20-07-2025
At 82, I'm completely at home with bacteria
Regarding the article on bacteria in homes (Is your home a health hazard? 15 surprisingly filthy everyday items, from taps to toothbrushes, 17 July), I have managed to live to the age of 82 without ever putting a cutting board in the dishwasher, or sterilising light switches, the TV remote or my spectacles. I do boil the dishcloth every couple of weeks and that's it. We have lived with these bacteria for millennia. Is there any evidence that sterilising every surface would do anything other than increase paranoia?Owen WellsIlkley, West Yorkshire
Adrian Chiles, trying to sleep in the heat of the Croatian summer, should use a canny old Australian trick: keep your pyjamas in the freezer until bedtime (I've found the cure for a sleepless night in a heatwave – but it can have its drawbacks…, 17 July). Bliss!Liz TaylorWest Bridgford, Nottinghamshire
To answer Tony Meacock's question (Letters, 18 July), no, I haven't finished my replica of the Bayeux tapestry yet. Right now, the completed embroidery stands at 52.6 metres. I aim to finish in HanssonWisbech, Cambridgeshire
Wow! Blake Morrison's compilation of terrorists (Letters, 18 July) is the most powerful letter I have ever seen in my 60 years of reading the Guardian. I just hope that those who could make a difference will read it. Gill Empson Edwinstowe, Nottinghamshire
Thanks to Blake Morrison for his poem. It just reminded me why I buy the KinderRomsey, Hampshire
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