\n<\/p>\n
I was once visiting Massachusetts in the US and forgot to take my card into the gas station before filling up (\u2018A guy did a runner in a Jaguar\u2019: the petrol theft scandal \u2013 and the garage owner struggling to stop it, 21 July). After some loudspeaker remonstration, I took my card in, apologising that I\u2019d forgotten as we don\u2019t do that in the UK. The owner almost fell on the floor laughing. \u201cHow do you stop people stealing gas?\u201d he asked. \u201cWe don\u2019t,\u201d I replied. Further merriment ensued. Sadly, it\u2019s time we did start not releasing pumps until we have cash or a card\u00a0deposit on hand. I shall always remember the health visitor who came to see me after my youngest son was born, nearly 50 years ago (Letters, 21 July). She had the brilliant idea of asking me if I could deliver a message for her to another mother with a new baby living further up our north London street. I did, and we became firm friends \u2013 as did our sons. As your letter writers suggest, she was indeed addressing the wider social\u00a0determinants of health.\u00a0Bring them back! After a decade and more of miserableness, bleakness and being told I have to face hard truths, what I want from Andy Burnham is simple. I want to wake up tomorrow with a sense of optimism and a spring in my step, knowing that things are finally going to get better. Because we are pretty awful at these jobs, in our household DIY equates to \u201cDestroy it yourself\u201d (Letters, 17 July). Have an opinion on anything you\u2019ve read in the Guardian today? Please <\/em><\/strong>email<\/em><\/strong> <\/em><\/strong>us your letter and it will be considered for publication in our <\/em><\/strong>letters<\/em><\/strong> section.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I was once visiting Massachusetts in the US and forgot to take my card into the gas station before filling up (\u2018A guy did a runner in a Jaguar\u2019: the petrol theft scandal \u2013 and the garage owner struggling to stop it, 21 July). After some loudspeaker remonstration, I took my card in, apologising that<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":51358,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[2173,16897,4272,415,25048],"class_list":{"0":"post-51357","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health","8":"tag-crime","9":"tag-petrol","10":"tag-pump","11":"tag-stop","12":"tag-thieves"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51357","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=51357"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51357\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/51358"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=51357"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=51357"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=51357"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Paul Taroni<\/strong>
Alton, Hampshire<\/em><\/p>\n
Bridget Patterson<\/strong>
Woodbridge, Suffolk<\/em><\/p>\n
Mike Storey<\/strong>
Peterborough<\/em><\/p>\n
Pat Begg<\/strong>
Stockport, Greater Manchester<\/em><\/p>\n