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I am sorry, Gaby Hinsliff, but I cannot defend MPs’ booze culture (My advice to Hannah Spencer? Before calling out MPs’ boozing, try to understand the reasons behind it, 1 May). As a retired nurse, there were times when my colleagues and I were working long hours under a great deal of stress, often making life and death decisions. There is no excuse for drinking at work. Hannah Spencer was right to call it out.
Patricia Howlett
South Benfleet, Essex

• Friends at Abberton reservoir recently encountered a group of women in a bird hide who gave a whole new meaning to the term “hen party”. All glammed up (including in bride-to-be regalia), they were sporting binoculars and taking the birdwatching very seriously, confirming the RSPB’s findings (Gen Z leads birdwatching boom as more Britons reach for the binoculars, 1 May).
Jannet King
Brighton, East Sussex

• Viv Pert (Letters, 4 May) says we should be careful who we vote for and not do so as a “protest”. My vote for the Greens on Thursday will not be a protest – it will be because I believe that they offer the best hope for the future.
Peter Collins
London

• Re the talk about Andy Burnham returning to mainstream politics and his possible leadership (Andy Burnham has plan to return to Westminster ‘within weeks’, allies say, 1 May), maybe someone should ask him why he supported the Iraq war.
Alan Hind
Old Kilpatrick, West Dunbartonshire

• Someone please remind mutinous backbenchers that it is dangerous to change horses in midstream (Cabinet ministers warn mutinous MPs about trying to oust Keir Starmer, 4 May).
Lesley Evans
Cupar, Fife

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