I have blushed my whole life (I’m now 63) and recognise the descriptions in your article of why I blush and of how being aware of the blushing makes it worse (The truth about blushing: why we do it, how we can resist it – and why it’s actually good for us, 4 August). However, to make it worse, I also blush about things I have had no connection with – as if I was guilty of other people’s misdemeanours. I vividly remember, 50 years ago, sitting in the school assembly hall when the headteacher described an act of vandalism in the boys’ toilets. I had absolutely no connection with this, but felt the guilt of whoever had done it, as I glowed red with the power of a two-bar electric fire as the desecration was described. “You’re going to get us all killed!” my pal Tim said as we filed out to go to lessons. I thought I’d grow out of it, but haven’t so far.
David Fairhead
Farnham, Surrey
