When writing my book The Politics of Breastfeeding in 1987, I wanted to use a photo taken by Raghu Rai (Obituary, 4 May) of nurses bottle-feeding babies in a Singapore maternity ward. I couldn’t afford the £200 fee. I somehow acquired his phone number in India and called from the UK. He answered the phone himself. I briefly explained my work and asked if he were willing to reduce his fee. He immediately said he would waive the entire fee, adding warmly, “and good luck with your noble cause”.
Gabrielle Palmer
Cambridge
• Thanks for shooting down some pathetic male beliefs around vasectomy (Opinion, 11 May). After mine, I had a supposedly intelligent friend seriously tell me he wouldn’t want anything that “messed with his boys”. But aside from a painful week doing a John Wayne walk, what a pleasure to be firing blanks.
Norman Miller
Brighton
