England's forza

Zoe Williams's article ( Comment , 10 June) said that the introduction of "payment by results" in the English NHS had led to gaming, and "that hospitals were … putting patients into more complex categories so that the unit price of their stay went up". This is incorrect. The Audit Commission has been auditing clinical coding for the past three years. There is no concrete evidence of such systematic gaming. Any errors in coding, as our report The Right Result? Payment by Results 2003-07 shows, are as likely to be to the hospital's disadvantage as in its favour. Our report also found that payment by results had no impact on the quality of patient care. Andy McKeon Audit Commission • President Barack Obama's rhetoric around "British Petroleum" is rough ( Report , 9 June); but perhaps he recalls how the financial crisis of 2008 "started in America". Stephen Axbey Twickenham, Middlesex • Lynn Fotheringham's description of Manchester tart ( Letters , 11 June) was spot on, apart from the cornflakes. Mrs Evans at Llanedi county primary in the 70s made it with desiccated coconut and it was truly scrumptious. Her cabbage, however … Yvonne James Crowthorne, Berkshire • What always confuses me is whether it should be "Tesco, Tescare, Tescavi, Tescatum", or "Tesco, Tescere, Tesci, Tescum" ( Letters , 11 June). Roger Musson Edinburgh • I had believed the Greek puns to have run their course, but then I saw another in Saturday's letters (12 June ) and thought "here we go Aegean". Tony Fisher Gotham, Nottinghamshire • I learn from your unofficial England v USA programme (12 June) that Fabio Capello's backroom staff includes Messrs Baldini, Galbiati, Tancredo, Neri, Pirelli and Lattanzio. Forza Inghilterra! Toby Wood Peterborough, Cambridgeshire • Vuvuzelas, sir. Thousands of them. Fr Alec Mitchell Manchester