Give the gladiator sandals another summer | Letters
Female fertility | DNA database | Prison reform | Disposable fashion | Last English kingI was surprised to be informed (The foul reign of the biological clock, 10 May) that 1.5 is "the number of children the average American woman had in 1976". At a rough estimate this means 120 million children were born in 1976. There's an old joke about an American asking "Do you have children?", and a British person answering "Not if I can help it." But it's not apparently a distinction that your editors are aware of.
Vivian Cook
Colchester
" The case for a universal national DNA database has once again been made by the case of Melanie Road, killed over 30 years ago, but whose murder has only recently been solved following the fluke sampling of the killer's daughter's DNA after she was arrested for criminal damage (Report, 10 May). Of course a compulsory DNA database invades individual privacy but, provided there are adequate safeguards, I believe it is a price well worth paying to remedy the gross inadequacies in the justice system.
Benedict Birnberg
London