Letters: Briefly

FOR AN old beggar of 80 to be presented as a sitting MP is a compliment I hardly deserve. The words 'for Salford East, 1955-83' after MP, were omitted from the address you gave under my letter last Sunday.

Frank Allaun, Manchester

YOU STATE that Saints Eulampius and Eulampia were martyred in Nicodemia (The List, 10 October). In fact these child saints were martyred during the reign of Gallienus in Nicomedia, the modern city of Izmir, which is about 90kmto the east of Istanbul.

Bernard McDonagh, Surrey

I READ with interest Cal McCrystal's article on Newtownards ('Unionists: we're caught in a trap', 10 October). His reference to the manhole in the middle of Conway Square puzzled me. Why did he make it sound so ominous? It is there simply to insert the town's Christmas trees into every year. No bogymen, paramilitaries, guns or bombs.

J Wright, Co Down

TORY party strategy ('The return of the bogywoman', 10 October) is as old as the story of creation. When men have made a mess of things they blame women - 'she gave me of the tree, and I did eat'.

Sue Malleson, Milton Keynes

DR TONY Smith 'Second Opinion' (Review, 10 October) failed to acknowledge that many women receive contraceptives completely free of charge from family planning clinics. Is he proposing this should cease? Surely women should be encouraged to use these clinics where they can obtain contraceptives without inappropriate moral questioning, but with appropriate advice.

Jenny Wetton, Hyde, Cheshire