Seatbelt etiquette | Serious tennis calls | Bean counting | Hospital health
There was another occasion, long before Rishi Sunak was fined last week, when a prime minister was spotted in a car without a seatbelt. When Margaret Thatcher opened the last section of the M25, I was there for the Guardian (Report, 30 October 1986). I wrote: “With the rejoicing over it was time for the tour, with the prime minister sitting in the front seat of the Daimler – without the regulation seatbelt: ‘What do you want me to do – knock her off?’ said a policeman, overhearing the comments.” And that was that.
Geoff Andrews
Bath
• Gavin Ewart bemoans the BBC referring to “serious professional women tennis players” as “girls” (Letters, 9 July 1986) . More to the point, the phrase is a double oxymoron: being pointless and without meaning, sport is the antithesis of seriousness and, while some do it for a job, it should be called professional only sarcastically.
Francis Harvey
Bristol