Wait is ludicrous.

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I am aghast that patients still have to wait up to six months and over for non-emergency surgery. Is the patient turnover longer in England than in the US? I live in a city of over 150,000 souls. We have two major hospitals and two ambulatory care hospitals, and no-one has to wait longer than a week for any kind of surgery. In fact you can see your doctor one day and be in the hospital the next. Perhaps the answer lies in the number of doctors you have and how many they can see a day, but six months is ludicrous for the English people to have wait for those periods. It's obvious there must be a better way to cutting the waiting lists down.

JEFF WRIGHt, Brownsville, Texas, USA

I SIT here writing this and find myself wondering just what is going on in the minds of some people. My mother is in her 60s and lives for her allotment. She tends to it every single day of every year, rain or shine. Two days ago my mother and father went to the allotment as usual only to find the shed burned to the ground and the greenhouse windows all broken and because of the heat, the fire had twisted the metal frames. This is not the first time the vandals have attacked the allotments and I doubt if it will be the last either. I, as a taxpayer of Gateshead, would like to see CCTV covering the allotments before any more damage is done.

JOAN, Gateshead.