Peter Rhodes: Sorry about all that

HSBC has sent me a booklet of "important changes" to my bank account including this: "We've changed the Bank Account summary to clarify that, if we're converting your account to our Current Account because you don't meet the eligibility requirements for the Bank Account, you can find details relating to our Current Account set out in the Terms . . ." So that's nicely clarified, then.

ONE of the most irritating aspects of the financial crash was the daily thundering from Angela Knight, then chief executive of the British Bankers' Association. Knight has a foghorn voice that would make Margaret Thatcher sound shy and retiring. Her endless, full-volume message was basically that bankers could do no wrong and the system was sound, even as the truth emerged that some bankers were a disgrace and the system stank. Today, newly appointed as head of the Office of Tax Simplification, Knight climbs on the penitent stool to tell a Commons committee: "I'm so sorry I ended up at the BBA in the banking crisis. I'm so sorry that it chose me to be its target." Sorry. Sometimes it sounds like the easiest word.

IN an idle moment, so the legend goes, a team of sub-editors on the Times dreamed up the most and least gripping headlines. The best was the now-famous: "Sex-Change Bishop in Mercy Dash to Palace." The worst was: "Small Earthquake in Peru – Not Many Hurt," but it has a challenger this week. From the Guardian: "Chilean architect Alejandro Aravena wins 2016 Pritzker prize."

IN the wake of Whitehall's new safe-drinking levels, I asked if anyone remembered the days when you could get booze prescribed on the NHS. A reader writes: "When my wife was having our first baby in 1980 she was advised by the health visitor to drink a bottle of Mackeson a day She didn't like the taste. Thankfully, I did."

WHY do some doctors have such a downer on booze? One suggestion this week came from health writer Tony Edwards. He says some research suggests moderate drinkers are less likely to suffer from a wide range of diseases. But as he puts it: "The job of doctors is to help sick people rather than healthy ones, so they inevitably see the casualties of alcohol, never its beneficiaries." So most doctors will see alcoholics dying of liver disease while never meeting the moderate drinker who enjoys a glass of wine a day and, inexplicably, never catches a cold.

A SURVEY of grass-roots Labour supporters reveals the party has grown, moved to the Left and thinks its new leader is great. I'm not sure if this tells us anything except that Jeremy Corbyn has a lot of support among his supporters.

THANKS for all your items on the subject of chucking out a favourite pair of old shoes. Most were funny tales. And then suddenly this: "In 1971 I bought new black shoes to walk my wife-to-be down the aisle. Forty years later, in 2011, after much wear, repair and polishing, I wore the same shoes to walk her coffin again down the aisle. You can't put a price on all the memories a much-loved pair of shoes can hold."

I SUGGESTED a few days back that in olden times mothers would advise their daughter to "keep your hand on your tuppence," as a warning against randy boys. A number of you are convinced the expression was "keep your hand on your ha'penny." Inflation, presumably.