By name but not by nature

Not all Guardian-readers, it seems, have a Guardian-reader's soul. You may recall the mother who wrote last month to the Groan's 'Private Lives' column, wanting to know what she should do about a developing relationship between herself and the man with whom her daughter had just concluded a relationship. The daughter was 'heartbroken'. The correspondents taking up this sad mother's problem do not all extend to her an understanding word. Some of them actually tell her what she needs to hear.