Citrus spirit
Your leading article “Play your cards right” (Comment, Dec 18) states that satsumas in stockings is a Christmas tradition that “might be gone”. I was surprised by this. Father Christmas still gives all of us satsumas in our stockings when he visits, adults and children. Could it perhaps be that the editor was naughty rather than nice last year?
Andrew Morgan, Bristol
Randy Reynard
Further to your article on urban foxes (Magazine, Dec 18), I recall watching a television documentary on the subject years ago. My wife and I were on the sofa, and our son, then five, was sitting on the carpet between us and the screen. At one stage the commentary included the observation, “Foxes have been known to copulate up to 27 times in one night.” My wife and I exchanged a look and waited for the inevitable question from the stalls. Instead there was a pause and then the comment: “I never knew foxes could count.”
Paul Gentry, Turvey, Bedfordshire
Morning has broken me
Pain is the price of pleasure, says Martin Broadley (Letters, Dec 18). If so, it is borne out by the old tale of the Scottish Presbyterian opening his curtains in the morning to a beautiful summer’s day, only to mutter: “Och, we’re going to pay for this!”
Richard Briand, Leek, Staffordshire
Pullout prince
The Sunday Times helpfully prints pullout sections for different topics — property, travel and so on. Please could you start a new one for all articles about Harry and Meghan? This would enable those many of us with no interest in this farce to recycle them quickly and easily.
Mike Connor, West Molesey, Surrey
NHS misdirected
Rod Liddle is thinking of applying to be a “director of lived experience” for the NHS in the Midlands, a post that comes with an advertised salary of £110,000-£115,000 (Comment, Dec 18). The starting salary for a qualified nurse (NHS band 5) is £27,055. So the cost of this appointment is the same as a 10 per cent pay rise for 41 newly qualified nurses. I know which I’d rather see.
Keith Appleyard, West Wickham, London
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Looking after No 10
Your article “Will Sunak blink first?” (News, Dec 18) provides an insight into the cabinet’s priorities regarding the NHS. You report that privately cabinet ministers believe “that a compromise needs to be reached” to clear the backlog of operations “in time for the next general election”. Their approach is predicated on a self-serving wish to secure another term in government — and an apparent bare minimum of sympathy for those in dire need of medical care and those who provide it.
John H Patterson, Sunderland
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