Readers' letters - August 24

We'll miss Sir Bruce, a true all-round entertainer

Last Friday, it really was the end of an era and generation with the very sad passing of Sir Bruce Forsyth.

Though I was too young to remember Sunday Night at the London Palladium, which was Sir Bruce’s major break into showbusiness, I am old enough to remember the 70s version of The Generation Game which was must-see telly back in the day, followed by Play Your Cards Right, The Price is Right, the reinvented version in the 90s of The Generation Game, his appearance in the noughties on Have I Got News for You and his swansong, Strictly Come Dancing.

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A true all-round entertainer, he could sing, tap dance, was a very efficient piano player, told gags and loved dealing with the public.

He was one of a kind who will be very sadly missed.

Here’s an idea that maybe the producer of Strictly may think about as a lasting tribute – why not rename the glitterball trophy after Sir Bruce?

Peter Keighley

via email

Veganism is a selfish way

for us to live

I would like to comment on Sue Lister’s letter (WP Letters, The Case for Going Vegan, August 16).

I notice that all her replacements for milk cannot be sourced (i.e. grown) in this country.

They have to be imported.

May I ask at what cost?

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Living where I do, I can look out at the green fields and neat hedgerows.

I sigh, “Isn’t nature wonderful?”

No, it isn’t.

It is the farming industry that keeps it this way.

Cows and sheep crop the grass.

In meadows, farmers harvest the grass for silage or hay.

Incidentally, grass is the only crop that will grow in our climate, but one that does not turn into vegetables.

Milk!

Without the animals, the “green and pleasant land” of the hymn Jerusalem will be but a memory.

Witness land which has been left to nature.

It becomes thick impenetrable woodland.

This will become normal for all fields.

Also, drainage will cease if there are no farms.

Low lying land will turn into swamp.

Is this really what we want?

A vegan diet will

mean that all our food will

be grown somewhere else

at a cost which most

families cannot afford.

I find this a very selfish way to live.

David Wright

Via email

Looking back to 1980s bobbies on the beat

You know life isn’t up to much when, after a busy day, all you have to look forward to are repeats of The Bill from 1984.

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It’s all coming back, the old-fashioned bobbies on the beat, Reg and Jim, and all the crime solved in a day.

If only it was like that on the streets today.

I was taken aback slightly with some of the references to certain people of colour or gender. Obviously calling people names, even on TV, wasn’t frowned upon then.

We have come a long way in 33 years.

Jayne Grayson

via email