What a sad story (Once We Had A Daughter, April 22). Saddest of all must be the assumption that Alice's illness was a genetic disorder for which there was no cure but a lifetime of medication. Perhaps it's easier for parents to believe this; it's certainly good for drug companies' business. It's probably also untrue: in October, you reported that Robert Plomin, "the world authority on genetic causes for human behaviour, revealed that, apart from Alzheimer's, not a single gene has been shown to play a critical role in any mental illness".
Anna Fisher
London SW17

My mother has suffered from bipolar disorder for 35 years. The terrifying highs, endless lows and my guilt at not being able to help more were reflected so poignantly. Counselling for the mentally ill is very limited on the NHS, but it is nonexistent for families dealing with unrecognisable loved ones. Alice's story gave me much-needed comfort to know I am not alone in living with this illness.
Nina Bennet
London SE5

It seems so cruel for Felicity Bryan to have experienced her own mother's manic depression and then for that illness to become manifest in her daughter. Mental illness is a very real concern, and the more such issues are aired, the easier it will be for young people to seek appropriate help. This was a fitting tribute, as well as a courageous piece of writing.
Rona Grant
Stirling, Scotland

Your interview with Carl Barat (Down And Dirty, April 22) missed a chance to highlight a great talent, and fell into the tabloid trap of being more interested in dirty washing. Was the interview material so bad that you had no choice but to highlight old stories about Pete Doherty?
Stuart Carruthers
Brighton, East Sussex

Having grown up in the north-east in the 50s and 60s, I turned to Oh Happy Days (April 22). Three pages with six photographs is hardly a "photo-essay". Why so few, or was it just a token acknowledgment that the north-east exists?
Peter Stobart
London NW2

What a moving, gracious account of lost love (Experience, April 22). Contrary to received wisdom that "moving on" is the only cure, David Cathy confirmed that some are lucky enough to experience a love that cannot be simply "moved on" from.
Name and address withheld

How kind of Decca Aitkenhead to ascribe the moment of moral change to the alteration to Private Eye's classifieds brought by my departure (Sex, Now, April 15). I was responsible for the small ads for 17 years. The name "Love" was deliberate, as we expected advertisers to be looking for more than sex. They strove to be the wittiest, most imaginative or outrageous. One received an astonishing number of replies: "Spike Milligan seeks rich, well-insured widow - intention, murder." I never heard the result.
Cecilia Nicholson

I find verbose menus as irritating as Matthew Norman does (April 22), but "hand picked" and "diver caught" do not refer to how these shellfish get from sea to plate. "Hand picked" means the crab was extracted from the shell manually, rather than by machines that crush the shell and spin out the meat. "Diver caught" refers to the alternative of dredging.
Ian Dowding
Herstmonceux, East Sussex


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