What not to wear when you’re over 80 | Brief letters

Praise for the Tories | John McDonnell | Lady Rhondda’s Vichy water | Clothing for octogenarians | Dungaree comfort | Flurry of epistolary success

I never thought the day would come when I’d be congratulating a Tory government for doing the right thing, but I can in the case of the new fixed-odds betting terminal limits (Report, 18 May). Shame that Labour created this mess in the first place.
Ralph Jones
Rochester, Kent

• The shadow chancellor can’t address prison officers because someone says he had been “an IRA apologist” (Report, 18 May). We all have backstories. Boris Johnson, having offended Libyans, Africans, Sikhs and just about all of us, is still allowed to speak on behalf of the Foreign Office. I once voted Tory. The quality of mercy appears to vary.
Frank Paice
Norwich

• My mother’s first job on leaving school was at the offices of Time and Tide, where her first task of the day was to heat up Lady Rhondda’s Vichy water (Welsh opera company celebrates suffragette, 14 May). Sadly, my mother did not become a feminist.
Jill Rhodes
Wirksworth, Derbyshire

• No clothes are unacceptable for the over-80s (Letters, 18 May), but no clothes is probably unacceptable.
John Kirkwood
Sheffield

• If you want the comfort of a onesie with less faff when you go to the bathroom, go for dungarees. They have the comfort of no waistband and are stylish. I bought mine in the 1970s and they are still going strong.
Madeline Weston (approaching 80)
Norwich

• You wait 40 years for a Guardian letter, then three come along together (Letters, 8 and 18 May).
Dr Nigel Mellor
Newcastle upon Tyne

• Join the debate – email guardian.letters@theguardian.com

• Read more Guardian letters – click here to visit gu.com/letters

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