22 August).
Barbara Deering
Princes Risborough, Buckinghamshire
• Why prosecute expression of hate for a person’s religious views, but not hate for their political views (Crackdown on social media hate crimes, 21 August)?
Julian Le Vay
Oxford
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