Letter: TV dinners

Sir: The sanctimonious article by Nicholas Roe (25 September) on the immorality of eating while watching television is the limit in New Puritanism. For starters, the reason most people skip breakfast is they can't stand the chaos. Children bickering, complaining spouses, arguments over food. People watch television to relax, and doctors will tell you that relaxation is the greatest aid to digestion.

The clincher is when Mr Roe asserts that, "The family meal is dying on the sofas. All those end-of-the day catchups, all that witty banter. Gone." The only family on earth that did that were the Waltons. And they were on the telly.

ROBBIE JONES

Dublin