My grandmother liked to gamble. We would go to Atlantic City sometimes and sit together at the blackjack tables while she smoked and patiently explained strategy to me. It was fun to be doing something she enjoyed, fun to go out to dinner and eat the pickled tomatoes that came to the table with the menus, but I didn’t care…
John Simmonds raises two issues in his letter (25 January). First, he questions the “data and its analysis” cited in the article (Rising adoptions penalise poor families but don’t cut numbers in care, says report, 19 January) without outlining his concerns. I have published a spreadsheet showing sources of data, assumptions made, and the calculations (bilson.org.uk/calculations/) so that he, or anyone…