So Bob Geldof is re-running his Band Aid single, ‘Do They Know It’s Christmas’. Did you know the combined wealth of the new generation of Band Aid singers is €3 billion? The combined wealth of the original Band Aid singers is nearly €20 billion.

As Cork has the longest established paediatric allergy service in the country, I think it is appropriate to reassure worried families that allergy services do exist and we respond flexibly to both routine and emergency referrals. However, the clinic in CUH is also overwhelmed and the HSE urgently needs to develop policies and realistic care pathway for all these patients.

I want to argue that Jean Claude Trichet’s ‘secret’ letter to Brian Lenihan and the consistent pressure directed at two governments, and by default every citizen in the Republic, now needs to be brought to the European Court of Human Rights .

The suspension by Samaritans of their Samaritans Radar Twitter app on the grounds of invasion of peoples’ privacy, is to be welcomed.

Two weeks ago I met some English visitors to our country. I enquired of them as to the price they pay for water in Bournemouth. They informed me that metered water for two adults and two children is £850, that figure converts to €1,084.

On watching the Remembrance Sunday commemoration in London, one was struck by the decorum and polished performance of the ceremony.

I have no problem with people protesting over the water charges.

Your November 8 editorial speaks of the “honourable contribution” that Britain’s Great War Irish soldiers made to the world, and of the “dishonesty” of the Irish view of that war which, you say, caused us to “dishonour” the memory of those Irish soldiers.

I recently attended my local water charges protest and saw the massive turnout nationwide on RTE news. Since then I’ve seen the reports of the uncharacteristic expressions of anger and frustration of the Irish public.

In response to my letter on the reconstruction of Gaza and the necessity to end Israel’s impunity for its crimes against the Palestinian people, Ciarán Ó Raghallaigh writes a confused reply seeming to ascribe responsibility for obstacles to the rebuilding to Hamas rather than to Israel’s siege which has been condemned by the UN, the EU and many human rights organisations.