I was surprised that your article (HR – your friend or your foe?, Work, 28 May) contained only one cursory mention of the role of trade unions. When I was first elected as a workplace TU rep, an HR adviser whose views I respected (yes, there are a few of them) said: "Remember that we are there to advise management and you are there to advise staff. If management have HR present then your members must insist on having a TU rep present." I have lived by this advice ever since. Not all HR advisers are honest enough to admit that their role is to support management, and not staff.
Liz McInnes
Unite equality and workplace rep
• Congratulations on your piece (In praise of… Blackburn with Darwen, 27 March) highlighting the achievements of the council and its partners in relation to its young people. What a pity that recent government cuts have fallen most heavily on councils such as this one, making such enterprise and innovation even more difficult. Is this the way to make a more equal society and to nurture our young people in our deprived but innovative borough, or am I missing something?
Phil Watson
Chief executive, Blackburn with Darwen, 1997-2006
• Gavin Millar says televised justice would make our democracy richer (Court on camera, 30 May). Who in our democracy did he have in mind? Lawyers and media owners, by any chance, as they scramble to make it another profitable soap? The Big Brother Courthouse?
Gerry McCarthy
Ipswich
• I know the Today programme can be rather staid, and some might think old-fashioned, but do they really "gather their sheaves of foolscap" (You can't be cheeky or too opinionated, G2, 26 May)? Have they yet heard of A4-sized paper?
Ron Brewer
Old Buckenham, Norfolk
• If Gil Scott-Heron was the godfather of rap (Obituaries, 20 May), Dame Edith Sitwell was surely the godmother.
Paul Ingrams
Aberystwyth
• I won't dance (Letters, 30 May)! Why should I?
Sara Neill
Tunbridge Wells, Kent