Re Adrian Chiles’s cure for insomnia (I’ve tried everything and finally found the perfect cure for insomnia, 28 September), my most sleep-inducing audiobook is Samuel Pepys’ diary, read by Kenneth Branagh. Pepys is a lecherous, money-grabbing old sod, nasty to the servants and dismissive of his wife. But he is at the centre of history. After 10 minutes I am in the land of nod.
Anne Moon
Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
• Charlotte Higgins compares privatisation of the arts to what is happening to the NHS (The great British sell-off: why are we allowing our arts to be privatised by stealth?, 1 October). However, rich people are donating to arts institutions, allowing them to keep their doors open to the public. The companies that “invest” in the NHS are seeking to extract public money from it, not contribute to it.
Maggie Watson
London
• The reference to heffalump traps occupied by schoolmasters (Letters, 3 October) reminds me of my maths teacher, who was reported to have said: “Every time I breathe, somebody dies in China.”
Richard Harley
Alresford, Hampshire
• Re Radon Liz, we should not just worry about the effects of radon (Letters, 3 October). The side-effects of Librium, as in Librium Liz (Half-witted, reckless Librium Liz may be even worse than May and Johnson, 29 September) include confusion and hallucinations.
David Shannon
Ashton under Hill, Worcestershire
• Reviewing Iphigenia in Splott (2 October), your theatre critic writes: “Everyone should see this shattering modern classic.” How? It closes on 22 October, and it’s even more difficult to get to London with the train strikes.
Roger Day
Wedhampton, Wiltshire
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