I was bowled over by Nell Frizzell’s honesty and common sense (I learned I could be a mum and do a job, G2, 22 July). Of course, many mums can’t take her stance (try being a cleaner or tube train driver), but we need to accept that lots of jobs can be done with children in the frame.

Linda Rhead

London

• I’m grateful to the Guardian for reminding us that Ursula von der Leyen is a mother of seven. Liz Reason (Letters, 23 July) sees it as unnecessary, but a woman who can juggle a political career with a large family is impressive. Being a mother teaches a woman so much about her children’s sensitivities. It must be excellent training for surviving the world of politics.

Naomi Stadlen

Author of What Mothers Do, London

• Deirdre Burrell’s letter (22 July) about a topless female colleague being greeted enthusiastically by a pupil, gender unspecified, on a beach, reminded me of a colleague, gender obvious, being greeted by a female former pupil in a nurse’s uniform about to prep him for a vasectomy.

John Petrie

Horsforth, Leeds

• I read about Latitude and how Peta UK thought the dyed sheep were terrified (Report, 22 July). They were not. I know this because I went to the festival. They were sitting down eating grass and looking relaxed.

Edith Mumford (aged 8)

St Ives, Cambridgeshire

• The NHS spent £76m on a plan to close four acute hospitals (Report, 24 July) and then decided the plan was no longer viable because of “continued growth in the demand for acute care”. I’m losing the will to live.

Dennis Hawkins

Leominster, Herefordshire

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