SIR – Visiting relatives in Sutton -in-Craven the other day, I was amazed to overhear from the deputy manager in a supermarket that boys don’t drink rose wine. Is this something peculiar to Yorkshire?

Did I commit a breach of some village by-law when I drank a glass of red wine with my relatives in the local pub, since girls by clear implication don’t drink red or white wine?

Certainly, when I was young the boys of my acquaintance would indiscriminately and immediately drink any and all alcohol within reach, whatever the colour.

Have the Heathcliffes of Yorkshire morphed into effete trendiness? Or is it a case of autres temps, autres moeurs (other times, other customs)?

Miss Geraldine McMahon, High Road, Soulbury, Leighton Buzzard