<i>IoS</i> letters, emails & online postings (15 August 2010)

Sunday 15 August 2010 00:00 BST
Comments

Thank you, Janet Street-Porter, for sticking the knife into Naomi Campbell over her disgusting and disrespectful behaviour in court the other day (Editor-at-Large, 8 August). Had any normal person behaved in such a manner they would probably have been held in contempt. I'm sure all those in Africa who have had their limbs hacked off found it rather "inconvenient" as well. May I suggest that she takes some of her vast fortune and buys some lessons in basic manners, which she seems to be devoid of. I hope other people put the boot in as well, so that she might feel some shame in her actions. No doubt she will hide behind her legal team and will carry on with "her life" unconcerned.

James Patten

Naphill, Buckinghamshire

I was very amused to read Janet Street-Porter's piece criticising the character of Ruth in The Archers for her irritating accent.

Blimey, as my old Mum would have said, talk about the pot calling the kettle black.

Peter Unsworth

Hove, East Sussex

Although many people think of calcium in the diet as good protection for their bones, the actual food type you consume determines bone protection. In a 12-year Harvard study of 78,000 women, those who drank milk three times a day actually broke more bones than women who rarely drank milk. Similarly, a 1994 study of elderly men and women in Sydney, Australia, showed that higher dairy product consumption was associated with increased fracture risk. Those with the highest dairy product consumption had approximately double the risk of hip fracture compared with those with the lowest consumption. This is because animal protein – in fish, poultry, red meat, eggs and dairy products – tends to leach calcium from the bones and encourages its passage into the urine. Plant protein – in beans, grains and vegetables – does not appear to have this effect. Therefore, soya milk, not dairy milk, consumption in schools should be encouraged.

Mark Richards

Brighton

Following reports that the Government was planning to snatch the milk from the mouths of Scotland's children by scrapping the nursery milk scheme, and then performed a U-turn on this, the position of the Public Health Minister, Anne Milton, is no longer tenable. Her proposed policy has turned sour and the instincts of the new Con-Lib coalition are now quite clear for all to see. Prime Minister Cameron clearly has no confidence in his Public Health Minister and she has no choice but to resign.

Alex Orr

Edinburgh

David Hockney may be an "evangelical smoker" ("A man aflame – and long before the smoking ban", 8 August), but he grossly misrepresents us evangelical non-smokers as "mean-spirited". We generously believe that smokers are perfectly entitled to risk excruciating circulation problems and chest conditions that still kill thousands of them prematurely. We simply ask them to please do it without inflicting the obnoxious, pervasive and lingering nicotine fumes on those unfortunate enough to be in their vicinity. Smoking, almost uniquely, affects everyone around the smoker. To argue for the right to do this is discourtesy, and even selfishness, of a high order.

Michael Meadowcroft

Leeds

Thank you, Karen Attwood, for saying what I've been feeling since my miscarriage several weeks ago ("Why is losing a baby such a taboo?", 8 August). Maybe the research has been done, but it isn't reaching those dealing with the effects of miscarriage. Maybe most women who miscarry go on to have normal pregnancies. Maybe it wasn't right this time. But when you're struggling with the sense of failure, guilt and grief, it can be terrifying to contemplate putting you and your family through that again, in case you aren't one of the lucky ones.

Baby Mother

posted online

I have been drinking kombucha tea since being given a small piece of the culture in 1992 ("Trouble brewing over 'tea of the gods'", 25 July). I must have given away hundreds of pieces since then. If you saw me with Clare Balding in Britain by Bike on BBC4 a few days ago you will see I'm doing well for 84.

Elizabeth Hutchings

Freshwater Bay, Isle of Wight

Viva Hate was not recorded by the Smiths ("There's always something there to remind me", The New Review, 8 August). It was the debut album by Morrissey in 1988, six months after the Smiths split up.

Jan-Mike Singer

Bedford

Your business editor, Margareta Pagano, asks what the financial disaster should be called (Business Comment, 8 August). I suggest the BIG credit crunch – Bankers' Incompetence and Greed.

John Ashton

Richmond, North Yorkshire

Have your say

Letters to the Editor, Independent on Sunday, 2 Derry Street, London W8 5HF; email: sundayletters@independent.co.uk (with address; no attachments, please); fax: 020 7005 2627; online: independent.co.uk/dayinapage/2010/August/15

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