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As a young ward sister and trade union steward, I remember, in the 1980s, when I was on the picket line in front of my hospital, stopping a doctor in his Mercedes. He asked me who I was, and I replied: “One of your colleagues.” He looked at me with contempt and answered: “I don’t think so, my colleagues are intelligent people.” So I wonder where their newfound enthusiasm for industrial action comes from. Has the price of Range Rovers gone up?
Hilary Bramley
Courbesseaux, France

• There seem to be experts for every aspect of life nowadays, but to read that the Woodland Trust has a “conversation adviser” in the form of Dr Ed Pyne surely takes the biscuit (Contractor that cut back 500-year-old oak in London park identified, 3 April). I suspect the infamous “Grauniad” typo phantom was at work again and that Dr Pyne is a conservation adviser.
Pete Lavender
Woodthorpe, Nottinghamshire

• Thanks for the advice to use five teaspoons of poppy seeds, not five tablespoons, in the apple, honey and poppyseed cake recipe (Corrections and clarifications, 3 April). Having made the cake some weeks ago, I’m still picking poppy seeds out of my teeth.
Andrew Walker
Bradford

• Regarding ways of helping maintain agility for Parkinson’s sufferers (Letters, 29 March), I have found handbell ringing helpful both for mental and physical coordination and agility.
Barry Marsden
Burnham, Buckinghamshire

• Having breakfast lately with a professor friend, I was offered a quantum of coffee and a plethora of cereal options (Letters, 2 April).
Steve Richards
Bath

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