Anonymity is granted only at the discretion of the editor, who also reserves the right to edit letters.

Keep you socks on!

Re your Adver Comment (July 3) regarding the case of Terry Sturrock and sepsis.

When you take your child for a shoe fitting does the child wear socks?

An important question because there was a case in Merthyr Tydfil last year where a four-year-old girl nearly died after a shoe fitting.

As simple as that!

She caught life-threatening sepsis from trying on new shoes without wearing socks, according to doctors who treated her. They diagnosed sepsis from bacteria in the shoes on display.

The day following the shopping trip the little girl was in agony along with a raging temperature.

Instinctively the mother rushed her to A&E.

The doctors thought they’d have to operate but fortunately they managed to drain the pus and placed her on antibiotics.

One risks getting Athlete’s Foot from trying on new shoes without socks, but blood-poisoning is far more serious. The poison had rapidly spread up her leg and into her body.

It is thought that the little girl had a ‘breach’ in her skin, either a graze or an insect bite of which she was unaware.

Delay would have cost the mother her child.

Jeff Adams, Bloomsbury, Swindon

No to hate crime

Regarding the letter from Zoe McCormick in the Adver on July. I agree with her completely. I am both a transexual and disabled person, who also sits on the Wessex CPS hate crime panel.

In the past I have been beaten up and spat just for being me. Yes I voted to Remain but according to Mr Halladay in the Adver, you can be a racist and homophobic/transphobic and be a bigot as, you are only entitled to give your opinion I must disagree with Mr Halliday

As if you are a Leaver or a Remainer hate crime is a crime and should not happen at all.

Helen Thompson, Princes Street, Swindon

Things move on

Common sense advice to avoid the scammers (SA, July 2).

Mr Hudson’s excellent article on avoiding being scammed. However taxation titles have moved on.

Inland Revenue ceased to exist in April 2005 when the Inland Revenue was combined with Her Majesty’s Custom & Excise to form Her Majesty’s Revenue & Customs.

The HMRC Tax Helpline number is 0345 300 3900.

There are numerous other telephone numbers covering national insurance, student loans and bereavement and deceased estate amongst others.

Henry Smith, Peatmoor

Housing crisis

The letter from Zoe McCormick (July 1) considers many of the problems in Britain but misses out the biggest issue of the day and that is the housing shortage.

It is fashionable for politicians to skate over the housing crisis and pretend that it does not exist. This is because it mostly affects the young generation who tend not to vote.

Forty-six years of EU membership have created a shortage of four million houses.

Having a roof over your head is a basic human right but millenials are finding that the high costs of buying and renting are eating up their wages.

Right wingers and left wingers need to put politics aside for a while and sort out the housing problem for the sake of the young generation.

Steve Halden, Beaufort Green, Swindon