Having watched as my seriously ill husband was nursed back to health from near death, I absolutely agree with Anne Perkins (I knew all about the NHS’s challenges and flaws. But then as a patient, I saw the love and the magic, 29 December). When we don’t need the NHS, it is quietly working in the background. When we do, the care, love and support is beyond words and is priceless. How very fortunate we are.
Christine Batley
Cromer, Norfolk
I take issue with the headline on your article (2025 was the year we grew tired of celebrity for celebrity’s sake, 30 December). On 22 December, we had celebrity versions of Antiques Road Trip, The Chase, Escape to the Country, Mastermind and Masterchef on TV, while columns of newsprint were earlier devoted to Celebrity Traitors.
Margaret Squires
St Andrews, Fife
A ban on Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders) working in Gaza would surely be beyond irony (Israel to ban dozens of aid agencies from Gaza as 10 nations warn about suffering, 30 December).
David Duell
Durham
Re units of measurement (Is it Twixmas or Twixtmas? And other style guide conundrums we have faced this year at the Guardian, 29 December), I noticed in a recent Guardian article that the size of the Mexican island of Espíritu Santo was compared to that of Manhattan. What is that in football pitches and/or Waleses?
Elli Woollard
London
Twixtmas or Twixmas? Why use either?
John Stiles
Orpington, London
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