Sir, In my own experience of profound grief at the untimely death of a loved one, I drew considerable comfort from the messages of sympathy and support that I received (“I’m so sorry I got your dead son’s name wrong, says Brown — my writing’s awful”, Nov 10).

At no time did it cross my mind to criticise the sender’s epistolary style, or the quality of the handwriting. I was simply grateful for the kind thoughts that had prompted the sender to write to me. Twenty-five years later, I still have all the cards and letters: they remind me of the high esteem in which my late husband was held.

Mary Winfield
Ledbury, Herefordshire

Sir, I am against everything Gordon Brown and his party stand for and dislike him intensely, but the man is human and many people in this day and age (especially with increased computer use) have pretty poor handwriting.

The intent was to offer sympathy and condolences, and regardless of the rights and wrongs in Afghanistan, it is wrong to attack someone for fundamentally “trying to do the right thing”.

It was a mistake, however, for him to telephone Jacqui Janes to apologise for the letter (“Brown confronted by grieving mother”, report, Times Online, Nov 10); that was always going to end in disaster.

Martin Lawrence
Croydon, Surrey

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