Forget ‘picky bits’ – get the spreadables out | Brief letters

Decades before the scourge of “picky bits” (The hill I will die on: No self-respecting adult should use the term ‘picky bits’, 31 August), our family had “spreadables”. We were allowed as many slices of bread as we wanted, but there were rules. No sweet spreadables (honey, jam, marmalade) before we’d eaten at least one savoury (Heinz sandwich spread, Marmite, fish paste).Judith EagleLondon Sheila Preston suggests aliens may have already visited Earth, but were too small for us to notice and came to a bad end (Letters, 23 August). She echoes Douglas Adams, who wrote about how a mighty alien battlefleet arrived on Earth but, owing to a major miscalculation of their size, was promptly swallowed by a small dog.James ParryLondon In the tributes to Tim Curry (Obituary, 27 August), I saw no mention of how he put his fabulous voice to fantastic use in the Lemony Snicket audiobooks. He kept our family richly entertained on many a road trip.Humphrey KeenlysideLondon Re Novak Djokovic vomiting numerous times at the US Open (Sport, 31 August), isn’t it time to ask tennis players to leave the game if they are throwing up on court? I pity whoever to deal with the towel bin Djokovic vomited into.Eleanor ValeLong Melford, Suffolk In your description of 70 Up (The 50 best TV shows to watch this autumn, 28 August), you describe the subjects as “almost at the end of the road”. At 75, I hope I still have miles of road ahead of me. Teresa QuayleWarrington, Cheshire