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Embrace hugging
Mark Palmer puts forward a very good case for why he thinks the handshake has always been throughout history the more appropriate form of contact in society (September), but belittles the body hug with scant praise.
He presents us with a selection of moments in history when a handshake was a promise of good faith, but there are many occasions when it was not – for instance, the travesty of the exchange when Adolf Hitler and Neville Chamberlain shook hands. History is littered with such occasions as the ones he highlighted, when heads of state made promises in public with a shake of the hand only to renege on them later in private with a shake of the head. But a hug is immediate, something of the moment. It cannot be erased at some future time at the whim of either party.
I was born in Venice of Italian parents. Warm hugs and kisses are second nature to me, my family and my friends. I came to England at a young age, and over the years I have absorbed some of the reticence that Mark refers to and am a little more sensitive now to other people’s feelings. But whether or not to hug depends on the social environment and nuances in which one lives. Our family has always exchanged hugs and kisses. And I have never encountered a reticence in the young as Mark intimates in his article. Mankind has survived innumerable millennia and is still going strong, but not on the strength of shaking hands. There are certain other things involved. So please reach out and hug someone you love. You will be surprised at how much pleasure it gives to both of you.
Mario Marin Oundle, Peterborough
Do not touch
I find hugging embarrassing, especially if it’s somebody who is a lot taller than me or, heaven forbid, suffering with body odour. I come from a family who never hugged. l even joked to my friends that when I was born, my mother and I just shook hands.
Douglas Fox, Bristol
A question of healthcare
Too many of us, too often, shake our heads and mutter that the NHS is no longer what it was. The days when my GP father would respond to a call from a patient in the middle of the night, putting on jacket and trousers over his pyjamas and driving off are long gone. Nowadays, it seems there is nothing between waiting three weeks to see a doctor, assuming the practice receptionist reckons you merit such attention, and a four-hour wait in A&E.