I read with great sadness of the death of Katharine Whitehorn, an inspiring and compassionate writer (Report, 8 January). When I was a student in a bedsit in the 1960s, she saved my life with Cooking in a Bedsitter. I still have my copy. I was widowed in 2003, and later read her article on widowhood in the Guardian (‘You have to learn to live in another country, where you are an unwilling refugee’, 8 November 2005). So perceptive and well worth rereading.
Nick Rushbrooke
Llanfairfechan, Conwy
• Please do not use the term “jabs” (NHS needs to deliver at least 2m jabs a week to fulfil government target, 4 January). If anyone had said jab to me when I had my vaccination, they’d have received short shrift. To jab is to poke roughly or quickly, especially with something sharp or pointed.
Andrew Britsch
Eastbourne, East Sussex
• Re New Order’s greatest tracks (7 January), fans will always have a difference of opinion on any omission, but surely Touched By the Hand of God should be a shoo-in. It is many a fan’s favourite.
Alan Jeffery
Maidstone, Kent
• As she navigated a pebbly beach in her late 70s, my mother was described by a friend of my sister’s not as “sprightly”, nor in danger of “having a fall” (Letters, 8 January), but as “stalwart”. Perfect.
Miranda Cnattingius
London
• The contrast between England and Scotland is revealed by the fact that whereas in England churches can open but golf courses are closed, in Scotland churches are closed but golf courses are open.
William Burgess
Leeds
