Sister Sophia Rose responds to Emma Beddington’s article on how nuns are having a moment

Thank you to Emma Beddington for her thoughtful column ( Tired of being a woman in 2025? Why not become a nun?, 1 December ). It is always refreshing to see nuns and religious sisters portrayed in a context other than the horror-movie stereotype we seem to have inherited.

I was intrigued by her mention of Convent Wisdom: How Sixteenth-Century Nuns Could Save Your Twenty-First-Century Life by Ana Garriga and Carmen Urbita. I look forward to reading it and I may well recommend it in our Franciscan newsletter.

Sister Sophia Rose responds to Emma Beddington’s article on how nuns are having a moment

Thank you to Emma Beddington for her thoughtful column ( Tired of being a woman in 2025? Why not become a nun?, 1 December ). It is always refreshing to see nuns and religious sisters portrayed in a context other than the horror-movie stereotype we seem to have inherited.

I was intrigued by her mention of Convent Wisdom: How Sixteenth-Century Nuns Could Save Your Twenty-First-Century Life by Ana Garriga and Carmen Urbita. I look forward to reading it and I may well recommend it in our Franciscan newsletter.

Sister Sophia Rose responds to Emma Beddington’s article on how nuns are having a moment

Thank you to Emma Beddington for her thoughtful column ( Tired of being a woman in 2025? Why not become a nun?, 1 December ). It is always refreshing to see nuns and religious sisters portrayed in a context other than the horror-movie stereotype we seem to have inherited.

I was intrigued by her mention of Convent Wisdom: How Sixteenth-Century Nuns Could Save Your Twenty-First-Century Life by Ana Garriga and Carmen Urbita. I look forward to reading it and I may well recommend it in our Franciscan newsletter.

Alex Sobel draws attention to his constituency’s life expectancy gap and calls for a cross-government health inequalities strategy

Your report about the deprivation divide in UK communities brings into sharp focus the granularity of inequalities in the country ( ‘Posh-poor divide’: the rise in areas of England where wealth and deprivation appear side by side, 1 December ). These aren’t just socioeconomic – they have a huge impact on our health, wellbeing and how long we live.

This harsh truth is nowhere clearer than in my constituency, Leeds Central and Headingley, which has the widest life expectancy gap in England based on data from Health Equals. Residents in the Hyde Park area are expected to live a shocking 14 years less than those in neighbouring Far Headingley and Weetwood. A half-hour walk takes you from one area to the other – equating to more than a decade of life lost.

Alex Sobel draws attention to his constituency’s life expectancy gap and calls for a cross-government health inequalities strategy

Your report about the deprivation divide in UK communities brings into sharp focus the granularity of inequalities in the country ( ‘Posh-poor divide’: the rise in areas of England where wealth and deprivation appear side by side, 1 December ). These aren’t just socioeconomic – they have a huge impact on our health, wellbeing and how long we live.

This harsh truth is nowhere clearer than in my constituency, Leeds Central and Headingley, which has the widest life expectancy gap in England based on data from Health Equals. Residents in the Hyde Park area are expected to live a shocking 14 years less than those in neighbouring Far Headingley and Weetwood. A half-hour walk takes you from one area to the other – equating to more than a decade of life lost.

Alex Sobel draws attention to his constituency’s life expectancy gap and calls for a cross-government health inequalities strategy

Your report about the deprivation divide in UK communities brings into sharp focus the granularity of inequalities in the country ( ‘Posh-poor divide’: the rise in areas of England where wealth and deprivation appear side by side, 1 December ). These aren’t just socioeconomic – they have a huge impact on our health, wellbeing and how long we live.

This harsh truth is nowhere clearer than in my constituency, Leeds Central and Headingley, which has the widest life expectancy gap in England based on data from Health Equals. Residents in the Hyde Park area are expected to live a shocking 14 years less than those in neighbouring Far Headingley and Weetwood. A half-hour walk takes you from one area to the other – equating to more than a decade of life lost.

No more ‘ghost’ trains | Country diary | Patriotic pudding | Fifa peace prize | Inaptly named buildings

How disappointing that the rail regulator has caved in to the moaning minnies and reinstated the 7am Manchester to London as a passenger service ( ‘People had forgotten about it’: onboard the 7am Manchester-London train service saved from axe, 4 December ). Here was a brilliant idea being piloted before adoption across the rail network. Gone now is the dream of an efficient rail service unencumbered by the demands of so-called “humans” and their messy ways.
Dr David Webster
Crewe, Cheshire

• There are two serious messages from Nicola Chester’s brilliant writing ( Country diary, 3 December ). One, I wonder how many people have sustained serious injuries from dogs’ exuberant greetings. The second is that however comforting hot sweet tea is, giving liquids can delay the administration of an anaesthetic.
Elaine Steane
Oxford

No more ‘ghost’ trains | Country diary | Patriotic pudding | Fifa peace prize | Inaptly named buildings

How disappointing that the rail regulator has caved in to the moaning minnies and reinstated the 7am Manchester to London as a passenger service ( ‘People had forgotten about it’: onboard the 7am Manchester-London train service saved from axe, 4 December ). Here was a brilliant idea being piloted before adoption across the rail network. Gone now is the dream of an efficient rail service unencumbered by the demands of so-called “humans” and their messy ways.
Dr David Webster
Crewe, Cheshire

• There are two serious messages from Nicola Chester’s brilliant writing ( Country diary, 3 December ). One, I wonder how many people have sustained serious injuries from dogs’ exuberant greetings. The second is that however comforting hot sweet tea is, giving liquids can delay the administration of an anaesthetic.
Elaine Steane
Oxford

No more ‘ghost’ trains | Country diary | Patriotic pudding | Fifa peace prize | Inaptly named buildings

How disappointing that the rail regulator has caved in to the moaning minnies and reinstated the 7am Manchester to London as a passenger service ( ‘People had forgotten about it’: onboard the 7am Manchester-London train service saved from axe, 4 December ). Here was a brilliant idea being piloted before adoption across the rail network. Gone now is the dream of an efficient rail service unencumbered by the demands of so-called “humans” and their messy ways.
Dr David Webster
Crewe, Cheshire

• There are two serious messages from Nicola Chester’s brilliant writing ( Country diary, 3 December ). One, I wonder how many people have sustained serious injuries from dogs’ exuberant greetings. The second is that however comforting hot sweet tea is, giving liquids can delay the administration of an anaesthetic.
Elaine Steane
Oxford