Freshers fleeced and cooks confounded

http://www.theguardian.com/education/2015/sep/02/freshers-fleeced-and-cooks-confounded

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Polly Toynbee has written a vivid account of the crisis facing the NHS and social services (The long read, 2 September). However, it is marred by the use of the term “bed-blockers”. They are no more bed-blockers than prisoners are cell-blockers. The system has trapped them just as surely as judges have trapped those in jail.Geoff BarrExeter, Devon

• I worked in Ethiopia as a VSO volunteer for a year in a school and college. I experienced first hand the sheer pleasure, joy and fun that students felt when they received a book. These were just story books sent from Ireland, they had never seen anything like them. The illustrations, the colour, the feel, the pop ups all added to this enjoyment and amazement. So please, Books for Africa (Letters, 29 August), keep doing what you are doing and ignore those who don’t know what they are talking about.Gemma HenseyWestport, Ireland

• Patrick Barkham (Walking an angry path, 1 September) makes useful points about keeping footpaths open. But one correction: landowners are required to reinstate paths after crops are sown. True, wheat can be trodden but try that in a field of mature maize or oil seed rape.Rod WarringtonChester

• When I was a student in Leicester in the early 60s, a regular at our local pub supported his beer-drinking habit by using six-inch nails to fleece each intake of freshers (Letters, 1 September). He would challenge us to a game of darts for the price of a pint, where he would only use nails. He had filed them to a very sharp point and threw them blunt end first. They looped over in flight, and I once saw him score 180. I never saw him lose.Chris OsborneWest Bridgford, Nottinghamshire

• I too am amazed at the some of the unheard of ingredients in some recipes (Letters, 2 September). Sometimes I can’t even find them in the dictionary. It puts me right off making it.Jane BonnickTiverton, Devon