Letters: In Brief

Sir: Your correspondent (letter, 23 July) who wonders if anyone needs more leisure time, cannot be acquainted with working parents. This is not surprising, since fathers and mothers spend their time away from work almost entirely caring for dependants, leaving no time to socialise with the childless to keep them informed of the requirements of modern family life.

ROB YELLOWHAMMER

Leamington Spa, Warwickshire

Sir: David Lane should not despair of finding cricket equipment for his sons (letter, 26 July). He should go to his nearest county cricket ground - perhaps even to see a match - and spend the lunch interval in their shop. As a Northamptonshire member, I found everything my six-year- old nephew needed at their on-site shop - and not a baseball bat in sight!

CATHERINE ROSE

Olney, Buckinghamshire

Sir: All new adult bikes will have to be fitted with a bell as a safety measure for pedestrians (report, 24 July). And to make it safer to cycle on the pavement?

PETER FORSTER

London N4

Sir: What is so wrong with beheading convicted drug smugglers ("Women beheaded in Saudi execution frenzy", 23 July)? Were every country to follow the example of Saudi Arabia, fewer people would be willing to risk their lives as couriers. We in the West cannot rely on rival gangs to wipe each other out. We must help them on their way.

KEITH SHARP

Dawlish, Devon

Sir: Why should St James the Greater, Leicester, have urgent repairs to its roof done free of VAT (letter, 21 July) when my church, which doesn't happen to be listed, has to pay? The VAT question is a red herring in the vexed issue of who should pay for the maintenance of expensive and often disfunctional ancient churches.

PAUL COOPER

Walmer, Kent