Reader warns late NHS letters could put lives at risk – your letters, plus girls get a hands-on taste of engineering – a picture from the archive

My NHS letter arrived late

On February 23 I received an appointment to attend hospital, the letter is dated January 26, the appointment was for the February 11. From conversations I have had with hospital staff missed appointments are mainly due to the Post Office, however the NHS managers believe that all appointment should be sent second class to save money, missed appointments not only cost money but may in some instance's cost lives.

Paul Evans, Midlands

Difficult to get men talking

Every day it seems, or at least every other day, we get some earnest looking ‘celebrity’ on This Morning, who is on a mission to, ‘get men talking’ or to ‘get men to open up’.Good luck with that! I would say that it is very difficult to ‘get men talking’ or to ‘get men to open up’ simply because these days we are frightened to say anything!

Oh for just one spark of courage and originality!

Alan Jones, Midlands

Gun warning is nonsense

Reading that the South Shropshire MP Stuart Anderson is pandering to his rural constituents claiming that strengthening controls on shotguns 'will have far-reaching negative consequences that will cripple the countryside' is complete and utter nonsense.

He is of course absolutely correct; no rational person would need to own a shotgun. They are clearly only kept for the sinister purposes of eradicating clay pigeons and home grown pheasants with a 'death wish' and frightening the occasional hedge.

Perhaps one is inclined to consider that the shotgun functions much like a waxed jacket; impractical, carefully displayed, and primarily intended to make the owner feel important.

Roger Norton, Shrewsbury

Defections are nothing new

In response to comments by N Murray, defections from one party to another has been going on for ages.

It's always the party which is has lost the defector are the ones that whine about the need for a by-election.

On the principle of a candidate winning an election based on being a member of a political party, surely by the same token, should that party break promises made in their manifesto, then an election should be called. From the performance of the Conservative Party over the past few years, I am not surprised that some members took the view that the party had moved away from it's old principles.

I just wonder what will happen to the Labour party in the coming months when the whole pack of cards comes tumbling down. Will we see defections by MPs on principles or just trying to save their jobs?

P Langdon, Shrewsbury

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