Rain 4 July 2009

Rain at last, blessed, blessed cool sweet rain. After several days of heat and humidity it is wonderful. No that Puddy is please she comes in at a gallop. Shaking her head, she loathes water, getting on her fur. No more watering the front garden, the rain butts will be full once more, oh blessed rain.
Mary is reading Black Diamonds: The Rise and Fall of an English Dynasty. By Catherine Bailey. http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2007/apr/14/featuresreviews.guardianreview31
The family house Wentworth Woodhouse has just been sold in June to an Art dealer. The National Trust refused to touch it, the roof acres and acres of roof which needed repair.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wentworth_Woodhouse
But I was most touched by the family Coat of Arms, the family according to the book seemed to be a most lying cheating duplicitous lot. But you would think that anyone thinking of marrying into the family would know what they were getting into just with once glance of their coat of arms.
It consists of two naked cave men, covered strategically but rather inadequately by some green wreaths, one on either side of a shield and crown. They are waving two fearsome branches.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/emperordalek/3683387761/ Regretfully I am unable to make out the family motto in Latin.
I rather enjoyed the Doctor Who series the Aztecs, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Aztecs_(Doctor_Who) particularly Tlotoxl the baddie played by John Ringham http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Ringham New to television he and very junior asked the Director John Crockett how he wanted him to play the part. “He said ‘I want you to make every child in England hate you’” John Ringham did not think this advice was very helpful, bur ably supported by the main players he gave of his best.
After Doctor Who he went to play Z Cars, a 1960s British police series. His burly build and dark looks ensured him as a role of a villain. He would have much preferred to be a policeman “policeman lasted longer, even the dimmest copper in Z cars was bound to catch me sooner or later”
He was offered a role in Pantomime in Cinderella as the Fairy Godmother (In British pantomime the roles are reversed, even though it is meant for children). He found he had to go from snarling villainy to sweetness and light. It was rumored that he borrowed his wife’s lipstick to help get him into the new role. It failed Every child in England still hated him, and remembered him from Dr Who, he was not offered another pantomime role, always useful at Christmas when extra funds are needed, for years. Ah an actors life.
The rain is all gone an a newly tamed sun peeps out. No longer brazen and striking the earth with the brute force of her heat. But a quiet gentle sun. The lawn looks refreshed and the plants revived. All is well in the garden once more.

Obituary: Laurence Fish: artist and illustrator
Laurence Fish was a successful commercial illustrator and artist. A founder member of the Society of Industrial Artists and Designers, he was best known for his travel posters in the 1950s and 1960s.
One advertisement for British Rail was voted Poster of the Year. Such images, encouraging visitors to “go by Rail” to resorts like Southsea, Herne Bay and Hastings, are collector’s items which fetch several hundred pounds at auction.
Fish signed his posters “Laurence” to distinguish them from other commercial work, in particular his illustrations and technical images for magazines and journals, such as Flight International and Aeroplane, which brought details of the latest jet aircraft and flying technology to readers in the era before colour photography became routine.
In later life, when he was able to shed the constraints of commercial work, Fish enjoyed painting for pleasure. His figurative oils and watercolours, done in an Impressionist manner, often depicting harbours and townscapes, especially cafés and markets in France, won a keen following.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/obituaries/article6632353.ece
Letters:

Guardian:

The BMA’s support for minimum unit pricing to combat the soaring cost of drink-related illnesses (Doctors vote for alcohol ads ban, 3 July) is a real call for the government to take effective action – the medical profession is united on this. The Department of Health clearly recognises the link between cheap alcohol and heavy drinking, yet we are still waiting for adequate action. A paper in this week’s Lancet suggests the social cost of alcohol is around 1% of GNP.
The British Society of Gastroenterology fully supports minimum pricing plans. As doctors seeing the impact of alcohol abuse on our wards on a daily basis, we would argue that additional steps must be taken. Britain needs a re-evaluation and a radical overhaul of advertising and support services, sooner rather than later. We are seeing increasing numbers of people entering our wards with serious alcohol-related illnesses, more so in the younger generations. If the government can’t consider workable solutions such as minimum pricing then even more of our wards will be occupied – this is the time for action.
Dr Tom Smith
British Society of Gastroenterology
There is nothing “sneaky” in Diageo’s actions (Letters, 3 July). We believe in offering consumers a choice in serve size, whether 25ml or 35ml, and are only discussing 35ml options with publicans in relation to a single measure of spirits. The 35ml measures we distributed to shoppers are responsible in that they enable people to pour a sensible serve size at home and learn about units at the same time. A 35ml measure of spirit at 40% abv equates to only 1.4 units.
Vicki Nobles
Diageo Great Britain

The broadcasting union Bectu (Letters, 1 July) claims Sky is a business which provides no “public benefit”. At a time when some sources of TV news are under threat, Sky News has been a committed provider of high-quality, impartial news. More broadly, Sky has built a business that provides a positive and growing contribution to life in the UK: opening up choice to millions of viewers, raising standards in sports coverage, pioneering innovations such as high definition, and a growing commitment to drama and the arts. It is now almost universally recognised that investment by commercial companies has a vital part to play in a healthy economy and society. Television’s reliance on taxation and subsidy to fund high-quality content has become part of the problem. In an era of almost infinite choice, reducing that reliance must be part of its future.
Robert Fraser
Director of corporate communications, Sky

When will the Obama administration stop transplanting the Bush administration’s failed methods from Iraq to Afghanistan and Pakistan (US begins major offensive against Taliban, 1 July)? The strategy is the same one Rumsfeld used in Iraq in 2004-06. Cities like Samarra and Falluja were repeatedly assaulted with artillery, helicopters and air strikes, resulting in heavy civilian casualties and hundreds of thousands of refugees. After an area is “secured” by an offensive, the insurgents, most of whom leave in advance, return, along with new recruits seeking revenge for dead family members and friends. So another offensive follows a year or two later, with similar results. The same is still happening in Helmand in Afghanistan, with another big assault to secure villages and towns. In the 1980s the mujahideen recruited in the refugee camps full of Afghans in Pakistan. Now the Taliban are recruiting from the same camps and ones created by Pakistan government offensives carried out due to threats of a cut in aid from Obama.
Duncan McFarlane
Carluke, Lanarkshire
In January 1842 Dr William Brydon arrived at Jalalabad the sole survivor of 4,500 British soldiers and 12,000 camp followers wiped out by Afghan fighters. Lady Elizabeth Butler painted Dr Brydon’s arrival, and it was said that she did for the common soldier on canvas what Kipling did in print.
Bob Davenport
London

Phillip Blond (The new Conservatism can create a capitalism that works for the poor, 3 July) is well-meaning, but the idea that turning the poor into entrepreneurial businessmen will have a major impact on inequality shows a lack of awareness of life at the bottom of society.
Growing inequality in our society comes about partly from its greater complexity. Many are at the bottom because they lack the ability to manage this complexity. What people like this want is a job with regular hours, a fixed income, and tasks which are simple to comprehend. It is the lack of this structure in the lives of many that drags them down.
Even if you can manage the complexity of running your own enterprise, if you are poor you are in a much worse position than if you come from a wealthy background. If you are poor, you don’t have the capital and contacts to fall back on if the business fails; if that happens you will be tipped into destitution. Again, this means the certainty of a fixed income is attractive in a way a Tory who has never faced poverty would not understand.
Finally, many traditional small enterprises are no longer viable because big business outcompetes them. For example, economics of scale means a wider choice at cheaper prices is available in the big chains, so that is where everyone shops. Boutique-style specialist shops may be viable in very wealthy areas when run by entrepreneurs who understand their tastes. To imagine someone at the bottom of society could easily do similar is a typical Tory out-of-touch attitude.
Matthew Huntbach
London
Phillip Blond offers an interesting and – speaking as a Labour party member – potentially dangerous narrative. I applaud his purported desire to reduce inequality; however, the “new Conservatism” appears akin to a palliative measure – scraps tossed to those that have fallen behind. The very nature of a capital-based culture – the steady accumulation and concentration of resources – leads to the inequality that Phillip hopes to combat. Even at a localised level, how does he propose to prevent the forerunners of success in a stakeholder culture “capitalising” on their position and subsequently excluding others from realising a similar aspiration? Furthermore, what is his view on the massive, unprecedented concentrations of wealth that now exist? Does he think this “neo-oligarchy” can have a place in a fair and equal society and, if not, what does he propose should be done about it? These questions must be answered if a revived Conservative movement is to have serious credibility.
Carl Morris
Otley, West Yorkshire
While there is a capitalist spin on Phillip Bond’s recommendations, the basic premise of redistribution of assets and tax burdens to enable those on low incomes to accumulate wealth is sound and should be part of a reshaped welfare state placing social investment at its core.
The average homeowner has close to £100,000 in equity, while social housing tenants have average savings of less than £1,000. Since the majority of the UK’s wealth is bound up in residential property, approaches to reducing asset inequalities need to be tenure specific.
HCI’s forthcoming report A New Deal for Tenants recommends creating a Tenants’ Mutual supported by government, social housing providers and mutual financial institutions to enable tenants to accumulate wealth for the long term through asset accounts. It would also lend money at reasonable rates to social landlords and enterprises to develop community infrastructure and services so tenants receive a double benefit.
Kevin Gulliver
Human City institute
Glad to hear Labour’s delivering so well in Rotherham, Denis MacShane (Letters, 2 July). In Barnsley things are not going so well. We only have one new secondary school so far, a godly academy. The tertiary college is a heap of rubble and the lecturers are being replaced with unqualified “associates”. The credit crunch has stalled the rebuilding of the town centre. We have one of the highest youth unemployment rates in the country. To cap it all, the council this week unveiled a statue of Dickie Bird giving everyone the finger. The long Labour innings is over. The umpire’s decision is final.
Dr David Kiernan
Barnsley, South Yorkshire

Independent:

From the obviously heartfelt anguish of colleagues, Colonel Rupert Thorneloe, killed on Thursday by a ramshackle roadside bomb, must have been a soldier of very high quality. But the echo of Kipling’s “Arithmetic on the Frontier” is overwhelming:
A scrimmage in a Border Station –
A canter down some dark defile –
Two thousand pounds of education
Drops to a ten-rupee jezail.
Kipling was talking about Afghanistan.
Edward Pearce
Thormanby, North Yorkshire
The use of the Viking armoured vehicle in Afghanistan is criminal folly. Its bolt-on armour plates only provide protection against 7.62mm ammunition and 0.5kg anti-personnel mines. It doesn’t provide protection against heavy machine guns, the RPG , anti-tank mines, or the Taliban weapon of choice, the improvised explosive device. This vehicle is little better than the snatch Land-Rover.
The MOD officials who send the Welsh Guards into battle with these vehicles, when asked why, can only reply with words similar to those of Donald Rumsfeld, who said, when questioned about the unsuitability of the armour of US vehicles in Iraq: “As you know, you go to war with the army you have, not the army you might want or wish to have at a later time.” Our brave soldiers and marines in Afghanistan are lions being led by the donkey officials of the MoD.
George D Lewis
Brackley, Northamptonshire
Credit were credit is due; the MoD have finally been browbeaten into giving a symbol of the nation’s gratitude to the families of the brave fallen, in the form of the Elizabeth Cross. Decades late, they will properly honour the dead.
Would it be too much to ask if the MoD could also spare a thought for the living, because there but by the grace of luck or God go we? Now is the time to ensure no veteran of any era is cast to the sidelines without any official medal to wear proudly on parade. Now is the time to follow the lead of our Commonwealth cousins and issue a Defence Medal to all.
A Morland
Salisbury
It dismays me to see The Independent running the unworthy headline “Could Britain’s new military medal be made in Germany?” If a British firm fails to win the contract, what exactly would be wrong with the medal being made by this important fellow EU member, military ally and trading partner? The war with the Nazi regime, to which you shamefully allude as though it were still the basis of British relations with Germany, ended before the middle of the last century, after all.
Could you bear to see a Spanish company win the contract, or do memories of the Armada still burn strong with your headline writers? What about a Nordic company – or are you still on the look-out for invading Viking longships?
Tony Robinson
Brussels
The efficient way to run a railway
Your leader of 2 July nicely sums up the dilemma facing the Department for Transport as National Express begins the withdrawal from its franchise on the East Coast Main Line. You go on, however, to argue that the privatised management of the railway is much better than the old British Rail, and you point to higher passenger numbers and better rolling stock. Here I have to disagree.
British Rail, underfunded by government in the 1980s and 1990s, ran one of the most efficient railways in the world, given expenditure per passenger mile. The upward trend in passenger numbers started well before privatisation, and the forecasts then were of rapidly growing numbers for the following 15 years, regardless of who owned and ran the railway – forecasts which have been borne out. The much better state of the rolling stock is owed to massive investment of public money by the Labour government since 1998.
British Rail planned its investment in track renewal, rolling stock and station improvements 20 years ahead, to get the maximum benefit for every pound invested. The current system of seven-year franchises undermines long-term planning. It also damages the morale of staff as they face routine transfer from one employer to another, employers with often quite different approaches to leadership – on the East Coast line staff will by the end of this year have experienced four such transfers in five years. Surely no way to run a railway.
Anthony Stanton
St Ives, Cambridgeshire
Your leading article appears to have swallowed the Government spin on the East Coast Main Line franchise.
“Socialisation of losses”? Nonsense. The unelected nonentity currently in charge of transport is not proposing to pay off National Express’s substantial losses, and taking the franchise back in public ownership is not a licence to lose money. There seems little chance that even this incompetent government could manage to run the line at a loss now that it doesn’t need to generate a surplus of £1.4bn just to break even.
What has sunk National Express is as much the Government’s fault as the rail company’s. Unrealistically optimistic estimates (no doubt based at least in part on government forecasts) led to them bidding an enormous £1.4bn for the doubtful privilege of making a less than certain profit.
Given the recession (the depth of which is largely the Government’s fault) that £1.4bn never was more than pie in the sky and National Express has no option but to give up on the deal.
Roger Chapman
Keighley, West Yorkshire
The Government should offer the East Coast Main Line franchise to SNCF, the French state-owned operator. Then we’ll see what a 21st-century railway really looks like.
Steve Poole
Bristol
Royal Opera in the North
In response to David Lister’s comment (25 June), the proposal is about Royal Opera House Manchester being the city’s first producing theatre for world-class opera and ballet, adding to the fantastic tradition of music and dance already present in Manchester. It’s not about creating a touring venue for companies visiting the area; the North-West has that with The Lowry.
We are already working with Birmingham Royal Ballet, Opera North, the Halle Orchestra and other partners who see the enormous potential in this venture, in particular the opportunities it will provide in back-stage and performance development and training, which will feed the industry as a whole.
It will also make a contribution to the regeneration of Manchester with an innovative employment and skills programme being explored with colleges in the North-West. It’s a unique model that has already gained wide support, especially from the people of Manchester. The Lowry need not feel threatened.
Tony Hall
Chief Executive, Royal Opera House, London WC2
Save us from a British Sarkozy
Graham Allen MP, in supporting separation of executive and legislature, claims in its support that it is “well tested in many democracies” (letter, 25 June).
Like France, where the power of the presidency has evolved to the stage where Sarkozy now summons both houses to Versailles in the style of Louis XIV, to tell them what policy for the coming year is to be, then leaves them to talk among themselves with no opportunity to question or oppose him; and where, since the introduction of presidential and parliamentary elections within weeks of one another, legislative elections remind one of the role of a little-known group playing at a rock concert behind the band everyone has paid to hear?
Recently Gordon Brown has had his deviousness over spending plans ruthlessly exposed, and has been forced into a U-turn over the proposal to hold an inquiry into the Iraq War in secret – by Parliament.
Maybe Brown wouldn’t have been elected President, but Blair, with his immense ability to charm and dissemble, surely would have. A President Blair elected for five years, irremovable and not subject to being knocked about in the Commons? The very thought makes me want to lie down in a darkened room until it goes away.
Jim Cordell
Manchester
Biggs deserves to serve out his time
Robert Chesshyre’s plea for the release of Ronald Biggs (3 July) should be ignored. Biggs was sentenced to a period of incarceration that he didn’t have the cojones to serve. Instead he escaped and cocked a snook at the United Kingdom for 35 years. He returned to the UK not because he was remorseful but because he wanted to use our health services (for which he had paid not a penny in taxes) and get housing for free.
He was sentenced to 30 years, and the penalty for his escape should be that he serves every minute of that 30-year sentence. He is not entitled to parole or remission. If he dies in prison then that is tough, but if he had completed his sentence in 1993 he would now be a free man. He made his choices and must accept the consequences.
Jonathan Dumbell
Torquay, Devon
As Home Secretary, Jack Straw followed the pattern of New Labour: all Home Secretaries since 1997 have tried to be more tough than their predecessors. Now, as Justice Secretary he has exceeded himself in the tabloid test of toughness over Ronnie Biggs.
New Labour has a one-dimensional policy on law and order, and that policy is punishment. Reluctantly I must conclude that only a New Labour minister could make political capital out of keeping a very ill elderly man in prison so that he learns his lesson. Jack Straw demeans his office with this trivial display of “strength”.
Colin Lomas
London W7
No favours from the Queen
Michael Taylor (letter, 1 July) suggests the taxpayer makes a £200m profit each year out of the Queen’s surrender of the income from the Crown Estates in exchange for the payment from the Civil List. This is a commonly stated misconception.
The income from the Crown Estates was money for the monarch to use to administer the country. Once this function was taken over by the state in the 18th century the income from the Crown Estates went to the Treasury for the same purpose. The Civil List was created to replace the smaller amount of Crown Estates income which was used to keep the person of the monarch and their family.
The Crown Estates income has never been the personal property of the monarch and so is not theirs to surrender.
Jill Singer
St Albans, Hertfordshire
Cancer ‘battle’
Farah Fawcett “loses her three-year battle” with cancer (report, 26 June). When will the media move on from stories about celebrities who “battle” or “fight” cancer. We suffer with cancer. We seek treatment for cancer. We are cured from cancer or we die of cancer. And that’s that.
Barrie Spooner
Nottingham
Hand-printed?
James Edgar (“‘US Declaration print found at archives”, 3 July) and your sub-editors need to be reminded of that old printed documents are not “manuscripts”. A manuscript is literally “written by hand”. Admittedly, the term is also used loosely to denote what an author submits to a publisher, regardless of the technical means used in its preparation, but the distinction remains.
Peter Ward Jones
Oxford
Across the border
I find it hard to believe that there is no one at such a prestigious newspaper as The Independent who can tell the difference between a border collie and a border terrier. Andy Murray’s dog, depicted in your front page photograph (early editions, 3 July), is a border terrier, a feisty little dog who probably loves playing with tennis balls, but has no inbred instinct to herd sheep.
Morag Horseman
Whitley Bay, Tyne and Wear
Work for MPs
I completely agree with Dominic Lawson (30 June) and those of your correspondents who say that MPs should be allowed to have second jobs, and I would like to recommend that they undertake posts which are directly relevant to the people they serve. I therefore suggest, for example, that Ed Balls (Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families) become a classroom assistant, Andy Burnham (Secretary of State for Health) become a nurse, and that Douglas Alexander (Secretary of State for International Development) manage a branch of Oxfam.
Justin Brodie
Chester
Lunar landscape
I always enjoy Tom Lubbock’s essays on paintings at the back of The Independent’s arts section, but I wonder whether today (3 July) he has for once stopped short of seeing the obvious. Surely Jeremy Moon’s painting of five blue discs (or two discs and three half-discs) in Hoop-la is a play on his own surname.
Amanda Craig
London NW1

Times:

Sir, The loss of Lieutenant-Colonel Rupert Thorneloe and Trooper Joshua Hammond (“British commander is killed by Taleban bomb”, June 3) yet again throws into sharp focus the lack, both in the UK and across Nato, of a clear political definition of the threat to its interests posed by the Taleban — and by association al-Qaeda — in Afghanistan.
This inability — or unwillingness — to articulate the issue is at the heart of the crumbling focus of what Nato is seeking to achieve. The consequence of this, inevitably, is a lack of political will to commit the military resources necessary to achieve what, at present, is an increasingly ill-defined strategy to address an ill-defined threat.
Assuming that, inter alia, General Sir David Richards, Brigadier Carleton-Smith and Ambassador Cowper-Coles are right in asserting that the war in Afghanistan is “unwinnable”, what is the proper analysis and deduction to be made by the Government? The absolutely fundamental question, both for it and for Nato is whether the defeat of the Taleban and the establishment of a stable, long-term democracy in Afghanistan really is a “vital” interest, as President Sarkozy, Gordon Brown and fellow Western leaders frequently, if unconvincingly, assert.
If it is “vital”, then, since national security is the prime duty of any government, whatever it takes in manpower and treasure — but primarily willpower — from all Nato member nations must be allocated to fulfilling this aim. If this means conscription, fine. If it means putting economies on a war footing, fine.
If, on the other hand, these aims are merely “desirable” rather than “vital” — and with governments led by politicians with no personal military experience, and more concerned with interest rates, credit crunches, house prices and unemployment — why, that’s fine too; only let them say so and then the combat troop-contributing nations can resign themselves to the steady, long-term attrition of their soldiers being committed to an unwinnable war. Increasingly, if disgracefully, this seems the line that this Government is inclined to take.
William Pender
Stratford-sub-Castle, Wilts
Sir, How many more young and invaluable military personnel must unnecessarily lose their lives because the Government will not face the critical issue of allowing itself to being drawn into international crises when it is unable to afford proper protection for its personnel?
This week’s fatal Viking armoured tracked vehicle incident is just yet another illustration of how we cannot or will not afford adequate and effective protection for British troops in action.
When I was on the ground staff of an RAF fighter squadron just after the Second World War, I observed US aircrew — alongside us — who were not only still impressed by the Mosquito fighter bomber but also with the performance of our intake of the UK’s first jets — the Gloster Meteors and De Havilland Vampire/Venoms. The latter were too small for the Martin-Baker ejector seat: a significant risk that should not have been taken.
However, in that era, the UK was still concerned to match the US in the protection of personnel. Why not today?
Brian Stowe
Gt Malvern, Worcestershire

I suspect it’s as “vital” as Vietnam was a generation or two ago in as much as what happened when the US lost – not a huge deal, just an end to a terrible war.
John W, Aylesbury,

Sir, Plans to restrict public access to our national heritage at the National Archives, funded through taxpayers’ money, are a disgrace. Not only will the reading rooms face a 20 per cent restriction on access hours but key documents will be withdrawn also and plans are in place to “displace” all the specialist advice staff as part of a continuing efficiency drive to make 10 per cent savings. This is part of an underlying campaign to reduce onsite visits to Kew and drive people online.
At a time when personal heritage in the form of genealogy is enjoying a boom period, and history is being re-energised in schools through hands-on teaching based on primary sources, this move reflects the sad decline of an institution that was founded in the Victorian age as part of a conscious effort to preserve and improve access to our public heritage. Specialist knowledge is gained over years of experience, not delivered through search engines and digital images, and the scandalous treatment of such important staff is nothing short of dumbing down.
These moves demonstrate that the clowns take over the circus when executives are given charge of an institution about which they have no working knowledge.
Dr Nick Barratt
Surbiton, Surrey

It is ironic that another institution dramatically afflicted with the same tendency as the National Archives is the Library of King’s College London. King’s acquired the former PRO building but there are now plans to reduce the staff and services there
S.W. Massil, London,

Sir, The four medical students in the 1954 film of my book Doctor in the House suffered dire punishments (“College pranks can blight your medical career, students told”, July 2). For hijacking an ambulance to reclaim their totem stuffed gorilla they were heavily fined — to be slipped repayment by the fearsome surgeon Sir Lancelot Spratt. For falling through the glass roof of the matron’s bedroom at midnight, the one played by Dirk Bogarde was expelled — to be restored by Sir Lancelot’s memory of the severe Dean, as a student, parading the young matron naked on a horse through the hospital courtyard as Lady Godiva.
Of my generation of medical students, who assuredly got up to the same pranks, eight became knights, four presidents of the Royal Colleges and two royal doctors. Nothing wrong with that, then.
Richard Gordon
Bromley, Kent

Sir, I was intrigued by the letter (July 1) from Dr Bob Harris. Policing is a complex business in an ever-more demanding world that requires within it professional people who are properly skilled, trained and led. The majority of these people must be sworn officers so as to maintain the service’s independent allegiance to the Crown without the right to strike or withdraw.
The comment about chief constables adopting lazy management practices is way off the mark and shows naivety around important issues such as civil emergencies, large-scale public disorder and terrorism. Senior leaders in the police service are continually seeking to improve efficiencies often hampered by bureaucracy being forced on them by other organisations and politicians.
I assume from the writer’s cocksure attitude that his doctorate is in street policing.
Roger Flint
Divisional Commander,
Derbyshire Constabulary

Telegraph:

SIR – The red flag to National Express and the East Coast Main Line franchise is a reminder that passenger rail is now the last vestige of a once universal command and control transport system.
The rest of Britain’s transport system has open access with commercial operation. Road freight was deregulated in 1970, buses in 1986, rail freight in 1993, shipping and air services for many years, and we drive cars anywhere at any time.
 
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Should not the rail passenger network, which accounts for only 7 per cent of British travel, also be open access? This would give private operators the chance to develop innovative services to meet the needs of the 21st century, and not be fettered by a 1948 mentality.
Professor Lewis Lesley
Liverpool
SIR – Some may recall John Major’s suggestion, when the Conservatives were fumbling towards the disastrous break-up of British Rail. He proposed five railway companies, each owning its system of track, trains, signalling and stations. The companies would occupy much the same territories that the big four had owned since 1922, with Scotland being the fifth.
What a good idea! And it now looks as if it ought to be brought into practice. Of course, there would need to be some sort of over-arching board to ensure mutual co-operation on services that crossed boundaries, with a common system of ticketing, and a mechanism for ensuring provision of a social subsidy for areas needing special support for rail as against road congestion.
The important feature must be that each company and the board are commercial enterprises independent of government direction.
P. Bryan Enfield
Chesterfield, Derbyshire
SIR – Let me get this right. Lord Adonis will not renegotiate the franchise with National Express as he thinks it wrong to allow rail operators to take a profit in the good times and just walk away in the bad.
Instead, National Express will walk away, losing £72 million instead of paying £1.4 billion, and the Government will sell the franchise to another operator, who
will surely pay less (and still not pay up front).
Andrew Dyke
London N21
SIR – We are in the depths of a horrendous recession. It would have been fairer for the Government to renegotiate the contract with National Express, and not simply nationalise the East Coast Line.
Steve Halden
Swindon, Wiltshire
SIR – National Express’s operation has been taken over by the Government for poor performance. Is it just I who think this arrangement is the wrong way round?
John Pingree
Marham, Norfolk
Stealthy DNA grab
SIR – The Government’s disturbing policy on DNA retention was recently ruled unlawful by the European Court. Instead of accepting the rebuke, the Government’s arrogant answer to this breach of Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights is simply to get round this inconvenient ruling by changing the law.
It proposes that the DNA profiles of people charged but not convicted should in future be kept for six or 12 years, depending on the offence.
Human-rights lawyers are worried that there are also powers in current legislation that enable the Secretary of State to make regulations governing the retention, use and destruction of DNA. The problem we face is that secondary legislation by regulation greatly reduces the opportunity for parliamentary scrutiny.
Perhaps once again we should copy the example of our neighbours in Scotland, where there is no power to retain unless the offence is a serious one, and then retention is limited to just three years.
As with the expensive fiasco of identity cards, we face an example of the state acquiring personal information by stealth.
Nor should we forget plans to make available our medical records and confidential financial information to all government departments, including HM Revenue and Customs.
With the country on its knees financially, it strikes me that if the Government spent less time on acquiring knowledge about us, interfering with our daily lives, and enacted fewer laws and better ones, it would have more time to restore our fortunes.
David Kirwan
Moreton, Wirral
Digital thumbs-down
SIR – Digital radio prospects are even worse than your correspondents (Letters, July 3) fear.
I understand that there is another DAB system, called DAB+, in the pipeline that will render all present sets redundant.
Michael Locke
Paignton, Devon
Fat Duck phenomenon
SIR – Jasper Gerard, writing about the Fat Duck in Bray (Features, July 1), highlights a serious danger. The restaurant is fully booked months in advance because of the public’s fascination with the weird and absurd combinations of contradictory ingredients by its chef, Heston Bumenthal.
From a long interview with Blumenthal months ago, I concluded that his is a true obsession, bordering on culinary madness.
The tragedy is that he is also an outstanding traditional chef, yet the public seems much less interested in Blumenthal’s traditional skills.
I fear that the whole phenomenon could prove the British public’s incapacity to enjoy food as opposed to absurd gimmicks. I shall continue to visit the Fat Duck for, say, a masterly duck dish, but not one turned into an ice-cream, or a soup with chocolate.
Egon Ronay
Thatcham, Berkshire
Silent moonwalk
SIR – Frank Goddard (Letters, June 30) is probably correct that Max Wall did the moonwalk (more recently associated with Michael Jackson) years ago, but I think that film buffs might remember Charlie Chaplin moonwalking in The Gold Rush (1925).
Terry Waters
Warrington, Cheshire
Random Brown
SIR – The Prime Minister has now performed U-turns on Royal Mail privatisation, Iraq inquiry secrecy and identity cards.
In physics, erratic movement in random directions without any clear objective is known as Brownian Motion. At last I understand the origin of the term.
Professor Allan Solomon
Watford, Hertfordshire
SIR – According to Gordon Brown’s new vocabulary we can look forward to the following announcements: spending increasing by 0 per cent; employment continuing to rise at -7 per cent; national debt reducing by -13 per cent; rates of literacy and numeracy improving by -4 per cent; support for Labour streaking ahead at -70 per cent.
Christopher Try
Englefield Green, Surrey
SIR – “His fame endures; we shall not forget / The name of Baldwin until we’re out of debt” (from Nancy McPhee’s Second Book of Insults).
Tony Johnson
Liverpool
Straw policemen
SIR – I enjoyed your lovely picture of a policeman holding an armful of straw helmets in 1935 (Letters, July 3). Luton borough police had worn straw helmets during the summer since 1903, thereby helping the local straw hat industry.
Richard Cowley
Barton Seagrave, Northamptonshire
Appreciating ‘depreciate’
SIR – Philip Hensher’s put-down of Alain de Botton’s response to his reviewer (Comment, July 3) is too smug. Mr de Botton did mean depreciate, not deprecate.
“Perversely to depreciate anything of value” means to remove its value. It is unusual for depreciate to appear as a transitive verb, but quite correct; and a superb use of the word in this case.
Mik Shaw
Goring-by-Sea, West Sussex
SIR – The misuse of underestimated and overestimated (Letters, July 3) has another television presenter in its grip. Listen to Ray Mears, whom I admire greatly, and he gets it the wrong way round every time.
Luckily this blunder leaves his chances of survival unaffected.
Cecil Lunn
Windsor, Berkshire
Centre Court is not the place for an afternoon picnic
SIR – While trying to enjoy a day out at the Centre Court at Wimbledon this week, we were continuously disrupted by so-called tennis fans rustling plastic bags, opening food containers and chewing, gulping and occasionally burping while indulging in their culinary delights.
I had always assumed that the Wimbledon courts were an arena to watch tennis and not a place to have an afternoon picnic.
The Lawn Tennis Association should prohibit the annoying and distracting consumption of food within the main courts. There are numerous areas in the grounds to enjoy a picnic.
After all, the players demand a quiet environment while playing so why can’t the spectators while watching?
Chris Williams
St Leonards-on-Sea, East Sussex
SIR – It is my experience that Andy Murray’s triumphant expression (Letters, July 2) can only be emulated in real life by stepping on a 13 amp plug while wearing only socks.
Peter Eckersley
Wilton, Cumbria
SIR – Can someone explain why the ladies always look so happy after winning, and the men so miserable?
Rachel Mason
Seaton, Devon

Irish Times:

Using the post-boom dead spaces
Madam, – Your feature (“Life for the boom’s dead spaces”, June 30th) points us in a promising direction and it’s encouraging to see the newspaper used as a place to figure our way out of the post-boom quagmire.
I think architect Dominic Stevens cuts to the chase when he says that the fate of the empty housing estates (bank-owned, hence Government-owned, many of them) must be placed in the hands of the local communities where they sprang up, whether they were wanted or not.
A crucial next step is to bring people from local authorities, community groups and government bodies into this conversation so that we can re-imagine the political processes and bureaucratic/ legal procedures needed to enact real change.
Of course it is an enormous task, but we have to tackle it instead of waiting to see if the “current climate” will shift.
Here in north Roscommon, where we have hundreds of stagnating houses and there are all kinds of possibilities for transforming them into more vibrant mixed-use commercial and domestic zones or assisted living facilities for the elderly among us.
But we need to give our local community bodies more of a voice and, more importantly, the power to enact the changes they deem best for their own localities.
Can The Irish Times have a hand in getting this national discussion really going? Meantime, it is the woodlice and spiders who are setting up house in all those primrose-yellow, semi-detached houses. – Yours, etc,
ALICE LYONS,
Cootehall,
Boyle,
Co Roscommon.
Madam, – The creative contributions of the architects and artists reawakened my misgivings about the composition of the Government’s innovation taskforce.
There is no doubt that the entrepreneurs, technicians, scientists, academics and civil servants have talents that merit their inclusion.
But where are the writers, poets, designers, artists, musicians and philosophers?
The ability of our artists to inspire and capture the imagination of the world is well known.
Surely the melding of their attributes with the technical and scientific is the creative leap we need to make if we are to go beyond being surrogate mothers of invention to being natural fathers of true innovation .
Such a collaboration seems to me to be much more likely to give us not only a clever economy but a society of added values that could even light the way for both Berlin and Boston to follow. – Yours, etc,
HUGH MURRAY,
Architect,
Merriman House,
Lock Quay,
Limerick.
Thirty years of Seanad reform
Madam, – Tomorrow marks the 30th anniversary of the approval by the people of Ireland of measures to allow voting rights for six of the seats for Seanad Éireann to be reformed and their electorate extend beyond the then existing third-level institutions.
After all these many decades the provision of voting rights for those third level graduates from outside the NUI and TCD as approved by the people has still not come to pass.
You have yourself editorialised about this issue on a number of occasions.
There are close to 400,000 Irish citizens who should have voting rights but don’t simply due to government inaction over the last 30 years.
This is more than twice the number of the current electorate for both the TCD and the National University of Ireland panels combined. According to recent CSO figures there are 527,775 adults in the state with a degree or higher yet only about 150,000 are on the combined registers for the NUI and TCD. This means less than 30 per cent of those envisaged by the constitution as amended in 1979 are able to vote for the Seanad. A number of third-level colleges have even lost their voting rights since 1979 including the national teacher training colleges at St Pat’s, Drumcondra and Mary Immaculate, Limerick.
Is this the biggest problem facing the nation? No. Yet if it takes us 30 years to do the straightforward what hope is there for solutions for the big problems? Moreover, movement on this issue would also serve as an intermediate step to widening the franchise for the Seanad elections eventually lead to all citizens having a vote for a reformed Seanad.
However, it appears that there is stalling by the leader of the Seanad Senator Donie Cassidy (FF) in extending voting rights . When the Minister for the Environment John Gormley announced on March 11th last that the cross-party group which he chairs would meet for one last time before proceeding with reforms, it was anticipated that full co-operation with all parties would lead to speedy progress being made. The group has indeed met but it appears that one group is still outstanding with their contribution. The FF group is the only one for which confirmation of having completed and returned their submission is not available.
The last report on Seanad reform was chaired by Senator Mary O’Rourke of Fianna Fáil so it doesn’t appear this delay is an official stance by either Fianna Fáil or the Government, both of whom have repeatedly stated that they are in favour of this reform proceeding as soon as possible.
In recent discussions with the Minister’s representative I’ve been assured that the timetable of seeking to legislate by the end of the year still applies.
So the question we must ask is why is Senator Cassidy, himself a noted impresario, holding up the whole show? – Yours, etc,
DANIEL K. SULLIVAN,
Corbally,
Limerick,
Lions and Boks
Madam, – You report (“Burger apologises to team mates and fans”, July 2nd) that Schalk Burger has so far declined to apologise to Luke Fitzgerald for last Saturday’s eye-gouging incident.
Another story (“Rowntree rows in as ill feeling lingers”, July 2nd) notes the Springboks’ consternation at what they perceive to be the failure of the Lions to congratulate them properly on their series win.
Are the two issues by any chance related? – Yours etc,
KIERAN CAGNEY,
Brook Lane,
King’s Heath,
Birmingham,
England.
Ethics matter
Madam, – Without realising it John Waters says it all (Opinion, July 3rd) about the mess created by a small number of people at the head of Government, banks, Church and media.
His statement that “once, Ireland was world famous for being a place where everything was not reduced to ‘ethics’ and ‘equality’ and rules” neatly encapsulates the situation in which if you were powerful enough the only rule was that arrogance would get you anywhere.
From their lofty positions the most powerful showed contempt for the rest of us who expected those to whom enormous power had been entrusted to live up to the importance of their positions.
As a result we now have a country that is nearly bankrupt, a banking system that has failed, a Church that has lost all credibility and many in the media who still still see their role as acting as cheerleaders for those who are responsible for the present mess.
Far from “ethics” and “rules” being a “tyranny” a total absence of morals among the most powerful has brought the country to its knees – Yours, etc,
A. LEAVY,
Sutton
Dublin 13
Flying the flag
Madam, – Your letters (July 3rd and 4th ) refer to the poor condition of our national flag displayed on certain buildings at home and abroad . One could also lament the obvious ignorance of etiquette in the treatment of this emblem. The national flag should be set to fly above other flags and lowered at dusk. Most of our displays seem to be in permanent positions. Perhaps a lesson in basic civics would help sustain our national pride . – Yours, etc,
JAMES CANNEY,
Letterkenny,
Co Donegal.
Modern-day gnosticism
Madam, – it is very interesting to see Cyril Butler (July 3rd) refer to Richard Dawkins description of the Judaic/Christian God as “accurate” when in fact Dawkins contends that this God does not exist at all.
I was also impressed that he knew the gender of the authors of the Bible because the actual identity of the canonical authors is unknown.
But it is with his presumption that uneducated men are incapable of defining or describing a moral life that I take exception.
This modern-day gnosticism is the new tool of oppression and is an intolerance of a person’s right to their own beliefs.
His support for consequentialist morality raises the spectre of exactly who is going to decide on whether or not an action is “good”.
The real danger here is the replacing of the old tyranny of clericalism with a new tyranny of scientific gnosticism. – Yours, etc,
DOMHNALL O’NEILL,
Ardmore Park,
Bray,
Co Wicklow
Spice of life
Madam, – Spiceburger? Humble? How dare you! It is a proud Glasnevin tradition.
AIDAN INGOLDSBY,
Baltyboys,
Blessington,
Co Wicklow.
Economic sanity
Madam, – Prof Morgan Kelly’s (Opinion, July 3rd) essay made my day. It is sanity in this economic bedlam! – Yours, etc,
K NOLAN,
Carrick-on-Shannon,
Co Leitrim.
Back to the future
Madam, – Oh God. Gay marriage has been denied and Pride is more about protest than partying again.
Dole queues are getting longer, social welfare payments shorter and there are anti-abortion activists back on the streets .
If Dublin goes any further back into the late 1980s, we soon won’t be able to get a decent cup of coffee any more and at that stage I’ll be forced to leave. – Yours etc,
TERESA MURRAY,
The Sweepstakes,
Ballsbridge,
Dublin 4.

Well I must be off

best wishes John