Around the park I go all alone in the cold dark of Sunday morning. Quite peaceful really, no one around except the odd car. The grass is frozen with frost, the crocuses poking their heads through the glistening white grass. I do hope that they survive.
It the second and last day of the RSPB bird watch. Glasgow, starts off with a blackbird. Mary is early at her post at the window, list in hand. A slow start, why can’t squirrels count as birds we would have lots then? The squirrels chase one another up and down the drive. I’d swear that they are doing it deliberately, to keep the birds away. Slowly the score mounts up. Bluetits, three blackbirds dancing on the leaves, a robin. Mary puts out the bird food on the table to tempt the little darlings, but I expect half of Roundhay is doing that as well. I suspect that the poor wretches are waddling from one bird table to another. Too soon it is dark again, And though we are not sure I think that the total is not quite as high as last year.
I get the video recorder and the DVD player working but the DVD discs won’t work, oh joy oh rapture.
Lamb with garlic and rosemary we watch Make Mine Millions. An Arthur Askey and Sid James vehicle, but a Rolls Royce. Arthur is a make up man on the National (read BBC). And gets the sack and sets up with Sid to put pirate ads on. They have lots of near misses with the coppers, and Arthur single handedly manages to capture some armed post office van robbers, priceless.
Scrabble today I win but not but not by much, one of those annoying slow games, which seems to drag on and on. Though we both get fairly respectable scores, it does not feel like it. Better luck tomorrow.

Fave Letters:

The pity of war
SIR – Eddie Redmayne, who leads the cast of the BBC’s Birdsong, says that some First World War dugouts were quite tidy (Mandrake, January 22). My father went to the front with the cavalry, but they lost their horses and were transferred to the infantry regiments, which had sustained huge losses.
His memories of the trenches were of mud, rats, lice and dead comrades. He was not yet 16.
Mary Godden
Lyminge, Kent

Self-discipline
SIR – Recently I decided to collect all the litter between my house and Sunninghill high street. I wore my airport high-visibility jacket. My neighbours are now wondering what I can have done to warrant a community service order.
Peter Sharp
Ascot, Berkshire

Obituary:

Her death comes as modern audiences flock to the Academy Award-nominated The Artist to rediscover the “innocent charm” of silent film. According to Freddie Sagor Maas, however, the industry was hardly charming — and anything but innocent.
Her first screenplay was for The Plastic Age (1925), one of the defining films of the Jazz Age, which starred the red-headed Clara Bow as a promiscuous college flapper. Onscreen antics, however, were as nothing compared to what was going on behind the scenes.
At one of Clara Bow’s shindigs during the making of the film, and to the astonishment of Freddie Sagor Maas, the star “undressed and danced on the table nude. She had her bra off, her panties off. Everyone was stewed. It didn’t matter.” Then there were the orgies, described by Freddie Maas as more depressing than titillating, in which “disgusting men” cavorted with “desperate women”.
Though no prude, when she saw her own producer, Harry Rapf, and even the immaculate young Irving Thalberg, presiding genius at MGM, in the thick of one such bacchanal, Freddie Sagor Maas resolved to avoid such shenanigans out of a sense of “basic self-respect”.
As a comely brunette then in her 20s, however, this insistence on keeping her legs together and steering clear of the casting couch did not prove a wise career move. Instead, despite a string of screenwriting successes for Clara Bow, Freddie Sagor Maas soon found herself falling from favour with studio bosses.
She found that scripts and story ideas were often rewritten and screen credit given to the wrong person. Worse still, several of her ideas and stories were stolen outright by unscrupulous insiders. She had little redress. The Writers’ Guild was new and not powerful. Those who complained were marked as trouble.
When, for example, Freddie requested to be moved from the unit headed by Harry Rapf to one led by a different producer, Rapf sacked her for her presumption. “She’s a talented writer,” he conceded to his secretary as he dictated the memo of dismissal, “but she’s a troublemaker.” For good measure, Rapf struck her name from the credits on her new film The Waning Sex (1926), which she had created from scratch as a starring vehicle for her friend Norma Shearer. “It wasn’t right, and it wasn’t fair,” Freddie Sagor Maas wrote later, “but that was how Hollywood operated.”
Although Freddie Sagor Maas considered leaving Hollywood many times, it was only in 1950 that she decided to end her “insane” career. Looking back later she had a host of regrets: “If I had to do it again, I’d like never to have seen the motion picture business.”
Frederica Sagor was born on July 6 1900 in New York, the youngest daughter of Russian immigrants, and studied Journalism at Columbia University.
She set her sights on the burgeoning film industry and when she was only 22 landed a story editor’s job with Universal in New York. It was there that she came across The Plastic Age, a racy new novel by an English college professor, Percy Marks, which she offered to Preferred Pictures for $20,000. Preferred’s head of production, BP Schulberg, wired with the simple response: “Buy at once”.
Schulberg was one of the first Hollywood moguls whose advances she turned down, and in 1927 she married Ernest Maas, a writer and producer at Fox; the couple decided to work together as a writing team.
A script they wrote called Beefsteak Joe was, she claimed, “misappropriated” and made into the 1927 Paramount film directed by Victor Fleming called The Way of All Flesh (nothing to do with Samuel Butler’s novel of the same name).
None the less, the couple persevered, with scripts for Silk Legs (1927) and the Louise Brooks film Rolled Stockings (1927), as well as the Clara Bow vehicles It (1927) and Red Hair (1928). But soon Freddie and Ernest Maas found that their careers had stalled, and from the early 1930s they could get only rewrite work.
In 1941 Freddie and Ernest Maas tried another screenplay, Miss Pilgrim’s Progress, about the economic opportunities opening up to women after the invention of the typewriter. Unconvinced about such material, Darryl F Zanuck, head of 20th Century Fox, insisted on completely rewriting it as a light-hearted musical comedy for Betty Grable.
To the Maases’ delight The Shocking Miss Pilgrim (1947) proved a huge hit at the box-office. But they saw only a fraction of the profits. Nor could they find any takers for their next project, a film about the American Civil War which had taken them five years to develop, and as their money ran out they were forced to move in with friends. Another story idea, for a film about a medical fraud, also generated no interest. Then the FBI came calling with questions about the couple’s alleged communist sympathies.
Left of centre, but hardly revolutionaries, Freddie and Ernest Maas found themselves on a studio blacklist. Realising that they were both “washed up in the picture business”, they settled on a suicide pact.
The couple sat sobbing in their car with the engine running, a pipe from the exhaust wedged in the driver’s window. Suddenly, their folly became apparent. “What were we doing? Failure, disappointments, lack of money, humiliation — none of these things mattered,” Freddie Maas wrote later. “We had each other, and we were alive!” For the next 20 years, until her retirement in 1971, she worked as an insurance adjuster.
In 1999, almost half a century after leaving the movie business, Freddie Maas chronicled her unhappy experiences in The Shocking Miss Pilgrim: A Writer in Early Hollywood. With its caustic portraits of such figures as Louis B Mayer (“a pompous, power-mad, insensitive hypocrite”) and Irving Thalberg (“a Jewish mama’s boy”), and details of the pervasive sexism and chicanery in the industry, the memoir is now considered an important reference work on the early years of Hollywood.
Freddie Sagor Maas became the oldest living person in California. On her 110th birthday, she asked staff at her nursing home in San Diego for “a very large chocolate cake”. Her husband died in 1986, and there were no children.
Frederica Sagor Maas, born July 6 1900, died January 5 2012

Full Text:

Guardian:

How prescient of the Guardian to remember JB Priestley (In praise of…, 27 January). At a time when so many of the postwar institutions that were founded on socialist principles of collective responsibility are being systematically dismantled by the coalition (NHS, welfare state, comprehensive education etc), in favour of Mr Cameron’s creed of selfish individualism, perhaps we should heed the prophetic warnings of the eponymous Inspector in that old warhorse, An Inspector Calls, that “we are responsible for each other. And if men will not learn that lesson, they will be taught it, in fire and blood and anguish.” A case of history repeating itself and testament to the enduring legacy of a true visionary.
Scott Fuller
Bromley, Kent
• May I heartily endorse your comment that JB Priestley is a “writer and a man who is surely ripe for a wider rediscovery”. The JB Priestley Society has been saying exactly so for the past 15 years. It is pleasing that the Guardian, a newspaper Priestley read and admired, has caught on. He was indeed vastly talented and what he wrote and said made a difference. He acquired a wide readership and created a world in his fiction full of warmth and simple values. His strength was a concern and compassion for the condition of the average man and woman. No one summed him up better than Anthony Burgess, who, at the time of Priestley’s death in 1984, wrote: “He was volcanic, fertile, often careless but never dull … I read just about everything he ever wrote, and not for one moment did I ever feel I was wasting my time.”
Lee Hanson
Chairman, JB Priestley Society

More than 100 secondary schools face being closed and reopened as academies for failing to meet government targets (Report, 27 January). Yet of the 200 schools with the lowest percentage of pupils achieving five or more GCSEs at grades A* to C, 53 are academies. The worst performing school is an academy in Poole, which managed to reduce the percentage of pupils achieving the standard from 21% for its predecessor school, to 3% now. Of the 200 best performers, only one is an academy. The government’s own data would appear to indicate that the policy of forcing failing schools to become academies is a recipe for failure.
Paul Dennehy
Enfield, Middlesex
• Whether or not you agree with the methods used to judge schools’ performance, the latest figures show – contrary to recent opinion (Gove condemns academy critics as ‘ideologues’ who embrace failure, 5 January) – that schools in Haringey are improving and at a faster rate than the country as a whole. Across the borough there has been a 9.3% rise since 2010 in the proportion of students attaining five or more A* to C grades, including English and maths. This means results in Haringey have improved by 15.2% since 2008, compared with a national rise of 10.7%. We believe close, local collaboration and strong working relationships with schools will best support and improve educational outcomes for all young people, including the most vulnerable. A quarter of all primary and a third of all secondary schools in Haringey are currently judged to be outstanding by Ofsted.
Cllr Lorna Reith
Cabinet member for children, Haringey council

The Stephen Lawrence Trust needs £150,000 by April simply to survive, according to Stephen’s inspirational mother Doreen (Interview, 28 January). In the same edition we are reminded that the chief executive of RBS, already paid more than he can possibly need, will receive a bonus of nearly £1m. No chance, I suppose, that Mr Hester might be persuaded to do the decent thing by bailing them out – and at the same time show us that he’s a human being?
Eleanor Jardine
Hertford
• A left-of-centre leader promising to tax the rich and to spend some of the proceeds on public services (Report, 27 Janaury)? Why on earth is François Hollande doing so well in the polls?
Francis Prideaux
London
• What an excellent idea to use the Olympic ceremony to commemorate the NHS (Report, 28 January), the dismantling of which will be the other thing 2012 is remembered for. Let’s hope that when future generations watching recordings in years to come ask “Mummy, what’s an NHS nurse?” someone will be able to remember.
Dr Jane Wells
Oxford
• Forget the smoking bit, what a magnificent life-affirming rant from David Hockney (Letters, 28 January). If Danny Boyle wants his Olympics opening to represent the spirit of this country, he should immediately invite the bloody-minded old controversialist to deliver the whole thing live at Stratford in July.
Mike Hine
Kingston on Thames, Surrey

In a time of austerity and economic contraction, trade is the best way to stimulate the economy and create jobs (What has the EU ever done for us, 26 January). Britain is part of the biggest trading bloc in the world and of a single market of 500 million customers. Our EU membership gives us privileged access to that market, makes our economy more attractive to foreign investment and strengthens our and the EU’s hand in negotiating international trade agreements.
Britain must use its membership to work with our EU partners to strengthen and deepen the single market, expand it in areas like services, energy and online trading, and promote investment on research, innovation and new technologies. The wellbeing of our economy is linked both to the wellbeing of the eurozone and the single market as a whole. We call on the government to remain involved in efforts to reform the eurozone and lead initiatives to expand the single market and make Britain and the EU more competitive.
Charles Kennedy MP President, European Movement, Lord Inglewood, Lord Brittan, Lord Kinnock, Lord Liddle, Baroness Williams, Lord Dykes, Baroness Quin, Lord Berkeley, Menzies Campbell MP, Dennis McShane MP, Sheila Gilmore MP, Robert Buckland MP, Neil Carmichael MP, Mike Gapes MP, Duncan Hames MP, Martin Horwood MP
• In the context of the growing euro crisis, it is interesting to note that Gordon Brown – while he was chancellor of the exchequer – argued strongly for the repatriation of EU structural funds. Writing in the Times in 2003, he said: “When the economic and social, as well as the democratic, arguments on structural funds now and for the future so clearly favour subsidiarity in action, there is no better place to start than by bringing regional policy back to Britain.”
The article was written in support of a Treasury document called A Modern Regional Policy for the United Kingdom, published in March of that year. The paper argued that there was much time and money being wasted in processing contributions from countries such as Britain, only to send the contributions back in the form of structural funding.
Much easier and simpler, the then chancellor seemed to be saying, to let Britain keep the cash and get on with the job of using our own structural funds. The pressure group Open Europe has calculated that Britain would have been better off by something like £4.2bn if Brown’s system had been adopted. What is more, some of the most deprived UK regions are currently short-changed by the structural funds, because EU allocations are based on inflexible, one-size-fits all criteria. For instance, the West Midlands has the lowest disposable income per capita in the UK, yet pays the EU £3.55 for every £1 it receives back in structural funding, according to Open Europe estimates. In contrast, if Labour’s policy had been pursued, each region would have experienced a rise in the amount of subsidies they receive by around 45% compared with now. For example, Cornwall would have received an additional £207m over seven years.
Alan Johnson, also argued in 2003, that regional policy ought to be “resourced domestically in richer member states, like the UK, with the institutions and the financial strength to do it. This would end the unnecessary and inefficient recycling of funds between richer member states, like the UK, via Brussels …”The Cameron government seems to have abandoned any attempt to change EU structural funding to concentrate on trying to freeze the EU budget – a strategy which has already failed. Perhaps this government could take a look at what was being argued for a few years ago – it could benefit us all.
John Cryer MP, Jack Straw MP, Katy Clark MP, Thomas Docherty MP, Dennis Skinner MP, Gisela Stuart MP, Andrew Smith MP, Mike Wood MP Robert Ainsworth MP, John McDonnell MP, Kelvin Hopkins MP, Jeremy Corbyn MP, Grahame Morris MP, Ian Lavery MP, Ian Davidson MP, Frank Field MP, Graham Stringer MP
• Anthony Gidden’s claim that “the greatest threat to democracy would be the collapse of the euro” is tosh (Report, 26 January). The unelected technocrats who have usurped power in Greece and Italy in a vain attempt to salvage the euro pose a real threat to liberal democracy. Markets are trumping democracy.
Ever more austerity will choke off economic growth, increase inequality, and erode trust in government. Far from bringing Europe closer together, the diktat of the Maastricht criteria and semi-permanent austerity are already stoking nationalism and intense distrust of other European nations and will eliminate what little enthusiasm remains for the European project.
It is high time to look long and hard at the architecture of the single currency and turn this straitjacket into a positive instrument that promotes growth. Yet Giddens suggests the opposite: more pain, more cuts to social protection and healthcare, higher unemployment, and, ultimately, more stagnation. Ill-conceived as the euro might be, it might deserve a second chance. If the price to pay is the one Giddens suggests, however, it is time, and not just for southern Europe, to head for the exit.
Dr Georg Menz
Goldsmiths College, London
•  Ian Traynor recognises that the effect of the eurozone’s “fiscal compact” treaty would be to “… outlaw Keynesian economics” (Merkel casts doubt on hope of saving Greece from meltdown, 26 January). To my knowledge he is the first person to express publicly this alarming fact. Control over monetary policy has been ceded to the Bank of England and the import of the “fiscal compact” treaty is that control of fiscal policy would be ceded to the European court of justice. In vetoing the treaty David Cameron acted to ensure that the British people, via its elected government, could continue to choose its own fiscal policy; not inappropriate in the birthplace of Maynard Keynes. Why are Miliband and Clegg so concerned about Cameron’s action in vetoing this challenge to our democracy?
Dr Peter Riach
London
•  Umberto Eco’s proposals and thoughts about Europe (‘Europe will never be a United States’, 27 January), about celebrating the Erasmus programme and widening its scope, are timely and cast a useful light onto British/English attitudes to allegiances.
I find it much more purposeful and accurate to regard myself as European rather than English, and am proud of having children who think similarly and speak other European languages. My partner and I took early advantage of being able to work freely in the EU and later we sent our eldest daughter to school in Germany in order to learn the language and imbibe the culture; our friends there became her friends. I now live in the Czech Republic.
The idea of skilled UK workers being encouraged though some similar scheme to Erasmus is an excellent one. We are always slow and limited in this regard, German and French Gesellen have long come over here to work and gain experience, and we would benefit from similar forms of training.
Helen Carpenter
London

Independent:

The writers of the letters published on Saturday appear to lack a basic understanding of banking, not clarified in your editorial of the same date. Banks must relish the controversy over bonuses, as it distracts attention from the key point that their excessive profits arise from the casino of the derivative markets.
Banks were set up as traders in money, and because of the apparent miracle they perform of lending money they do not have, were granted great legal favours that included being allowed to publish annual reports in a way that disguised their true liabilities. This concession was regarded as a benefit to all, as it allowed the great development in human condition that we see it today.
Relying on banks to return to ethical standards is a contradiction in terms. They have to be made to drop their hedge and derivative gambling and return to their original purpose of oiling the wheels of local manufacturing and commerce. Otherwise they should lose their special privileges and any guarantee of the tax payer bailing them out.
Charles Brown
Chesterfield
 
What is the purpose of accruing mountains of money? After you’ve bought a comfortable lifestyle, what will you do with the remaining millions?
One of the more unpleasant ideologies we have imported from across the Atlantic in recent years is the concept that a person’s quality is directly related to their monetary worth. The CEO pocketing a huge bonus or the celebrity actor who demands $500,000 for every TV show is telling us: “I’m a better person than you because I make more money.”
If we teach children that their worth depends more on their contribution to humanity than their accumulation of wealth, some inequalities may diminish.
Julien Evans
Chesham, Buckinghamshire
 
It is high time that the likes of Stephen Hester and Sir Fred Goodwin were congratulated on doing a wonderful job. Just imagine what this country would be like if they proceeded to behave as exemplary moral agents and donated the lion’s share of their wealth to the poor and dispossessed.
Imagine the havoc which would follow if this prompted their plutocratic peers to follow their example. Critics of Messrs Hester and Goodwin would be exposed as a bunch of malign and irrational crackpots.
Ivor Morgan
Lincoln
 
The million-pound-plus salaries and bonuses exist to incentivise the executives to make sure our money is safe. Lucky we don’t have to incentivise care workers to clean up our incontinent elderly, or nurses to deal with our dying, or teachers to spend their weekends planning for classes of 35 of our disruptive kids, or soldiers to die on our behalf in foreign countries. Can you imagine the cost?
Jeremy Braund
Lancaster
A few months ago, we were bombarded with stories about young people who no longer consider themselves part of society, who are out of control and take anything they can lay their hands on. The media dubbed them Britain’s feral kids. So I look forward to reading articles about the parallel phenomenon at the top end of the scale – the feral rich.
Rod Chapman
Sarlat, France
 
Do the high-salaried bonus junkies not realise they are doing their best to ensure a Labour government in 2015? Or are they banking on it being as pliable as the last one?
John Birkett
St Andrews, Fife
 
Not many years ago I worked hard and successfully for my employer on multi-million-pound projects in a top management position. I was delighted to receive a Christmas bonus of £500.
Bob Barker
Norwich
A Scot on the high road that leads to Cornwall
 
As in so many aspirational Scottish families across the centuries, the first move in life for most of my relatives was over the Atlantic or down the high road to England. My father was the only one of eight to remain, and I was the only one of four, with two of my medical brothers in North America and the third in Yorkshire.
Married to a Londoner, I have been reviewing my options if the lunatics take over the asylum in 2014 and have decided North Cornwall would make a fantastic bolt-hole. It may not have St Andrews’ golf courses but it has St Enodoc and Rick Stein’s restaurant across the bay, and while the natives are also Celts, they do a lot less whining.
Dr John Cameron
St Andrews,
Fife
 
Alex Salmond’s proposed referendum question – “Do you agree that Scotland should be an independent country?” – is hopelessly biased because it is asking people to positively agree, not merely choose from neutral options, and it would require a “Yes” or “No” vote. It is well established that humans are predisposed to agree and say “Yes” rather than disagree and say “No”, which seems negative and confrontational.
A neutral question would present two choices, “Scotland to remain within the UK” and “Scotland to be independent”, with a box against each, and invite the voter to put a cross in one of the two boxes.
Robert Henderson
London NW1
 
The counties of Ireland that wanted to stay in the Union in 1920 were allowed to do so. Shouldn’t the upcoming Scottish independence vote have a similar agenda?
If the Orkneys or the Borders vote overwhelmingly to stay in the union, why should their wishes be trampled on? If the all-or-nothing approach is pursued in Scotland, does this damage the legitimacy of the Northern Ireland statelet, and pave the way for Irish reunification?
Robert O’Mara
Nottingham
 
If Scotland becomes a sovereign state, will it use its newly monopolised British oil revenue to buy the British share of its two banks, HBOS and RBS?
Jane Gibbs
Poole
 
If the Scots gain independence from the English, what will unite them then?
Peter Bowden
Leigh-on-Sea, Essex
 
Dark skies over Exmoor
 
I enjoyed Aaron Miller’s piece (25 January) on the best places to see the sky at night. It would be wonderful to afford to go to Jordan, Cappadocia, Queensland and Arizona, but there are good places closer to home.
The piece mentioned Galloway Forest Park, which the International Dark-Sky Association has designated one of nine “Dark Sky Parks”, and we should mention the smallest Channel Island, Sark, which is the world’s first Dark Sky Island.
What I found hard to believe is that Miller didn’t mention Exmoor National Park, which is one of the world’s only two International Dark Sky Reserves (IDSR), and the only one in Europe. The IDS Reserve program is the epitome of the International Dark-Sky Association’s classification: “Public or private land possessing an exceptional or distinguished quality of starry nights and nocturnal environment, specifically protected for its scientific, natural, educational, cultural, heritage and/or public enjoyment.”
Exmoor is now attracting international stargazing visitors (it’s pretty in the day as well, and the pubs are excellent), so save the air miles (and consequently the clear skies) and try closer to home.
Dr Stephen Head
Cholsey, Oxfordshire
 
Protesters welcome
Nigel Wilkins (letter, 25 January) has a strange approach to the right to protest. He suggests that protesters illegally occupying the public highway or other land should be offered a more permanent dwelling place, the cost to fall on the local council.
Currently any protest group can lease space from the owner of a building, and as long as they pay the rent, rates and utility bills and keep the property in good working order, then they can stay. As long as they are “good neighbours”, then we do not have a problem.
As for the City’s democracy, there is plenty of it. In common with all local councils, we have four-yearly elections for all seats on the council (the next across the City are in March 2013), the only difference being that almost all candidates stand as independents. Decision-taking is carried out by members sitting in committees which are open to the public to attend. We also hold many consultation meetings for residents and City workers where anybody can attend and ask any question they like.
Stuart Fraser
Chairman, Policy and Resources Committee
City of London Corporation
 
Novels at the National Theatre
How can the National Theatre justify staging adaptations of novels (The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time and The Count of Monte Cristo) when there are countless excellent but underperformed plays to choose from (“NT stages new Bennett play”, 26 January)?
A national theatre should set the benchmark for staging the best dramas in world theatre as well as new plays. Allowing dramatisations of novels to push aside real plays suggests a disturbing lack of commitment to giving the public an authentically theatrical experience.
Professor David Head
Navenby, Lincolnshire
 
Unsound judgements
The ludicrous decision of Odeon cinemas to refund money to patrons who complained that The Artist was a silent film has a precedent. Back in 2007 the Odeon chain refunded money to punters who complained that Tim Burton’s film adaptation of Stephen Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street was a musical! Apparently they thought it would be a straight horror movie and weren’t expecting Johnny Depp and the rest of the cast to burst into song.
Martyn P Jackson
Cramlington, Northumberland
 
When less is more
My friend has just bought a new car. It has no spare wheel and no handbrake. Of course it comes with other devices which fulfill these functions, but why? Have people been saying, “If only cars didn’t have handbrakes and spare wheels, how much better they would be”? Or are these the products of a bored designer, introducing more complications which will need repair and replacement?
Trevor Cox
London W4
 
Waiting in the wings
Philip Hensher is correct to say that Polunin is a loss to the Royal Ballet (20 January) but maybe Hensher isn’t aware that they have another extraordinarily talented male dancer in the Australian Steven McRae. He has a very different style from the young Russian but he is terrific, and as long as he stays all is not lost.
Sara Neill
Tunbridge Wells, Kent

Telegraph:

SIR – News that the Government will outlaw cash deals in scrap yards and introduce unlimited fines for those dealing in stolen metal cannot come too soon for towns like mine, where we have had two thefts in two months.
Last month, thieves stole an 18in bronze plaque dedicated to victims of the Holocaust from a remembrance garden. My council ordered a granite replacement, hopefully less attractive to criminals, which was unveiled on Friday – Holocaust Memorial Day.
Then, last week, two people tried to steal a 3ft bronze statue from a residential street. They were foiled when a neighbour asked them what they were doing. They dumped the piece in a wheelie bin and ran off.
Those prepared to engage in this kind of theft are not deterred by minor fines. It has been clear for some time that the current Scrap Metal Dealers Act is rusty and needs overhauling.
Councils cannot afford to stand sentinel over every bronze plaque or sculpture in their areas. The sooner deterrent sentences are given to those involved in this squalid trade, the better.
Cllr Andrew Johnson
Leader, Harlow District Council
Harlow, Essex
SIR – Banning cash transactions for scrap metal might work if all dealers abided by the rules, and if all the stolen scrap was traded in this country. But I wonder if scrap metal is traded abroad?
I read of an ornate brass lectern which was stolen from a church in Wiltshire and later discovered at an antiques fair in Romania.
Eric James
Southport, Lancashire

SIR – Like other taxes designed to squeeze the rich, the mansion tax proposed by Vince Cable, the Business Secretary (report, January 22), would not distinguish between the fat-cat employees in big business and banking, who have never invested a penny of risk capital, and those risk-taking equity owners who have really worked for and risked their wealth.
Rodney Atkinson
Stocksfield, Northumberland
SIR – Vince Cable’s complaint that rich foreigners can own substantial property in Britain with a minimal tax base is correct. His solution of a mansion tax is not. Any British resident wealthy enough to buy a £2 million house will be making a substantial contribution to the economy. The problem is that residents and non-residents are not treated in the same way.
As a long-term Hong Kong resident, I have been able to purchase buy-to-let property in Britain and not pay capital gains tax (CGT) on it. Now I am about to become resident in Britain, I will suddenly be liable for CGT on such transactions. While I have never used it, I feel I have been offered an unfair advantage over those who live in Britain.
Related Articles
The brazen behaviour of scrap metal thieves
29 Jan 2012
This unfairness might be mitigated by a tax targeted at non-residents, offset against any rental income taxation. Not so much a mansion tax, more an extension of council tax to non-resident owners. This would encourage property owners to become resident in Britain.
Non-residents who found it onerous could make up for it by renting out their property. Unlike a mansion tax, this sort of tax would not demonise success or rich foreigners.
My decision to move to Britain was influenced by the mood of fairness and positivity in the country. It would be a shame to put others off by attacking the people Britain wants to attract.
Jos Vernon
Yung Shue Long, Hong Kong, China
SIR – Vince Cable’s attack on property values above an arbitrary level shows the Liberal Democrats in their true Left-wing colours. It has all the hallmarks of a wealth tax.
Doesn’t Mr Cable realise that, with income tax and inheritance tax, earned income is already taxed twice? What he proposes is triple taxation for anyone who aspires to grow capital.
A mansion tax would cripple the income of the retired and of owners of historic houses and estates, not just the mega-rich at whom it is supposedly aimed.
Clive Hopkins
Shurlock Row, Berkshire
SIR – If I have £3 million in a bank account, I would not be caught by mansion tax. But if I put the money into a mansion, I would be caught.
This is just an updated window tax. Why the grudge against expensive properties?
Malcolm Gunn
Oxted, Surrey
SIR – The starting price for Vince Cable’s resurrected mansion tax is now £2 million, whereas originally it was £1 million.
As Mr Cable is a man of integrity, I assume the raised lower limit is not related to the fact that the earlier figure would have caught an inordinate number of Lib Dem voters in the south of England.
Dr John Bennett
Bramshall, Staffordshire
SIR – You report (January 22) that there are fears that a mansion tax would jeopardise the livelihoods of surveyors, estate agents and others who work in the property industry.
What are we waiting for?
Gary Spring
Southgate, Glamorgan
Salmond’s ‘question’ is worded in his favour
SIR – Alex Salmond, the Scottish First Minister, has proposed the referendum question: “Do you agree that Scotland should be an independent country?” This is hopelessly biased. It is asking people positively to agree, not merely to choose from neutral options, and it would require a positive yes or no by the voter.
It is well established that humans are predisposed to agree and say yes, rather than disagree and say no, because both of the latter seem negative and confrontational.
A neutral question, as far as any can be devised, would have two options: “Scotland should remain within the United Kingdom” and “Scotland should be independent”, with a box against each question.
Robert Henderson
London NW1
SIR – Peter Ferguson (Letters, January 22) insists that expatriate Scots should have a say in their country’s future. But surely if they have chosen to live and work outside their native land, it was because their native land could not offer them the high rewards which could be obtained elsewhere.
The reason for emigration is to seek a better life. Having made that choice, there is no earthly reason why they should have a say in the future of their fatherland which they have, of their own volition, deserted.
Maurice Slough
Cuffley, Hertfordshire
SIR – As an Ulster Scot with impeccable Scottish antecedents, I consider that I should also have a say in Scotland’s future.
However, I am not saying how I would vote.
Alexander Johnston
Syston, Leicestershire
The pity of war
SIR – Eddie Redmayne, who leads the cast of the BBC’s Birdsong, says that some First World War dugouts were quite tidy (Mandrake, January 22). My father went to the front with the cavalry, but they lost their horses and were transferred to the infantry regiments, which had sustained huge losses.
His memories of the trenches were of mud, rats, lice and dead comrades. He was not yet 16.
Mary Godden
Lyminge, Kent
Self-discipline
SIR – Recently I decided to collect all the litter between my house and Sunninghill high street. I wore my airport high-visibility jacket. My neighbours are now wondering what I can have done to warrant a community service order.
Peter Sharp
Ascot, Berkshire
Abortion clinics don’t want to lose business
SIR – The Government is considering plans to give women contemplating abortion “a right to independent counselling” (report, January 22). Abortion providers claim that this would lead to more late abortions. The clinics have never had a problem with late abortions, but their response makes clear that giving women a chance to think for even a few minutes about the reality of their choice, rather than being rushed through a life-changing decision, will mean fewer abortions.
NHS guidance from the Nineties does not mention abortion, but insists that “patients are entitled to receive sufficient information in a way that they can understand about the proposed treatments, the possible alternatives and any substantial risks, so that they can make a balanced judgement”.
Some abortion clinics charge £80 for telephone “counselling”, and no clinic will allude to the “possible alternatives” and “substantial risks” – physical, mental and emotional – of abortion. Under extreme pressure to obtain an abortion from the very people – including the child’s father – who should support a continued pregnancy, how can women reach this “balanced judgement”?
Abortion providers will argue that pro-life counselling should be excluded from any mandatory provision on the grounds that it is biased. But the providers’ own charitable status reassures women that they have no vested interests, despite the huge public subsidies they receive for carrying out abortions.
Perhaps their real fear is that women will learn of the physical and mental health risks of what clinics refer to as “treatment”, leading to a loss of business for the abortion industry.
Ann Farmer
Woodford Green, Essex
A cheaper train north
SIR – James Lewis, (Letters, January 22) suggests laying new high-speed lines alongside existing motorways, to ease the problems of planning consent.
Many of us engineers have long thought that elevated lines above the central reservation, with super-elevations above bridges, is an idea well worth pursuing and costing. Building could proceed at a much earlier date, providing many jobs sooner than High Speed 2. Completion could be earlier, to everyone’s benefit, and the structures could easily include means of noise deflection as well.
Overall, the final cost could well prove so much cheaper that two lines could be built for the present envisaged cost: one up the M6 and one up the M1 to the North East. All this in the time it would take to complete the existing line to Birmingham, which is not even justified in the first place. The environmental and social impact would be much less with an elevated line. Could maglev technology be incorporated?
John Illingworth
Sheffield
Liner Safety
SIR – As an expert in maritime safety, I know that the European Commission has made an outstanding contribution to raising maritime safety standards in recent years, which has saved lives at sea (Christopher Booker, January 22). The EU takes a leading role in dealing with maritime safety, co-ordinating research efforts internationally, embedding a safety culture in the maritime industry. At the moment, there are more than half a dozen large-scale projects being funded by the EU to address passenger ship safety.
It takes a long time to research, identify, legislate for and implement solutions, but as a result of EU and international efforts, cruise ships are currently the safest kind of ship. To state that, in recent years, the European Commission has been “ignoring expert warnings”, or is negligent with regard to passenger ship saftey, is misleading.
Professor Dracos Vassalos
University of Strathclyde, Glasgow
SIR – In endeavouring to explain the behaviour of Captain Francesco Schettino after his ship, the Costa Concordia, began to founder, Lord Winston (News Review, January 22) cites the adrenaline-induced panic of his colleague, an experienced surgeon, when faced with a life-threatening problem in the operating theatre.
But surgeons are not subject to the ongoing, mandatory monitoring of their expertise as are commanders of passenger-carrying vessels. Airline pilots, for example, are subject twice a year to rigorous training in handling situations that are unlikely ever to occur. But this discipline enables them, in a dangerous situation, to convert the natural adrenaline rush into positive action rather than hopeless inertia.
One would hope that this would apply to ships’ crews, but it seems that some cruise-line commanders have not benefited from similar practices.
Joyce Bruce
Eastbourne, East Sussex
Rutter who?
SIR – I was disappointed to read about John Rutter’s criticism of Gareth Malone (Mandrake, January 22) and felt that I should redress the balance somewhat.
In my opinion, Rutter’s Gaelic Blessing is nothing more than musical saccharin, and his alternative tune to All things bright and beautiful is a complete disaster.
At least the general public have heard of Gareth Malone.
Brian Grindall
Uckfield, East Sussex

Irish Times:

Blame game at Davos
Sir, – My goodness, a politician speaking the unvarnished truth! What is the country coming to? – Yours, etc,
BRIAN GRAHAM,
Warrenhouse Road, Dublin 13.
Sir, – While in no way a fan of our Taoiseach, I find myself agreeing in part with his assessment of our present financial disaster (Front page, January 27th). I too feel that greed from many “common” people caused their own problems. Yes, the banks, large property developers and weak politicians (both in the cabinet and in opposition) have to take most of the blame. That does not take from the fact that a lot of people forgot we are only a very small island and we could not continue selling it to ourselves.
Of course there are innocent people who lost a lot – or all they had – through no fault of their own; they’re the ones for whom I feel very sorry. – Yours, etc,
JOE HARVEY,
Glenageary Woods,
Glenageary, Co Dublin.
Sir, – For the best part of a year now, I’ve been defending the Government’s austerity plans at the dinner table, because I see them as a necessary evil. I’ve gone so far as to offer the opinion that I did benefit indirectly from the Celtic Tiger bubble economy, because the taxes raised helped to build and improve infrastructure, schools and hospitals, and reduce personal taxation. Like many people I did not engage in wild, credit-funded spending. I cut my cloth, so to speak, and lived sensibly. I refused to be drawn into the “over-priced second home on an easily obtained mortgage” con-trick. I didn’t upgrade the family car every two years – it’s now six years old and I bought it second hand.
So, why has Enda Kenny accused me and those like me of ruining the country? Not only that, he says it on the world stage in Davos.
While I still understand the need for austerity, I feel more than a little let down by the man who is supposed to be showing leadership and giving encouragement to the people who must suffer the hardships and stay the course, while he steers the ship to calmer waters. People like me voted this Government in so that we might be able to restore our country and our pride – Yours, etc,
ANDREW CALLAGHAN,
Whitethorn Grove,
Artane,
Dublin 5.
A pardon for Irish soldiers
Sir, – My father, the late Shaun Earls, served in the Irish Defence Forces from 1940 to 1946. I often spoke to him about those years and am in no doubt that his motive for enlisting was that, like many of his contemporaries, he wished to do his part to defend the independence which his country had secured with such difficulty a generation earlier. He obviously regarded this as a worthwhile task and later spoke of his time in the Army as one of the most interesting and satisfying periods in his life.
My father occasionally referred to fellow soldiers who had served with him, but at some point deserted to serve in the British armed forces. He spoke of such individuals without hostility or any particular respect. I would say he regarded them with a certain indulgence, as adventurers who were looking for more action than was available locally. He was a keen judge of men, and certainly had picked up no sense that they were animated by higher motives, such as the defence of democracy or the fight against fascism. There may have been such individuals, but in his recollection more down-to-earth motives prevailed.
There were several times during those years when my father and his fellow soldiers were put on invasion alert. During those dramatic hours, when the Army prepared to do battle, it was believed that invasion by Germany or Britain was imminent. If Britain had invaded, those who had deserted would have contributed by their action to an attempted overthrow of Irish sovereignty and might well have found themselves facing their former comrades in arms. Just how close that call was, and how little respect prime minister Churchill had for Irish independence, is suggested by his intemperate remarks at the time of the Allied victory in May 1945.
The dishonourable discharge of those who absconded from our Defence Forces to serve under the British flag is currently being considered by the Government. I have no views on this matter. I believe, however, that both prudence and self-respect suggest we should be careful about doing anything that might impugn the honour of those who stood by Ireland in its hour of need, who respected the undertakings they gave when they enlisted, and did not desert their comrades or their country. – Yours, etc,
BRIAN EARLS,
Ovoca Road, Dublin 8.
Sir, – Alan Shatter is not “reading history backwards”, as Tommy Graham suggests (January 27th). The “did-not-know” argument has been extensively applied, not least within Germany, but stands thoroughly refuted. For those who chose to see, the coming atrocities were obvious from 1938 onwards at the latest.
Many preferred to look the other way. Yes, the US did remain neutral for a time. But America is not a part of Europe. Sweden remained dishonourably neutral – and greatly profited economically. A case can be made for Irish neutrality – but not for the Irish treatment of Jewish refugees, or for de Valera’s notorious condolence visit to the German embassy, an act redolent of ignorance and brutal insensitivity.
Apropos the matter in hand: my suggestion is a double solution. No democracy can tolerate the anarchy of 5,000 men walking away from their solemnly sworn duty to the state and a (mostly) posthumous pardon would in any case be an act of empty gesturing. On the other hand, these men should be publicly honoured for their courage in defeating the tyranny which was a threat to us all.
The Minister is to be congratulated for initiating this wider debate on Ireland’s role in European history. All of the contributions to your paper so far have significantly enriched the discussion. – Yours, etc,
GERARD MONTAGUE,
Zaumberg,
Immenstadt, Germany.
President leads the way
Sir, – As a 29-year-old emigrant I was delighted to read Michael D Higgins’s recent speech on Ireland’s “intellectual crisis” (Home News, January 26th). It was refreshing to hear a public figure not pander to the public and discuss something fundamentally more urgent than the “current economic situation”.
It gives me hope that I may be able one day to return home to a country where independent thought, intelligent discourse and working together for a shared and better future are the “dominant paradigm” rather than the money- obsessed tiger’s den I escaped in 2007. If Miriam Lord struggled with some of the big words and references I’m sure Wikipedia will sort her out. – Yours, etc,
PAUL O’BRIEN,
Auckland Road, Crystal Palace,
London, England.
Sir, – Miriam Lord reports a “paradigm” count of nine in the President’s speech to the great and the good of the NUI (Home News, January 28th). Is he trying to make an example of himself? – Yours, etc,
KEVIN O’SULLIVAN,
Ballyraine Park,
Letterkenny, Co Donegal.
Emigration – a lifestyle choice?
Sir, – I was very surprised at how hurt I was at Michael Noonan’s recent comments about people emigrating for the lifestyle and the kick of it.
I have two children, educated at a huge cost to me and the other taxpayers in this State and they had to emigrate rather than be a further drain on this beleaguered economy.
I do not belong to the parallel Ireland that can assure children a livelihood or indeed a “lifestyle” as Mr Noonan seems to think is available to our emigrants.
I will probably never know my grandchildren properly and while I rejoice in the self-fulfilment and the work my children are enjoying, their choice to emigrate was a no-brainer. – Yours, etc,
ANNE MC LAUGHLIN,
Churchfield,
Doonbeg,
Co Clare.
Prostitution law change planned
Sir, – Pamela Duncan’s article (“Call for prostitution legislation to be updated”, January 23rd) revealed that the campaign to criminalise consensual commercial sex in Ireland continues with scant regard for both the welfare of the women and men it seeks to protect and any international evidence which reveals this issue to be more complex than Ruhama would have the public believe.
Last month the report of the UNAIDS Advisory Group on HIV and Sex Work found that “criminalising the client has been shown to backfire on sex workers”. The report found that in Sweden, where the criminalisation of those who purchase sex has been introduced, “sex workers who were unable to work indoors were left on the street with the most dangerous clients and little choice but to accept them” (page 6).
It is time this debate was driven less by salacious tabloid headlines and religious ideology and more by the health and safety of sex workers and the wider community. – Yours, etc,
Dr PAUL RYAN,
Department of Sociology,
National University of Ireland
Maynooth,
Co Kildare.
‘Ever the bitther word’ on O’Casey?
Sir, – Carol Coulter seems to think O’Casey “snubbed” Queen Elizabeth when he declined the offer of a CBE in 1963 (Front page, January 27th). She links this matter to O’Casey’s “rejecting” honours from universities while being “happy to accept prizes for literature and drama”. She ignores the fact that these latter were few and far between. In particular, she omits to say that O’Casey more than once opposed his nomination for the Nobel Prize in Literature, always on the grounds that as Joyce was never so honoured he could never accept nomination. He spoke up for Joyce at every opportunity.
The inference that his “rejection” of the offer of an honorary doctorate from TCD in 1961 was somehow linked to his mood following the controversy over his play The Drums of Father Nedin 1958 is quite wrong. In fact his letter in declining was very appreciative, and he added: “It would be an odd thing for me who as a youngster used to admire the clock on the facade, with its blue face and golden hands, but wouldnt [sic] venture within the railings, and should now go in, and come out wearing the hood of a fine and honoring [sic] Degree. … No, Sir, this would never do”.
The offer of a CBE was made through Harold Macmillan’s high opinion as publisher of all of O’Casey’s works over 37 years. To decline the offer was difficult for O’Casey, but the wording of the letter from the prime minister’s office was such that he had no choice. He wrote back immediately: “I imagine that such an honour would not be suitable for my nature or feeling, or any honour of this kind, so I regret that I have to refuse the offered decoration”.
It amazes me, as O’Casey’s biographer, how Dublin commentators on O’Casey must always construe all he did in a negative fashion. It is a case of “ever the bitther word”, as Jerry Devine says to Mary Boyle in Juno and the Paycock.
O’Casey was a humble man, never one to look for reward or honour for what he wrote, and also extremely courteous and polite in his dealings with those who had his interests at heart. It is about time that in his native city there should be an end to the invariable imputation that because he was tough-minded he was an ignorant lout. – Yours, etc,
CHRISTOPHER MURRAY,
Professor Emeritus,
School of English, Drama and Film,
UCD,
Belfield, Dublin 4.
Honouring our heroes
Sir, – I was so touched to see the wonderful article written by Eoin Burke-Kennedy on my late father, Jim Hanlon, “The Doc” (HEALTHplus, January 24th).
Dad was am amazing character, an inspiration of courage in the face of misfortune. He was the centre of our lives growing up and much loved by all who had the good fortune to cross his path.
I often thought if some journalist were to write a small book for the school curriculum of Irish people with profiles of courage, people like Dad could be included as an inspiration to all. We all need heroes, and he was indeed mine. Thank you once again. – Yours, etc,
JOHN HANLON,
Howth Road,
Clontarf,
Dublin 3.
‘Insight’ and empathy
Sir, – I am writing to commend you on the publication of the new quarterly magazine, Insight(January 24th).
At a time of economic recession it’s those who are most vulnerable in society who risk being marginalised. Initiatives such as Insightmagazine offer a platform to shape, participate in and even at times challenge the national conversation on a range of issues relating to disability.
In today’s society, if we were to practise some honest introspection we would surely acknowledge the presence of an ideological propensity which views a person’s value as being, by and large, equated with a narrow view of “ability”. This magazine, among other things, serves to counter this negative societal trend in the most constructive and powerful way; by allowing people living with disabilities to tell of their own experience and achievements.
Publications such as Insightcontribute to fostering empathy towards, and a genuine appreciation for the abilities of people with disabilities and the happy and fulfilled nature of their lives. I look forward to your next publication and congratulate you on the substance of the initial issue. – Yours, etc,
JOHN LUPTON (Jnr),
Willision, Roscrea,
Co Tipperary.
Easter Sunday match ‘outrage’
Sir, – The insistance by European Cup Rugby that the Heineken Cup match between Munster and Ulster be played on Easter Sunday is an outrage (Sport, January 26th). The IRFU stands condemned for not supporting Ulster when the request was made to avoid a Sunday fixture for this match. Despite what the Ulster press officer says, a great many people will be forced to participate against their conscience. This is discriminatory and disgraceful. Island of saints and scholars? – Yours, etc,
ROBERT A SHARPE,
Cootehill, Co Cavan.

Irish Independent:

Our cowardly leaders are being cowed into submission by threats of a ”financial bomb” going off in Dublin if we do not pay the Anglo Irish bondholders.
Do we have any decent politicians left? With the guts and backbone who will stand up for Ireland and shout STOP? We can’t take any more.
We must Vote NO in any referendum on the euro or Europe and go back to the punt linked to sterling and stand with our close ally, Britain. It’s time we grew up and stopped this ”old enemy” business. We have more in common with Britain than we do with Merkozy and Co.
Ann Brennan
Mooncoin, Co Kilkenny

As a child I remember a sense of grim foreboding in the run-up to Good Friday. Too little to appreciate that a divine being might die so that I could live forever, I could never assimilate precisely what was so “good” about it.
That sense of all pervasive gloom seems to hover over all our days now. With ceaseless prognostications of how the economic end is nigh, we are living through 365 Good Fridays a year, and there is no sign of a break in the clouds. There appears to be no one capable of giving meaning to any of it.
Has the sky really fallen in, should the last young person out of the country really bang the door, before turning off the lights?
This morning I saw the first snowdrops of spring poking their frail heads out of the grass. They have yet to bloom fully. I was heartened.
On the radio, there was a woman saying how Ireland still has one of the youngest populations in Europe, and that is surely something to feel good about. In Scandinavia one is struck by the number of elderly people. The years of single-child families have caught up. There is a lot of wealth, but many are lonely and too infirm to make the most of their lives.
I worry, sometimes, that all our leaden headlines and stark analysis are sucking the energy out of our people.
We are born weak and dependent and yet we flourish. Adversity, even when it comes in the form of relentless austerity, is not an invitation to wave a white flag and surrender.
All the same, my blood boiled when I heard our Taoiseach tell the world’s wealthiest that we in Ireland had all feasted greedily, high on the hog, and squandered borrowed fortunes in our own bonfire of the vanities.
My anger came from the realisation that I have misplaced my trust in someone so ignorant of the plight of the people he purports to lead.
His remarks were disgraceful in the true sense of the word in that they lacked respect for those who are struggling.
His predecessors suffered from the same delusion and disconnection, but they, at least, had the “excuse” of being in power for 11 years. Mr Kenny has only been in government 11 months.
Like Mr Noonan, who regards migration as ”a lifestyle choice”, or Mr Varadkar, who regards our obligations to the markets as a “bomb”, the Taoiseach should also understand that the elasticity of patience is finite.
Stretch the people beyond their limit and they will snap.
Michael O’Brien
Sandycove, Co Dublin

Liam Neeson is a talented actor, an Irishman we can all be proud of. Would it be too much to ask that he pursue whatever religion he wants, without judgment or comment?
Of course, all religions are equal, provided they harm no one. And if the hierarchy of the Catholic Church really did believe that Jesus was the Son of God, they could not possibly have allowed the abuse and vile treatment of children in their care.
Jesus said: “Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for to such belongeth the kingdom of God.” If the rulers of the Catholic Church truly believed in the Incarnation, they would die before abusing or permitting the torture of children.
We are entitled to see God in our own way. A warm, personal presence or an omnipotent objective power. The only thing that matters is that we harm no one and, where possible, lend a helping hand to those in need.
Patricia R Moyniham
Las Vegas, Nevada, US

I want to surrender. The sophisticated logic and subtle reasoning of the EU/ECB/IMF troika has finally brought me to my senses. I have finally accepted the complex nature of our financial peril.
The bit about explosions on the high street clinched it for me. And in case any of you thickos haven’t got it yet, don’t worry, you are not to blame for your ignorance, you just haven’t been as exposed to enough of the ”it’s complicated, dire consequences, bombs, terrorism imagery” logic yet. You see, it is indeed complicated; this ”manufacture of complications” business. The starting point for manufacturing illusions of complexity often provides the greatest challenge, that being, in our case, that it isn’t complicated at all. In fact, it’s very simple; big people are dumping on little people.
But this is where the clever buck stuff comes in. When we were thrust into disbelief about the bank guarantee in September 2008, we were told that there would be no cash in the machines, and that if we were not careful, entering our pin number into an ATM would trigger a thermonuclear explosion, taking out busloads of schoolchildren and kittens that would happen to be passing on their way to a vulnerable persons’/creatures’ conference.
I might have exaggerated that last bit, but you get the point. Good manufacture of complexity involves pushing as many emotive buttons in the minds of the gullible as possible. That’s how they got me in the end.
I like walking down the high street. The last thing I want is to be blown to pieces. The funny thing is, I have a nagging feeling that the EEC was founded to put a stop to big countr-ies picking on little coun-tries, and indeed, to speci- fically stop big countries using gun and bomb talk to control little ones.
But don’t mind me, I’m just having a little relapse, I’ll be okay after another troika visit, I’m becoming dependent on the sound of those expensive boots.
Declan Doyle
Lisdowney, Kilkenny

With regard to the recent “mad” comments from our Taoiseach Enda Kenny in Davos — maybe he had the quotation by Mark Twain in mind: “When we remember that we are all mad, the mysteries disappear and life stands explained.”
I think that clears up the confusion about why we went mad during the ”Tiger” years.
John Merren
Balrothery, Dublin 24

Well I must be off

best wishes John

Off out around the park, one other jogger one women, its like running in cold water, but no ice nor snow on the ground, as yet.
Mary starts her weekend vigil for the RSPB keeping an eye on the bird table and a tally of all the birds. No many today. I think the birds know that its bird observation week, and are hiding staying out of the way laughing up their sleeves at us. The Squirrel does not help, squatting insolently on the bird table taking his time thoughtfully chewing the bird food. If he isn’t care full I’ll mix it with some hot paprika, that squirrels don’t life but birds don’t mind. Though with my luck he will be the only paprika loving squirrel in Britain.
I manage to get one video recorder working now the DVD player won’t work, do they take turns? Have they got a ‘don’t work today’ duty list or something. Still it was nice to see Auton shot 25 years ago, now, my goodness how things have changed.
Partridge we watch The Big Job, and gang of Britain’s most incompetent criminals rob an bank and hide the loot in a tree. They get caught, after 15 years in prison they are released, only to find that the tree where the loot is hidden is now in the grounds of a police station. Priceless.
Scrabble today I win but not but not by much, one of those annoying slow games, which seems to drag on and on. Better luck tomorrow.

Fave Letters:

In the week in which we were treated to the sight of the global elite enjoying each other’s company on the Davos slopes, it was good to have the thoughts of the Rev Giles Fraser lifting our minds to higher matters (“I’ve spent my life on the naughty step”, 22 January). The former canon chancellor of St Paul’s took a principled stand by supporting the Occupy protest – something none of the Davos “leaders” seemed willing to do – and is paying the price by having to find new work for himself and a home for his family.
No one sensibly believes that dealing with the consequences of the bankers’ spree is a simple matter: we live in a complex world where many things remain hard to understand, never mind control. But we are not likely to honestly and squarely tackle the fundamental issues behind the present crisis except by following the lead of Dr Fraser when he says: “I struggle to live out what I believe in a way that has authenticity and is real.”
Every time I saw a Davos “leader” tell us why the rich need to be even better rewarded and the rest of us to be further impoverished by loss of work or social support, I found myself asking by what “authenticity” they decide their priorities and make their policies.
Bill Gaynor
London SE1

Sacrebleu et gorblimey. Have General de Gaulle’s remains moved from Colombey-les-Deux-Eglises in the Haute-Marne? I know De Gaulle is revered by anyone in France, but he has, apparently, moved himself posthumously to Versailles in Ile-de-France. Am I wrong? Or was it Jonathan Meades in Meades on France, as reviewed by Matthew Bell (22 January)? I only ask for information …
Jack Hughes
Brixham, Devon

SIR – I am sorry to have to tell Pat Wright (Letters, January 27) that a colleague who is a Lincolnshire supermarket manager assures me that some people do tie their horses in the car park, and some have to be stopped from riding them into the shop.
Geoff Wright
Doncaster, South Yorkshire

Obituary:

Alex Eadie, Labour MP for Midlothian from 1966 until 1992, was my parliamentary neighbour for a quarter of a century.
Members of Parliament who share a local newspaper covering both their constituencies often develop edgy, and sometimes icy, relationships with one another. Rivalries and petty jealousies can ever so easily rear their ugly heads. But I can truthfully say that, as the MP for West Lothian, I never had a less than excellent relationship with Eadie. He was a coalminer and a gentleman. These two often go together.
For a period in the 1970s and early 1980s, Eadie had a position in British politics infinitely more important than that which would normally be accorded to shadow or actual parliamentary under-secretaries of state at the Department of Energy. He had been a miner with three decades of experience at the coal-face of Lochhead Colliery near his home, the coal-town of Wemyss in Fife.
He had grown up in the Fife National Union of Mine Workers with Mick McGahey, and had the grudging respect of the brothers Abe and Alex Moffatt, the powerful Communist leaders of the Scottish miners. He had risen, in the hard ambience of the Fife County Council, to which he had been elected in 1953, to be the respected chairman of the Housing Committee for nine years and of the Education Committee. His chiselled features and powerful frame made him physically formidable.
Throughout the turbulent Heath, Wilson-Callaghan and Thatcher years at the political coalface, Eadie commanded attention, not only in Labour circles but among civil servants and many Conservatives, as a force for sanity. He was contemptuous of cheap political advantage – his talisman was any proposal which would bring benefit to miners and their families.
His father Robert was killed in a mining accident, and Alex was brought up by his mother, Sarah. After Buckhaven Secondary School, Eadie applied himself in the Buckhaven Technical School. In 1958 he was elected to the Labour Party’s Scottish Regional Council and the following year was selected to fight Sir Thomas Moore Bt for the marginal seat of Ayr Burghs.
He was unsuccessful, but for the next five years nursed the constituency vigorously. I spent many weekends in Ayr canvassing with him; we would have won in 1964 but for the outstanding Tory candidate, George Younger. Eighteen months later the Communist leadership supported Eadie for the traditional miners’ seat of Midlothian, where he romped home in 1966 and held the seat until his retirement in 1992.
I sat next to him during his maiden speech on 9 May 1966 on the Budget. “We should help to restore confidence in the mining industry if we accelerated the inquiry into the distribution of coal,” he said. “It is ridiculous that it should cost more to distribute coal than it costs miners in the bowels of the earth to produce it.”
It was one of the few maiden speeches which actually led to government action. There was an inquiry and distribution costs did improve. And Eadie became the Parliamentary Private Secretary to Margaret Herbison, then the Minister for Social Security outside the Cabinet. However, later that year he was sacked on Harold Wilson’s orders for refusing to back the government on entry into the EEC. This did not worry Eadie, an issue politician relatively uninterested in the greasy pole of promotion. He thought nothing of threatening the Minister of Power, Dick Marsh (obituary, 13 August 2011), with the revolt of the miners’ MPs unless he changed his policy on pit closures.
After the fall of the Labour government in 1970 Eadie was promoted to the front-bench team on energy. He expressed fury with the Industry Secretary, John Davies, for threatening the miners with cheap oil and warned that oil would not be cheap for all time. In fact he trumpeted the problems of the 1973 oil crisis before it happened.
In November 1973 he successfully introduced a Private Member’s Bill to help the mentally handicapped.
Seldom can a Minister have known at first hand so many of the gut issues in the mining industry. Eadie was particularly concerned about disease and injury, not least because he himself suffered excruciating back pain as a result of a pit injury. He was able to do much to improve miners’ health.
I saw him daily during the miners’ strike in 1984. He was travelling endlessly between the coalfields, the NUM headquarters in Sheffield, Westminster and his home. He was deeply offended by Margaret Thatcher’s referral to the mineworkers as “the enemy within”. On 7 June he said bitterly, “The miners’ dispute is probably costing twice as much as the Falklands War. I restrain myself with great difficulty from going into details about [Hansard records laughter] – Conservative members should not laugh, because there is nothing to laugh about – the misery and suffering that miners and their families are undergoing. “
I had a cup of tea with Eadie afterwards – he was a strict teetotaller – and found him incandescent with anger. Politics were of secondary importance to the proud profession of coal-miner.
In September 1978, Eadie was a possible candidate to succeed Derek Ezra as the chairman of the National Coal Board. I believe that that appointment would have been made had it not been for the incipient illness of Eadie’s devoted wife, Mima. Had he become chairman, I do not think that Thatcher would have removed him and the whole confrontational saga of Ian McGregor might have been avoided. Eadie had always handled Thatcher well and would have built on what she had said about St Francis of Assisi and harmony.
Mima died in 1981 and, for the two decades following, Eadie, with mounting health problems acquired by 30 years underground, was cared for in his beloved Wemyss by Janice, his second wife, and his son Robert, a senior trade union official, and daughter-in-law Helen, a member of the Scottish Parliament for Dunfermline East.
Alexander Eadie, coalminer and politician: born Glasgow 23 June 1920; coalminer, Lochhead Colliery 1934-65; BEM 1960; MP (Labour) for Midlothian 1966-92; Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Energy 1974-79; married 1941 Mima Ritchie (died 1981; one son), 1983 Janice Murdoch; died East Wemyss 25 January 2012.

Full Text:

Guardian:

The flaw in Will Hutton’s argument (“Words won’t change capitalism. So be daring and do something”, Comment) is the implication that we can all remain as affluent as we think we are. He argues that the state should borrow from the financial system, then lend to business, in the expectation that business will generate sufficient return to justify the venture.
This is precisely the same delusion that led to the credit crunch. The fatal flaw is the inference (in both cases) that ultimately the state will pay. The present financial crisis is confirmation that the state is unable to pay, while the financial system is disinclined to accept the resultant loss.
We don’t need responsible capitalism, or a redress of predatory pricing, or even a co-operative movement. We need invention, innovation, effort, application and commitment. We need to produce more of what we consume and export the surplus to pay for necessary imports. Unfortunately, what we have instead is an addiction to subsidy, a predilection to a benefits culture, a conviction that infrastructure spending can compensate for a trade deficit and an expectation that politicians will sign off any commitment that might gain votes at the next election. We have developed a culture that believes not paying tax is clever and a practice that can be continued indefinitely.
Martin London
Henllan
Denbighshire
If capitalism is unstable, it’s not just because it deals with unknowable risk but because it lives by that risk and makes it more unknowable.
Capitalism disconnects wealth, profit and growth from any material or social measure of benefit or improvement. Hutton calls for daring deeds, not words, but fails to get much beyond the chimera of monetary growth and GDP. His bold measures treat mainly symptoms, not causes, symbols, not substance. The task of government is not simply to quantify and manipulate financial targets, but to enable us to define and deliver the goods and services we most need. Not just to turn the tap marked “Growth”, but determine what is to be grown and how.
Human wellbeing is never totally knowable or quantifiable. But we do know we all need health, housing, education, useful employment, peace and care in old age. And a world fit for our children and theirs. This real market is all our business, central to good life and good government. Our future is not reducible to “Profit” and “Loss”, or to be left at the door of “Good Capitalism”.
Greg Wilkinson
Swansea
A free, partial Treasury indemnity to every loan to small- or medium-size enterprises must be targeted specifically at enterprises that create “original” wealth. At the very top of the list should be either those with export potential or those that can produce goods and services we currently import, especially high value ones such as cars, aerospace, electronics and energy. Any recovery must be export/import-substitution led.
The government must not simply put expensively borrowed money in people’s pockets in the vain hope of artificially stimulating growth as this will simply suck in more imports and make matters worse.
Jez Coulson
Fareham
Responsible capitalism is an oxymoron. We live on a finite planet with finite resources, which we are already stretching to the limit or beyond. Yet capitalism is predicated on continuous growth, a recipe for disaster.
If the present wealth of the world were fairly shared, everyone could have all the basic necessities of life and a modicum of luxuries. That a billion or more people lack clean water and sanitation, let alone many of the amenities we take for granted, while others have riches beyond avarice, is a scandal and totally unsustainable. No one needs to be a multimillionaire, still less a billionaire, to have a reasonably happy and fulfilled life, as I can personally testify.
Frank Jackson
Harlow

It was with mixed pleasure that I read that Eton has become “a first-rate launch pad for a theatrical career” (“Eton spawns a new breed of stage and screen luminaries”, News). It is little wonder it has become so, with a fully equipped large theatre, a studio theatre, at least three directors of drama, a full-time designer and a full complement of technical staff. The only surprise was that they are setting up “Eton’s first drama bursary”. What further help along the road into a theatrical career could their students possibly need?
I wonder if the staff and students at Eton would consider raising money for a matching bursary for a student of talent from one of the many state schools that have no performance space, nor a qualified drama teacher on the staff. Such a student, who has evolved an interest in an acting career, would be disadvantaged further if their parents could not afford approximately £1,000 for a three-week course on audition technique or £11,000 for a year’s foundation course, both of which can be of tremendous help in passing a drama school audition. If the drama school concerned is one of the many that are part of a university, only then does the daunting opportunity to take up a bank loan to pay for fees kick in.
Philip Hedley
Director emeritus
Theatre Royal Stratford East
One man’s meat…
Synthetic meat could be helpful (“Could lab-grown meat soon be the solution to the world’s food crisis?”, Comment), but sadly these ideas, and many others, face major obstacles. Nobody wants the job or the bill for food security or to have their consumer choice reduced. Food surpluses often cause prices to crash, driving suppliers away from food production unless there are alternative markets. Such markets, however, absorb the gluts and prevent the surpluses being stored. More food from less space is no guarantee of conservation. Growing populations and demand for western lifestyles could easily counteract the potential benefits.
Food production can be dramatically increased and improved without demolishing or overheating the planet by using both modern and traditional methods, especially by cutting waste. Unfortunately, these measures need investment, support and agreement of responsibility for food security; the last in particular is unlikely to happen.
Iain Climie
Whitchurch, Hants
Truth is at the core of science
The idea that science has a paradoxical “moral commitment to truth” (Dr Gary Kitchen, Letters) is a misunderstanding. Science is, properly, a system of obtaining testable solutions to problems that are fit for purpose and, as such, truth is fundamental to its operation, not a moral add-on. That is why science places these requirements on any theory: that it is self-consistent, requires the fewest number of unfounded assumptions, and can be tested – to destruction, if necessary – by logical analysis, experiment or comparison with established facts.
That is what makes science so different from, and often anathema to, arts subjects such as historico-literary studies and religion, and certain reaches of the social sciences, in which totally conflicting theories are allowed to exist side by side with cherry-picked “evidence” and arguments being put forward by committed adherents.
Professor Tony Pointon
University of Portsmouth
Are you listening at the back?
Your article “Teacher star of Tory conference under fire over plan for free school with ‘private ethos’”(News), made no attempt to reflect what this government is doing to give more parents a greater choice of good local schools or address how we are helping to alleviate pressure on primary school places. We are creating thousands more primary places. We have doubled investment in areas facing the greatest pressure on numbers – to more than £4bn in the next four years. In fact, we are investing more per year up to 2015 than was invested per year between 1997 and 2005. London itself received just over £1bn for 2011 to 2013. The last government knew about soaring birth rates but did nothing.
Free schools are set up in response to what local people say they want to improve educational standards in their community. Michaela Community School’s proposal sets out plans for a distinctive, knowledge-rich curriculum, an ethos to instil self-discipline and a strong work ethic. It is deliberately targeted to help pupils from poorer backgrounds. Any school that will help to provide high expectations and raise aspirations in south London should be welcomed.
Lord Hill
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Education
London SW1
Time to cough up, Ma’am
It may be contentious but I support Michael Gove’s idea to link a gift of £60m to the forthcoming diamond jubilee (“A new royal yacht? A very British way to waste money”, Comment). The Windsors’ donation of such a sum to keep open children’s centres that would otherwise close would be a fitting way for the Queen to celebrate her jubilee and to demonstrate her concern for the welfare of the youngest and humblest of her subjects.
Professor Colin Richards
Spark Bridge, Cumbria

Independent:

I was at the sharia [Islamic law] debate at Queen Mary, University of London that was abandoned when, as Joan Smith reported, an Islamic extremist filmed attendees by mobile phone and threatened to track down any that said anything negative about the Prophet Mohamed (“Strong religious belief is no excuse for intimidation”, 22 January). To protect free speech in future, one approach, used at some universities, would be to require the handing in of mobile phones to security prior to meetings. But there is a wider issue. Are people to be deterred from legally demonstrating by the threat of being filmed by opponents and later pursued?
David Crawford
Bromley, Kent
 
***
 
To Westminster, Scotland is a sideshow, a small boy to be given his pocket money and told to be a good boy (“We’re proudly Scottish – but still British”, 22 January). As Alex Salmond put it, the days when Scotland went down on one knee when a British prime minister spoke have gone. Scotland wishes to control her own destiny, control her own finances, and stop being used as a sideshow and a dumping ground by Westminster. Why not moor Trident submarines in the Pool of London? Scotland wishes rid of London’s mess; the idea that if it is not in London, then it does not happen has gone.
Ian Young
Edinburgh
 
***
 
Scottish people have more spent on them per capita than the English, and that gap will increase with devo-max. Their MPs vote on English-only matters at Westminster. It is only fair that the English be given an opportunity for a referendum on the Scottish issue. It could be that they don’t want the Scots.
Roy Burns
Chester
 
***
 
I have managed to catch a few of the Springwatch and Autumnwatch programmes on BBC2 over the years, and it was always fascinating to see the presenters’ interaction with badgers. Now we may see the badgers featured on Springwatch being shot on Autumnwatch, as the first of the two trial badger culls commences. Most of the newly elected MPs into this Parliament – in the main, career Conservatives or Tory-supporting Liberal Democrats – will support a badger cull when presented with selective evidence. It will be a sad day for our wildlife when culling, hunting and shooting are expanded and the countryside treated like a fairground attraction – stack them up and butcher them down!
Graham Forsyth
Chard, Somerset
 
***
 
It is shocking to read that in the 21st century many mothers fear for their daughters in childbirth (“Thousands of women could be at risk from ‘silent Thalidomide’”, 22 January). The most important job in the world – producing the next generation – is still a dangerous undertaking for too many women globally, whether imperilled by impoverished healthcare or deliberate negligence. There is a critical shortage of midwives in some parts of Britain too. Honouring Gandhi’s wisdom that a society is measured by how it treats its weakest members, among those we should include its babies.
Katie Ensor
Manchester

Telegraph:

SIR – You report that the English setter is in danger of dying out (January 25). It will be a very sad day if it comes about. We have been privileged to own six English setters over the past 20 years and they are the most beautiful, loyal, loving and elegant dogs imaginable. They need plenty of exercise and certainly keep you fit, and they do not have many brain cells, but I cannot imagine life without them.
Barrie Freeman
Llangadwaladr, Anglesey
SIR – Although the Kennel Club may have registered only 234 English setter puppies in 2011, animal shelters abroad, notably in Greece, Spain, Italy and Ireland, have significant numbers of these magnificent hunters and pets.
English setters are not for everyone. They require more patience to train than spaniels and, being rather exuberant, end up in animal shelters only too often.
James Graham
Esher, Surrey

SIR – The NHS faces a challenging few years. Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) are already showing their ability to innovate and improve the care of patients despite difficult circumstances.
Blanket opposition to the NHS reforms by the British Medical Association and the Royal College of Nurses is not representative of the views of GPs who, like us, already lead CCGs, and the large number of GPs and nurses who support us. In many parts of England, CCGs are already showing effective leadership in their local health systems. This brings frontline clinical experience and the views of local people into the heart of the NHS.
Co-operation between hospitals, social services, GPs and community nurses is much stronger as a result – this can only benefit people who rely on these services.
The risks of derailing the development of clinical commissioning must not be underestimated. Previous health service reforms have failed to commit to clinical leadership and have paid the price of disengaging the frontline staff most needed to modernise the NHS. We cannot allow that to happen this time. Without strong clinical leadership and the co‑ordinated efforts of local clinicians, the NHS itself may be in peril: local services can only be improved if we all pull together.
Dr Shane Gordon
GP and CEO, North East Essex CCG
Dr Jonathan Marshall
Chairman, United Commissioning Group
Dr Amit Bhargava
Crawley CCG
Dr Dilip Acquilla
Vice-chairman, Easton CCG
Dr Shane Gordon
GP & CEO North East Essex CCG
Dr Jonathan Marshall
Chair, United Commissioning Group
Dr Tony Ainsworth
Chairman, Northeast Birmingham CCG
Dr A Ali
Vice-Chairman, Barnsley Peoples First Commissioning Consortium LLP
Dr Ken Aswani
GP/Medical Director, Waltham Forest Federated GP Consortium
Dr Nick Balac
Chairman, Barnsley Peoples First Commissioning Consortium LLP
Dr Barhey
Chairman, Luton CCG
Dr Sam Barrell
Clinical Director, Commissioning & Transition TCT
Chairman, Baywide CCG Ltd
Dr Kamal Bishai
West Essex CCG Board, Epping Forest Locality Lead
George Boulos
Deputy Lead, North & West Reading CCG
David Eyre-Brook
Chairman, Guildford and Waverley CCG
Charles Broomhead
Contract Lead, Northeast Birmingham CCG (NEB)
Dr Harry Byrne
Chairman, Darlington CCG
Mr Joseph Chandy
Chairman, Easington Locality Group, Durham Dales, Easington, Sedgefield Shadow CCG
Dr Jonathan Cockbain
Joint Chairman of Sutton CCG
Dr Rosemary Croft
Member of the management Exec, GP South Reading Consortium
Ms Jane Dempster
Clinical Lead, Farnham CCG
Dr Stewart Findlay
GP Chair, Durham Dales, Easington and Sedgefield CCG
Dr Colin Fleetcroft
Founder member of Guildford and Waverley CCG
Dr Annet Gamell
Chairman, Bucks Primary Care Collaborative
Dr Andy Harris
Chairman, Leeds South & East CCG
Dr John Havard
Board Member, Ipswich & East Suffolk CCG
Dr Mark Hayes
Shadow Clinical Accountable Officer, Vale of York CCG
Mr Ken Holton
Information & Data Lead, InSpires & Godiva CCGs (part of Arden Consortia)
Dr Derek Hooper
Chairman, NE Lincs Care Trust CCG Council
Dr Mark Jefford
Clinical Lead, Newark & Sherwood NHS CCG
Dr Elizabeth Johnston
Chairman, South Reading CCG
Dr Andrea Jones
GP/Associate Clinical Lead, Darlington CCG
Dr Mahesh Kamdar
Clinical Co-Chair, Castle Point CCG
Dr David Kelly
Chairman, North Kirklees Health Alliance
Dr Stephen Madgwick
Clinical Lead, Wokingham CCG
Dr Joanne Medhurst
Managing Director, Bexley BSU
Dr Joe McGilligan
Chairman, EsyDoc LLP
Dr Vaishali Nanda
Vice-chairman, Middlesborough CCG
Dr Steve Ollerton
Chairman, Greater Huddersfield CCG
Dr Ramila Patel
Chairman, South Birmingham Independent Commissioners
Dr Amal Paul
Chairman, Leeds Alliance CCG
Dr Boleslaw Posmyk
Chairman, Hartlepool Locality & Hartlepool & North Tees CCG
Ms Stephanie Poulter
Business Manager, Northeast Birmingham CCG
Mrs Jan Randall
Commissioning Manager, NHS Kirklees
Dr Hugh Reeve
Chairman, Cumbria CCG
Dr Stephen Richards
Consortium Lead, Oxfordshire CCG
Dr John Ribchester
Board Member, Canterbury & Coastal CCG
Dr John Rivers
Chairman, Isle of Wight CCG
Dr Dinah Roy
Chairman, Sedgefield Locality, Durham Dales, Sedgefield & Easington Shadow CCG
Dr Raian Sheikh
Clinical Lead, Mansfield & Ashfield CCG
Dr Gordon Sinclair
Chairman, Leeds West Commissioning Group
Dr Ramji Sinha
Deputy Chairman, Trans Walsall Independent Commissioners
Dr Rod Smith
Chairman, North & West Reading CCG
Dr Mark Spencer
GP/Chairman, Fleetwood CCG
Dr Koyih Tan
Clinical Lead & Chair, Fareham & Gosport CCG
Dr Helen Thomas
Associate Medical Director NHS Devon, SHA GP Lead South West
Board Member, Plymouth CCG
Dr Peter Wilczynski
Interim executive chair, Corby Healthcare CCG
Dr Martin Writer
GP Chair & GP Principal, Coastal Community Healthcare Consortium CCG

SIR – I am sorry to have to tell Pat Wright (Letters, January 27) that a colleague who is a Lincolnshire supermarket manager assures me that some people do tie their horses in the car park, and some have to be stopped from riding them into the shop.
Geoff Wright
Doncaster, South Yorkshire

SIR – You report that RBS is to pay Stephen Hester, its chief executive, a £950,000 bonus on top of his £1,250,000 salary (January 27). The Government said it had no option but to give him the bonus because otherwise the entire RBS board would have resigned. The response should have been to let them.
The bankers were largely responsible for our dire economic circumstances, yet they seem to think that they should be immune to the consequences of their actions.
Valerie Crews
Beckenham, Kent
SIR – The current hostility toward bonuses is a worrying sign for the British economy.
Related Articles
English setters are a loyal and loving dog breed
28 Jan 2012
Seeking to deny people rewards for their accomplishments, whether they work for a publicly owned company or not, is the most efficient way to drive talent away to markets where enjoying the rewards of success is not considered taboo.
Dave Way
London WC1
SIR – Vince Cable says that footballers deserve the large amounts that they are paid (report, January 25). Whether or not they deserve them is irrelevant; football clubs are able to pay such high amounts to the best players because millions of people are willing to pay high prices to watch them play. If the money was not coming in from these sources, the players could not be paid as much as they are; it is a very simple case of supply and demand.
The large salaries and bonuses that are paid to company executives are a totally different matter; whether these are deserved or not is seldom fully explained. In particular, the reasons for many bonus payments are opaque, paid irrespective of the poor performance of the company or individual concerned.
If the whole process of the awarding of high salaries and bonuses was made more transparent, the public may be more willing to accept its validity.
Peter Walton
Buckingham
SIR – The excuse for not taking drastic action is always the fear that the top people may depart overseas to the detriment of the banks they leave behind. Where are all these overseas jobs that are apparently waiting for our bankers?
It’s time somebody called their bluff and put the myth to bed.
Harold Roggeveen
Guisborough, North Yorkshire
SIR – There has been little mention of how executive performance, and therefore failure, should be measured. We should be wary of any potential proposals which might encourage short-termism.
Roddy More
Chester
SIR – I believe that I was paid to give 100 per cent to my job. Instead of bonuses, would it not be better to deduct pay if targets are not met?
Malcolm Allen
Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire
Jubilee menu
SIR – The Duchess of Cornwall’s cookery competition for the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee (report, January 26) will encourage more children to cook and provide an opportunity to learn about ingredients and food history. Let’s hope schools take up this cookery challenge.
Fiona Bird
Children’s Food Campaigner
Kirriemuir, Angus
SIR – Worries that school children, familiar with sushi and TV chefs, will produce a coronation chicken replacement based upon infusions, dry ice and foam may be unfounded (Leading article, January 26). I have yet to see any of these at the McDonald’s my children insist on visiting.
Stephen Sharp
Netherwitton, Northumberland
The burden of VAT
SIR – David Hartnett, the chief tax collector, claims that paying cash in hand is “diddling the country” (report, January 27). This shows how out of touch mandarins are when it comes to the severely over-stretched incomes of average families.
Perhaps if Mr Hartnett earned the average wage and found that his roof was leaking, his windows were rotten or his boiler needed replacing, he would take a different view. Would he pay 20 per cent VAT on essential repairs?
What deprive us of the public services we deserve and have paid for are government waste and vanity projects.
Stefan Reszczynski
Margate, Kent
Working welfare
SIR – Universal credit is set to be delivered on time and on budget, with a tried and tested IT system (Comment, January 26).
We have learned the lessons from the failed government IT projects that we are all sadly familiar with. I have no intention of adding universal credit to that list. We simply could not undertake a reform of this importance without being certain that we had the IT system in place to back it up. Sixty per cent of the systems we will use are based on existing IT that we know works. Ministers are overseeing the implementation to ensure its success.
The first people will start to receive universal credit next year and will gain from the knowledge that they will be better off in work than on benefits. By October 2017, all claims will have been moved over to the new system.
Lord Freud
Minister for Welfare Reform
London SW1
Grammars raise grades
SIR – Although you rightly highlight the dominance of grammar schools in the GCSE league tables (report, January 27), the real message is in the lowest rankings.
In Buckinghamshire, even the worst performing school scored 65 per cent, outperforming the best school in Blackpool. In Kent, no school scored lower than 99 per cent. Grammar schools were abolished because children who “failed” the 11-plus were seen as write-offs. Yet the message is that selective education benefits every child, not just the brightest.
Roger Smith
Meppershall, Bedfordshire
No laughing matter
SIR – John Stuart Mill understood that individual happiness depends on living our lives in our own way (Letters, January 26). There is no surer way to make someone unhappy than to impose upon them a Procrustean blueprint for happiness.
Dr Gary Kitchen
Southport, Lancashire
Boots made for walking
SIR – The answer to muddy boots at a supermarket is clear (Letters, January 27). Each week, our rambling group arrives at a pub for lunch. Rather than leave 30 pairs of muddy boots at the door we don used plastic bags over our boots.
Richard Sanders
Warwick
SIR – I am sorry to have to tell Pat Wright (Letters, January 27) that a colleague who is a Lincolnshire supermarket manager assures me that some people do tie their horses in the car park, and some have to be stopped from riding them into the shop.
Geoff Wright
Doncaster, South Yorkshire
Polite radio presenters put their guests at ease
SIR – As merely two out of 10 guests on the Today programme are female (report, January 25), I thought myself fortunate to be asked on one day last week.
At the BBC, I was directed to a studio equipped with headphones and a microphone. A few minutes later, sitting all alone, I was linked up with James Naughtie and a male guest in the Oxford studio. There was no communication between us prior to the broadcast, no clue as to the questions or how the interview would be structured.
Having broadcast from time to time over the past 40 years, I can remember when it was the presenter’s job to be charming and helpful to get the best interview from their guest. Perhaps we could get back to how things were, when presenters had nicer manners, before they became so blokeish. I wonder what the ratio of men to women guests and presenters was in those days?
Rita Greer
Liss, Hampshire

Irish Times:

Irish Independent:

Sir — I would like to express my thoughts on the issue of violence, which is ever increasing in my community. However shocked as I am by an incident I witnessed recently, I was absolutely horrified to see the young onlookers’ reaction.
A fight after school broke out on school grounds between a student from my school and an unknown male. I do understand that there will always be fights and disagreements amongst students, but I believe we have crossed a line.
The unknown male involved had two weapons, a knife and a baseball bat. Sadly, many readers will not be shocked by this. This is what our culture has become familiar with. Teenage boys are now using knives in after-school fights.
But I am, however, more shocked at my fellow students’ reactions. Students from different genders, ages and nationalities stood around, finding this very serious fight entertaining. Not only were they standing, watching, they encouraged this fight.
What has this society come to? When did we become so twisted? His friends did not try to protect him or break up the fight, nor did a teacher, caretaker or anybody else. When did people become so corrupt? Not just the people using these weapons, but the people standing around, encouraging such disgraceful behaviour.
Are we all to blame? If our society had not become so familiar with violence, would those people have helped break it up or at least walk away?
I personally cannot and will not watch such behaviour. However, I could not stop the fight on my own no matter how much I tried, although a group of people could have. United we stand and divided we fall, and I believe we have fallen! If that unknown male had killed our fellow student, would they have found that entertaining?
When does it get to the point where it loses its entertainment value? Maybe when these students are getting a day off school to attend their classmate’s funeral, because of the fight they could have stopped.
Name and address with Editor

Sir — The letter of the week by James J Heslin about old-age pensioners compels me to stress that there was not one word from that sector of society when blind people and invalids had their social welfare money cut. Old-age pensioners are all me fein and have tunnel vision about their own money.
Gerry Daly,
Caherslee, Tralee,

Sir — John Drennan’s article (Sunday Independent, January 22, 2012) struck a chord with an idea that I have been nurturing since this crisis began in 2008.
A mass movement of Irish taxpayers could turn this country on its head, and give us real accountable, fully democratic government for the first time in this State’s history.
At present, we are split into a gazillion protest groups, all with individual issues. The broader picture is that there are 1.5 million taxpayers in Ireland. Under a common umbrella group, we could wrest all sorts of perfectly valid reforms from the Government — like openness, accountability, best practice and an end to the selfish parasitical clique that cares only for its own privileges and has repeatedly run SS Ireland on to the rocks — with no consequences for themselves.
The best solutions are often the simplest, and are often right under our nose. Anybody else for a Taxpayers’ Movement ?
Gerry Kelly, Rathgar, Dublin 6

Well I must be off

best wishes John

Off out around the park, one other jogger one man two dog walkers, commuters. There is a nip in the air. Mary said there was sleet as well. I hope the daffs survive.
The papers say that there is less activity at the bird table now that there is so much more natural food available. Well if that is so our lot certainly haven’t heard of it. There is an eager throng waiting for Mary when she goes out. If she is the slightest bit late then we get a dejected blackbird or robin hopping up and down, looking pathetic to urge her on.
Off out I go to drop Mary off at Joans. I go off shopping at Tesco. I get some plums to make some more wine with. Then back to pick up Mary. Apparently I have just missed Paula, the checker for the care home who paid a brief visit to see if everything is going all right. Joan has been telling some stories, but on the other hand you never know with Joan. Mary does her best to fill in the gaps in their information.
Fish and chips we watch Oh Mr Porter, dear old Will Hay, in charge of an Irish railway station, with a gun smuggler no less. The scene where they escape down the blades of an windmill is wonderful, as well as the high speed train journey, Priceless.
Scrabble today I win but not but not by much, one of those annoying games where I get all the vowels and Mary gets all the consonants, and we are both stuck, but I am sure Mary will get a suitable revenge.

Fave Letters:

I’m a museum curator who spends a lot of time mollocking around in vast stores. Given the conditions – heavy objects, 13ft-high shelves, I find it’s a good thing not to be wearing pretty items of clothing that flap about. Jeans usually fit the bill and can be chosen to look moderately smart in office situations (Letters, 27 January). Given also that age (55) is causing me to lose my nerve in the wobbling-on-13ft-high-ladder stakes, I would love to be a lumberjack, because then I might be OK.
Helen Rees
Southampton
• In the village where I live, with its broad dairy farming hinterland, jeans are the dress of choice for all ages and both sexes. And usually tucked inside green wellies. It works on every level.
Nick Nolan
Ballylanders, Co Limerick

Victims of drone strikes
According to my information, based on spending the last four years in Pakistan near the Afghan border, Pakistani Taliban chief Hakimullah Mehsud has now been killed three times by US drones (report, 16 January). The point of such announcements has little to do with whether or not the Taliban chief is alive or dead; it is to convince the general public that US drones kill enemies rather than civilians. They kill on average 50 civilians inside Pakistan’s borders for every alleged militant.
David L Gosling
(Former Principal, Edwardes College, Peshawar) Cambridge

SIR – As a student pilot, I endeavoured to impress my flying instructor with my recently and very sketchily acquired knowledge of the principles of flight.
“Forget that guff, lad,” I was told. “Just remember,” he advised, “pull back and the houses get smaller; push forward and the houses get bigger.”
Many years and flying hours later, I continue to put my faith in his words.
Patrick Thomas
Over Wallop, Hampshire

Obituary:

Frances MacKeith died peacefully at home in Winchester on 14 December 2011 aged 97. Her long life encompassed over half acentury of campaigning for peace. She had the gift of friendship with all age groups. She was brilliantly well-read, a doyenne of crosswords, an enthusiastic player of the violin and viola, a great walker and naturalist, the creator of a beautiful wild meadow, the befriender of many a refugee and traveller from overseas. She was entirely without vanity and had no malice in her heart. In personal matters she might follow the Quaker guideline “In case of emergency remain silent”, but in public matters she was a fearless, determined and outspoken advocate for peace and internationalism.
Frances Millais Culpin (“Jo” to family and old friends) was born in Young, New South Wales on 28 March 1914. Her medical parents had married while working in Shanghai and were enjoying an extended year-long honeymoon visiting Australia. This link with Australia was to remain strong and she spent four years there during the Second World War when sent there to be safe from the London bombing as the young mother of two children.
She travelled extensively in Europe with her parents and in 1931 had attended a Munich rally held for Hitler at which she and her mother appeared to be the only non-Nazis present. She was proud of her degree in German at University College, London, graduating in 1936, and went to Germany as part of her education, spending time at Tübingen and Heidelberg Universities. Close friendships there and her love of the German language and literature remained with her throughout her life.
Through her father Millais Culpin, a distinguished psychologist and early psychotherapist, Jo met Stephen MacKeith, a young psychiatrist, and they married in 1938. They enjoyed a rare and enduring marriage until Stephen’s death in 1995. Together they raised six children. Although her life was for many years taken up with her family, and teaching “A” level German at a girls’ school in Croydon, her political activism burgeoned with the Aldermaston March in the 1950s and demonstrations against the Vietnam War in Grosvenor Square in the ’60s, in both of which she played a full part and encouraged her children to do the same.
Jo joined the Quakers in Winchester, where the local Friends called her “The Peace Woman”, regarding her with both respect and apprehension because of her proactive stance. As an active member of Winchester Peace Group in the 1980s, she supported Greenham women, taking food and firewood chopped by Stephen.
In her eighties, Jo took Nonviolent direct action against Trident, three times at Faslane. In court she drew respect from police and magistrates, one of whom acknowledged her “transparent honesty” when she defended herself with her considerable intellect, integrity and lack of posturing.
Well into her eighties she travelled considerable distances to take part in demonstrations against nuclear and conventional weapons, and at Aldermaston a 90th birthday party was thrown for her.
She taught prisoners at Winchester Prison and, unfazed by their swearing, was amused to overhear them deciding that she should have the unchipped mug. When imprisoned herself for an afternoon for demonstrating against the Iraq War, Frances spent the next few hours explaining Quakerism to her cell-mate, a young shoplifter, and putting up Quaker stickers (“Make Peace, not War”). Strengthened by her intellect and quiet authority, and a profound sense of humanity, she was an inspiration to many, not least her own family.
Alice Tomic

Full Text:

Guardian:

Dearest Roy, the massive stroke you died from, aged 84, ended 42 years of unalloyed happiness together. I was five years your junior. Now, after two years, my anger, shock and disbelief have dimmed a little, but underlying grief remains like a debilitating sickness. I am intensely grateful for the charmed life we led together, for your handsome, generous presence and the loving way you taught me the joy of sharing, but I still feel deep resentment that it all had to end so suddenly.
The chance of you recovering to lead a reasonable life were slender – and you would have hated being dependent on others when you cared so much about looking after them. Ironically, you always said to me, “Don’t worry. I’ll always look after you.” So perhaps the sudden but peaceful end after just six weeks in hospital was for the best.
I feel I am living only half a life. A lot of what I do each day seems like a meaningless routine. But small, practical steps can help to hold a life together. I have moments of equilibrium, and then paralysing fear when I consider what lies ahead – a lonely old age with diminishing health and capabilities. How I miss your wise, pragmatic way of dealing with problems, as well as your humour.
When people ask how I am, I say I’m papering over the cracks. Nothing prepares you for the sheer awfulness of bereavement. It is not only the desperate loneliness, missing all our shared joy and laughter, when I attempt to do some of the things on my own that we always did together. There are the poignant reminders of these joint experiences when I do a particular walk or visit a place. I still cannot go into a restaurant and brave the question “Just for one, sir?” My lack of confidence now is devastating. Would pills help? I don’t want to risk that sort of chemical crutch. I must try to be strong.
Yet there are two very important consolations – our wonderful circle of friends, which is largely due to you, your love of people and how they loved you, your kindness and wit, and also my new dog. Both have kept me going, even in the blackest moments.
Real friends, when tragedy strikes, are the ones who watch over you, phone regularly and invite you to enjoy their company. You can talk freely but must respect their feelings and carefully ration your unburdening of woes. If help is offered, I accept it. There are others, straight and gay, who cannot deal with another’s grief.
My retired guide dog is a welcome responsibility and comfort. How you would have loved her, as you did the other dogs we raised together. She is touchingly dependent and, in return, offers unconditional love.
Other than the one-to-one bereavement counselling that helped me face the reality of your death, I wish there were support groups where gay people could meet informally and confidentially, to share problems, perhaps find solutions. I would have benefited from such a group but none seems to exist in Yorkshire.
I try to pace things out rather than cramming a single day too full, in the hope that it will shut out grief or relieve the burden of loneliness. Energy levels fall steeply as I get older.
I am trying to simplify my life by disposing of clothes, books and CDs that are now superfluous. But I want to remain in our home, which meant so much to us both. I live on my wonderful memories. I love looking at the many photographs of our life together. I even wear the few pieces of your clothing that I kept. It brings tears, but they are worth it.
Every day I think of you and what you gave me. Happiness was a man called Roy – and I know I shall never see your like again.
Thank you – for everything. David

Your report (26 January) on the surprising slide towards recession reports a “severe drop in manufacturing and construction output in the runup to Christmas”. Yet no mention of the true cause, which as every sensible economist knows was the complete lack of snow. The reason for this unseasonal phenomenon? I blame the last Labour government.
Neil Cleeveley
Sheffield
• I’m sick of hearing about negative growth. Give us some positive contraction, man.
Bill Hush
Edinburgh
• By his own admission under-fire Spurs boss Harry Redknapp writes like a two-year-old (Report, 27 January). So who writed his weekly Sun column, then? You couldn’t make this stuff up.
Max Bell
Thame, Oxfordshire
• Yes, how dare you, free of charge, give us colourful recipe cards featuring interesting new ingredients (Letters, 26 January)? You cynical bastards.
Stuart Darmon
Coventry
• I don’t mind sport being part of the main paper; I don’t miss the daytime TV listings; but where in your new design is the letter from Fr Alec Mitchell?
Alison Joseph
London

With revelations still emerging from the Leveson inquiry about the cynical behaviour of News International, readers might like to note that the exhibition on the Wapping dispute in 1986-87, when Murdoch sacked the workforce at his newspapers and set out to destroy the print unions, continues at the Bishopsgate Institute, London EC2, until 29 February. The News of the World phone-hacking scandal, which has revealed the dark side of Murdoch’s global empire, should be no surprise when you look at the collusion 25 years ago between the Tory government, the police and NI to promote corporate interests over and above workers’ rights or responsible journalism. With the ejection of the unions, editors and managers were handed unlimited power and ethical reporting went out of the window. I hope Leveson considers the lessons offered by history during his inquiry.
Chris Guiton
Crowborough, East Sussex

This week, with the world’s business, political and economic leaders meeting in Davos, we should not be seeing tens of thousands of people dying of starvation and 13 million at risk of losing everything they have in Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia, because of a hunger crisis that was predicted and preventable (What we want to discuss at Davos, 25 January). The world is failing people in east Africa and this must change now. While solutions are never easy, it is within our power to stop natural disasters turning into human tragedies of such horror. The crisis in east Africa is a terrible reminder: we have not done enough. Promises have been made by governments and not kept. Plans have been written and quietly sidelined.
There are practical steps that we can and must take to stop catastrophes like this before they start. Steps including investment in services for poor people, improving response to crises, affordable food for all and reducing conflict and violence. The Charter to End Extreme Hunger is a statement that indifference is not good enough, that promises must not be broken, that inaction is fatal and that the solutions are within our grasp. This charter should form a commitment from world leaders gathered in Davos to take us to a future where a crisis like this never happens again. Commit to the charter and we can get to work.
Desmond Tutu Chair of The Elders
Jan Egeland United Nations Emergency Relief Coordinator 2003-2006
Lord Malloch Brown Former minister of state in the foreign and commonwealth office
John Holmes United Nations Emergency Relief Coordinator 2007-2010
Gareth Evans Former Australian foreign minister
Lord Carey of Clifton Former archbishop of Canterbury
Dr Hugo Slim Humanitarian academic
Louise Arbour Former UN high commissioner for human rights
Ross Mountain Director of the UK’s Humanitarian Emergency Response Review
David Miliband MP (Lab)
Iman Somali-American fashion model, actress and entrepreneur
Tom Stoppard British playwright
• Ten years ago one of the most successful global health initiatives in history was launched – the Global Fund to fight Aids, tuberculosis and malaria (Report, 27 January). Through targeted investments the fund is saving more than 100,000 lives every month. Greater progress is on the horizon. During these 10 years, more than 3 million people gained access to Aids treatment, over 9 million people were treated for TB, and 230m insecticide-treated bed nets were distributed to prevent malaria in the developing world. Yet the future of the Global Fund is under threat. It has had to cancel its next funding round, effectively postponing the scale-up of life-saving interventions until 2014 – and just as we are on the verge of major progress, even talking of ending Aids within a generation. This situation can be remedied if governments meet their commitments to the fund. The UK government has shown real leadership in its support for the fund, which it has rated as “very good value for money”. In difficult times, it has continued to support this vital organisation; other governments should do likewise.
Andrew George MP Lib Dem
Jeremy Lefroy MP Conservative
Pamela Nash MP Labour

As a shareholder in RBS (like the rest of us), I would like to see how the CEO’s £1m bonus is justified, given the consequences of his actions on the profitability of the parent company, UK plc (RBS hands chief £1m bonus and fuels political storm, 25 January).
He has made redundant 33,000 members of staff. Suppose half of these stay unemployed for a year (an optimistic estimate) – 16,500 people. Then UK plc foots the bill for their benefits and for the lost tax revenue. Suppose the average salary of those made redundant is £25,000 – with a typical tax loss of £3,400 each. This equals £56m. To which we must add jobseeker’s allowance payments of on average £67 a week for six months and any other possible benefits – maybe an average of another £3,000 a year, which equals another £54m.
So Mr Hester’s actions for the RBS branch of UK plc have cost the parent company about £110m. I propose that his bonus is not awarded and his salary is urgently reviewed.
Huw Kyffin
Canterbury
• Should the prime minister be awarded a bonus in recognition of the unemployment he is creating?
Leslie Gilbert
London
• The current wave of hostility toward the payment of bonuses – most recently expressed in Ed Miliband’s call for RBS chief Stephen Hester to be denied his bonus – is a worrying sign for the UK economy.
Our latest research into accountancy and finance professionals’ expectations for the economy shows 53% believe 2012 will see no deterioration in the UK’s economic position. This remarkably positive collective view is a direct result of a strong performance across the industry in 2011. Unless we get more of the same in 2012, we can forget any prospect of a sustained recovery in the UK.
Seeking to deny people doing a good and important job the rewards for their accomplishments, whether they work for a public-owned company or not, is the most efficient way to drive talent to markets where enjoying the rewards of success is not considered taboo.
Dave Way
Marks Sattin Recruitment
• It is time the government stood up to the bankers and called their bluff. It said it had to give Stephen Hester his bonus because, if it had not, the entire RBS board would have resigned. The response to that should have been: “Do so.” After all, there must be a limit to the number of bankers who can and would wish to emigrate to Geneva, the Cayman Islands or the Channel Islands etc.
Valerie Crews
Beckenham, Kent
• I have three questions which I would like to put to the megabucks-earning bankers, in the unlikely event that any of them ever read the Guardian.
First, is there any limit to the size of pay and bonus package which they would regard as morally acceptable?
Second, do they ever feel any sense of guilt at helping themselves to such a generous share of the national cake, especially when so many of their fellow citizens are poorly paid or out of work?
Third, how can they possibly spend these unimaginably large sums, especially in cases where they’ve been receiving similar amounts for several years?
Simon Green
Hull
• In most jobs, the “reward” for performing well is to keep the job or have one’s contract renewed – and even that is not guaranteed in the current climate. If someone does not do their job properly, sooner or later their employment will be terminated; that alone is supposed to be a sufficient “incentive” to work hard and achieve results. Why can bankers not be given the same terms and conditions of employment that the rest of us enjoy?
Dr Pete Dorey
Bath, Somerset
• Appalled at the RBS ludicrous salaries and bonuses? Then switch to a more ethical bank at once. If we all did that, the message might just possibly get heard and even acted on.
Professor Charles Warlow
Edinburgh

Why doesn’t Mr Chapman debate with a good and satisfied customer of the tobacco companies (Plain packs will make smoking history, 25 January)? Someone who has seen what will replace it as a smoothing, calming contemplative helper. Someone whose friends died of alcohol consumption, not tobacco. Someone who has smoked for nearly as long as he has lived. Someone who knows about the fanatical attitude of haters of tobacco. Someone who is not so naive about advertising and packaging.
Someone who has almost outlived a fanatical anti-smoking father. Someone who is fed up to the teeth with people who think they really know what health is. Someone who is not afraid of the cowardly, crooked politicians who stifle the debate about pleasure in the now. Someone who knows that time is elastic. Someone who knows how easy it is to lie with statistics. Someone who is not a professional agitator, who knows there is no such thing as a professional smoker but knows there are hundreds of dreary, professional, highly paid anti-smokers.
Someone who thinks laughter is good for you as it drains fear from the body. Someone who has something better to do than to try and control the quiet lives of others. Someone who knows we are all a bit different and is fed up with the growing regimentation of people. Someone who knows that smokers can live perfectly average-length lives but heavy drinkers rarely. Someone who is shocked by the growing conformity among people, and what that might mean for a reasonable free society. Someone who prefers the centre of Bohemia to Australian suburbia. Someone who knows we have to die.
David Hockney
Bridlington, East Yorkshire

Independent:

Oh please! Let’s stop the griping over Stephen Hester’s bonus.
We’re asking the man to rescue billions of pounds of our money that, if mismanaged, could disappear down the toilet. A minute fraction of one thousandth of one per cent of our exposure is a small price to pay for it.
John Wells
West Wittering, West Sussex
The current wave of hostility toward the payment of bonuses – most recently expressed in Ed Miliband’s call for RBS chief Stephen Hester to be denied his bonus – is a worrying sign for the UK economy.
Our latest research into accountancy and finance professionals’ expectations for the economy shows 53 per cent believe 2012 will see no deterioration in the UK’s economic position. This remarkably positive collective view is a direct result of a strong performance across the industry in 2011. Unless we get more of the same in 2012, we can forget any prospect of a sustained recovery in the UK.
Seeking to deny people doing a good and important job the rewards for their accomplishments, whether they work for a publicly owned company or not, is the most efficient way to drive talent to markets where enjoying the rewards of success is not considered taboo.
Dave Way
Marks Sattin Recruitment
London WC1
In 2009 the Prime Minister gave a speech on “moral capitalism” in which he said: “Where they work properly, open markets and free enterprise can actually promote morality. Why? Because they create a direct link between contribution and reward; between effort and outcome.” The speech is worth remembering in this 2012 season of City bonuses.
For the avoidance of doubt, there is no direct link in capitalism between narrow individual or company interest and benefits that reward the community at large. Adam Smith taught that all community benefits arise only indirectly. The entrepreneur “intends only his own gain, and he is in this, as in many other cases, led by an invisible hand to promote an end which was no part of his intention”.
So cunning and detached from countries of origin has the modern financial globalisation system become that the invisible hand has been set on its head; rewards can now be extracted without even indirect benefits accruing.
The Conservative-led government provides amiably benign but meaningless rhetoric about Moral Capitalism or the Big Society, or contemplating parting Fred Goodwin from his knighthood, while notably failing adequately to regulate the financial system and City; a City in which complex financial instruments may yet finish off a broken system, and us with it.
John S Warren
Callander, Perthshire
Bishops in the Lords
It’s absolutely correct to say that the bishops should have no place in the upper chamber (leading article, 26 January), but until the Lords is significantly reformed they’re there and to claim that “they have no political mandate” misses the point – being unelected, none of the 800-odd members of the Lords has a political mandate. Thus the bishops have as much – or as little – right as any other peers to seek to influence the political debate.
A much more pertinent question for you to have asked would have been why it required the bishops to submit the amendment on a benefits cap that defeated the Coalition on Monday. I’m old enough to recall when defending the poor was seen as the job of the Labour Party.
Clare Watson
Edinburgh
The existence of bishops in the upper chamber is undemocratic and indeed sectarian. It grants power and privilege to one religious sect while discriminating against all others, and those who profess no religious belief.
Their presence is a throwback to the days when a combination of myth and superstition was force-fed to people as fact, although the present Coalition Government seems to desire a return to such dark times, not least though its education policies.
If we must have a second chamber, it should be populated by those whose experience is informed by evidence, not by belief in the supernatural.
Alistair McBay
Methven, Perth & Kinross
If the issue of how to treat the poor is “absolutely not a spiritual debate” then presumably your leader writer will also seek to ban the singing of the Magnificat: “He has put down the mighty from their seat and the rich he has sent empty away.”
Roy Terry
Croydon, Surrey
Alternatives to Microsoft
Your correspondents (letters, 23 January) are right about the need for information literacy and a wider skills base. They do not mention the huge sums paid to Microsoft by the British taxpayer.
In nearly every case, Microsoft products could be easily replaced with free, open-source software of equivalent functionality. I use LibreOffice, an open-source office suite that is free, produced internationally and increasingly used by local government in Europe. It produces excellent documents, spreadsheets and presentations – and Microsoft-compatible files.
Microsoft has apparently said that the NHS pays £64m a year for software that is worth £270m. If the competing product costs nothing, it becomes arguable whether Microsoft products are worth £270m, £64m … or nothing. These sums would be better-spent on developing in-house skills locally.
And the cost to British business in the middle of a recession? It seems that we are stuck in a mindset where “nobody ever lost their job for choosing Microsoft”. Well, it used to be IBM. Standards can change. With money short, we should consider the alternatives seriously.
Dr Philip Timms
Consultant Psychiatrist, South London & Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust, London SE5
Israel’s appetite for more land
Most of my Jewish friends and acquaintances are liberal Jews who are as keen to see a just and honourable resolution to the Israel/Palestine problem as I am. So it comes as rather a shock to read the uncompromisingly Zionist views of Jonathan Hoffman and Geoffrey Alderman (letters, 19 January).
The majority of visitors to the Holy Land will return home oblivious to what life on the West Bank is really like for Palestinians. They will be fascinated by the various quarters of the Old City of Jerusalem and intrigued to see ultra-Orthodox Jews and traditionally dressed Muslim girls co-existing on the same ancient streets, and may well conclude that all is more or less well. Even those who visit Bethlehem will pass smoothly through the obscene Wall in a tourist bus, delayed for just a few moments as armed soldiers conduct a cursory inspection.
They will not realise that for a Palestinian living in Bethlehem and working in Jerusalem this 20-minute trip has become a three- or even four-hour odyssey. Travellers are corralled for hours on end and herded one by one through a turnstile by armed soldiers. Getting further into the West Bank you realise that all the high ground has been requisitioned by the Israelis. Scores of hilltops boast settlements, often approached by a spanking new road from which Arabs are banned.
Israeli policy has for many years been to delay and obstruct, while all the while building, building, building. Jonathan Hoffman tells us that Israeli presence is lawful until there is a final settlement with the Palestinians – by which time this extraordinary theft of land, carried out under the noses of the international community, will be complete.
Robert Curtis
Birmingham
Richard Cohen (letter, 19 January) mistakenly compares Israel’s illegality in the West Bank with China’s in Tibet. Israel’s existence arises from the UN Partition of 1947, which allowed for a Jewish state and an Arab one. The international community remains intimately responsible for what happens, and the legitimacy of the one state must be contingent on allowing the existence of the other. It is Israel’s relentless appetite for the land awarded to the putative Arab state which now lies at the heart of this conflict.
David McDowall
Richmond, Surrey
Not just my museum
Thank you for the generous double-page spread about the new Design Museum in the Commonwealth Institute (25 January), but I am somewhat embarrassed by the headline, which described it as my Design Museum, which it certainly isn’t.
As the founder, I am obviously excited at its expansion in this wonderful site and thrilled about what we can achieve in the future, but we are a charity run by its trustees.
The site belongs to Chelsfield and the Ilchester estate, who have been generous in giving the Design Museum a very long lease at a peppercorn rent, so it certainly is not my Design Museum. I, along with many trusts and foundations, have contributed financially to make the move to Kensington possible, greatly aided by the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, who have shown real enthusiasm for the project.
Sir Terence Conran
London SE1
In brief…
It’s our United Kingdom too
Brian Connor, writing from Edinburgh, claims that “ordinary folk in Worthing, going about their daily lives, will not be affected one iota by Scotland becoming a sovereign state again” (letter, 22 January). I am sorry but he is wrong.
Unless there is a fair division of the national debt and of the assets and liabilities, people in the remainder of the UK will certainly be affected. There will also be impacts on the value of sterling if Scotland takes the oil revenues and keeps the currency. We need a referendum in the remainder of the UK to make sure that we all agree on the terms negotiated for any split.
Pat Johnston
Hexham, Northumberland
Victims of drone strikes
According to my information, based on spending the last four years in Pakistan near the Afghan border, Pakistani Taliban chief Hakimullah Mehsud has now been killed three times by US drones (report, 16 January). The point of such announcements has little to do with whether or not the Taliban chief is alive or dead; it is to convince the general public that US drones kill enemies rather than civilians. They kill on average 50 civilians inside Pakistan’s borders for every alleged militant.
David L Gosling
(Former Principal, Edwardes College, Peshawar) Cambridge
Lights out
Charles Hendry says smart meters will help keep energy bills down and will ensure that “we keep the lights on” (letter, 27 January). Isn’t the purpose of smart meters to show us that we don’t need to keep the lights on, and should, in fact, be turning them off more often? I suggest that Mr Hendry is not best placed as Energy Minister; he seems to be missing the point.
Lorna Gale
Solihull, West Midlands
What was that?
Lucky John Walsh (Notebook, 26 January) to be surrounded, evidently, by speakers he can already understand, since he assumes elocution is only about sounding posh. Me, I despair daily before the slurred and breakneck gabble of anyone under, say, 30. Elocution, like the effort of legible handwriting, is the courtesy of keeping one’s spoken words fresh and clear to listeners, whatever one’s dialect or class.
Yvonne Ruge
London N20

Telegraph:

SIR – Dr Sarah Pape (Letters, January 25) should know that there is a remedy for muddy boots. One wet afternoon, I stopped to give a lift to a guardsman hitch-hiking from a grass verge that was almost black from the spray of traffic. But when he got in, his boots were spotless.
I assumed that they had been so highly polished that nothing could stick to them.
Richard Shaw
Dunstable, Bedfordshire
SIR – Presumably, Sarah Pape, who was asked to remove her riding boots by a supermarket security guard, does not tether her horse in the car park. Could she not have changed into a clean pair of shoes kept in the boot of her car?
Where I shop, she would be met by notices saying that people with bare feet are not allowed in the store. Then what?
SIR – Alex Salmond, the Scottish First Minister, ought not to be allowed to insist that he is seeking “independence” for Scotland (report, January 26). Scotland is not a dependency. Those who live in Scotland are already citizens of an independent country, the United Kingdom, and they will gain no greater degree of independence from the UK being split up.
It is time that we all recognised that Mr Salmond does not want “independence”, but the separation of one part of the United Kingdom from the rest of it.
Christopher Smith
Canterbury
SIR – Why is everyone asking Alex Salmond about an independent Scotland? If Scotland were to vote for separation, an election would take place immediately to determine the government.
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We need to know the other parties’ plans should the circumstances arise.
Graham Hough
Ayr
SIR – Benedict Brogan suggests that the Prime Minister should be reticent in his dealings with Alex Salmond (Comment, January 25). I lived in Scotland for almost 10 years. One of my children was born there, many of my colleagues are Scots, as too are my best friends. I found them warm, welcoming and generous.
However, on rare occasions, my wife and I were subjected to anti-English bigotry the like of which we have experienced nowhere else in the world. The Scottish First Minister is pandering to this minority view, which is not representative of this fine, proud nation.
Mr Salmond is no statesman, but that is no reason for reticence. We have heard the views of separatists on both sides of the border, but it is now time for Unionists to be given a voice. This is no time for the Prime Minister to remain silent. If the Union breaks, this particular Englishman’s heart will break, too.
Michael Channon
Wadebridge, Cornwall
SIR – We should all be worried about the removal of the Scottish saltire from the Union flag (Letters, January 23). At a brief count, and including the United Kingdom, 10 countries have the Union flag as part of their national emblem.
I dread the day a bland red and white “Union Jack” flies over Westminster or appears on the white ensigns of the Royal Navy as well as those of the Royal Australian and Royal New Zealand navies.
Lt Col Ewen Southby-Tailyour RM
Ermington, Devon
SIR – My brother used to live in Bearsden, near Glasgow. The nearest station is Milngavie. When I pronounced it as such at the railway station in Glasgow, the ticket vendor failed to understand. I suffered the humiliation of having to write it down.
“Ah,” he sniggered, “you mean Mil’g’uy?”
Well, how was I to know?
Neil McLellan
Birmingham
Controlling drugs
SIR – The resources of police and law enforcement agencies should be directed where they will be most beneficial. But the legalisation of drugs will not be a panacea to the problems currently associated with illicit substances (Letters, January 26). Regulation will produce a black market. Just think how much it costs to police the import and trade of alcohol and tobacco.
How will access be controlled to take narcotics and their users out of the grip of drug dealers? Will control be down to a combination of GPs and pharmacists, or will off-licences be able to supply drugs? Who will get you a dose of heroin if your GP does not see fit to prescribe you any? Have people considered if it is moral for the state to benefit in the form of duties on the sale of dangerous substances?
We should reform laws where necessary, but this must be done in a way that seeks to minimise unintended consequences.
John Ferguson
Ballymena, Co Antrim
SIR – You report (January 25) that dealers of Class A drugs could receive community orders and that the sentencing guidelines issued this week suggest that “courts could get softer on drugs gangs”. But where an offender supplies Class A drugs, the guidelines makes clear that a custodial sentence is always the starting point.
Currently, 75 per cent of those convicted of supplying Class A drugs are jailed immediately, with other sentences used for low-level offenders.
Offending varies widely, so the guidelines ensure effective guidance for those passing the sentences and clear information for the public.
Michelle Crotty
Head of the Office of the Sentencing Council, London SW1
Birdmumble
SIR – I’m surprised that more people didn’t complain about the mumbled diction in the BBC’s adaptation of Birdsong (report, January 26). My wife and I were at such a loss to follow the dialogue that we resorted to turning on the subtitles.
This made for unsatisfactory viewing since a third of the screen was disfigured, and the enjoyment was taken away by trying to read the captions and watch the actors’ facial expressions at the same time.
Similarly, much of Great Expectations, aired last month, was spoilt by poor diction and intrusive music. When will television producers learn that dialogue is there to inform and to be understood?
Tom Linton
Plymouth, Devon
Rejecting honours
SIR – There may be some who reject honours (report, January 26) because they feel that the recommended award is not high enough, while others may be prompted by Left-wing feelings of scorn.
Whatever their motives, rejection usually equates to a coded message, which is not hard to decipher: “I do not consider that an award given to me in person by the head of state on the recommendation of the head of the government is any kind of honour.”
A more blatant form of arrogance is hard to imagine, and is compounded when the person concerned allows the refusal to become known while still living.
Paul Courtenay
Andover, Hampshire
Ageing majestically
SIR – Most people must be aware that the Queen celebrates her Diamond Jubilee on February 6, and that she is the longest-lived monarch in the history of these islands, surpassing Queen Victoria by more than four years.
However, she achieves another milestone this Saturday (January 28) when she becomes the longest-lived British head of state, beating the record currently held by Oliver Cromwell’s son, Richard.
Although Richard Cromwell was Lord Protector for fewer than nine months, he actually lived for 85 years and 282 days, from October 4, 1626 to July 12, 1712.
Roy Bailey
Great Shefford, Berkshire
Micro-megalomaniacs
SIR – I have just received a letter from my local council signed by the “Designated Democratic Services Manager”.
I wonder if they also have an Undemocratic Services Manager for local dictators.
John Raines
Baldock, Hertfordshire
The movement of air over an aeroplane’s wing
SIR – Professor Holger Babinsky’s elegant little video (“How aeroplanes’ wings really work”, telegraph.co.uk) reveals the truth of his claim that textbooks err on the subject of lift created by aeroplane wings.
But the video suggests that the air is flowing around the wing – a result of the practical necessity of using a wind tunnel to study the relative motion of the wing and the air. In fact, the air is not flowing anywhere. It is the wing that is forcing its way through the air. Viewed like this, the video makes even more sense.
E. A. Jones
Bromham, Bedfordshire
SIR – As a student pilot, I endeavoured to impress my flying instructor with my recently and very sketchily acquired knowledge of the principles of flight.
“Forget that guff, lad,” I was told. “Just remember,” he advised, “pull back and the houses get smaller; push forward and the houses get bigger.”
Many years and flying hours later, I continue to put my faith in his words.
Patrick Thomas
Over Wallop, Hampshire
SIR – Aeroplanes, whether upright, on their sides or upside-down, as well as plates, sails, spinning balls and bumblebees can all produce lift, in accordance with Newton’s laws. They accelerate air downwards, but the deflected streamlines cannot be shown in small wind tunnels.
John R. Tippetts
Dore, South Yorkshire
SIR – The “old myth” that bumblebee flight is a mystery of aerodynamics (Leading article, January 24) was exposed years ago.
It was probably based on the early aerodynamic theory of fixed wings. But even the dumbest bumblebee knows how to flap its wings more than 130 times a second.
Len Teff
Syresham, Northamptonshire

Irish Times:

Blame game at Davos
Sir, – Such a shame that all those people “went mad borrowing” and brought the country to its knees (Front page, January 27th). Does anyone know who was kind enough to lend them all the money? Perhaps we need a tribunal to find out. – Yours, etc,
SARAH IRONSIDE,
Rue Bordiau,
Brussels, Belgium.
Sir, – Arising from the Taoiseach’s interview at Davos, I expected your Front page headline to read, “Nation in shock as politician tells the truth”. – Yours, etc,
JOHN MCDWYER,
Summerhill,
Carrick on Shannon,
Co Leitrim.
Sir, – Our Taoiseach has told an audience in Davos how we, the ordinary people, lived it up during the Celtic Tiger. Has he forgotten or was he not aware that in May 2006, the Central Statistics Office stated that 741,000 or about 38 per cent of the workforce were engaged in the low-wage sector of the economy? This figure did not include the black economy. – Yours, etc,
SIMON O’DONNELL,
Church Place,
Rathmines, Dublin 6.
Sir, – Everybody knows that there was far too much irrational borrowing taking place during the Celtic Tiger years, so I fail to see why the Taoiseach should be criticised for referring to “mad borrowing” at the World Economic Forum by the Opposition TDs Niall Collins and Pádraig MacLochlainn (Front page January 27th).
Property development speculation during those years represented a gold-rush mindset akin to the spectacular frenzy for tulip bulbs that took place in the Netherlands in the 1600s; and all citizens now have to bear the brunt of this burst bubble.
I fail to see why the Taoiseach should be criticised for calling it as it is. – Yours, etc,
JOHN KENNEDY,
Knocknashee,
Goatstown,
Dublin 14.
Sir, – Have Troika-invested waters resulted in Enda Kenny developing the memory of a goldfish?
A mere seven weeks since his state of the nation address where the Irish people were told the financial crisis was not their fault, an international audience of economists at Davos are told that Ireland’s problems are a result of “people going mad with borrowing”.
Mr Kenny’s contradictory explanations of Ireland’s financial travails at home and abroad represent a cynical strategy to extol domestic and European audiences in order to maintain popularity on both fronts.
We elect government to govern and regulators are appointed to regulate. Above all else it was the failures of both executive and financial oversight that has resulted in the mess which Ireland now finds itself in. The failure to identify the primary culprits for Ireland’s woes to an international audience at Davos and instead to suggest that the Irish “people” bear a collective equivalent responsibility is a despicable public betrayal of the Irish nation; for shame! In the words of Robert Burns, “Such a parcel of rogues in a nation”. – Yours, etc,
Dr PETER McGUIRK,
Dodderview,
Ballsbridge, Dublin 4.
Sir, – The claim by Fianna Fáil TD John McGuinness that Taoiseach Enda Kenny’s credibility has been damaged following his comments made at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland is laughable. If our country has credibility issues they were created by 14 years of Fianna Fáil- led government. Deputy McGuinness should be reminded that Irish people are not stupid – nor do they have short memories. – Yours, etc,
GEOFF SCARGILL,
Loreto Grange,
Bray, Co Wicklow.
Sir, – The concern about Enda Kenny’s remarks at Davos is the poverty of analysis and thinking that it reveals. No mention of the catastrophic failure internationally of the ideology of market-driven corporate capitalism which unfortunately remains the conventional wisdom. No mention of the failure of politics and regulation, of the professions, of the universities and intellectual engagement, of the media, of a culture of cronyism, dependence and intolerance of challenge.
The problem is that Mr Kenny’s thinking drives Government policy. It appears that the lessons of failure have been ignored. – Yours, etc,
H MC BRIDE,
Derrylea,
Castlebar, Co Mayo.
Sir, – The people who kept voting Bertie Ahern in again and again and again are now upset that they have been described as having gone “mad borrowing” by Taoiseach Enda Kenny. Truth hurts! – Yours, etc,
KEITH NOLAN,
Caldragh,
Carrick-on-Shannon,
Co Leitrim.
Paying Anglo bondholders
Sir, – In seeking to justify payment to the Anglo Irish Bank bondholders, Taoiseach Enda Kenny stated : “The alternative would be catastrophic, given what has happened in Greece where 100,000 public servants have been let go, public sector salaries have been drastically reduced and services decimated” (Dáil Report, January 26th)
The Greek problem is a very high level of public debt, which cannot now be paid off because the economy has been wrecked by savage austerity measures imposed at the behest of the Troika. But whatever mistakes the Greek authorities have made, they have not assumed responsibility for the debts of a private bank.
To seek to justify the Anglo payments by reference to the Greek situation is complete nonsense. Which raises the question whether there are any valid reasons for the payments. – Yours, etc,
PADRAIC CRADOCK,
Galatsi,
(Attica),
Greece.
Dealing with binge-drinking
Sir, – Those advocating minimum alcohol pricing are mostly the middle-aged and middle-class, who do not really care about an increase of a few euro on their weekly bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon.
Minimum pricing has the most effect on those least able pay like the unemployed, students and people on low incomes; who are as entitled as anyone else to enjoy a few drinks at the end of the week.
In Spain and Italy you can pick up a bottle of wine for two euros and they don’t have a problem with binge drinking. Róisín Shortall has taken the cultural problem of binge drinking in Ireland, which I have no doubt won’t be overly influenced by pricing, and turned it into a class issue. – Yours, etc,
JONATHAN ARLOW,
Roselawn Road,
Castleknock,
Dublin 15.
A pardon for Irish soldiers
Sir, – Tommy Graham, editor of History Ireland(January 27th), challenges Minister for Defence Alan Shatter’s assertion that “in the context of the Holocaust , Irish neutrality was a principle of moral bankruptcy”, on the grounds that the Allies fought the war not to end the Holocaust but to defeat the Axis powers militarily.
The Allies also fought to liberate Europe from German occupation and to end the Nazi regime of terror. That the Nazis were engaged in large-scale atrocities against civilian populations, including murdering many Jews, was well-known during the war. That is why the Allies were publicly committed to the trial of Nazi war criminals – a goal achieved at Nuremburg in 1946 – trials that Éamon de Valera was opposed to.
Mr Graham is also incorrect to state that neutrality was the favoured policy of every state at the time. All the member states of the British Commonwealth, except Ireland, declared war on Germany voluntarily in 1939. Later in the war many other states chose to join the Allied coalition, but not de Valera’s Ireland. While the United States was neutral until it was attacked by Japan on December 7th, 1941, by that time it was supporting Britain with virtually all the means at its disposal short of war. That is why Hitler declared war on the United States on December 11th, 1941.
The 5,000 Irish Army deserters who joined the British forces during the war were part of a 70,000-strong contingent of Irish citizens who fought with the Allies to defend not just Britain but Ireland from Nazi conquest and occupation. A pardon for the deserters is the least the current Government can do in recognition of this magnificent Irish contribution to the Allied cause. – Yours, etc,
Prof GEOFFREY ROBERTS,
School of History,
University College Cork.
If you don’t have a TV . . .
Sir, – T Gerard Bennett (January 24th) is unfair to RTÉ Television regarding the continuing commitment to Irish content. Referring to programmes such as EastEnderson the RTÉ Player, he suggests that overseas acquired programmes are typical of RTÉ fare. In fact, the majority of the programmes offered on the RTÉ Player are home-produced Irish programmes. On any one of the three evenings weekly when EastEndersgoes out on RTÉ One, it is with rare exceptions the only non-Irish programme offered.
Recession has severely hit RTÉ’s budgets but the commitment to Irish programmes remains, and is appreciated by the public: in 2011 all but three of the Top 50 most popular programmes watched in Ireland were on RTÉ, and of those 47 only two were not Irish-made. All broadcasters mix original home-produced programming, which is expensive, with a selection of acquired programmes, balancing both the budgets and the range of content.
Mr Bennett is right that most television content in Ireland is still viewed on home television sets, but this is rapidly evolving. Streams on the RTÉ Player rose 45 per cent in the past year, to almost 32 million; half a million unique browsers each month. More than 1.5 million RTÉ mobile and tablet apps have been downloaded. The RTÉ commitment is that the public should have access to publicly-resourced content when and how the public demands. The demand clearly is there.
The proposal from the Minister comes in the light of this evolution in technology and public viewing habits. Other countries have renewed their commitment to public media, while shifting the sourcing of the revenue which supports it – or in Ireland’s case part-supports it – away from simply ownership of a TV set. RTÉ does not set Government policy but can contribute to the debate around this, as of course will others. While that happens, our commitment is to turn the available resources into as much Irish content as possible. – Yours, etc,
KEVIN DAWSON,
Head of Corporate Communications,
RTÉ,
Dublin 4.
Beethoven’s shopping list
Sir, – No mention of Antonín Dvorák! Must we discard the Chopin Liszt after leaving the Czech out? – Yours, etc,
SENAN MOLONY,
Chesterfield Grove, Dublin 15.
Sir, – Looking Bach on the letters on Beethoven’s Chopin Liszt, I found them, to be Franck, very entertaining. They all had a good Pärt. Some of the composers were outstanding in their own Field, no Haydn their light.
You, dear Sir, could bring the work to a finale by awarding a prize for the best opus. Janácek in the post? Anyway I’m Orff. I am very Bizet with Debussy tasks so I am not Gounod write another note. – Yours, etc,
CAMILLA FOX,
Griffinstown,
Kinnegad, Co Westmeath.
Sir. – A sorbet for your Beethoven punfest . . . 4’33”. – Yours, etc,
BRENDAN TREACY,
Drumree, Co Meath.
Sir, – Punning can become violin. Ponchielli Beet-hoven on the Bach with a Handel and claimed Vittorio in the Field. – Yours, etc,
GEARÓID TIMONEY,
Grange Road,
Rathfarnham, Dublin 16.
Sir, – Tallis this, I’m a Schumann most of your readers Allegri that this Messiaen has gone Farrar enough. I refer, of Carse, to those letter-writers and their Palestrina dream up puns that, by now, are, in Pärt, obviously Borodin from other letters, Scriabin the barrel and just pure Scheidt. I can’t Handel any Moore; in fact Arne I Orff to Haydn the Tavener for some decent Bartok and to Glinka Glass of Meyerbeer. Gluck. – Yours, etc,
NIGEL MOONEY,
Ballydonnell,
Avoca, Co Wicklow.
Sir, – I hope these musically X-rated puns are censored more carefully in the future. My daughter is A Minor. – Yours, etc,
EOIN KEEHAN,
Ballisk Court,
Donabate,
Co Dublin.
History of Ireland in 100 Questions
A chara, – Some suggested additions to Frank McNally’s “History of Ireland in 100 Questions” (January 26th). 101. Did you leave the emersion on? 102. What time are you servin’ ’til? 103. What kept you? 104. Was there anyone on the Late-Latelast night? 105. For what died the sons of Roisín? 106. O wise men, Riddle me this: what if the dream comes true? 107. Salt and vinegar? 108. What are ye like? 109. What was your one Jean Byrne (who does the weather) wearin’ last night? 110. Do you think he’ll (Stephen Cluxton) put it over the bar? – Is mise,
DONAL EVOY,
Glen Lawn Drive,
Cabinteely, Dublin 18.

Irish Independent:

Have the troika-infested waters resulted in Enda Kenny developing the memory of a goldfish? A mere seven weeks since his state of the nation address, where the Irish people were told the financial crisis was not their fault, an international audience of economists at Davos is told that Ireland’s problems are a result of “people going mad with borrowing”.
Mr Kenny’s contradictory explanations of Ireland’s financial travails at home and abroad represent a cynical strategy to extol domestic and European audiences in order to maintain popularity on both fronts. We elect government to govern and regulators are appointed to regulate.
Above all else it was both executive and financial oversight that resulted in the mess Ireland now finds itself in. The failure to identify the primary culprits for Ireland’s woes to an international audience at Davos and instead to suggest the Irish ‘people’ bear a collective responsibility is a despicable public betrayal of the Irish nation. In the words of Robert Burns: “Such a parcel of rogues in a nation.”
Dr Peter McGuirk
Ballsbridge, Dublin 4
• As an ordinary citizen, working in an ordinary job and struggling to provide for my family, I was utterly dismayed to hear Mr Kenny’s commentary in Davos.
Hundreds of thousands of Ireland’s citizens did not benefit from the Celtic Tiger, nor did I engage in reckless borrowing or speculation; rather, I had to endure rampant inflation without benefit.
I listened to Mr Kenny’s state of the nation address and thought that at least he understood the plight of the ordinary citizen who he was elected to represent. How gullible was I?
“It’s not your fault,” has morphed into: “It’s totally your fault.”
How could he betray citizens in such fashion in front of an international audience? Maybe it is not possible to achieve debt writedown, but at the very least I expect my Taoiseach to show fortitude and backbone and stand up for his citizens.
A man of substance would have railed against the utter injustice of the situation we find ourselves in, paying back bonds of a private bankrupt bank now under criminal investigation, having first highlighted the role of Europe in fuelling the credit bubble and making it crystal clear the Irish taxpayer saved the European banking system from meltdown by shouldering the enormous burden of this private debt.
All I can really say is: shame on you, Taoiseach. You have betrayed your people and totally abdicated your responsibility. You may dismiss me as a crank but I assure you I am an ordinary citizen, non-political, but who voted for Fine Gael in 2011. I now find myself totally disillusioned.
Daniel Casey
Address with editor
• For the best part of a year now, I’ve been defending the Government’s austerity plans at the dinner table, because I see them as a necessary evil. I’ve gone so far as to offer the opinion that I did benefit indirectly from the Celtic Tiger economy, because the taxes raised helped to build and improve infrastructure, schools and hospitals, and reduce personal taxation.
Like many people, I did not engage in wild, credit-funded spending. I cut my cloth, so to speak, and lived sensibly. I refused to be drawn into the ‘over-priced second home on an easily obtained mortgage’ con-trick and I didn’t upgrade the family car every two years.
So, why the hell has Mr Kenny accused me and those like me of ruining the country? Not only that, he says it on the world stage in Davos. Well, I was never going there for my holidays anyway, so I won’t have to worry about being pointed at in the street and hearing: “He’s one of those spendthrift Irish, I bet we’re funding his holidays.”
While I still understand the need for austerity, I feel let down by the man who is supposed to be showing leadership and giving encouragement to the people who must suffer these hardships — people like me, who voted this Government in so we might be able to restore our country and our pride.
I really don’t know what else to say.
Andrew Callaghan
Artane, Dublin 5
• Excuse me, Mr Kenny. I never borrowed a cent during the boom, I live in a modest house, drive a small car and have not had a holiday in years because I could never afford it on my meagre wages.
Now, you have decided that I am also to blame for the state of the country . . . are you for real?
Another classic case of those who are totally cut off from the realities of day-to-day life for ordinary people in Ireland.
And, to add insult to injury, I am being made to pay for the sins of others.
You have some cheek — and all this said at the World Economic Forum, where the wealthiest of the planet meet every year to drink fine wine and eat good food.
“Let them eat cake” comes to mind.
Michael Kelly
Dublin 15
• Mr Kenny has told the World Economic Forum how we, the ordinary people, lived it up during the Celtic Tiger years. Has he forgotten, or was he not aware, that in May 2006, the Central Statistics Office stated that 741,000, or about 38pc of the workforce, were employed in the low-wage sector of the economy? This figure did not take into account those working in the black economy.
Simon O’Donnell
Rathmines, Dublin 6

Hey, steady on now, this abuse of Enda the eternally young leader has to stop.
So what if he says one thing to an Irish audience and another to the Davos set? That’s political life and we should be used to it by now. Any man that can keep the three balls that are Germany/France/UK in the air, with the odd flick for the US, is a fair man.
Enda, to use a word abused by many in this nation, is a survivor. Taken from school as a young, fair-haired boy, he was forced to work in a grim, grey old building full of fat old men who wore pinstripe suits, smoked cigars and drank whiskey. Listening to eternal spoof, sham and cod acting, Enda wore it well. Never put on a pound, had the poster boy image and played like a hard-working forward.
If Charlie Haughey won the 1987 Tour De France, Enda bettered him by bringing the whole damn caboodle to this little nation — he nailed his sporting and political credentials with that coup.
So what if he didn’t go to last year’s Connacht final in Roscommon? A man who has rubbed shoulders with the best boxers, athletes and sportsmen in the world is entitled to miss the small potatoes of local rivalry. That a protest over a partial closure of hospital services took place on the same day was entirely coincidental.
Whilst Enda found the elixir of eternal youth, he seems still beguiled by older-looking men. Big Phil and Michael Noonan are his bodyguards, who do the … let’s call it, the not-so-nice stuff.
That leaves Enda free to give Angela a peck on the cheek, throw a friendly shape at Mr Sarkozy, swap notes with Mr Obama and look sombre with the queen. Oh, I nearly forgot: and put in a word for Mr Cameron, who nearly shagged the whole EU thingy by actually standing up for his own nation.
So, folks, at this stage it is actually irrelevant what he says, who he says it to or where it’s said. We know the truth. Big boys lose money playing Monopoly; little guys sweep the floor.
By the way, the Tour De France in 1998 was known as the Tour Du Dopage. Was it an omen as we set sail on the SS Celtic Tiger?
John Cuffe
Meath

The suggestion that Ireland carries shame for the Holocaust is as daft as blaming the nation for the Cambodian genocide of Pol Pot. The British and the allies did not go to war to bring an end to the Holocaust. The “Endlosung der Judenfrage” or Final Solution was only initiated in 1942 long after the war started. The great powers stood idle and none were ‘sabre rattling’ over the persecution of Jews all through the 1930s in Germany.
When war was declared it was not declared for the protection of the Jews, nor did the plight of the Jews even merit consideration in any allied military strategy.
Ireland could not take refugees because of the severe economic damage inflicted on the country by the Anglo Irish trade war that only ended in 1938, but from which recovery took decades. There were no jobs in Ireland, only abject poverty.
On the other hand, Britain, a very wealthy country and desperate for manpower, could afford to take people in. This fact is further borne out by the hundreds of thousands of Irish people who were forced to emigrate to Britain after the war. Britain, even though it was bust, could always rely on massive amounts of American money, which Ireland could not; nor was any funding or political encouragement offered to the country to help it to accommodate Jewish or other refugees.
Meanwhile, on the subject of an amnesty for the Irish Army deserters, one major question remains: if the British had carried out Churchill’s threat and invaded Ireland during World War Two, would these men have shot and killed their former colleagues, neighbours, friends and countrymen? I am not involving myself in the argument for or against the amnesty. I can only state the obvious: that decisions based on faulty interpretations of history are faulty decisions.
Eugene Jordan
Barna, Co Galway

I hope we sent a thank-you card with the cheque to the bondholders.
The cheap money they loaned us enabled many landowners to sell land at high prices and developers to build and sell homes and commercial properties to those of us who decided to buy them.
It enabled bank shareholders pay capital gains and income tax on their profits.
The bondholders also helped those who, for years, demanded their own homes on Joe Duffy’s ‘Liveline’ and other shows; and helped parents to get money they could loan to their children as deposits.
It also enabled the government to collect almost 50pc in various forms of taxation from all those who chose to buy these properties and 20pc in Capital Gains Tax from those who sold the land.
They also collected 12.5pc in Corporation Tax from the developers and construction-related businesses.
The ready loans also facilitated the collection of massive amounts of VAT at 21pc from retail businesses and VRT and fuel taxes on booming car sales and honeymoons in the Seychelles.
If the bonds had been expensive, our govern-ment couldn’t have done all this.
It’s amazing that so many wish to blame them for the cheap money and not pay them back. Some believe there will be no future consequences for such action.
We are an ungrateful lot.
The problem then — and it still remains so — is how the government managed to run up an annual spending budget of €55bn in such a short period of time.
I like to call it ‘bribing us with our future income.’
The record shows that all political parties outbid each other with ‘our own money’ and profited from this with electoral support.
The opposition is still doing it in its promises to “cut spending less and over a longer time period” than this Government and — best of all — the clarion calls to “tax the rich” and protest on the streets.
This Government is also doing it by dragging out the cuts while still borrowing almost €18bn per year.
We should write “thanks big fella” on the card and follow it up with a thank-you call from a public phone — if we can find one.
Liam Treacy
Phepotstown House
Kilcock, Co Meath

Allow me to belatedly thank all those Irish Army personnel who stood by Ireland during World War Two and stayed true to their oath of allegiance, at a time when Europe was engulfed in terrible war, with the added danger of a British invasion of Ireland to secure the treaty ports.
Winston Churchill in his victory speech in 1945 said these men showed tremendous loyalty, honour and valour.
Despite the clamour for pardons, apologies and memorials for those who deserted their posts and left Ireland unguarded, there are still many who value the unselfish patriotic endeavours in defending Irish sovereignty and neutrality during those dark years.
Those soldiers who didn’t desert Ireland in her hour of danger can hold their heads high despite the unrelenting campaign to undervalue their roles. Thank you.
Tom Cooper
Dublin 16

I wish to encourage actor Liam Neeson not to renounce his Catholic faith to become a Muslim.
In his book, ‘The Great Christian Heresies’, Hilaire Belloc classifies Islam as a Christian heresy. The foundation of Mohammed’s teaching is Catholicism, which he took and simplified to suit his own personal convictions.
His central heresy is a full denial of the Incarnation. He taught that our Lord was merely a prophet; a man like other men.
The Mohammedan movement was essentially a ‘Reformation’, and we can discover numerous affinities between Islam and Protestant Reformers on images, on the Mass, on celibacy etc.
This radical, individualistic, decentralisation of truth, when followed to its logical conclusion, culminates in moral relativism — the belief that all religions are equally valid.
This is simply not a rational belief. It is contradiction, for example, to claim that God is, at once, both a Personal Being (as Catholics hold) and a non-personal entity (as the Buddhists claim).
At the heart of Mr Neeson’s confusion, I would suggest, is the desire to want to measure the truth of his Catholic faith by modern society’s individualistic standards.
Such people mistakenly believe that divine Revelation must adapt itself to the current mentality in order to be credible, instead of the current mentality converting in the light that comes to us from on high.
Paul Kokoski
Ontario, Canada

Well I must be off

best wishes John

Off out around the park, three other joggers one man two women, dog walkers commuters, but no Tai Chi this year so far, perhaps it has gone out of fashion? Cool and it will be colder later in the week.
Off out I go to pick up a video recorder from Freecycle, it doesn’t work, I now have a large selection of video recorders which don’t work. The sound is okay but no picture I don’t know if it is the video recorders the video tapes, the cable, or even the TV, but I will find out. I ought to go to see Joan, tomorrow perhaps, we are just too tired.
Sharland rings a mutual friend David Melville has committed suicide, leaving a note and his parrot Sunshine, who has gone to someones home. Poor troubled David he lived constantly on the edge of life and just slipped over. We feel that his problems what ever they were were just too deep and there is nothing that anyone could have done.
Partridge we watch Convict 99 dear old Will Hay, thrown out, literally from his old school, where he was a very dodgy headmaster, he manages to get a job as a prison governor. After first accidentally spending some time as a prisoner. He lets the prisoners run the jail, but is conned by Googie Withers, and gang. So they end up robbing a bank to put the money back in. Priceless.
Scrabble today I win but not bu much, but I am sure she will get a suitable revenge.

Fave Letters:

Shameless lying
I was saddened to read your leading story about declining standards of honesty (25 January). What concerns me most is the assumption that “everyone is doing it”.
As I was reading about it on a train from Guildford to London Waterloo, which was running on time, I was forced to listen to a young woman behind me proclaiming through her mobile phone that she was “stuck outside Waterloo” and was going to arrive late at her destination, wherever that was.
Not only is this an unfair calumny against the train company, whose trains are rarely late, but I was shocked by the utter indifference to her fellow passengers, who knew that she was lying. Should the honest person stand up and protest in such circumstances? I am sorry to say that all I did was to resolve to write to your paper about it.
Bob Tomlin
Caterham, Surrey

Legalising drugs
SIR – As a Labour councillor for Merton in the Nineties, I spoke with the local police chief about drug legalisation (Letters, January 25). He thought fighting drugs was a war that could not be won, and that it diverted scarce resources from other issues. He went on to say that nearly all the police he knew shared this opinion.
I then spoke with some doctors. Nicotine, they pointed out, causes more deaths than all the illegal drugs put together. Alcohol causes more aggravation to hospitals than all the other drugs put together. Deaths by overdose are not normally caused by increased quantities taken, but by changes in purity. The intelligent policy would be to legalise drugs and supply “hard” drugs on prescription.
In an open council meeting I called for this to happen. All three parties were united in their condemnation of me.
Mickey Spacey
London SW20

SIR – MPs say they want their chips in a tower. After their expenses shenanigans, maybe their wish should be granted.
M. Bolton
Birmingham

Obituary:

The role of Ruby Finch, the dim-witted, put-upon scullery maid in Upstairs, Downstairs forever dreaming of running away with Rudolph Valentino, brought Jenny Tomasin fame worldwide. The familiar cry of “Oh, Ruby!” from the Bellamy household’s cook, Mrs Bridges, in response to the accident-prone servant’s clumsiness, was perhaps the closest the saga came to having a catchphrase.
Tomasin joined the programme for just one episode in its second series, in 1972, but her portrayal of the downtrodden Ruby was so admired that she was kept on until Upstairs, Downstairs ended three years later. She was seen “downstairs” alongside others including Angela Baddeley as the grumpy but warm-hearted Mrs Bridges, George Jackson as the dour butler Hudson, Jean Marsh as the pivotal housemaid Rose and Pauline Collins as the day-dreaming parlour maid Sarah in the drama set at 165 Eaton Place, London, against a background of events from the Edwardian era and First World War to the General Strike and Wall Street Crash. In typical fashion, Ruby once shocked her fellow servants by announcing that she was leaving for a job in a munitions factory, only for it to be blown up with her inside. She took the long walk back to Belgravia, her face blackened, and was reinstated.
The programme was Britain’s most successful period drama of the 1970s, watched by 300 million people in 50 countries, including the US, where it won seven Emmys. When it ended, Tomasin felt a big hole had been left in her life and compared it to bereavement. Plans for Ruby to join Hudson and Mrs Bridges in a sequel, running a seaside boarding-house, were abandoned following Baddeley’s death.
However, Ruby was a double-edged sword. The character was popular but frequently described as “TV’s ugly duckling” and, Tomasin believed, left her typecast as maids, restricting her future career, while “upstairs” stars such as Simon Williams and Lesley-Anne Down saw their careers soar.
“I had to wear these drab outfits and no make-up,” she recalled in the 2002 television documentary After Upstairs, Downstairs. “There was one particular incident when I was out with my boyfriend for a meal. I was feeling sexy and attractive, and suddenly somebody yelled out, ‘Oh, look, there’s Ruby!’ I looked at my boyfriend and said, ‘I don’t want to stay here.’ It just felt awful.”
Born in Leeds in 1936, Tomasin had childhood ambitions to act or write. Despite her parents’ objections, she broke into acting and appeared on stage until she made her screen début in 1972 as a Young Conservative whose parents try to marry her off to the fraudulent Australian of the title (Barry Crocker) in The Adventures of Barry McKenzie, a film written by Barry Humphries (who played Aunt Edna Everage) and the director Bruce Beresford.
Before she finished her run as Ruby, Tomasin took the carbon-copy role of a waitress, Florence Baker, in the motel-set soap opera Crossroads, which she played on and off from 1974-79. There were also one-off appearances in The Dick Emery Show (1976), The Onedin Line (1977) and the sitcom That’s My Boy (1985), as well as the small part of Mrs Simmons in the little-seen film Mister Quilp (1975), based on The Old Curiosity Shop. Tomasin also acted one of the child mill workers in later episodes of Midnight is a Place (1977-78).
After she played Naomi Tolly, whose farmer father died in a tractor accident, in Emmerdale Farm (1980-81) and Tasambeker, “ex-ter-min-ated” by the Time Lord’s nemeses in the 1985 Doctor Who story “Revelation of the Daleks”, Tomasin’s appearances became rarer. She took the role of a traffic warden in the 1990 film Just Ask for Diamond and was typecast as a maidservant in a BBC adaptation of Martin Chuzzlewit (1994) and the cook in Beeban Kidron’s television film of Cinderella (2000).
On stage and back to type, Tomasin played a parlour maid in a West End production of Man and Superman (Theatre Royal, Haymarket, 1982), starring Peter O’Toole, with the cast reprising their performances in a television film version the same year. She was also in pantomimes and national tours of Blithe Spirit (1988-89), as Edith, the maid, Lettice and Lovage (1990-91) and The Marquise (2004), in which she acted Kate O’Mara’s devoted maid.
Tomasin believed her television career might be experiencing a revival when she returned to Emmerdale (as the serial was retitled in 1989) in the role of Noreen Bell (2005-06), a cantankerous, palm-reading, wig-wearing pensioner whose garden fence was painted by Val Lambert as part of a community service order. Noreen became friends with Val but died in a gas explosion while looking round a show home.
It was Tomasin’s last screen role, but the character’s legacy lives on. The money bequeathed by Noreen to Val enabled her to buy a half-share in The Woolpack pub, where last orders are called with the Noreen Bell bell. However, Tomasin – who never married – always remained optimistic that more work would come along. As she said in 2002: “I’ve been through such hard times, but I can always bounce back again. I still believe great things are just ahead.”
Anthony Hayward
Jenny Tomasin, actress: born Leeds 30 November 1936; died London c. 12 January 2012.

Full Text:

Guardian:

We are alarmed by the imposition of a far-right director on one of Budapest’s leading theatres, and call on our foreign secretary and the international community to put pressure on the Hungarian government to reverse the decision before 1 February, the day the theatre is scheduled to change hands. Following the election of the rightwing Fidesz party, the mayor of Budapest sacked the director of Új Színház (the New Theatre), and appointed actor György Dörner in his place. Dörner supports the anti-Roma, anti-gay and antisemitic party Jobbik. Jobbik has been forced to disband its militia, the Hungarian Guard, but its presidential candidate recently stated that Jews were “lice-infested dirty murderers”. The party has 47 members of the Hungarian parliament.
Currently, the New Theatre presents both Hungarian plays and the international canon, from Schiller to Shakespeare. Dörner plans to reverse what he describes as a “degenerate, sick, liberal hegemony” in Hungary by stopping the production of “foreign garbage” and concentrating on Hungarian plays. These include the work of his friend and adviser István Csurka, an open antisemite, advocate of the Jewish conspiracy theory, and president of the Hungarian Justice and Life party. Several Hungarian writers have withdrawn their plays from the theatre in protest.
The change imposed on the New Theatre may not be the last. Jobbik and other extreme-right groups are campaigning and demonstrating against the Hungarian National Theatre, calling its work “obscene, pornographic, gay, anti-national and anti-Hungarian”. The campaign against a liberal Hungarian theatre, open to the world, is part of a move in Hungary towards intolerance and against democracy. The historical parallels are obvious and chilling. We support Hungarian theatre-makers in opposing this appointment, and urge our government to demand that the Hungarian government overturn this decision.
Artistic directors:
Michael Attenborough
Michael Boyd
Dominic Cooke
Daniel Evans
Nicholas Hytner
David Lan
Nicolas Kent
Josie Rourke
Erica Whyman
Actors
Rosalind Ayres
Eve Best
Simon Callow
Bertie Carvel
James Frain
Romola Garai
Gawn Grainger
Henry Goodman
Martin Jarvis
Toby Jones
Beverley Klein
Roger Lloyd Pack
James Purefoy
Antony Sher
Imelda Staunton
Dan Stevens
Janet Suzman
Harriet Walter
Zoë Wanamaker
Samuel West
Timothy West
Directors
Neil Bartlett
Gregory Doran
Richard Eyre
Kevin Macdonald
Trevor Nunn
Indhu Rubasingham
Tim Supple
Richard Bean
Howard Brenton
Moira Buffini
Playwrights
Caryl Churchill
April de Angelis
David Edgar
Michael Frayn
Lee Hall
David Hare
Terry Johnson
Mark Ravenhill
Laura Wade
Timberlake Wertenbaker
Arnold Wesker
and . . .
Bernie Corbett General secretary of the Writers’ Guild
Christine Payne General secretary of Equity
Malcolm Sinclai President of Equity
Joan Bakewell
Don Black
Geraldine D’Amico Jewish Book Week
Jessica Duchen
Denise Epstein
Ruth Fainlight
Michael Grade
Amanda Hopkinson PEN
Dennis Marks
Kate Pakenham
Lesley Megahey
Sharif István Horthy
András Schiff
George Szirtes

Simon Jenkins (Comment, 25 January) repeats the fallacy that a vicar’s stipend of around £22,000 takes him below the proposed benefit cap. The clergy also receive free housing, have their council tax paid and get many other benefits, taking the total to around £37,000 pa. And vicars with children get child benefit. Jenkins claims to remember no bishop warning that the “borrowing and spending spree could not continue”. He must have missed Bishop Peter Selby’s seminal book, Grace and Mortgage, published in 1997 and reissued in 2007 because it had so accurately predicted the current crisis. Bishop Selby spoke often in the Lords on this subject. Moreover, the bishops did not vote against the principle of a benefit cap – only the injustice of including child benefit within it when even fairly high earners receive it. You may disagree with the bishops being in the Lords, Simon, but inaccuracies and selective memories do not add up to real debate.
Rev Dr Malcolm Brown
Director, mission and public affairs, Archbishops’ Council of the Church of England

All Liberal Democrats should follow Paddy Ashdown in voting against this iniquitous benefit cap that will deprive thousands more children of decent housing and schooling, and thereby render them virtually unemployable in the future (Peers reject £26,000 cap that includes child benefit, 24 January).
If these measures are intended to force their parents into work, where are the jobs, thanks to this government’s self-defeating policy of austerity, and where are the affordable homes, thanks to the policy of selling off council houses?
The savings involved are paltry compared with the cost of Trident, or Afghanistan, or oil sanctions against Iran; and they are in stark contrast with the failure to rein in executive pay, or to properly tax the Tory party paymasters in the City of London, and the billions lost to the Revenue through tax havens.
We cannot leave it to the bishops to be the only opponents of one law for the poor and another for the rich.
Margaret Phelps
Colchester, Essex
• Gavin Poole, executive director of the Centre for Social Justice, defends the benefit cap in your pages (It’s not about the money, 24 January). Could that be the same Centre for Social Justice that warned that the impact of the cap is likely to be “devastating” for some families? Is devastating families’ living standards really likely to give their children “hope and aspiration for their futures” as Poole claims?
Ruth Lister
Labour, House of Lords
• Supporters of the household benefits cap do not seem to realise that a high proportion of that benefit goes directly to the landlord of the property the unfortunates live in. No official visit by the housing authority determines whether the residence is worth the rent being charged. Therefore, the scum landlord raises the rent, explaining to the tenants that they don’t have to pay it – it comes from the council.
In the articles from the Centre for Social Justice (what a fraudulent title!) I haven’t seen any hammer blows aimed at the criminal landlords. Of course, they are all pillars of respectability in their local Tory associations. Loudly proclaiming the advantages of free enterprise, along with all the other crooks. I am old enough to remember when we had a Labour party and a Rent Control Act.
Ken Bates
Nottingham
• Substituting “executive salaries” for “welfare benefits” and “the company” for “the state” in Gavin Poole’s piece makes for interesting reading.
John Stout
Aughton, Lancashire
•  In this Dickens anniversary year, perhaps we should remember Mr Micawber in the debate on welfare. Family on £26,000 benefits income, no child benefit, minus £20,000 rent (uncapped of course), equals £6,000 disposable income for living (minus removal fees to move somewhere cheaper; minus cost of school uniforms for new school), result – despair. Contrast this with working family on £26,000 wages, plus child benefit, plus housing benefit, plus working tax credits, result – no comparison. The prime minister and secretary of state are deliberately misleading the public.
Gillian Dalley
London
•  Charity works hard in a recession. Benevolent funds routinely patch and protect the modest social fund. London Catalyst’s Samaritan fund helped 62 social work agencies make 2,400 emergency grants to people in need last year. In the debate on the value of the social fund, as in Dickens’s time, we can overlook those hidden on the margins of society: migrant workers sloughed off by the contracting informal economy, overstayers, the undocumented and those coping with mental and physical ill-health are all ineligible. The estranged dependent on charitable strangers.
Victor Willmott
Director, London Catalyst
• Tim Leunig (Who can live on 62p a day?, 23 January) argues that the UK’s housing shortage could be addressed by allowing more houses to be built in the south-east, “over the objections of organisations such as the CPRE and the National Trust”. Contrary to this assertion, CPRE agrees that more housing needs to be built across England.
Research commissioned by the last government found that a massive increase in housing supply alone would have only a marginal impact on prices. For this reason CPRE doesn’t believe liberalising the planning system will lead to meaningfully lower housing costs. Leunig states that “standard supply and demand tells us that more houses mean lower prices and lower rents”, but experience shows that reducing house prices is not that straightforward.
Increased supply is part of the solution, which is why CPRE is calling for improvements to the government’s planning reforms. We want to see a planning system that delivers new high-quality, affordable homes to rent or buy, in places that are economically, environmentally and socially sustainable.
To secure a long-term solution to our growing housing affordability crisis, we must hold a national debate on the future of how we house ourselves, and how we pay for it.
Kate Houghton
Planning officer, Campaign to Protect Rural England
•  Tim Leunig is wrong to assert that the National Trust is opposed to housebuilding in the south-east. We need more houses, but we need them to be built in the right places. We also think more could be done to encourage the reuse of existing houses before we build on greenfield sites. After all, nearly 70,000 homes in London and the south-east have been empty for more than six months.
The government proposes to remove the national thresholds at which affordable housing must be delivered within development schemes. This will surely further damage the provision of housing for those who need it most.
Ben Cowell
Assistant director of external affairs, National Trust
•  The news is full of politicians and political commentators using fine rhetoric to pitch benefit claimants against the hard-working taxpayer, as if they were mutually exclusive. Does it not occur to anyone that a huge number of people currently claiming benefit have actually been (and will be again) taxpayers? Also, just because people are claiming benefit does not mean that they are not contributing to society in other ways: be that parenting, building bonds of friendship with other people in their communities or improving the surroundings of themselves and others who are in work.
Last October, my husband and I had to put our 15-year-old business into liquidation due to the current economic climate and a total collapse in our markets. Previous to that we had both always been self-employed or employed. While we ran our business we created jobs for hundreds of people. These were mostly high-skilled, well-paid jobs in an area of real economic stagnation largely dependent on agriculture (Herefordshire is, I think, second – with Devon – on the low pay scale).
I applied for about 70 jobs, from management roles to clerical positions. I heard back from about five companies but did not receive any job offers. So, with great reluctance, we had no option but to fall back onto the state. We have five children and a mortgage, so we are one of the 67,000 families who would be affected by the cap. By tight budgetary control and careful shopping we are able to live without hardship on the benefits that we are receiving and enjoy our frugal, if temporary, lifestyle.
I am not currently able to actively seek work or create a new enterprise because I am awaiting an operation date (which has been cancelled twice) so that I can donate a kidney to my husband, who is currently a dialysis patient. According to the NHS website the cost of dialysis is £35,000 a year. Hopefully, he will live for at least another 20 years; without the transplant the cost to the NHS would be £700,000 (in today’s money). The cost of the transplant is £17,000 and kidney transplantation leads to an average saving per year of £25,800.
Each benefit claimant has a different story to tell. I do not believe that the vast majority of claimants choose to be in the position that they are in or have large numbers of children just to maximise what they receive. Right now, my family needs every penny coming in. Not because we are lazy or worse than the “hard-working” taxpayer but because sometimes the picture is not black and white.
I would ask political commentators not to be so quick to judge, and news programmes not to always focus on the single, immigrant parent living in an expensive rented apartment. We do not need to fuel xenophobia. As people with authority and power, it is the job of leaders and newscasters to tell the truth and provide balance. Or am I asking too much?
Polly Ernest
Hereford
•  Gavin Poole’s argument that a benefits cap would reduce welfare dependency and increase claimants’ self-esteem is dependent on there being jobs and affordable housing readily available to enable people to haul themselves to a state of self-sufficiency. The simple fact is that there is a huge statistical gulf between the number of people seeking work and the posts available. Meanwhile the government is encouraging a swathe of potentially paid work to be undertaken on a voluntary basis, and large chain stores are getting away with employing people on an unpaid basis on the pretext of “training”.
At some point society will have to face up to the reality of a changing labour market and recognise that there will never be enough work again to move back to a state of full employment. Scapegoating the most vulnerable in society may help the supposedly squeezed middle classes vent their spleens but in reality will only end up increasing child poverty and all-round desperation among the poor. If only this resentment could be channelled towards the mega-rich and senior bankers who continue to thrive despite the recession and, in the case of their latter, their culpability for everyone else’s struggle.
Tim Matthews
Luton, Bedfordshire
•  I am very disappointed that the coalition government’s commitment to the Poor Law principle of “less eligibility” – to ensure the conditions of those out of work are worse than the lowest-paid – has not gone far enough. The revival of the Victorian workhouse would not only be popular but also secure the coalition’s social policy ambitions on a number of fronts.
First, the segregation of mothers from fathers and their children, in separate institutions, would send a clear message to the “undeserving poor” that they should not have more children than they can afford.
Second, it would deter workers into taking any type of paid employment, providing a rationale for reducing the benefit cap further and the abolition of the minimum wage (no fear that Labour will make any silly suggestion such as raising the minimum wage to avoid reducing benefits at all).
Third, it will give a boost to the construction industry. Capital investors could receive “payment by results” based on occupancy rates, and this would get round the Lib Dems’ bee in their bonnet about bonus caps.
Finally, it would give all those whingeing “do gooders” – charities, churches, Guardian readers and so on – something worthwhile to do. They could devote their energy to supervising “paupers’ outings” to respectable families so that children can learn the virtues of honesty, thrift and hard work from their betters.
Mike Stein
Pudsey, West Yorkshire

I’m a reader who needs the printed word. I have loved the Guardian for over 50 years now, but today (26 January), the paper has surpassed itself. Everything I want to read is there. Timothy Livesey profile, article on the hajj exhibition which portrays Islam in a favourable light, your special on Europe, Marina in the sports pages, the international topics, Comment & Debate and, as always, the letters page. Bless you.
Anne Spragg
Swinford, Co Mayo, Ireland
• Help. Silly female model picture in the centre of the front page (25 January). Why? Then page 3 – serious endeavour to tackle press sexism (It’s time to tackle Fleet street’s relentless sexism, women’s groups urge Leveson). What’s your game? Or am I just a dumb female?
Judy Marsh
Nottingham
• Well done, four real women on page 3 of the Guardian – and they had clothes on!
Gill Frances
Thames Ditton, Surrey
• In possible danger of overloading the jubilee, Scott, Dickens, Titanic, Olympics year of 2012, can I point out another achievement of the Queen? On 29 January she will become the longest-lived person who has been an English head of state by overtaking Richard Cromwell (4.10.1626 to 12.7.1712), who, ironically, was Lord Protector for only eight months (1658-59).
Barry Moore
Ipswich
• I wish the ageist, sexist letter writers (26 January) and the wretched Hadley person (Ask Hadley, G2, 24 January) would just pipe down about jeans on over-40s. First, you wouldn’t talk in the same way about women, it would be “you go girl”. Second, even if looks were so important, it depends on what jeans, what body shape and what else is worn. Some young people look daft in jeans; some older people don’t.
Brian Smith
Berlin
• 9.30am on 26 January and high up in the pale blue Yorkshire sky, two skylarks are singing their hearts out (Letters, passim). Where are the cuckoos?
Jean Samuel
York

Science is by its nature sceptical: scientists interrogate information and only on repeated investigation does data become science. The science of climate change has been established through numerous high-profile studies (IPCC, NOAA, Nasa) and was even verified by the sceptic-led Best report. In 2009 one of the world’s leading medical journals, the Lancet, declared climate change “the biggest global health threat of the 21st century”. Denying the links between greenhouse gas emissions and man-made climate change is akin to denying the links between HIV/Aids and unprotected sex, smoking and lung cancer, or alcohol consumption and liver disease. In each of these cases, well-funded deniers have had to be exposed and confronted before appropriate health-promoting legislation was put in place.
The Climate and Health Council supports Nasa scientist James Hansen as he joins the campaign to uncover secret funders bankrolling climate sceptic Nigel Lawson and his lobbying think-tank (Climate experts back unveiling of Lawson thinktank donor, 23 January). The public may finally discover who is secretly influencing UK climate policy – contrary to scientific consensus – today (27 January), when the Information Rights Tribunal hears this key freedom of information case. Some anti-climate lobbyists routinely misrepresent and cast doubt on the work of climate scientists. Although Lawson and his Global Warming Policy Foundation have been discredited and attacked by numerous scientists and senior politicians, his thinktank continues to receive significant coverage, wrongfully distorting the public and policy debate over climate change.
Perverting the course of evidence-based policy on climate-change adaptation and mitigation damages our health resilience, our economic prosperity and our environmental stability. Transparency around climate-sceptic funders is essential. We support freedom of information to reveal those deliberately preventing the UK’s sustainable future.
Dr Fiona Godlee Editor-in-chief, British Medical Journal
Dr. Richard Horton Editor-in-Chief, The Lancet
Professor Ian Roberts Professor of Epidemiology and Public Health
Professor Hugh Montgomery Professor of Intensive Care Medicine
Professor Anthony Costello Professor of International Child Health
Rachel Stancliffe Director, Centre for Sustainable Healthcare
Dr. Robin Stott Co-chair, Climate and Health Council
Maya Tickell-Painter Director, Medsin Healthy Planet Campaign
• Citizens concerned about climate change are right to demand clarity about Nigel Lawson’s funding. Lawson established his shadowy organisation back in 2009 following the Climategate fiasco, when the emails of the Climate Research Unit at the University of East Anglia were hacked. There have been five inquiries into Climategate, three in the UK and two in the US, and they have unanimously exonerated the East Anglian scientists of any scientific wrongdoing. If the rationale for Lawson establishing GWPF was Climategate, why has he not now closed it down? One suspects the answer lies in the recent report from GWPF on the new fossil fuel source, tar sand and shale gas, which states: “Shale gas is not only abundant but relatively cheap and therefore promises to take market share from nuclear, coal and renewable energy and to replace oil in some transport and industrial uses, over coming decades.”
Dr Robin Russell-Jones
Chair, Planetary SOS

Independent:

Good grief! Your editorial about bishops in the House of Lords (26 January) read like something out of the Sunday Express circa 1962. Bishops should stick to their pulpits; the “privileged” Church of England having a voice in Parliament because it’s the established church. Those arguments became boring many years ago.
Like it or not, we have a second unelected chamber in Parliament called the House of Lords, and for historical reasons, 26 of the 104 bishops of the Church of England have seats there. Since Parliament still sees fit to legislate for the Church of England’s internal affairs, I would call that a reasonable quid pro quo. If you want to change that system, then do: it won’t worry the Church of England.
Meanwhile we have, in the House of Lords, a group of fairly intelligent people, including bishops, who do not have to cast an anxious eye on what the electorate has been persuaded to think, and who have sufficient independence of thought to curb, or at least delay, the excesses of the government of the day. They are not afraid to do so; and, generally speaking, I would say that was a good thing.
You also go on to imply that religion, politics and ordinary life are three different things which must be kept apart, and that a leader in one field cannot possibly be permitted to interfere by commenting on another. When a bishop stands up in the House of Lords to protest about a piece of proposed legislation which he considers unjust, he is doing precisely what he’s paid for. It’s called freedom of expression, and it applies just as much to bishops as it does to newspaper leader writers.
John Williams
West Wittering, West Sussex
 
***
 
Your editorial blithely asserts that representatives of the established church “must go” in the next wave of Lords reform. Why?
We have an established church that is as much the consequence of our social, economic and political history as of our spiritual past. Given the quantity of time-serving apparatchiks who have been rewarded with seats in the Lords, it seems a little extreme to single out precisely those who by the very nature of their work could be said to bring a much-needed ethical and moral approach to the proceedings.
The established church fulfils a role not dissimilar to that of the monarchy; it is a useful mechanism, nominally filling a space that would otherwise be the object of competitive acrimony and destabilising ambition.
And as we have seen, the meddlesome priests are not in anyone’s pocket. Perhaps we should put up with them for a while longer.
Christopher Dawes
London W11
 
***
 
Your leader was astounding. Agree with them or not, the bishops who proposed the amendment to the Welfare Reform Bill on Monday were from dioceses with some of the most significant deprivation in the country. They are therefore in touch with clergy on the ground living in these areas – journalists and politicians don’t tend to. They know what they are talking about.
I would have thought that drawing people from this incredible network of parishes, which is what establishment is really about, is just what the second chamber needs. To say that they should not meddle in politics is to argue that faith is irrelevant to life. Secular does not equal neutral. By all means disagree with their maths and policy analysis, but they speak from serious engagement on the ground and therefore deserve hearing.
Canon Ian Black
Leeds
 
 
Badgers and hedgehogs
Michael McCarthy (19 January) is wrong to suggest that the link between the presence of badgers and the absence of hedgehogs is being played down. It isn’t, but from a conservation standpoint it doesn’t make sense to put it centre stage: it isn’t the case that fewer badgers would mean the decline in hedgehog numbers would be stopped. The link between badgers and hedgehogs misses the bigger picture.
The main causes for the decline in hedgehogs are almost certainly habitat loss and habitat fragmentation. And we are working hard to understand the cause better and to help the hedgehog cope with our very intensively used landscape, even when they are eaten by badgers, which – along with disease, accidental road casualties and a changing climate– is a fact of life.
The solution lies in improving the quality of the environment within which both hedgehogs and badgers have co-existed for millennia. They are, for the most part, competitors for the same food resource, macro-invertebrates such as worms. It is only when their habitat deteriorates that the relationship shifts into one that is predatory.
Hedgehogs and badgers frequently co-exist in urban areas, where there is no indication that badger numbers are increasing – but urban hedgehog populations are declining as fast as their rural counterparts.
Our project to monitor hedgehog hibernation emergence (www.hedgehogstreet.org) is part of a massive effort to understand better the ways in which we can ensure that the hedgehog survives and thrives. And part of the work is looking at how intensive farming depletes both hedgehog and badger food. Rather than getting side-tracked by a single dimension, please join in and help us understand the complexities better.
Fay Vass
Chief Executive, British Hedgehog Preservation Society,
Jill Nelson
Chief Executive, People’s Trust for Endangered Species
Abingdon, Oxfordshire
 
Shameless lying
I was saddened to read your leading story about declining standards of honesty (25 January). What concerns me most is the assumption that “everyone is doing it”.
As I was reading about it on a train from Guildford to London Waterloo, which was running on time, I was forced to listen to a young woman behind me proclaiming through her mobile phone that she was “stuck outside Waterloo” and was going to arrive late at her destination, wherever that was.
Not only is this an unfair calumny against the train company, whose trains are rarely late, but I was shocked by the utter indifference to her fellow passengers, who knew that she was lying. Should the honest person stand up and protest in such circumstances? I am sorry to say that all I did was to resolve to write to your paper about it.
Bob Tomlin
Caterham, Surrey
 
***
 
David Butland cites a number of his friends who claim to have rarely told lies, as evidence in the debate about national dishonesty (letters, 26 January). Unfortunately, I suspect that everybody he spoke to was lying.
Tim Matthews
Luton, Bedfordshire
 
Smart meters will help consumers
The Government is determined to see consumers benefit from the introduction of smart meters, and will study the Public Accounts Committee report carefully (“Smart meters ‘may lead to an increase in fuel poverty’ “, 17 January).
Consumer protection is at the core of the programme and we have been consulting closely with consumer groups over the past year. Smart meters will give us more control over how we use energy at home and at work, helping us to cut energy waste and save money, and will mean an end to estimated billing – so no more nasty surprises for consumers.
They also have a key role in modernising our electricity system so we keep the lights on and bills down. Energy companies will be able to do their job more efficiently, which will also mean lower costs for us all to pay for through gas and electricity bills. The benefits of smarts meters are £18.7bn from an £11.7bn investment – that’s a £7bn net benefit to the nation, and we want to realise it sooner rather than later.
Charles Hendry
Energy Minister, Department of Energy and Climate Change, London SW1
 
Fight again for the Falklands
Britain will go to war with Argentina over the Falkland Islands only if the Argentines stage another unprovoked attack on the 2,000 or so innocent British civilians who live there.
Both your correspondents (letters, 26 January) are in effect suggesting that rather than defending those Brits we try to bribe the potential aggressors in pursuit of a quiet life – despite the certain knowledge that the last time round the invaders included people subsequently convicted of brutal crimes against their own people, quite possibly with death-lists of our fellow countryman in their pockets.
No decent nation looks to bribe such people. It makes it clear, as the PM has, that if necessary we will fight them again. The only real concern is to be sure that we can still do so successfully – which I hope we are, but fear we may not be.
R S Foster
Sheffield
 
Drink? A lemon would be nice
Starbucks is to sell alcohol in the USA. In the UK, I have yet to find a Starbucks able even to supply a slice of lemon to enhance a cup of tea. Over many years, I have suggested, by letter and across the counter that, to supply a slice of lemon for those who prefer it to milk would not affect Starbucks’ profitability too dramatically. Excuses for failing to do so, which have included good old “health and safety”, have come down to: “We don’t stock lemons for tea.”
Peter Williams
Faversham, Kent
 
Heartening
My father and his father both died of heart attacks. My GP insisted on testing my blood pressure a couple of years ago (since I was over 55) and discovered it was shockingly high. So, but for NHS policy of checking patients of a certain age and treating them, I might well have had a heart attack by now. So why should there be a mystery to the reduced heart death rate in England (report, 26 january)? It’s all down to sensible NHS decision-making.
Mike Park
London SE9
 
Be fair to Sir Fred
It would be unfair if Sir Fred Goodwin were deprived of the knighthood awarded in 2004. The honour was bestowed on the basis of a career of service prior to that time. Granted, things went belly-up later, but if, for example, a theatrical knight or dame turned in a lousy performance now, would that justify calls for their honour to be revoked?
Anthony Bramley-Harker
Watford Hertfordshire
 
Family mansion
Judith M Steiner is worried that she and her husband could be forced out of their family home by a mansion tax (letter, 24 January). There is a simple solution. Should a tax on dwellings of over £2m be introduced, residents who find it difficult to pay the tax immediately should be able to give a charge on their property to the local authority, who will collect the money the next time the property comes on to the market.
Harvey Cole
Winchester
 
Polite star
John Calder’s obituary of Nicol Williamson emphasised his aggression (26 January). But when reviving Inadmissible Evidence at the Royal Court in 1978 he was, I seem to remember, entirely courteous to all his supporting players.
Clive Swift
London NW8

Telegraph:

SIR – A focus group wants to restore England’s woodland to Domesday levels, when it covered 15 per cent of the country (“Plant one billion trees to ‘recreate Domesday forest’ “, report, January 12). In 1964, a small group of enthusiasts in the Colne Valley, in West Yorkshire, set about improving their environment by planting saplings to soften the harsh landscape.
Today, around 300,000 trees later, the improvement is obvious. The group, rarely more than 15 in number, plants every Saturday between November and March in almost all weather conditions.
Dare I suggest that the need is not for discussion groups talking about an idea, but enthusiastic volunteers willing to get their hands dirty?
Peter Wilbourn
Huddersfield, West Yorkshire

SIR – Ruth Porter touches on the role of the House of Lords – “advocating for those who can’t advocate for themselves” – before discussing the responsibilities of the Church (“Why Church leaders should love the benefit cap”, telegraph.co.uk). But what of the responsibilities of the Lords?
There are powerful arguments on both sides of the case for welfare reform, not least the competing demands for fairness between those who pay for benefits and those who are recipients. That this competition is more keenly felt in times of austerity is not surprising. That it might need to feel unfair in order to support those who need it most is an argument that no one who is answerable to an electorate will readily espouse.
One of the responsibilities of the Lords is to ensure that the complexities of these arguments are not lost when reforms are made law. Welfare dependency can be debilitating and humiliating, and proper welfare reform is needed. However, what is also needed is careful and thoughtful dissent that results in considered reform.
Bishops in the Lords can provide that dissent, not as churchmen but as statesmen. Public demand does not always make the best public policy.
Tom Quayle
London SW15
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SIR – It is worth noting that the benefit cap of £26,000 a year only applies to families where no one is in work. This means the cap is easy to avoid: all that is required is for one parent to be in work of any kind for at least 16 hours a week.
For example, a family with six children living in North London, with an earned income of just £5,000 a year, currently pockets about £47,000 a year in state benefits – and will continue to do so.
Iain Duncan Smith, the Work and Pensions Secretary, has stated his key aim is to “make work pay” – perhaps he did not realise quite how true this could be.
Simon Leadbeater
Benson, Oxfordshire
SIR – There is nothing new about a benefit cap. In the Fifties and Sixties, such benefits were administered by the National Assistance Board, a forerunner of subsequent social security ministries.
No one was allowed to receive more in benefits than they could earn, regardless of the size of their rent or family. This was known as the “wage step” and was generally accepted by claimants, politicians and social workers alike.
T. A. Higgins
Gillingham, Kent
SIR – I agree that child benefit should be excluded from the proposed benefit cap. It should be withdrawn altogether. It is not for the state to assume responsibility for the number of children couples have.
They should be able to earn enough to support a family themselves. The work and tax systems should be adjusted accordingly.
Michael Webb
Tunbridge Wells, Kent
Legalising drugs
SIR – As a Labour councillor for Merton in the Nineties, I spoke with the local police chief about drug legalisation (Letters, January 25). He thought fighting drugs was a war that could not be won, and that it diverted scarce resources from other issues. He went on to say that nearly all the police he knew shared this opinion.
I then spoke with some doctors. Nicotine, they pointed out, causes more deaths than all the illegal drugs put together. Alcohol causes more aggravation to hospitals than all the other drugs put together. Deaths by overdose are not normally caused by increased quantities taken, but by changes in purity. The intelligent policy would be to legalise drugs and supply “hard” drugs on prescription.
In an open council meeting I called for this to happen. All three parties were united in their condemnation of me.
Mickey Spacey
London SW20
SIR – Imagine the illegal drugs trade as the delta of a river. If the distributaries, the small suppliers, are opened up, more and more will flow in down the main channel.
Legalisation would undermine the stance of those fighting this evil trade. The present enforcement arrangements may be imperfect but they do offer vulnerable members of society some protection.
Alan Duncalf
Bampton, Devon
A breakfast medley
SIR – If Ed Vaizey, the culture minister, is unhappy about the number of women on the Today programme (report, January 25), I suggest that he switches on the television for BBC Breakfast. One of the two presenters is a woman, the economics presenter and the weather presenter are both women, and when we switch to the local (London) section, the sole presenter is usually a woman, and the traffic and weather presenter is also a woman.
I expect it is because they were reckoned to be best at their respective jobs.
John Duffield
Loughton, Essex
The trolley problem
SIR – I applaud the vigilance of the security guard at Tesco for refusing entry to a lady with dirty boots (Letters, January 25), but wish that my local Asda would stop parents from letting children sit and stand in the food sections of trolleys.
Elizabeth M. Michie
Falmouth, Cornwall
Pursuit of happiness
SIR – I agree with Kirsty Young’s views on contentment versus happiness (report, January 24). I’m sure that over-expectation of happiness is a cause of mental illness.
I lost one of my four beloved adult children, and now I am widowed. Without these people in my life I do not expect to achieve past levels of happiness again, but I am content to be content.
Marion Gilbert
Daventry, Northamptonshire
SIR – The happiness barometer is different for all of us. My daughter has just started her own business, which is proving to be very successful. Let’s speak up for young entrepreneurs who enjoy the work they do.
May I recommend to Kirsty Young a good walk on the beach or in the mountains, with the wind to blow all her worries away and a dog and children for company, and time to contemplate life’s natural wonders? I recommend Scotland or our wonderful Snowdonia National Park.
Dee Bentham
Harlech, Merionethshire
SIR – We tend to think of happiness as the obverse of unhappiness. But unhappiness can be a permanent and deepening state, whereas happiness is invariably transient.
Kirsty Young is wise to wish her children contentment.
Philip Styles
Cheddar, Somerset
SNP not representative
SIR – The early skirmishes in the Scottish referendum debate (report, January 25) have ignored the fact that the SNP won less than half the votes cast at last May’s Scottish Parliament general election on a 50.4 per cent turnout. This means that less than 23 per cent of eligible Scots implicitly voted for a referendum. Subsequent opinion polls have shown significant majorities against independence.
It is therefore imperative that the cross-party, pro-Union campaign is led by the most talented Scottish tacticians from each of the main parties. The three people best placed to successfully defend the United Kingdom and challenge Alex Salmond head-on are Michael Forsyth, Alistair Darling and Danny Alexander.
Philip Duly
Haslemere, Surrey
Stateside stripes
SIR – Keith Kneebone (Letters, January 25) might have noticed that English ties have a diagonal stripe rising from left to right, while American ties have stripes that rise right to left.
This was pointed out to me by my American brother-in-law who worked for American airline companies. Security officers would use this little-known fact as an indication of which country a passenger was from.
This information has been a curse because I can’t watch a film or TV programme without seeing if the costume designer has got it right or not.
Les McCallum
Isleworth, Middlesex
SIR – On a visit to Disneyland to celebrate my 50th birthday, I purchased a souvenir tie in a pleasant shade of mauve, ostensibly suitable for office wear. Closer inspection, however, revealed a discreet Mickey Mouse motif woven into the stripe. I derived much pleasure from wearing it at each monthly partners’ meeting thereafter.
David Lockwood
Worksop, Nottinghamshire
SIR – I have a collection of 365 ties. I am at a loss as to what to wear on February 29.
Martin Wigram
Bristol
Chunky chips are a waste of money and potatoes
SIR – The MP who complained that chips served in a bucket were “soggy” and that a tower formation was preferable (“Healthy appetite for moaning despite MPs’ £5.8m meal deal”, report, January 23) obviously has no regard for how much potato is wasted producing these chunky horrors.
I doubt the cooks care either. After all, it’s only taxpayers who subsidise the food.
David Eddy
Waterlooville, Hampshire
SIR – Chips are necessarily soggy, towered or bucketed. French fries are not.
Alan Carter
St Clement, Jersey
SIR – MPs say they want their chips in a tower. After their expenses shenanigans, maybe their wish should be granted.
M. Bolton
Birmingham
SIR – I am surprised that taxpayers subsidise MPs’ meals. Hospital doctors are expected to work very long hours with no provision for meals, subsidised or not.
These subsidies should be directed at NHS medical staff to ensure that they are in the best condition to look after patients.
Can we have a referendum on this issue?
Kevin Smith
Corfe, Somerset
SIR – At work, I always had to pay for my own lunches and often took a packed lunch. We should stop subsidising MPs. We know how the chips are stacked: in their favour.
Lynda Wigelsworth
Ossett, West Yorkshire
SIR – A glass of Merlot costs £2.35 in the Commons, due to the Commons Commission decreeing that prices must match high street pubs.
In which high street pub, anywhere in the south of England, can I get a glass of Merlot for £2.35?
Abigail Honeywell
Staines, Middlesex

Irish Times:

A pardon for Irish soldiers
Sir, – I was surprised to read Minister for Defence Alan Shatter has indicated that a pardon will be given to those soldiers who deserted Oglaigh na hÉireann during the Emergency period 1939/1945 (Front page, January 25th). There is a fundamental difference between those Irishmen who for whatever reason chose to directly join the British forces during the second World War and those who joined our Defence Forces and subsequently deserted during those years. It would appear that Mr Shatter does not accept this difference.
There should be no linking of the appalling horrors of the Holocaust and the proposed amnesty for those who deserted our country at a critical time.
How is it untenable that deserters were dishonourably discharged on returning to Ireland and as a result were excluded from State employment? Would Mr Shatter consider that the deserters should have been given parity for State employment with the circa 30,000 demobilised soldiers who had served our country loyally?
An amnesty for those who deserted will send out the wrong message to those currently serving in our Defence Forces and to those who will serve in the future. That such a proposal should be supported by the serving Minister for Defence defies credulity. – Yours, etc,
J FALLON Comdt DSM (Retd),
Jigginstown,
Naas, Co Kildare.
Sir, – While we should all be grateful for those who fought and defeated fascism during the second World War, including the circa 5,000 men who deserted the Irish Army to join the British army, the issue of a pardon is not as straightforward as your Editorial (January 26th) maintains.
Emergency Powers Order No 362 did not “strip these soldiers of pensions”; they lost their entitlements from the date they absconded. Not only were their entitlements paid in full up to that date but the Southern authorities made administrative provision to facilitate the payment of British pensions thereafter.
True, those deemed to have absconded (after a 180-day threshold, nearly six months), were barred from government-funded employment for a period of seven years. Apart from the stigma this was an irrelevance in practical terms since their desertion would have denied them a military discharge certificate, the necessary prerequisite for securing any employment. And in the context of the high unemployment and mass emigration of the post-war years it is a moot point as to what difference EPO 362 made in practical terms.
One of the grievances cited by campaigners (and your Editorial) is that these men were not dealt with through the normal channels of military justice. But would the rounding up, court martialing and imprisonment of nearly 5,000 men have been preferable, especially at a time when places like the Curragh were bursting at the seams with internees? Like neutrality itself, de Valera’s “one-size-fits-all” approach was a pragmatic (and fiscally neutral) response to a difficult and complex situation.
If there is to be a pardon we need to be clear what we are saying “sorry” for. Minister for Defence Alan Shatter’s speech on Monday at the opening of The Shoah in Europe exhibition provides a clue. “In the context of the Holocaust, Irish neutrality was a principle of moral bankruptcy”.
This is a nonsense and a classic case of reading history backwards. The war was fought by the Allies not to end the Holocaust but to defeat the Axis powers militarily. And, morally bankrupt or not, neutrality was the favoured policy of nearly every state at the time. Indeed, the two states that provided the vast bulk of Allied manpower, the USSR and US, were neutral – until they were attacked.
As a mark of respect for all those Irishmen who served at the time, whether on the beaches of Normandy or at home, this ill-conceived proposal should be dropped. – Yours, etc,
TOMMY GRAHAM,
Editor,
History Ireland,
Palmerston Place,
Dublin 7.
Sir, – Re: “Pardon on the way for Irish who fought, says Shatter” (Front page ,January 25th): My late father, George Watson, an Englishman from Co Durham, served in the fleet air arm of the British royal navy on small aircraft carriers escorting convoys in the North Atlantic and on arduous winter convoys to Arctic Russia. His ship was attacked by enemy submarines and aircraft numerous times and in winter in the freezing Arctic seas the ship was in danger of rolling over due to the weight of ice that formed on the decks or being overwhelmed by ferocious storms.
As with many veterans, my father rarely talked about his war-time experiences, but I remember vividly that he said the bravest men he served with during the war were men from the Republic of Ireland. When I asked him why, he said: “When they went home on leave to Ireland they were out of reach of the British military authorities and could have stayed safely at home if they wanted. There was nothing to force them to come back but even in the blackest days of the war when things were at their worst they always came back to fight. Every one of them without fail.”
Men like that are a rare breed and Ireland should be proud of them. Every one of them. – Yours, etc,
RICHARD WATSON,
Springfield,
Co Fermanagh.
Sir, – Pardon on way for Irish who fought, according to Minister for Defence, Alan Shatter (Front page, January 25th).
That is good news. But now let him take a good look at what happened to soldiers’ children, charged and taken to court by the NSPCC and the ISPCC, to be criminally charged and sentenced to an industrial school for up to 16 years or life. Yes, I mean life, because the nuns could have you sent to a Magdalene Laundry or a mental institution just because your father was in the British forces, and then have it put on your records (like it stated on my records that went in with me to the industrial school at the age of three years old). Letters that were sent to the industrial school from the parents were sent on to the Department of Education. So the children never got to see their parents; the Department of Education and the nuns made us orphans. When we were released from the industrial schools there was no family to turn to.
We also were to be given the worst treatment possible, because as you know Ireland did not like the British. The Irish government gave the British government the bill for the children and the British government paid.
The Irish people who did join the British forces must have been the bravest people going, knowing that they were very likely to face death; to find that if they made it back home to Ireland, their own government and people rejected them: and this is supposed to be a good Christian country.
Ireland did not just incarcerate its own children; it also incarcerated a lot of foreign children in the industrial schools as well.
Proud to be a British soldier’s child. – Yours, etc,
Prisoner 893 (Industrial school),
KATHY FERGUSON,
Jacox Crescent,
Kenilworth, England.
Irish doors ‘closed’ to Jewish families
Sir, – Regarding the doors of the Irish State being “firmly closed” to Jewish families from Nazi persecution (Minister for Justice Alan Shatter, Home News, January 24th): As a 21- year old German/Polish Jewish refugee in 1938, my late mother, Sabina Wyzsniak, was one of the lucky ones, in that prior to the start of the second World War she managed to reach these shores.
However, it was not any benign Irish State policy that eventually saved her. Rather, what undoubtedly saved her life were the simple compassionate actions of two Irish State-employed people: one, an official who simply refused in the end to “obey his orders” to deport her out of the State by putting her on a train from Dublin to Belfast, from where she would have been dispatched back to Germany or Poland; and the other, a garda who subsequently sheltered and protected her within the safety of his family as one of his own.
But had Irish government policy been implemented as planned my mother would have had her life taken away from her, a fate that befell her own mother, her 15-year-old sister, and most of her large extended family in Germany, Poland and France – for whom doors of every country were “firmly closed”. The only doors that did open for most of them in the end were those of the gas chambers.
Pointedly, Éamon de Valera’s closed door policy contrasts markedly with neutral Catholic Spain, where even a fascist leader such as Gen Franco directed his Spanish diplomats and consuls abroad to offer identity documents to persecuted Jews. This sympathetic Spanish policy, coupled with offering Spain as a temporary safe haven (for fleeing Jews who eventually obtained permanent refuge in other counties), resulted in an estimated 30,000 Jewish lives being saved.
This, of course, does not mean that de Valera lacked compassion. After all, he did manage to offer his sincere condolences to the German ambassador in Dublin on the death of Adolf Hitler – the dictator who invaded most of our European neighbours, and in the process deliberately targeted and systematically murdered many millions of innocent civilians they regarded as “Untermenschen” or “sub-humans”. – Yours, etc,
IVOR SHORTS,
Hermitage Close,
Rathfarnham, Dublin 16.
Dipping into emigration debate
Sir, – In his excellent article “Politicians still steering clear of emigration debate”, (Opinion, January 25th), Prof Diarmaid Ferriter writes about the Minister for Finance Michael Noonan “daring to dip his toes into the waters of the emigration debate”.
He adds that the Minister joins the ranks of senior politicians who have “talked themselves into trouble by daring to give their assessment of Irish people’s reasons for emigrating”.
For the record, the Minister was not daring, he was dared.
I asked him a question on the subject at a news conference in Dublin last week, and he replied, in detail.
At the risk of extending the toe-dipping theme too far, Minister Noonan did not jump into troubled waters, he was politely pushed. – Yours, etc,
MARK SIMPSON,
BBC Ireland Correspondent,
Ormeau Avenue,
Belfast.
Bonds and bankruptcy
Sir, – Congratulations are due to the National Treasury Management Agency for creating a diversionary bond swap on the very day that it extracts €1.25 billion from our pockets to repay bonds in a defunct bank.
Any chance that Ireland could avail of the new bankruptcy proposals given that it has an unsustainable level of debt and clearly falls into the “can’t pay” category? – Yours, etc,
BRIAN FLANAGAN,
Ardmeen Park,
Blackrock, Co Dublin.
Holding on to retiring teachers
Sir, – E Molloy (January 24th) inquires “is it too much to expect that the leaders of the teacher unions would encourage their members, who are taking early retirement with a generous exit package, to continue working until the end of the school year”.
I would rather choose to acknowledge and applaud retiring teachers who have worked unselfishly and beyond contract. So, I thank the teacher who taught me and my 45 classmates in a class room with a turf stove in a small west Limerick town and who worked extra hours to prepare us for scholarship exams and who gave of their free time to train us on the GAA pitches.
If these teachers plan on taking early retirement, they have more than served their time and I wish them well. E Molloy’s censure might be better directed at the Government and the Department of Education for their poor sense of human resource planning. – Yours, etc,
JOHN GEARY,
Glen Abbey Road,
Mount Merrion,
Co Dublin.
A sticky encounter at the airport
Sir, – Paul O’Kane of Dublin Airport Authority (January 24th) assures us: “Any liquids or gels surrendered at Dublin airport security that are unopened are donated to charity”. Given that a reason for the ban on these substances is that they constitute an explosion risk, I wonder if the charities in receipt of these goods are aware of the risks involved. – Yours, etc,
KEVIN DAVENPORT,
Hilton Gardens,
Dublin 16.
Called to heel
Sir, – As one who daily cleans litter and fouling from a local public park, this writer is in a good position to assess the behaviour and attitudes of the general public.
Indeed Hibernia in duo partes divisa estbetween those who have a concern for others and those who regrettably have never given such matters a thought.
Both categories exist within all classes of persons regardless of income or gender with possibly a larger proportion of blame pertaining to those who should know better.
This is behaviour that should not only be inculcated at school but practised within the family. You cannot blame youngsters for acting as their parents might, or dogs who might well foul anywhere whether on a lead or not: their owners should always carry a waste bag with them wherever they go.
However, provision of more waste bins and regular collection to prevent filthy overflowing bins, which are the responsibility of local authorities, together with an action programme of local civic awareness would certainly do no harm. In short, locally we must clean up our own act. – Yours, etc,
LOUIS SMYTH,
Crosthwaite Park,
Dún Laoghaire, Co Dublin.
Bloody Sunday 40th anniversary
Sir, – Forty years ago the Stormont government banned the Civil Rights march scheduled to take place in Derry on January 30th, 1972.   The ban was unsuccessful, but the British Tory government followed through its counter-insurgency strategy, which began with the introduction of internment in 1971, by shooting down peaceful marchers who came out on the streets in defiance of state terror. Today, another Tory government and its middle-management in Stormont denies human and civil rights by upholding internment while also trying, by some rather desperate means, to prevent people from marching again in defence of these rights.
On January 29th, we, as former Long Kesh internees, will join the march that will mark the 40th anniversary of Bloody Sunday in Derry.   We will march under a banner calling for an end to internment in 2012, and our numbers will include survivors of the “hooded treatment”, who were tortured in August 1971.   We call on every ex-internee and ex-prisoner to join us and help carry our banner.   People are now being held without trial in the six counties at the whim of an English Secretary of State.   This present-day internment is the same in all but name as that introduced in August 1971, and is the same type of repression that people marched against so bravely in January 1972.   We oppose internment no matter how the British decide to implement it – whether via the “suspension of licence”, the denial of pardons, the use of non-jury courts and the gamut of other repressive legislation at their disposal.
We will march in defence of human rights, in protest against present-day internment and in opposition to the torture that continues to be practised by the British state in Ireland and abroad.   In doing so, we will salute the memory of the brave men, women and children who once marched for our freedom and who were murdered, wounded and brutalised by the British army on the streets of Derry 40 years ago.   We will also remember our friends who died prematurely as a result of the torture – Pat Shivers from Toomebridge, Mickey Montgomery from Derry and Seán McKenna from Newry. – Yours, etc,
MICHAEL DONNELLY (Derry), GERRY MCKERR, (Lurgan), PATRICK MCNALLY (Armagh), BRIAN TURLEY (Armagh),  FRANCIE MCGUIGAN, KEVIN HANNAWAY, JOE CLARK, JIM AULD, Belfast,
C/o Messines Park,
Derry.
Flashback to Achill
Sir, – A recent Irishman’s Diary (Hugh Oram, January 4th), which mentioned St Colman’s Industry and its founder Eva O’Flaherty, brought me back happy memories of the summer of 1948. With the loan of an elderly Baby Austin and the gift of some petrol coupons, we spent our honeymoon in Co Mayo. We stayed in the late lamented Amethyst Hotel in Keel and drove on the very rocky road to Keem Bay. We visited the thriving St Colman’s Industry and had tea with Ms O’Flaherty.
For years I enjoyed a hand- woven emerald green cardigan and scarf and often thought of the remarkable woman who brought such creative activity to such a remote and beautiful place. – Yours, etc,
LYNDALL LUCE,
Bushy Park Road, Dublin 6.
Beethoven’s shopping list
A chara, – Sight reading the recently pubLiszt breve and semibreve notes on Beethoven et al has caused us allegro and more than the minim of Faustration and concertnation. – Is mise,
CIARA Nic GABHANN,
Killyberry Road,
Bellaghy, Co Derry.
Sir, – Do you plan to bring this stream of punning to a close, or will it go on Fauré-ver and ever? – Yours, etc,
ADRIAN BRADY,
Menloe Gardens,
Blackrock, Cork.
Sir, – It’s Borodin on the ridiculous. I can’t Copland, it’s Weill. Any Chausson it will Weber stop? – Yours, etc,
PATRICK O’BYRNE,
Shandon Crescent,
Phibsborough, Dublin 7.
Sir, – I note it is high time The Irish Timesgot a Handel on this shopping Liszt of Beethoven and unRavel the story. It just Rattles me and has put me Orff your usual excellent score. I think he spent his money on the Barber instead. The letter-writers are a Mendelssohn and treblesome lot. – Yours, etc,
ANNE MCCLOSKEY,
Drogheda, Co Louth.
Sir, – Being Franck about Ludwig’s private Liszt, Weill he wouldn’t Telemann a thing nor Bruch any comments from Ireland or any Germann, he probably bought litres of Meyerbeer to assist him Wolf down the schnitzel.
Let’s bid Verdi-well to this Field of speculation. – Yours, etc,
RON BLACK,
Boulevard East,
North Bergen,
New Jersey, US.
Sir, – Arias all mad? Such un-entr’acte-ing, pun-ishing stuff! I Tell you my Head feels like broken Glass. I coda done with some baroque-a this morning! – Yours, etc,
OLIVER MCGRANE,
Marley Avenue,
Rathfarnham, Dublin 16.
Sir, – Apropos of Beethoven’s shopping list, may I suggest that this subject is now ripe for decomposition. Allowing it to continue would be a new Loewe. Please say Gluck before I have to go into Haydn.
Bloch it now or I shall have to get Orff my head on Bellini – then my head would be Sor. – Yours, etc,
FRANK BYRNE,
Cormac Terrace,
Terenure, Dublin 6W.

Irish Independent:

Regarding the possible pardon of deserters from the Irish Defence Forces during World War Two recently announced by Defence Minister Alan Shatter: The most pertinent question we should ask ourselves is who do we pardon? The argument in favour seems to suggest that any Irish soldier who subsequently joined the British forces should be pardoned.
However, this point ignores the fact that not all of the deserters actually joined up again. Many left for higher-paying jobs in the labour-hungry British war industry. Do they deserve to be pardoned?
And, if not, does that mean that their contribution to the Allied victory is less than those who fought in the front line? We should not forget that some Irish soldiers simply deserted and went home to their families.
Another issue which needs to be addressed is the issue of the Local Defence Force. Irish military documents of the time show that the LDF’s effective strength was far below its paper strength for the duration of the war. The authorities had little doubt that the majority of these missing men had left for the UK. Are they to be pardoned also?
We also need to be wary of projecting our values backwards in time to a period where they do not fit.
The pardon campaign revolves around the fact that the deserters joined the fight against Nazism — that their contribution to the greater good outweighs their guilt for desertion.
I question whether this debate would even be taking place if thousands of Irish soldiers deserted and joined the Wehrmacht. We must be careful that we do not turn World War Two into a one-dimensional crusading conflict.
Finally, we need to understand Emergency Powers Order 362 in the context of the time. Dismissing the deserters from the Defence Forces was a way for De Valera to deal with them quickly and quietly. Enormous damage had been done to Ireland’s international image by neutrality, the American Note and De Valera’s visit to the German Legation in 1945. It can well be imagined that he was eager to avoid further negative publicity which would have resulted from prosecuting deserters.
The military context also needs to be considered. However ridiculous it appears to modern observers, the chiefs of staff reports throughout the Emergency make clear that the Irish military seriously considered a British invasion of Ireland a possibility. From their point of view, deserters were weakening the Defence Forces at a time of national emergency and joining the forces of a possible invader.
I have no hesitation in lauding the achievements of any Irish members of the Allied forces during the World War Two, but the deserter issue is one that needs to be very carefully considered.
Bernard Kelly
School of History, Classics and Archaeology, University of Edinburgh

Well I must be off

best wishes John

Off out around the park, two other joggers one man one women. We all are getting gloriously wet in the rain. Though its milder. The snowdrops and some of the roses are starting to make an appearance.
Off out I go to the bank, and shopping in Tesco’s what an exciting life I lead. Home, lunch and out again to pay June, Joan’s cleaner. I decide to walk the half mile or so. Its freezing, and I get dizzy spells. What must I look like holding on to a tree for support?
I buy an invoice book, for June’s wages and trudge up the cobbles to Joan’s house, almost slipping and breaking my neck on the steep cobbles.
June is quivering with indignation. The last carer was here only 10 minutes, they are supposed to be here for 30 minutes, and put down 20 in the book, all she did was check that Joan needed changing and make her some dinner. The toilet left uncleaned, the washing unwashed. This lot are a lot worse. I can just see Sandy going ballistic, over this.
Pheasant we watch Ask a Policeman, dear old Will Hay, Turnbottom Round has the lowest crime rate in England, with no arrests in 10 years 4 months and 12 days, since the new sergeant Will Hay arrived. Faced with the possibility of redundancy, they arrest the Chief Constable for speeding, unbeknownst to them smugglers are afoot under the police station, priceless 1940′s comedy. I am sure the police are not a bit like that today.
Scrabble today I lose and Mary’s gets over 400, well done Mary, but I am sure I will get a suitable revenge.

Fave Letters:

I told a friend who is a graduate child psychologist that I have never known my wife tell a lie in 47 married years. She seemed to think it was a clinical condition, presumably treatable. This was such a surprising reaction that I contacted three other people whom I would trust to always be honest.
One, a Methodist minister, said that she had once lied in Year 6 and felt so dreadful afterwards that she never wanted to do that again. Another, a lady of over 80, said that she also had lied once when a child also aged about 10, and recounted the circumstances with amazing detail. She also never did it again. The third decided to disqualify herself if I included “white lies”.
David Butland
Bridlington, East Riding

Devalued
The Republicans of South Carolina, where I used to live, have put their “family values” party in an ironic dilemma: they will now have to choose between a Mormon and a polygamist.
Guy Ottewell
Lyme Regis, Dorset

SIR – I used to collect ties and I had over 700. Relatives and friends would bring them back for me from all over the world. I worked as a buyer and stock controller in the wines, spirits and bottled beers departments of three breweries and was given ties by generous representatives.
My other passion is cricket and I have visited cricket grounds all over the country, picking up ties on the way.
Keith Kneebone
Camborne, Cornwall
SIR – Many of my husband’s ties offer subliminal messages to the observant, such as baubles at Christmas and camels at Epiphany. During the week, he selects ties according to the meetings he will attend: hot air balloons for wafflers, a clock motif for a lengthy conference, or clowns, which he reserves for council meetings.
Delia Hearmon
Grantham, Lincolnshire
SIR – I wear one tie for morning court and another for afternoon court, yet my wife has more than 100 pairs of shoes.
Richard Spoors JP
Eardisland, Herefordshire

Welcome break
SIR – A friend worked on a busy hospital outpatients ward and often there was no time for a break (Letters, January 24).
When told they had a DNA (did not attend) patient, the consultant always suggested sending them a bunch of flowers as a thank you.
Angela Elliott
Hundleby, Lincolnshire

Obituary:

Nicol Williamson was the notorious bad boy of the theatre, his unpredictable behaviour, unreliability and blunt rudeness to those he did not respect – which may well have been the majority of those he met in and out of the theatre world – having to be weighed by the theatres that employed him for his undoubted brilliance as an actor, and a star appeal that never fully flowered because of the reluctance of film producers and theatrical impresarios to engage him. Twin devils seemed to co-exist in his lanky body, one that drove his private life to frequent excess and public exhibitionism, and the other in which a creative genius seemed to be about to explode. He was quintessentially a model for the 19th century decadent romantic, a Byron, a des Esseintes or a Rimbaud. As an actor he could be electric: John Osborne declared him to be “the greatest actor since Marlon Brando”.
He was born and brought up in Hamilton outside Glasgow; it is difficult to imagine him as a boy in that quiet little town where the main cultural event of the year is the Salvation Army’s Christmas carol concert. He started his career at the Dundee Rep in 1960, stayed there two years, then went to the Arts Theatre in Cambridge and transferred to the Royal Court from there with That’s Us, staying on with the English Stage Company in a number of demanding roles. They included Jacobean and period drama and modern plays, the most successful of which was Osborne’s Inadmissible Evidence, a palpable hit that transferred to the West End and had several later revivals, about a complex London barrister, but he was also well cast as Sebastian Dangerfield in The Ginger Man.
One of his greatest performances was as Vladimir in the 1964 revival of Waiting for Godot. Anthony Page, Nicol’s preferred director, was in charge, but Beckett turned up at rehearsals and was unhappy about the way the production was progressing, the actor retaining his London barrister’s accent for the author’s reflective tramp. “Where do you come from? Is that your natural voice?” asked Beckett, and when told that Nicol was Scottish, asked if he could not use his natural non-London intonation. That evening Beckett looked pleased, more so as the days passed, and he commented, “There’s a touch of genius there!” The opening night was a triumph, the audience electrified by his trumpeted scream of “I can’t go on!” at the climax of the great final monologue.
From then Beckett was Williamson’s God. When I invited him in 1965 to take part in a Beckett reading at the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre in Stratford on a Sunday night, he insisted on Beckett’s personal direction, and we visited him at Ussy on the Sunday before. We had launched the previous day and Nicol’s single-minded enthusiasm was such that he cancelled both his Saturday performances of Inadmissible Evidence, then playing at Wyndham’s, next door to our restaurant, and sent on his understudy – who also had to play the whole week following, because Williamson, having returned from the rehearsal in France on the Monday, then disappeared for the whole week.
But the day before the Sundayperformance at Stratford, when I had made emergency changes in the programme, he appeared at my flat to rehearse, and took the audience by storm the next day, throwing the other readers into confusion by his innovations. Patrick Magee said that he would never again appear on the same stage as an actor so selfish.
With the RSC he performed Arden of Faversham at the New Arts Theatre and played Sweeney in the TS Eliot memorial production of Sweeney Agonistes. He became a charismatic actor in films as well, but his appearances, especially in commercial productions, became rarer because his temperament and arrogance did not appeal to directors.
His marriage to the actress Jill Townsend was of short duration, and problems rising from his divorce, his messy private life and his mounting debt to the Inland Revenue forced him to move to New York, where he quickly blotted his copybook by knocking down David Merrick, the most powerful man on Broadway at the time. There he repeated some of his British successes and performed in roles that included Hamlet and Macbeth, but always for short runs.
He was cast as the ghost of John Barrymore, appearing to help a young actor play Hamlet, commented voluably to the press on the weakness of the play and others in the cast, and at an early performance actually stabbed the other actor during a fencing episode. He strode to the footlights and announced, “Something’s gone wrong. You’d better bring down the curtain.” Most thought it was part of the play. The second act started after more than an hour’s interval with an understudy, and Williamson playing normally, but the actors had summoned Equity and the play closed a few nights later.
Williamson’s career was peppered with such incidents. He had a good natural tenor voice and could mimic any crooner perfectly, and if he heard an accent he could imitate it; years later he could still do Beckett’s voice perfectly. He devised a number of one-man shows, songs, patter and extracts from plays and other literature, but, in spite of brilliant moments, they were not successful, and while he could excite an audience, he had little critical judgement in choosing and interpreting a text without outside help.
His films included: Inadmissible Evidence (1967), The Bofors Gun (1968), The Seven Per Cent Solution (1975), The Human Factor (1979), Excalibur (1980) – the film for which he is probably best known, as Merlin – Black Widow (1986) and several others of varying quality, including The Exorcist III. Other plays in which he appeared include The Entertainer (1983), The Lark (1983) and The Real Thing (1985).
In person he was entertaining but often embarrassing company, carrying role-playing to extremes and needing to dominate every assembly at which he was present, especially in his manic moods. When depressive he was pitiable and usually stayed on his own. But whoever saw his Vladimir and heard that despairing scream, embodying the whole anguish of the human condition, which is then followed by a resumption of the human need to regain a vestige of dignity, will never forget it. Metaphorically it also encompassed his life.
Although Williamson’s death was only announced yesterday, his son Luke said that he had died on 16 December of oesophageal cancer.
John Calder
Nicol Williamson, actor: born Hamilton, Scotland 14 September 1938; married 1971 Jill Townsend (divorced 1977; one son); died Amsterdam 16 December 2011.

Just this week India and China decided to purchase Iranian oil with gold. That is a very loud statement about the idiocy of what the EU and the US have proposed to do by placing an embargo on Iranian oil and the Iranian central bank.
How many times does history have to repeat itself? There are no nuclear weapons in Iran, just like there were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, and just like the Vietnam War was started as a result of a now admitted staged event, etc etc.
There is profit in war. Go figure, who knew!
However, the sanity in our world is now coming from the alliance of the BRICS. Their statement is a double whammy.
They will trade with Iran as it does not have a nuclear weapons programme. Not only that, but they will trade with Iran in real assets. You Westerners can jump off your economic cliff by raising your fuel prices at the pumps and continuing to trade in worthless paper.
Thankfully for us they also want peace for the world. There is hope.
Barry Fitzgerald
Lissarda, Cork

Full Text:

Guardian:

It is pleasing when the national media periodically rediscovers William Barnes (Barnes night anyone?, 25 January). Paul Kingsnorth is right to remind us that this poet connects us with an older England, before mass industrialisation and commercialism ruined the landscape. Barnes maintained that the trees were so thick in his boyhood days that a squirrel could swing right across Dorset without once coming to earth. He was probably the only serious poet in modern times able to fill a hall with his own neighbours, mostly working people, come to hear him read his work in their own dialect. As one reviewer said of my recent book, The People’s Poet, Barnes “became a poet of national, and not just of Dorset, significance’. I am pleased to say that, for over 25 years, the William Barnes Society had held many Barnes nights in Dorset, and still does. All are welcome to join.
Dr Alan Chedzoy
Chair, William Barnes Society
• Thanks to Vaughan Williams’s perfect musical setting, the best known poem of the Dorset poet William Barnes is familiar to singers the world over. If Paul Kingsnorth had mentioned this, musicians would have happily signed up to his campaign for a Barnes night – with a performance of Linden Lea as the highlight of the celebrations.
Malcolm Abbs
London
• The national bard of Scotland is celebrated today not with reference to his international stature as a poet and figure of the enlightenment but solely with an article on a (very worthy) English poet. Have you prejudged the referendum?
Charles Coull
Troon, Ayrshire

I was delighted to read the visionary words of Michael Wilshaw, the new, charismatic head of Ofsted (Education, 24 January). “If anyone says to you that ‘staff morale is at an all-time low’, you know you are doing something right.” Has Wilshaw cracked the problem of how to motivate public-sector workers? Can his ideas be applied to the private sector? Has he presented his theory to the heads of Eton and Harrow? Will teachers have to pay for their own anti-depressants or will heads distribute them after morning assembly?
Lawrence Glover
Bootle, Merseyside
• If Michael Wilshaw believes that staff morale being at an all-time low is an index of doing something right, then he presumably thinks the same of student morale. This is similar to school bullies claiming their victims are the ones at fault. This approach to education makes me relieved to have retired.
Ian Roberts
Baildon, West Yorkshire

According to a 2010 ComRes poll, those questioned said that the annual income of a FTSE chief executive should be £118,000. It then averaged £2.1m and has now increased to £3.8m. The major political parties seem to agree that growing inequality is a bad thing and that top pay needs close scrutiny. Why is it then that Vince Cable appears to want to keep shareholders, employees and the rest of us in the dark by rejecting the enforced full disclosure of what companies pay their employees (Unions attack Cable on executive pay, 24 January)? If the US Congress can adopt the Dodd-Frank Act, which gives shareholders a “say on pay” and requires disclosure of executive pay versus a company’s financial performance plus the publication of pay ratios within companies, then we should be able to overcome the obstacles that Cable seems to think rule out the idea in the UK.
Kate Pickett and Richard Wilkinson
Authors, The Spirit Level
• Mr Cable says there is no magic bullet for tackling bosses’ pay rising five times faster than the average wage. There is – it’s called supertax. When this was nineteen and six in the pound it was hardly worth paying exorbitant salaries, but it did not stop my father from succeeding as a businessman. A graduated, increasing income tax starting at 50% on £100,000 and going up by 10% for each £100,000 would net the Treasury considerable sums and make it not worthwhile to pay people more than half a million. Barack Obama in his state of the union speech called for a fairer tax system and we need to address our tax system, which benefits the rich at the expense of those with lesser incomes.
Wendy Savage
Co-chair, Keep Our NHS Public
• If Vince Cable really wants shareholders to control top pay, he should ask us, the real shareholders, and not leave it to fund managers. It would not be difficult to devise a mechanism for pension and other funds to consult their members.
Jonathan Hunt
London

Do UK Labour leaders realise the implications of their failure to present a simple, clear, positive and socially caring policy for the UK? Alex Salmond’s speech (Scotland will become a beacon of fairness, 24 January) ought to provide a jolt. Post-1945 policies of welfare and nationalisation were welcome here and provided a policy direction which, when ditched, was the ruin of the Conservative party in Scotland. The SNP’s rise is, in part, due to its leftward shift and now it’s more Labour than Labour. Where will able Scottish Labour MPs go if either independence or a devo-max scenario (leaving them with just foreign policy to discuss) wreck the ambitions that hitherto have made them scorn fully joining in Scottish affairs?
Sydney Wood
Cults, Aberdeen
• Finally the penny drops at the Guardian (Editorial, 25 January). The spike in support for the SNP over the past two years is not about crude ethnic divisions. Far from it, given the number of English people living in Scotland prepared to openly vote nationalist at Holyrood elections. Rather, it’s about a deep distrust towards the increasingly socially divisive agenda of the Tory-led coalition – an agenda presented, disingenuously, as a patriotic economic rescue plan. In reality, that plan will further entrench wealth in the hands of a privileged financial and corporate elite (many of them foreign raiders, to add insult to injury). Until now, the progressive vision advocated by the SNP has been at best routinely derided as economic fantasy and at worst portrayed as insular naivety, even in the Guardian. Surely aiming to build and shape an alternative is better than the neoliberal capitulation offered by Labour at Westminster?
Colin Montgomery
Edinburgh
• While the “mechanics” of a referendum will focus many minds on the future for Scotland, it would be far more helpful to have the mechanics of independence spelled out. So far it just seems a “big idea”, with an assumption of everything falling into place once it has been achieved. Scotland has led in some important social change, notably a robust new Mental Health Act (2003), the Adults with Incapacity Act (2000), and smoking legislation (2005), but surely Mr Salmond is disingenuous in apparently claiming credit for all the positive social change, as much was initiated by Labour, when he did not even lead the SNP. It is the multi-party nature of the change that has been important, rather than one party trying to assert its adolescent will against the, undoubtedly stultifying, parental control of Westminster. Let’s have some real detail on what independence would look like, so proper debate can inform our decision on whatever referendum questions are posed.
Dr Sally Cheseldine
Edinburgh
• What happy nonsense is this idea in your editorial that the UK could endure an uneven public sector delivery with increasing support for health and education for only one part of the kingdom. Don’t advocate such postcode unfairness in the guise of Gladstone’s “efficiency”; devolution is won through a battle for hearts and minds and the SNP’s vision is one that has to prevail as part of the dream of a better Britain.
Professor Craig Richardson
Northumbria University
• Anyone who imagines Alex Salmond is progressive needs to see Anthony Baxter’s excellent documentary You’ve Been Trumped. Donald Trump has sought to crush the rights of ordinary people who oppose his most recent vanity project – a gigantic golf resort on the Aberdeenshire coast, where a beautiful landscape of unique scientific significance is being destroyed. As the film shows, those who have stood in Trump’s way have faced indifference, denigration and, at times, intimidation. Among those complicit in their treatment have been the local media, the police and Scottish politicians. It would be no exaggeration to say that Trump has no greater supporter in Scotland than the first minister.
Jeremy Hardy
London
• If this is Alex Salmond’s idea of being a good neighbour, I am glad I don’t live next door to him. Don’t be fooled. Cutting corporation tax is aimed precisely at undercutting England in a bid to attract investment to Scotland. England could, of course, undercut Scotland in turn, leading us all into a downward spiral in which business pays far less than its fair share of tax, with the predictable result the rest of us will all suffer yet more cuts in the welfare state, and/or have to pay more tax than is our fair share.
And as for “fairness”: you don’t need a crystal ball when you can read the book. Already the nationalist government has sucked several millions out of Glasgow to benefit his voters elsewhere. His local income tax policy was finally abandoned largely because people were not going to vote for a system of funding local government that would let wealthy people not on PAYE get away with paying nothing to their local authority. It would have suited Messrs Trump and Soutar, though.
Why don’t you invite other Scottish politicians to write – especially anyone who actually speaks for the majority view in Scotland, that sees breaking off from the rest of Britain as an enormous amount of upheaval at great cost, for benefits about which there is much assertion but little or no evidence so far. I now await the usual outpouring of nationalist letters accusing me of talking down Scotland.
Maria Fyfe
Former Labour MP for Glasgow Maryhill

I commend Ms Mensch for stepping from the 1950s into the 21st century in one giant leap (How Tory women are bringing feminism out of the ghetto, 25 January). For whom? Not for me and all the other women who have held careers most of their lives, raised and educated children and, upon retirement, provide unpaid care for disabled or aged relatives whose rights and minimal allowances are being whittled away by her Tory-led government as I write.
Frances Butler
London
• In these straitened times we need recipe cards for cheap cuts of meat like ox cheek, brawn and breast of lamb, recipes that our parents might have used, not those that need a trip to a big city to gather their ingredients. Wednesday’s had a recipe for salad scheherazade that had five ingredients, none of which, I suggest, would be found in an average reader’s cupboard. What is blossom water and pistachio halva?
Mike Howes
Reading, Berkshire
• If the recipe cards are meant to be a sweetener for what you’ve done to the rest of the paper, then maybe you need to increase the ratio of desserts to main courses?
Penny Wolfson
Rudford, Gloucestershire
• Hurrah for Hadley! At last some wise counsel about jeans (Ask Hadley, G2, 24 January). Everyone should know the 11th commandment: over the age of 40, no one should be seen in jeans unless he is a lumberjack. And what is it with men who wear jackets or blazers with jeans? Do they intend to do a spot of gardening before nipping off to a cocktail party or (worse still) the theatre?
Roger Newman Turner
Letchworth Garden City, Hertfordshire
• I doubt if Tottenham Hotspur’s unenviable away record from 1964-65 (Letters, 25 January) will ever be surpassed by a top football team since modern footballers seem to have no trouble at all scoring freely away from home.
Toby Wood
Peterborough, Cambridgeshire
• Will Ken Livingstone support Newt (Cash pours in for Gingrich, 24 January)?
Duncan Grant
Twickenham, Middlesex

Independent:

Let me start by saying I found the European Court of Human Rights’ decision on Abu Qatada baffling; I firmly believe a country’s borders are the responsibility of that country and that country alone. However, David Cameron is right to demand reform and must reject knee-jerk calls to leave the European Convention on Human Rights.
The convention was founded following the atrocities suffered by millions during two world wars. Britain and Churchill were the driving forces behind the convention and it was drafted by British lawyers and based on British law. There is nothing controversial in the convention. The right to life, liberty, security, fair trial, privacy, expression, property and free elections are ones we all subscribe to.
We read about the court only when we feel the hand of judicial activism or controversial, baffling decisions; but the same can be said of our domestic courts. Yet we would not dream of abolishing them.
The convention is separate from and predates Britain’s membership of the EU. I am convinced this issue is being blurred because many people wrongly think the court is part of the EU.
The convention is written to allow member governments plenty of scope for national interpretation; it is a loose framework, not a prescription. Such basic rights, upheld by the judiciary, are commonplace in most western democracies. They address a weakness of majoritarian government, whereby its executive can easily wear down civil liberties.
Yes there have been mistakes, yes the judges, may on occasion in the eyes of many, exceed their brief and this risks undermining the founding principles of the court. But the convention has done much that is good and has done much to safeguard our freedoms. Without it our freedoms would have been eroded long ago.
Sajjad Karim MEP
Conservative Legal Affairs Spokesman, European Parliament, Brussels
 
 
Why honesty went out of fashion
 
As Darwin showed, all living species are essentially selfish. So perhaps we shouldn’t be too surprised that in Britain people are becoming less honest (“Britain facing boom in dishonesty”, 25 January).
However, evolution has – at least in the case of humans – given us a capacity for compassion and sharing. The reason these characteristics are out of kilter is that back in the 1980s greed was legitimised in the markets-know-best philosophy of Reagan and Thatcher.
What we are now seeing, of course, is that extreme wealth at the very top of the capitalist chain creates abject poverty at the other end. Is it any wonder, then, that people are increasingly out for themselves? If the business and financial elite can screw the system, why shouldn’t those less lucky?
Morality is not a God-given characteristic; it has evolved through the simple need to get on with one other. Only by curbing the excesses of the few ( through social pressure rather than legislation) will greater fairness and honesty be readopted by the majority.
Quentin Macfarlane
Arbroath
 
***
 
Is “Britain facing a boom in dishonesty”? Maybe, but there would be no way of knowing from the University of Essex study, at least as you’ve reported it.
People weren’t asked if there were circumstances in which they themselves would feel justified in acting dishonestly. They were asked if, in general, they felt acting in such a way could be justified.
So it would be perfectly possible for example for someone who would never make up something in a job application, or avoid paying a fare on public transport to be able to envisage a situation where such acts might be justified. This suggests a society that exercises not less honesty but greater tolerance than that implied by the rigid moral code the University of Essex would appear to want us to live by.
Kate Francis
Bristol
 
***
 
I told a friend who is a graduate child psychologist that I have never known my wife tell a lie in 47 married years. She seemed to think it was a clinical condition, presumably treatable. This was such a surprising reaction that I contacted three other people whom I would trust to always be honest.
One, a Methodist minister, said that she had once lied in Year 6 and felt so dreadful afterwards that she never wanted to do that again. Another, a lady of over 80, said that she also had lied once when a child also aged about 10, and recounted the circumstances with amazing detail. She also never did it again. The third decided to disqualify herself if I included “white lies”.
David Butland
Bridlington, East Riding
 
***
 
Haven’t young people always been more tolerant of dishonesty than older people? As with friendship, it takes experience fully to understand the value of integrity.
Sara Neill
Tunbridge Wells, Kent
 
 
A deal for the Falklands
 
If the Falklanders wish to remain British, that is a very reasonable request to be supported, as says David Cameron (19 January). But I thought the underlying issue was about the minerals under and the fish in the oceans around the Falklands.
As the Falklands are neither heavily populated nor heavily industrialised, they probably need only a small proportion of the off-shore wealth for themselves in order to remain sustainable and to continue their British lifestyle.
So why can’t we come to a friendly agreement with Argentina about keeping the Falklands British but sharing its off-shore wealth with Argentina, which as a large and growing country must have greater need of resources?
In any case it must make more logistical sense to harvest this wealth in conjunction with mainland Argentina, rather than trying to do it all from faraway Great Britain.
H Trevor Jones
Guildford
 
***
 
As the 30th anniversary of the Falklands war approaches, two things are abundantly clear: Argentina will never relinquish its claim to the islands and the islanders will never willingly cede sovereignty to Argentina. A possible solution to the impasse occurs to me.
There are two main islands; East and West Falkland, the majority of the population reside on East Falkland around Port Stanley. Why not give control of West Falkland to Argentina with the population of this island being given the option to re-settle on East Falkland which would remain as a self-governing British Overseas Territory? An agreement could be reached sharing mineral and fishing rights for the whole area with a UN resolution ensuring compliance.
I am not suggesting that Argentina has a legitimate claim to the islands, but if a solution is not found another war remains a possibility; the last one cost more than a thousand lives and we must ensure that it is not repeated.
Jim La Bouchardiere
Telford, Shropshire
 
This ‘leak’ was just drivel
 
My old friend Stephen Glover (Media Studies, 23 January) implies that I have form for leaking information, but there was no question of leaking information about Theresa May, since the YouTube recordings comparing her speech with the UKIP leader’s similar attack on the Human Rights Act were already on a news website. The first accusation that I had leaked Cabinet information was in The Daily Telegraph on Tuesday last week, compounded by a vituperative piece in the same paper by Cristina Odone.
On Saturday, the Telegraph completely accepted that the articles were wrong, apologised to me, and particularly regretted the offence caused by Ms Odone. As Mr Glover knows, it is rare for a newspaper to admit error quite so fulsomely, and the reason for their speedy retraction was simply that I was able to prove that the leak could not have been from me.
Mine is simply a belated attempt to stop the sort of bilious drivel written by ill-informed columnists, usually in the Tory press, who never seem to check their facts, but do not let their ignorance inhibit their invective. It may not be very Christian of me – pace Ms Odone – but I decided no longer to turn the other cheek.
Chris Huhne MP
House of Commons
 
Women and children last
 
“Women and children first” regularly pops up after passenger ship accidents, as it has in the case of the Costa Concordia. However, it is a recent principle in the overall history of seafaring, only marking its 160th anniversary this year from the troopship Birkenhead disaster of 1852 – hence, also, “the Birkenhead drill”.
Sixty years on, loss of the Titanic in 1912 also saw it widely followed and finally ensured the carrying of adequate lifeboats for all on board (as Titanic did not).
In the wider age of sail, no ships had lifeboats as such, and the “law and custom of the sea” was that in extremis the few working boats carried were usually taken by those with the skills to escape in them: men of the crew, not passengers of any sort, albeit with exceptions. AWB Simpson’s splendid Cannibalism and the Common Law (1984) provides chapter and verse.
Pieter van der Merwe
National Maritime Museum
London SE10
 
In brief…
 
How we learn gender roles
Julie Bindel’s article on gender neutrality (Opinion, 24 January) resurrects the ill-informed opinions of late 20th-century feminism. It’s about time some knowledge of genetics informed these attitudes.
This does not mean that humans are “hard-wired to be masculine or feminine”; but to suggest that gender is “socially constructed… a set of rules laid down to benefit males” is laughable. The fact that a behaviour is learned does not imply a lack of genetic basis.
I doubt if boys are hard-wired to prefer blue and girls pink, but there is no doubt a strong genetic drive to learn gender roles. We need, as a society, to be careful about the gender roles on offer but we also need to avoid the simplistic rejection of traditions.
Colin Wigston
Edinburgh
 
Phone cut off
Mary Dejevsky seems surprised that the folk in Ambridge don’t reflect the rise of mobile phone use above landlines (Notebook, 25 January). Obviously she’s never lived in the country, where mobile signals are as fickle as the wind. In my house I can send and receive calls easily but a mile up the road poor reception makes you sound like the comedian with a broken microphone.
Jean Williams
Culcheth, Cheshire
 
Noisy cinema
With reference to cinema sound (letter, 23 January), I’ve often wondered why local cinemagoers mill around in the foyer until the big film starts. That is, until recently, when I sat through the adverts with my fingers in my ears. I’m not deaf, but I soon would be if I sat through that noise too often.
Evelyn Ross
Cheltenham, Gloucestershire
 
Foreign fields
Our 1914-1918 and 1939-1945 war cemeteries have been universally respected by local inhabitants (letters, 25 January). Unhappily, this might not be true of more recent conflicts.
Robert Davies
London SE3
 
Devalued
The Republicans of South Carolina, where I used to live, have put their “family values” party in an ironic dilemma: they will now have to choose between a Mormon and a polygamist.
Guy Ottewell
Lyme Regis, Dorset

Telegraph:

SIR – Mik Shaw (Letters, January 23) is not the first person to own a wooden tie. In 1769, Horace Walpole greeted French visitors at the gate of Strawberry Hill, his neo-Gothic villa in Twickenham (which has recently been superbly renovated), wearing a cravat carved from limewood by Grinling Gibbons and a pair of embroidered elbow-length gloves that had belonged to James I.
He later remarked: “The French servants stared, and firmly believed this was the dress of English country gentlemen.”
Julie Mason-Jebb
London SW14

SIR – Having worked in a psychiatric hospital, I was involved in trying to prevent drug use and drug-related crime for many years. Sir Richard Branson (Comment, January 23) identifies what many of those involved with fighting drugs have known for a long time – that the only way to beat the drug problem is to decriminalise it.
Sir Richard also points out that there are cheaper and more effective options than our present methods. Habit-forming drugs should be given through GP prescription. This would identify users and make it easier to offer them help. It would help them to avoid contaminated drugs and would reduce the availability of drugs on the street to new users. It would reduce crime, refocus our police and border agencies on to other work and “spoil the pitch” for criminal gangs.
When is a political leader going to be brave enough to grasp this nettle?
Terry Morrell
Willerby, East Yorkshire
Related Articles
Horace Walpole’s wondrous wooden necktie
25 Jan 2012
SIR – The growth in opiate use Sir Richard cites comes from a paper since discredited by the UN; his comments on Portugal rely on a report now generally accepted to be flawed, and Switzerland’s experiments were directed by the head of another pressure group, the International Anti-Prohibition League.
Prevention must engage, in various ways, with all sections of society, for example through health, education, enforcement and treatment, to produce a shift in global and local cultures. Enforcement is an essential part of this.
It worked with tobacco smoking. Achievements with drugs prevention in general will flow from enforcement, not from surrendering the legal status of drug abuse, and certainly not from “experiments” by a group who concede that they “do not yet know what will work best”.
Peter Stoker
Director, National Drug Prevention Alliance
Slough, Berkshire
SIR – There has been a vigorous international and domestic debate about drug policy for more than 20 years. Correlation does not imply causation, but Britain’s drug problems have got worse, at an increasing rate, during that debate and amid the strident demands of the drug legalisation lobby.
David Raynes
International Task Force on Strategic Drug Policy
Radstock, Somerset
SIR – Sentencing guidelines could allow drug dealers to carry six kilos of cannabis and still avoid jail (report, January 24). Compare this with the case of a local fisherman so respected that he was awarded the freedom of our borough for his services to the community. Recently found guilty of exceeding catch quotas, he faces a three-year jail term if draconian fines which threaten his livelihood are not paid.
Barry Bond
Leigh-on-Sea, Essex
It’s fair to cap benefits
SIR – I am disabled and work full time for £14,500 a year, from which I pay my mortgage and taxes.
Can the peers in the House of Lords who rejected a £26,000 cap on state benefits (report, January 24) explain to me why I should subsidise those who don’t work but who receive more than I do for working?
D. H. Todd
Ripon, North Yorkshire
SIR – No one can disagree with the desire expressed in the House of Lords to protect children, but do the Church of England bishops and Liberal Democrat peers seriously want a society in which all nurses, teachers and key workers give up work in order to increase their incomes?
Ian MacGregor
London N7
SIR – I am 67 years old and have paid my tax contributions for more than 40 years.
For that, I get a state pension of under £500 a month. I have no sympathy for those who complain about benefits being capped at £500 a week.
M. J. Benson
Toward, Argyllshire
SIR – During my working life I have moved home to chase work and I have downsized when times were hard.
It is common sense and economic reality, so why should those on benefits be treated more favourably?
Bob Pugh
St Ives, Dorset
SIR – I used to be against having a fully elected upper house, but this week the House of Lords has changed my opinion.
David Swanbrow
Sarisbury Green, Hampshire
Standards at Oxford
SIR – Examiners don’t just pick on the most depressing features of students’ work (“Oxford finals students ‘little better than school leavers’”, report, January 23).
I was chairman of last year’s fifth-term examination in Classics, and our report commented on the “many signs of the joys of literature”. Comments from the examiners included: “This was an extremely strong year, with hardly any weak papers, many very good ones, and some outstanding work” and “One of the most pleasing features was the diversity of answers which the questions provoked, and of arguments in support of them.”
What would be really unprofessional would be if tutors did not care, or did not tell one another, when something was disappointing.
Christopher Pelling
Regius Professor of Greek
Christ Church, Oxford
SIR – Dons marking Oxford finals papers seem far from happy with the quality of much of the work.
How, then, is one to explain the fact that the proportion of candidates achieving first and upper-second class honours is higher now than it has ever been?
J. R. G. Edwards
Birchington, Kent
Barefoot shopping
SIR – Like Madeleine Pallas, I too have been approached by a security guard in a supermarket because of my muddy riding boots (report, January 23).
We agreed that it would be unreasonable for me to walk around the food aisles wearing them, but he kindly offered to keep an eye on them if I left them at the door. Since then, I automatically take them off on my way in.
Dr Sarah A. Pape
Morpeth, Northumberland
Social care reform
SIR – When Paul Burstow, the health minister, says that there is no funding shortfall for social care services in England (report, January 18), this fails to acknowledge that additional money from the Department of Health is considerably outweighed by the Government’s 28 per cent cut to councils’ main grant.
Councils, providers, charities and directors of social services, all of whom we represent, see on a daily basis that the English care system is now at risk of a funding crisis. All parts of government must listen to the need to make social care a political priority.
Last week’s reconvening of cross-party talks is a first step. Hundreds of thousands of people are isolated in their own homes or falling into the NHS unnecessarily. Long-term reform is important but the immediate issues also demand attention.
Funding and reform go hand in hand and we can’t have one without the other. It is time to change this unfair regime and as a nation to show collectively that we care.
Cllr David Rogers
Chairman, Community Wellbeing Board, Local Government Association
Oliver Thomas
UK Director, Bupa Care Homes
Michelle Mitchell
Charity Director, Age UK
Peter Hay
President, Association of Directors of Adult Social Services
Cost of wind power
SIR – You report that forecasts suggest that the cost of wind power to households in 2020 will be £280 (January 23). In fact, this is the projected cost of all green policies, and will be offset by energy efficiency measures.
The cost of support for low-carbon technologies, including nuclear, is £89, of which only part will go to wind power.
Funding green technology reduces our exposure to volatile fossil fuel prices, and in the long term will keep bills down.
Jennifer Webber
Director of External Affairs, Renewable UK
London SW1

Irish Times:

Pain of emigration and immigration
Sir, – Emigration, coercive economic migration, is a terrible reality across the globe. Bishop John Kirby (Home News, January 24th) rightly takes Minister for Finance Michael Noonan to task for his remarks. The pain of leaving home and loved ones, the uncertainly of the migration experience, the complex and often hostile immigration systems that people encounter leaves many Irish emigrants at risk of becoming undocumented in their destination countries.
Bishop Ray Field (Rite Reason, January 3rd) highlights the plight of undocumented people living in Ireland. These people had to leave their countries, many for economic reasons. And yet they experience the same stress, anxiety and discomfort of the unfamiliar as other emigrants who have to leave their countries. The tragedy for many is the glaring lack of choice in their situation. We should remember that every emigrant is an immigrant outside their country. – Yours, etc,
Fr BOBBY GILMORE
EDEL MCGINLEY,
Migrant Rights Centre Ireland,
Parnell Square West,
Dublin 1.
Beyond austerity
Sir, – Your Editorial “Beyond austerity” (January 23rd) does little to help create an informed and realistic debate about the difficult choices which lie ahead for Ireland. The pious “hope-ium’ of those whose “Plan B” you largely approve, reflects for me, how public debate in Ireland can be conducted earnestly and within the pages of the newspaper of record, with only passing reference to salient and unpalatable facts.
Ireland’s yawning gap between what it raises from its citizens in total taxation, approximately €42 billion, and what it spends on public expenditure and salaries and pensions, €60 billion, is currently bridged by loans from the Troika. The majority of the signatories to a letter published by you (January 20th), calling for “an emergency budget”, draw their incomes from the public purse and against the aforementioned stark reality they simplistically argue for a tax and spend policy as a viable solution to stimulate employment and growth.
If the collective wisdom of the distinguished group seeking an “emergency budget” is simply bounded by a recognition that the bank bailout for Anglo and Nationwide was an error and the belief that a sound “Plan B” should be focused on capital, property and increased income tax on the higher paid to fund State-driven job creation, then readers have reason to be truly concerned for our collective future.
Ireland is borrowing to meet a huge level of historic overcommitment in public expenditure. In the 10 years from 2001, for example, expenditure on social protection has increased 266 per cent from €7.84 billion to almost €21 billion in 2011.
Your group of well-intentioned contributors ignores the harsh reality that our democratically elected decision-makers have over the past two decades created many more entitlements and claims on the nation’s wealth than national wealth itself.
The inconvenient truth remains that even if we were to get a substantial level of debt forgiveness for the folly of the bank guarantee, any credible “Plan B” must still focus on cutting the national cloth to a substantially reduced measure. There are no easy solutions to improving our international competitiveness and sadly many of the pillars of our public service have been less than effective in doing more with less. Under any and all credible Plan B scenarios we will have to recognise the futility of assuming that we can consume more than we create on an ongoing basis. – Yours, etc,
JOHN BARRETT,
Castleroberts,
Adare,
Co Limerick.
Introducing teens to alcohol at home
Sir, – Minister of State Róisín Shortall voiced frustration with parents who opt to give their teenagers alcohol (Front page, January 18th). She pointed out that this was a counterproductive strategy, however well-intentioned. While your reporting of her comments was reasonably neutral, the subsequent discussion in the media was far from balanced.
Most radio comment sought to present the Minister as attacking parents en masse. Indeed a spokesperson for the National Parents Council expressed annoyance at the Minister’s comments and elaborated on her support for the myth that giving teenagers alcohol in the home magically teaches them to drink alcohol responsibly.
We have published research on the views of Irish parents on this practice. This has confirmed that the majority of parents think introducing teenagers to alcohol at home is a bad idea. From my own experience of delivering talks to parents on teenage alcohol use, it has become clear to me that this majority of parents are very frustrated with the one in four parents who think it’s good to give their children alcohol, and perceive them as letting the side down.
Recent research studies from US, Australia and Northern Ireland confirm that teenagers who drink under adult supervision experience more, not less, alcohol- related harm than those who live with adults who are unwilling to “supervise” their drinking. This is because, on average, teenagers who drink with mummy and daddy still do most of their drinking with their mates in unsupervised settings. Rather than being simply ineffective, the introduction of teenagers to alcohol at home is actually harmful.
Unfortunately for us parents, we are bringing our children up in a society where intoxication is entirely acceptable if not expected, and where the majority of adult drinkers use alcohol in an unhealthy manner.
Irish teenagers are mirroring the harmful drinking practices of their elders but are starting their drinking careers about two years younger than a generation ago.
Nevertheless, there are effective evidence-based strategies which parents can employ to reduce the risk of alcohol-related harm for their children, although risk cannot be eliminated. These include the parents reducing their own drinking, establishing and consistently applying clear household rules and expectations and actively monitoring their teenager’s whereabouts. Interested parents could read through the “Straight Talk” guide on the Irish Health Promotion Unit website.
As someone who is very keen to see politicians grasp the nettle of Ireland’s drink problem, it is frustrating to see someone castigated when they get it right.
Despite the media’s effort to characterise the Minister as attacking parents, her comments were supportive of the majority view among parents in Ireland and most importantly, the advice she gave was backed up by scientific evidence.
It seems odd that the National Parents Council could be so out of touch with the views of real Irish parents on this issue and so willing to propose a practice which actually increases the risk of harm to children. – Yours, etc,
Dr BOBBY SMYTH, MRCPsych,
Clinical Associate Professor,
Department of Public Health
Primary Care,
Trinity College Dublin,
Dublin 2.
Sir, – Conor Farren (Opinion, January 23rd), makes a valuable contribution to the debate about our cultural attitude to alcohol consumption and alcohol misuse in general. The drinks industry has been inputting constructively to this debate, and looks forward to the publication of the report of the National Substance Misuse Strategy Group that we have been involved in for the past two years. While we have concerns about specific recommendations calling for blanket bans and restrictions, we will support the overwhelming majority of the report’s recommendations on how to address alcohol misuse.
However, in considering this important issue, we must do so in possession of the correct facts. In this regard, Dr Farren is not correct in stating we are in the midst of a “massive rise” in alcohol consumption. The opposite is the case.
Consumption of alcohol in Ireland, as measured by the Revenue Commissioners, has been declining for a decade and this decline has accelerated in recent years due to lifestyle changes, the economic downturn, and lower consumer confidence. As a result, Irish consumption at approximately nine litres per capita, is approaching EU norms.
Demographic changes and emigration mean that this downward trend is likely to continue.
Policy-makers and all of us involved in this debate must bear this in mind when considering overall policy to ensure that our actions are targeted at those who misuse alcohol rather than on the need to reduce overall consumption that is already declining. – Yours, etc,
KATHRYN D’ARCY,
Director,
Alcohol Beverage Federation of
Ireland,
Lower Baggot Street,
Dublin 2.
Internet ‘piracy law’ petition
Sir, – I was quite astounded to read Elaine Edwards’s article (“Over 21,000 sign ‘piracy law’ petition”, January 24th) about the impending statutory instrument amending Irish copyright law.
Free access to information on the Internet, independent of the whims of large, powerful private interests is not a “loophole in the law”. It is a freedom which must be promoted and protected. – Yours, etc,
STEPHEN SHAW,
Rue Pierre Sémard,
Grenoble, France.
An Irish Robin Hood?
Sir, – On a day when the State is paying out €1.25 billion of taxpayers’ money to unsecured bondholders, I am reminded of the old Irish joke that runs: Did you hear about the Irish Robin Hood? – he robbed the poor to pay the rich! Is anybody laughing? – Yours, etc,
BERNARD KEOGH,
Dollymount Park,
Clontarf, Dublin 3.
Beethoven’s shopping list
Sir, – Fun to Read Indy beginning but please stop now or Wilbye Nono Moore! – Yours, etc,
ED FITZPATRICK,
Hazelbrook Road,
Terenure, Dublin 6W.
Sir, – Beethoven has been an inspiration to us all. Despite splashing out on gourmet feline paté for Debussy and hand-made boots from Schumann, he Berlioz a cent on his credit card (Maestro). – Yours, etc,
FINTAN GIBNEY,
Glasnevin Hill,
Dublin 9.
Sir, – PHew son! Evans above! I’ve been Mullen over A dam quip. You too? – Yours, etc,
JOHN GLEESON,
Lucan Road,
Chapelizod, Dublin 20.
Sir, – I decided to elevate the level of commentary and seek some classical soundings as follows: Bach . . .Wow! Offenbach . . . Wow Wow!! Debussy . . .Miaow!!! – Yours, etc,
PETER McNAMARA,
Ashbrook, Ennis Road,
Limerick.
Sir, – At the risk of appearing to support trumpeted up charges, I have a trombone to piccolo with whoever this high flutin’ editor is who is keeping this punfinished symphony going. I’ll give a tenor to anyone who chimes in with a way of stopping it before writers start xylophoning it in. It’s a cymbal of all that’s wrong with the country when this glocken-spiel is allowed to, like most shows, go on.
We need the police and the press to be in concert to properly conduct our affairs and reassert our bass-ic human rights. – Yours, etc,
EMMET O’BRIEN,
Fernwood,
Wilton, Cork.
Sir, – Nono! I am sick to Dett of all this musical Rott!
If it keeps Suppé, I will have a glass of Heinichen that might be Abel to Bloch de Greef.
If that doesn’t work, all that’s left is Dupré. – Yours, etc,
NOEL BROWN,
Woodbrook Park,
Templeogue,
Dublin 16.
Sir, – I think Beethoven should have his Chopin delivered and thus avoid having to carry the heavy Purcell all the way home. It would be difficult for him to get a good Holst of it anyway, because he usually takes his little dog along and has to endure everyone saying “Lovely little Puccini?”
All this punning is what one would expect from student Taverner Bartok, but it is such a hoot that I simply had to Arvo Part in it. – Yours, etc,
MARY McGOWAN,
Hillside View,
Killargue, Co Leitrim.
A pardon for Irish soldiers
Sir, – I’m scratching my head at the word “desertion” being used to describe people who went to fight one of the worst manifestations of human barbarism ever experienced on this earth.
I would have thought Éamon de Valera would have been waiting at the dockside or airport with medals to welcome back the soldiers from doing what he should have sent our troops to do. Instead he comes up with a term “The Emergency” to describe the horrific carnage of the second World War.
The idea of neutrality in a war like that is absurd, and I applaud the soldiers who went to fight the Nazis. They were not deserters, they were doing their job and their conscience justice.
Don’t look for a pardon, look for an apology. – Yours, etc,
KEVIN BYRNE,
Yatay,
Capital Federal,
Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Sir, – I must take issue with Alan Shatter’s support for pardoning those who deserted Ireland’s defence forces during the Emergency (Front page, January 25th).
More than 40,000 men served with the Irish Defence Forces during the Emergency, giving up their jobs and normal life on Civvy Street to defend their country. It is a historical fact that both the British and the Germans drew up plans to invade Ireland, Churchill infamously telling the world on VE day that he had no compunction about invading neutral Ireland if necessary.
According to Mr Shatter, it was the 5,000 who deserted and “left this island during that time to fight for freedom” were the heroic ones in the Irish story who were “preserving European and Irish democracy”. That is a gross insult and dishonour to the men who swore allegiance to the Irish State and stood by that allegiance to protect their country and made sacrifices to that end.
As a Government Minister, and a justice minister at that, Mr Shatter’s agenda is deeply troubling. Ireland still has defence forces and laws against desertion, and the British army is still fighting wars: here is the Minister of Defence claiming that – in spite of the law – it is morally acceptable to desert the Irish defence forces if you are going to join the British army to fight in a war!
Many young men at the time joined neither the Irish Defence Forces nor the British army, believing the IRA (then engaged in attacks against Britain and even had some contact with German military intelligence) were the best army to soldier with. Under the law then (and now), both membership of the IRA and desertion from the Defence Forces is illegal. Between 1939 and 1945 six IRA men were executed by the State: Charlie Kerins, Maurice O’Neill, Thomas Harte, George Plant, Paddy McGrath, and Richard Goss. Additionally, Tony D’Arcy and Sean McNeela died on hunger strike during their imprisonment, and John Kavanagh was shot while trying to escape from prison. I suggest that if justice is to be applied equitably, then Mr Shatter has no choice but to also pardon those nine men and the hundreds of others who were interned without trial by the State during the war. – Yours, etc,
BRIAN O’LEARY,
Bachelor’s Quay, Cork.
Sir, – Each day seems to bring a new low in our self esteem. The country is knee-deep in the mire and as an aside Minister for Justice Alan Shatter frets about how to pardon brave and honourable Irishmen
who left the cushy Curragh to fight in a war for mankind.
They were labelled “deserters” and then further punished with the loss of pensions and entitlements. So the Minister should keep it simple and say “sorry” to any of their relatives who are still alive. Pay them the money robbed from them.
However, if Mr Shatter makes political capital out of those brave men, let him go the whole hog and name who in the Irish government was behind this reprehensible act. Furthermore he should then name the Army brass who feared a drain on their resources as they played soldiers back then while real lives were lost across Europe.
My grandfather returned from the trenches after the first World War and was condemned to a life in a kitchen because Saorstát Éireann wanted its pound of flesh. I suppose he can count himself lucky; he owned no land so there was no need to shoot him dead in the dark of night pretending he was a collaborator.
So say “sorry”, pay up and get on with this life, not some events 60 years ago. And if Mr Shatter wants to big it up then he should condemn the people who perpetrated this calumny on good men. Saying sorry matters only when we know who and what we are sorry about and all the perpetrators are outed. – Yours, etc,
JOHN CUFFE,
Old Fairgreen,
Dunboyne,
Co Meath.

Irish Independent:

In its death throes the previous government urged all and sundry to don the green jersey so as to ensure a soft landing for the Irish financial system. A crash landing ensued.
Now that Eamon Gilmore has urged the opposition to put on the green jersey, should the Irish public show him and the Government the red card before we have another unpleasant descent?
Liam Cooke
Coolock, Dublin 17

It seems that Social Protection Minister Joan Burton has kicked off the new year in the same vein as she left off in 2011, issuing statements and plans which imply widespread welfare fraud.
A new plan, we are told, will put “a time limit for social welfare recipients” which is clearly just another swipe at those forced onto the Live Register.
There is no doubt that one of the most socially corrosive crimes is fraud, and welfare fraud is no different. The sad truth of the matter is, however, that we in Ireland have a very high tolerance for it and this is particularly the case when the fraud is perpetrated by those at the top end of the socio-economic ladder — who, by the way, are responsible for the vast majority of it.
That tolerance also noticeably reduces whenever those on the lower parts of the same ladder are thought to be dipping their fingers.
Surely if Ms Burton is about more than vilifying those unfortunate enough to be unemployed she would come up with a few constructive, meaningful proposals that we as a society should be discussing.
The obvious one that needs to be looked at seriously again is a far-reaching job-sharing scheme. Those persons currently unemployed have an entitlement to work, that entitlement is at the core of the social contract. It should be possible to create an environment in which such job sharing is possible and, given the many benefits it offers, it is surprising that Ms Burton and her advisers have yet to seriously consider it.
Another initiative that she might consider is the imposition of fines on ministers for failure to address the grave social ill that is unemployment. Each minister should suffer an automatic fine for each person still on the full-time unemployment register at the end of each year.
It is time to stop attacking the unemployed and begin to realistically assess the position we are in. Every citizen has a right to a job and we need a minister who will fight to vindicate that right.
Jim O’Sullivan
Rathedmond, Sligo

This is a brief user’s guide to Irish political life. The capital of Ireland is Dublin. It has a population of a million people, most of whom will be shopping in Newry this weekend and will pay in euros, the currency of the South.
Under the Irish Constitution, the North used to be in Ireland. But after a disastrous 30-year campaign of murder by the IRA for Irish unity the Republic of Ireland voted overwhelmingly to ensure the North is now definitely in the UK.
Belfast is the capital of Northern Ireland. It has a population of half a million, half of whom have houses in Donegal.
Protestants are in favour of the Border, which generates millions of pounds in smuggling for Catholics, who are opposed to the Border. Travel between the two states is complicated because Ireland is the only country in the world with two M1 motorways. The one in the North goes west to avoid the south and the one in the South goes north to avoid the price of drink.
We have two types of democracy in Ireland. Dublin democracy works by holding a referendum and then allowing the Government to judge the result. If the Government thinks the result is wrong, the referendum is held again.
Belfast democracy works differently. It has a parliament with no opposition, so the government is always right.
Ireland has three economies — northern, southern and black. The black economy is in the black. The other two are in the red.
Paul O’Sullivan
Address with editor

Well I must be off

best wishes John

Off out around the park, three other joggers all women getting gloriously wet in the rain.
Yes there is a video recorder going on Freecycle, so we are off out to fairest Bramhope. We don’t get lost we find the house right away and bingo I am the proud new owner of one elderly video recorder.
We go on to Harrogate where Mary is having a check up. The car park is closed, the overspill car park is full the third car park I manage by squeezing into a very tight gap.
Harrogate has a WVS Women’s Voluntary Service, cafe. The WVS have been going since the first World War, they were usually the first in after the bombing in London during the Second World War, supplying hot food to the bombed out residents, and the emergency workers.
I get what is supposed to be a cheese and bacon, pastie. The nice lady calls me My Darling and heats it up for me. It major attribute seems to be that it comes from Cornwall. It tastes of potato flavoured with cheese, not a trace of the promised bacon.
We wait and wait with what seems the most difficult crossword in the world. Finally Mary is called in and is led off she is soon back,, it was only to be weighed. Then she is seen, we go to Blood and make another appointment, back in the end of Feb worse luck, then home at last.
Lamb with Garlic and Rosemary we watch Dentist on the Job, no its not as rude as it sounds its early 1960s. Bob Monkhouse and as two young dentists, endorsing some dodgy toothpaste. I don’t know what its like, as I fell asleep half way thorough but Mary says it was not very good and I’ll take her word for it.
Scrabble today I win and get over 400, again, all without thinking about it, poor Mary, but I am sure she will get a suitable revenge.

Fave Letters:

The profit-growth imperative now dictates that the Enlightenment, entitlements, democracy, peace, science and decency are dispensable, to be discussed only in “quiet rooms”. There is plenty of available money and ignorance to implement the dictatorship of capital – fascism. Keep your mouth shut and keep shopping.
Greed, however, cannot stop the laws of physics forcing the planetary chemistry to devastate the biology. The rest of this century will be quite a show. Defending the Enlightenment is not enough; rebel to win.
Richard Blackburn
Coogee, NSW, Australia

A joke doing the rounds goes like this. An investment banker, a Daily Mail reader and a benefit recipient are sitting round a plate with 12 biscuits on it. The banker takes 11 biscuits, then turns to the Daily Mail reader and says: “Watch out – that scrounger is after your biscuit.”
At first reading, Mary Ann Sieghart’s discussion of “fairness” (Opinion, 23 January) is sweetly reasonable. Of course nobody should receive lots of money for doing nothing, should they? Especially when decent working people are taking pay cuts. But these are the wrong questions. Why doesn’t she ask where the rest of the biscuits went?
Yes, there are households where for two generations nobody has held a job. But for two generations our national economic policy has been to export jobs to places where labour is cheaper, leaving a shrinking pool of real work available in this country.
No wonder that those who still have a job are prepared to accept cuts rather than risk losing it to one of the growing mass of unemployed; and no wonder that some of the long-term unemployed recognise the inevitable and accept welfare as a way of life. Meanwhile the rich get richer on the profits of cheap overseas labour, and encourage the “squeezed middle” to look on the unemployed as the biscuit thieves.
Sarah Thursfield
Llanymynech, Powys

What the human rights court is for
 
The President of the European Court of Human Rights is correct to suggest that the Prime Minister is, to a worrying extent, pandering to the whims of certain elements of the tabloid press (“Britain should be defending European justice, not attacking it”, 24 January).
And it should also be pointed out that those newspapers that have consistently sought to both discredit the court and to denigrate its very existence have forgotten completely the reasons it was set up in the first place. Its place is not to dictate to sovereign governments on matters of either national security or indeed criminal law, but rather to ensure that the rights of all of Europe’s citizens are both protected and guaranteed.
Moreover, the same tabloid newspapers, and David Cameron as well, should remember that the right to freedom of speech, a civil right that both of them hold in high regard, is one that the European Court of Human Rights shall always seek to defend – no matter who decides to criticise it.
Ronan Byrne
London SW11

SIR – As a shy applicant to Imperial College London, the first culture shock was in the lavatories, where there were graffiti in Latin. During the interview there was a technical inquisition on jet engine design, followed by a discussion about Dostoevsky. I had read enough of The Idiot to know that some Russian towns had boardwalks.
Having taken up my place at Imperial, I went to dinner in Hall. Only once, because the red wine was straight out of the fridge, which gave me a stomach ache. I probably wouldn’t have learnt that at Oxford.
Christopher May
Weston-super-Mare, Somerset

Obituary:

The band, named after a song by Frank Zappa, was founded a few weeks after the Russian invasion that crushed the Prague Spring in 1968, though its identity was poetic rather than political. Jirous, a sometime art historian and hard-drinking free spirit, acted as the band’s inspiration and publicist in a role not unlike that of Andy Warhol to The Velvet Underground — albeit in circumstances where the stakes were a lot higher.
Their early concerts were like Western “happenings” — multimedia events that included outlandish psychedelic costumes and props. Had the communist authorities not been paranoid about such things, it seems that the band would have been remembered, if at all, as “loud, surreal, irreverent and not very good” (to quote Frank Zappa’s biographer Barry Miles).
The authorities, however, took a dim view of the group’s popularity among Czechoslovak youth. In 1970 their professional performing status was revoked and their instruments confiscated on the grounds that their music would have a “negative social impact”. But they continued playing . Under Czech law couples getting married could book their own wedding entertainment, so the early 1970s saw a flurry of marriages as friends and fans tied the knot in order to put on concerts.
These were repeatedly busted by police, and, early in 1975, fans heading for an unofficial music festival, headlined by the Plastics, at Ceske Budejovice, were beaten and arrested. In the wake of these events, Jirous wrote a manifesto entitled A Report on the Third Czech Musical Revival : “The aim of the underground here in Bohemia is the creation of a second culture, a culture that will not be dependent on the official channels of communication, social recognition, and the hierarchy of values laid down by the establishment.”
In early March 1976 Jirous met the dissident playwright Vaclav Havel for the first time and played him some of the Plastics’ music. Later they adjourned to a bar and drank all night long. Havel agreed to come to the next festival at which the Plastics intended to play. But it never happened. A few days after their meeting Jirous was arrested, along with 26 other members of the musical underground.
Havel immediately rallied his fellow dissidents and launched an international campaign to free them. Though they could not prevent Jirous from going to jail — he was sentenced to 18 months for “organised disturbance of the peace”— all but seven were released. That success led, on January 1 1977, to the Charter 77 petition that began a decade of resistance that culminated in the bloodless Velvet Revolution of 1989.
Havel, who became the country’s first post-communist president, recalled that the trial of Jirous “was something that aroused me, a challenge that was all the more urgent for being unintentional. It was the challenge of example.” The story of the Plastics was also central to Tom Stoppard’s 2006 play Rock ’n’ Roll. Stoppard regarded Jirous as one of the most interesting men in recent Czech history.
The son of a local official, Ivan Martin Jirous was born in Humpolec, central Bohemia, on September 23 1944, when Czechoslovakia was still under Nazi occupation . He studied Art History at the Charles University in Prague, where he moonlighted writing reviews for a visual arts newspaper. But after seeing the Beatles’ film A Hard Day’s Night, he became convinced that music offered a more powerful vehicle for change than written words, and in 1969 he joined The Plastic People of the Universe as their “artistic director”.
Jirous’s approach to cocking a snook at the authorities was simple, but extremely brave. He was often to be found in the thick of pub brawls, and the first of many arrests came in 1973, after an incident in a Prague drinking establishment during which he insulted a retired secret policeman (“baldheaded Bolshevik” got him 10 months); sang a satirical anti-Soviet song; and ate the front page of Rude Pravo, the state newspaper.
Altogether he served more than eight years in communist jails. In 1988 he was sentenced to jail for sedition, after organising a petition demanding the release of political prisoners. He was released under a political amnesty in November the following year.
The Plastics broke up in the 1980s, though surviving members got back together in the 1990s, at Havel’s suggestion. Although he remained a crucial figure in the band’s history, Jirous had not been artistic director since 1977 “because he’s spent more time in jail than with us”, as a fellow bandmember explained.
Jirous — nicknamed “Magor” (“Loony”) by friends — wrote poetry in prison. His first major collection, Magor’s Swan Songs, published in samizdat editions, won him the Tom Stoppard Prize, awarded each year to an author of Czech origin.
Ivan Jirous, who was twice married, is survived by his partner, Dása Vokatá, and by a son and two daughters.
Ivan Jirous, born September 23 1944, died November 9 2011

Full Text:

Guardian:

Polly Toynbee (Now they are slamming the door on the truly desperate, 24 January) is correct on two accounts: the very desperate financial situation of the poorest people and the increased difficulties that they face after the social fund is replaced by localised services. She is wrong, though, to use these to argue support for the social fund which, through its cash limit, discretion and loans, has left needs unmet and benefit recipients impoverished since its introduction in 1988. The shortcomings of localised support may act to make the social fund appear like a beacon of good social policy. However, perhaps now more than ever, it is time to look at increasing benefit levels and making payments a right in the circumstances that Toynbee focuses on, rather than looking for a way forward in a policy that has failed over the past two decades.
Dr Chris Grover
Senior lecturer in social policy, Lancaster University
• To say the social fund is set to be abolished is completely false. We are reforming the social fund because the current system of loans and grants is failing those it is meant to help the most. We are replacing a remote system of over-the-phone applications with local services, where vulnerable people can get individual support. People who may be struggling with debt, substance abuse problems or domestic abuse need support that Jobcentre Plus (who administer the scheme) cannot provide. The system now is acting as a sticking plaster, and we need to change it.
The funding going to local authorities to deliver elements of the social fund is not being cut. And some elements of the social fund – such as those payments that cover a missed or late benefit payment – will still be administered centrally.
The introduction of universal credit will provide a better, more streamlined service with payments on account supporting many people in need of short- and longer-term credit. But local authorities are better placed to determine and support the needs of local vulnerable people than the current, central system. We have been made aware of various innovative ways in which local authorities plan to use this funding, such as furniture re-use schemes, working with credit unions, investing in existing projects or joining up with other organisations in the area. It is right that we ensure individuals get the support they need and that the system does right by them.
Steve Webb
Minister for pensions
• Reading Polly Toynbee’s piece at the same time as listening to a spokesman defending the government position, I am also hearing my grandparents’ proverb: “Workhouse to workhouse in three generations.” That was intended as a comment on families. I never thought it would mean that, three generations on from closing those appalling (and local) solutions to the workless, we would find a government racing pell-mell towards providing even less for the desperate. I believe some of the buildings are still available, though they may have been converted to high-value apartments.
Penelope Stanford
Longfield, Kent
• Government plans to abolish the social fund and transfer the responsibilty for crisis loans and grants to local councils (Shredding the ultimate safety net, editorial, 23 January) are not the only example of regressive and damaging changes to what has been a national benefit system. Council tax benefit is also being localised and cut by 10% for all claimants except pensioners, with councils having to decide who will receive, and in what proportions, what remains. In the year of the Dickens bicentenary we are witnessing the revival of 19th-century poor law with a patchwork quilt of key benefits varying according to where people live.
Jeremy Beecham
Labour, House of Lords
• Readers can act to mitigate the demise of the social fund while still working for the reversal of this most cruel cut. Saving even a small amount with your local credit union makes more funds available for those in desperate need to get a “hand-up” loan on affordable terms. It’s your chance to subvert the government’s rhetoric on the “undeserving poor”.
Ruth Windle
Frome, Somerset
• Especially in this Dickens anniversary year, it’s a shame that TV isn’t able to dramatise for popular consumption the dismal lives of the sorts of people Polly Toynbee spoke to in the social fund section of a Jobcentre. Unless they see it on the telly, few “citizens may yet be horrified when” the benefits cuts bite. There’s little chance they’ll read about it objectively in the popular press; tabloid editors seem keen to keep the allegedly squeezed middle as envious of those on benefits as they are of people getting the sorts of salaries and benefits that tabloid editors enjoy. Labour seems to have won few votes by rescuing more than half a million children from poverty; the coalition parties must be pretty confident they’ll lose few if a similar number now slip back.
Brian Hughes
Cheltenham, Gloucestershire
• It was a delight to see the Guardian taking such a strong and consistently well-argued line in its leader in favour of the discretionary social fund in the face of the government’s heartless decision to abolish it, which served as a timely reminder of why I have bought the paper for so many decades. It was thus a pity the article had to end with an appeal to the Liberal Democrats to join the opposition to the measure on the basis that “this week’s divisions provide a desperately needed chance for them to rescue a few progressive credentials”. It struck me that this looked more like a “desperately needed” justification for the Guardian having supported the Lib Dems at the last election.
Giles Oakley
London
• Your editorial’s plea for the social fund misses out one of its main advantages. In its original form, claimants whose application for a grant or loan was refused could appeal. One abused woman was put with her children into a flat with little furniture. Her initial application for funds was turned down and I accompanied her to the appeal which we won. Otherwise she would have turned to the loan sharks. Now there will no fund, no appeals. Many will fall into the hands of the sharks – and so boost private enterprise.
Bob Holman
Glasgow

The business secretary claims greater transparency will contribute to curbing excessive top executive pay (Report, 24 January). This is yet another triumph of hope over experience, of fantasy-based policy over evidence-based policy. Extensive increases in mandatory disclosure of information about such pay in the US led not to a decrease but to an enormous and accelerating growth in such pay. More information fuelled even greater executive cherry-picking as well as macho “uber-leadership” signals to irrational financial markets. Greater transparency, of itself, is not merely ineffectual but counterproductive.
Brendan McSweeney
Professor of management, Royal Holloway College, University of London
• Please can some of the City’s top 1,200 (average pay £1.8m) make a donation to the address below, as we try to keep our home and ebusiness afloat.
D Ballantyne Director
VA Goodhead Director
Amirill Ltd, Melksham, Wiltshire

Philip Inman (Business analysis, 17 January) claims Unilever workers are “crazy to strike” over their pensions, suggesting they should be grateful they are not losing more and that many other workers are worse off than themselves. The truth is that Unilever employees have been paying 2% more since the scheme was closed to new starters three years ago on the understanding it would continue in the future.
Inman should be criticising the Unilever management for reneging on their promises, before condemning the employees, most of whom have worked for decades with Unilever, without ever even contemplating industrial action. Unilever is an incredibly wealthy consumer goods company, the third largest in the world, making billions of dollars in profit every year and with executives ranking among the highest paid in the corporate world. Unilever’s CEO Paul Polman last year pocketed a massive increase of nearly 50% in his remuneration package – about 285 times that of his average worker. Affordability is not an issue, something that Unilever senior management conceded more than once during the consultation period, openly admitting that there was no financial imperative for the change.
Yet the changes will mean a reduction of around 20% – and for some, up to 40% – of the pension employees have worked so hard for over their many years. Management has stated that nothing would persuade them to change their minds, with the prospect of no compromises being reached. Only after weeks of attempts to get the company to continue to talk with their unions did the workers eventually ballot for industrial action. With management refusing to talk, even through conciliation service Acas, it is hard to see what will resolve the current dispute. But one thing is clear: Unilever workers would be crazy not to fight back for a pension that can clearly be afforded by this hugely profitable multinational; the overwhelming support received from the public would seem to bear this out
Jennie Formby
National officer, Unite the Union

The National Audit Office’s report on the work programme indicates hundreds of thousands of people will not find jobs who could have done so if this programme had been designed and contracted differently (Report, 24 January). This confirms all the fears of people like myself, leading welfare-to-work organisations at the front line of unemployment. The people who will lose out, inevitably, will be those furthest from work, who will go on to cost the country millions of pounds more in benefits. As a result of their increasing isolation and social exclusion, they will also cost us millions as a result of their deteriorating health, because their children will underperform at school, and because of their increased chances of involvement in crime, either as perpetrator or victim.
The providers of this programme carry an immediate risk of business failure. The risks to society as a whole are extraordinarily significant. The minister responsible, Chris Grayling, has rejected this detailed report as guesswork. Yet he steadfastly refuses to publish any performance data. He won’t tell us how many people have started on the programme and how many have found jobs. He won’t tell us how this compares with what the providers promised to deliver or what it is costing. Ministers have been heard say they used such data to beat up the incumbent when in opposition and have no intention of giving Labour the same opportunity.
Name and address supplied
• Nick Bailey (Letters, 14 January) identifies concerns over the operation of the work programme, which is undoubtedly pretty unfriendly to smaller local providers. However, to say that this “could not be anticipated” is disingenuous. The terms of business were trailed well in advance and many organisations declined to bid precisely because they are so harsh. Sadly, the world does not owe charities a living and in these tough times it is hard to argue against the principle of payment by results. We hope we have gone into the programme with our eyes open. Six months in, it is too early to say whether our gamble is paying off.
The real problem is outside our control. The programme was a (quite intelligent) response to the 2008 labour market. Three years later, there are 2.6 million unemployed, and only around 450,000 vacancies. Unless we think that George Osborne can produce 2m new jobs in the next 18 months, we are looking at very large numbers of unemployed people for the foreseeable future. This has three consequences.
First, either charities like mine and Nick Bailey’s will not get people into work and go out of business, or we will achieve the outcomes and get paid. In the current labour market, this will merely displace other claimants who might have got those jobs, negating the welfare savings supposed to pay for our services.
Second, work programme providers are now in direct competition with each other and with Jobcentre Plus for the few available vacancies. Much patient work on co-ordination and partnership is being undermined.
Third, we need an intelligent response to the numbers who are simply not going to get jobs in the next two to three years. Intermediate labour market programmes like the much-mourned future jobs fund need to be reinstated as soon as possible.
In times of growth, charities are key in bringing marginalised groups into the active labour market to meet demand. In a recession, it may be even more important to keep people active and in touch with the world of work so that when the economic miracle finally happens, the UK is not yet again held back by a dysfunctional labour market.
Jonathan Cheshire
Chief executive, Wheatsheaf House

A coherent and sensible approach to sentencing those guilty of drug offences is welcome (Report, 24 January). But our justice system also needs to realise that so much low-level crime is committed by offenders with drug problems. Too often they are given costly and ineffective short prison sentences which do nothing to address the causes of their behaviour. Effective community sentences, which can combine punishment with services such as drug treatment, are cheaper to deliver and more effective at addressing reoffending. Only then will there be fewer victims and less crime.
Roma Hooper
Director, Make Justice Work
• Someone needs to tell Andrew Lansley that it not a sign of weakness to seek – and act on – a second opinion on medical matters (Report, 24 January). How many more opinions are needed before the prime minister taps him on the shoulder and instructs him to drop the bill, and deal with the problems his reforms claim to be addressing?
Les Bright
Exeter, Devon
• Bernard Naylor asks: “Why it is OK for foreign governments to control important UK assets, but not OK for the UK government to do so?” (Letters, 23 January). The answer is simple. We are selling off the family silver to pay off the massive debts accumulated over the past 15 years.
Michael Power
Ascot, Berkshire
• President Correa had better look out (Could Ecuador be the most radical and exciting place on Earth, 20 January). Remember Mossadeq (and Allende)?
Ron Houghton
London
• The obvious solution for nuisance dogs is to bring back licensing, for a significant payment (Report, 19 January). After all we manage to license TVs and vehicles without too much trouble.
Jenny Bushell
London
• In 1964-65, Tottenham Hotspur’s league record at home was W18 D3 L0 (Sport, 21 January); away record was W1 D4 L16. Has any other team ever demonstrated such extreme differences between their home and away records?
John Gillam
Hitchin, Hertfordshire

The revelation that News of the World journalists focused on “getting a scoop” rather than helping police with their inquiries (Report, 24 January) is shocking but not unexpected. We believe illegality and cover-up at News Corp, and the failure of politicians to investigate it, is an indication of structural flaws in the regulation and ownership of the UK media that must urgently be reformed.
As with many other areas of endeavour where risk-taking is endemic, regulatory frameworks are urgently required that enable and foster a greater sense of public responsibility while, at the same time, ensuring that journalists are free to investigate wrong-doing.
The Co-ordinating Committee for Media Reform (www.mediareform.org.uk), a new alliance of civil society groups and academics, has developed proposals that include a right of reply mechanism to address media misrepresentation, a strengthened public interest test for media mergers, a more robust approach to media concentration in order to secure media pluralism and diversity, and the fostering of a range of alternative models (both in terms of organisational structure and revenue generation) that will help to sustain the news on which real democracies depend.
We hope that these principles, designed to maximise protection of the public interest, will not be absent from any proposals adopted by the Leveson inquiry and the forthcoming communications green paper.
Prof James Curran Goldsmiths, University of London
Prof Natalie Fenton Goldsmiths
Dr Des Freedman Goldsmiths
Dr Jonathan Hardy University of East London
Prof Julian Petley Brunel University
Angela Phillips Goldsmiths
Dr Damian Tambini London School of Economics

It is good news for humanity and the planet that global clean energy investment is increasing, despite the financial crisis (Green input soars to $260bn, 20 January). Australian physicist David Mills is developing large-scale pollution-free solar thermal electricity (STE) plants in California, estimated costs being less than imported oil. With only 16 hours of storage capacity, STE can supply the great majority of the US national grid over the year, with hourly solar radiation data including typical cloudy weather patterns.
Mills calculates that the total land requirement to supply the US national grid amounts to the equivalent of a square with 153km sides. If the US transport vehicle fleet were converted from oil to electricity, the land area required for solar energy capture and storage would increase to between 182km and 211km on a side.
In 2006, the US department of energy calculated that total vehicle emissions amounted to 2bn metric tonnes of CO2 equivalent, which is close to the annual US electricity generation of 2.3 metric tonnes of CO2. It is technically, if not yet politically, feasible to replace fossil-fuelled energy generation with clean solar power, not only in the US but also in other big polluting countries.
Since Jenny Goldie informs us that the world is running out of oil (Reply, 20 January), sun-drenched Middle Eastern suppliers could convert from ancient polluting stored solar capital to clean STE currency and export power to European and African grids, thereby saving their economies and delaying the worst scenario of global heating.
Bryan Furnass
Canberra, Australia
Enlightenment values
There is much one could take issue with in Will Hutton’s article, since much of what he is rallying against is a reaction – often overreaction – to political correctness gone mad (Blood, faith and tribal bonds will not save us, 13 January). There is one specific reference in his argument that is totally incorrect, grossly unfair and exceedingly insulting to Hungary. Viktor Orbán, the much maligned Hungarian prime minister does not “propose to offer ethnic Hungarians living in neighbouring countries Hungarian citizenship”: that option has been available to those Hungarians for some time now and many are taking advantage of it.
It is questionable if Hutton knows, or indeed cares, how those ethnic Hungarians came to be living in neighbouring countries. They are not some huge emigre diaspora. They are people living where their ancestors lived for over 1,000 years within the borders of historical Hungary, brutally carved up by the victorious allies after the first world war at the infamous Treaty of Trianon in 1920. The disgraceful mutilation of historical Hungary as the result of that treaty robbed that nation of more than 70% of its territory, containing most of its mineral wealth and 60% of its population.
Many of the allied leaders expressed their disgust at the falsified information on which they relied when formulating the treaty, provided to them by leaders of minorities living in Hungary and seeking self-determination. Sadly, the Depression and the second world war prevented any remedial action.
Now Hutton has the temerity to criticise Orbán for enabling the descendents of people who found themselves on the wrong side of arbitrarily drawn borders to regain the citizenship of their birthright.
Bill Martin
Valentine, NSW, Australia
• The profit-growth imperative now dictates that the Enlightenment, entitlements, democracy, peace, science and decency are dispensable, to be discussed only in “quiet rooms”. There is plenty of available money and ignorance to implement the dictatorship of capital – fascism. Keep your mouth shut and keep shopping.
Greed, however, cannot stop the laws of physics forcing the planetary chemistry to devastate the biology. The rest of this century will be quite a show. Defending the Enlightenment is not enough; rebel to win.
Richard Blackburn
Coogee, NSW, Australia
Help for rural farmers
The article (Why food prices keep surging, 30 December) points out that last year the global price of food was higher than ever and thus it was a great year for the traders. You also reported that in France for half the crop species it is forbidden to use your own seed (French farmers have to pay to use their own seeds, 6 January). This increases dependence on seed manufacturers, as it seems food producers are getting squeezed at both ends by agribusiness.
French farmers who enjoy subsidies and access to large urban markets may well cope; those who will struggle will be the large populations of rural poor in the developing world. Alina Paul-Bossuet’s article (Little things make all the difference, 6 January) offers some solutions for our rural food producers to dually contribute to world food supply and to their own livelihood. This can be done via “selling small, affordable amounts of seed, fertiliser or other products” .
With the world population growing and becoming more urbanised, by 2030 70% of earth’s population will be urban and will need to be fed. There is a need to think creatively and constructively on how to make this work for food consumers and producers.
As Paul-Bossuet explains, “specifically tailored advice is needed to help farmers make informed choices”: whether it is by NGOs or government extension officers, this advice should benefit the producers. This in turn will stem the tide of urban drift.
The dependence of rural food producers on agribusiness has not delivered better livelihoods for them and has had negative effects on the environment; let’s hope this can be turned about before the masses depart from the rural areas to the big smoke.
Liam Golding
Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia
Is it really a Stradivarius?
It is well known than anyone can make a study that will prove their point, however wrong that point may be, and the study by Claudia Fritz is a perfect example (Stradivarius? You don’t say, 13 January). The modern violins were chosen from a pool of instruments for their impressive sound quality – they had their qualities optimised – whereas the old instruments were on loan and did not have any soundpost or bridge adjustments after the flight to Indianapolis, nor did they have new strings.
We don’t know if the old instruments were in use or if they had been sitting on display in a case, which is more likely. Instruments are living breathing things that need to be played. Whenever an instrument is out of use the sound dries up, and the longer it has been out of use the longer it takes for the sound to come back. I have known instruments that took well over a year of consistent playing to regain their quality of sound because they had been out of use for so long, and unfortunately people have a habit of putting Strads in museums, as if they were made to be looked at.
If you want to know what really happened at this “study” then go to Laurie Niles’s blog at violinist.com.
Sarah Westwick
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Inelegant words multiply
In Jonathan Yardley’s review of Joseph Epstein’s new book Gossip: The Untrivial Pursuit, he quotes the author: “…part of the delight of gossip, after all, is, to use an old-fashioned word, its naughtiness” (6 January). And then Yardley himself writes “Another good old-fashioned word for it is mischievousness”. Well, I beg to differ: the old-fashioned word is mischief.
One can’t help but notice the propensity in recent years for writers to add the suffix “-ness” to adjectives that are derived from nouns, so as to make yet another noun, and one that would be as awkward to use in speech as it is unseemly to use in writing, compared to the old-fashioned noun. I can think of several other rather egregious examples, like obliviousness, zealousness and – get this one – honestness.
I know that one can find examples of this practice in older writings, even in Shakespeare, but none quite so ridiculous as the examples that I’ve given. I’m not about to condemn this practice, but I ask this: why use an awkward word when a word that’s much more direct, not to say much more euphonic, is right at hand?
Charles Hannan
Kingston, Ontario, Canada
Briefly
• Can Paul Harris please cut the crap? (13 January). Focusing on the “good looks” of the Romney family and quoting outrageous tweets about the Huntsman girls needing to breed with the Romney boys is not good journalism. This is the Guardian; save it for the tabloids.
While I realise that family plays an important role in US elections (which probably in many people’s views, shouldn’t), there are more important issues (eg policy positions, campaign financing) worth focusing on.
K Keizer
Huntington, New York, US
• The village market scene in rural Burma (13 January) looked unreally upmarket to me.
Grahame Wise
Vaucluse, NSW, Australia

Independent:

Mary Ann Sieghart quotes the case of a family living in rented accommodation worth £2m as if we’ve handed them this in cash. We haven’t; the property is only worth that to the landlord, not the tenants.
The system is unfair, but not because it allows the unemployed to live in mansions, but because it has evolved into a wealth transfer from taxpayers to landlords who can effectively set a rent at whatever level they like.
If the Government really did want to reduce the cost of housing benefit for private tenants then it could easily reintroduce rent control, as enjoyed in New York and many other cities. No one would have to move and the bishops could sleep easily at night.
Of course it won’t happen, because at least one section of the Coalition Government is funded by the likes of wealthy landlords and many MPs earn a tidy sum by renting out properties themselves.
Mark Blackman
London SE14
***
On TV news I heard a young single mother living on state benefits complain: “Why should I be made to give up a good standard of living?” Perhaps she, and those others who feel they have the right to live off the state, should remember that the benefits system is a safety net that prevents them from falling too low. It is not a bouncy castle from which they can rebound to a level of affluence that they happen to consider their right.
John Wells
West Wittering, West Sussex
What the human rights court is for
 
The President of the European Court of Human Rights is correct to suggest that the Prime Minister is, to a worrying extent, pandering to the whims of certain elements of the tabloid press (“Britain should be defending European justice, not attacking it”, 24 January).
And it should also be pointed out that those newspapers that have consistently sought to both discredit the court and to denigrate its very existence have forgotten completely the reasons it was set up in the first place. Its place is not to dictate to sovereign governments on matters of either national security or indeed criminal law, but rather to ensure that the rights of all of Europe’s citizens are both protected and guaranteed.
Moreover, the same tabloid newspapers, and David Cameron as well, should remember that the right to freedom of speech, a civil right that both of them hold in high regard, is one that the European Court of Human Rights shall always seek to defend – no matter who decides to criticise it.
Ronan Byrne
London SW11
 
Resist the charm of Oxbridge
 
I believe Philip Hensher’s judgement about Oxford and Cambridge universities (20 January) may be clouded by his having spent so many years there, succumbing to their undoubted charms. I speak as someone who declined the opportunity to study at Cambridge.
At the time, my teachers all thought me insane. I’ve kept an eye on the progress of four classmates, all of whom accepted places at Oxbridge, and all of whom had invariably trailed in my wake at the termly form orders. I think it fair to say that I’ve held my own and more since leaving school, whatever measure you take, whether wealth or fulfilment.
Last year, my son applied for a place at Oxford. It was at the commencement of the interview, as the interviewer was introducing his teddy bear, seated beside him, that my son decided that there were probably other institutions better placed to oversee his development. I regard this as the sanest decision my son has ever taken.
My advice to any bright young student is simple. First of all, decide which course is likely to form the best platform for your further education. Then go about finding out which institution offers the best teaching, providing the most rounded education that will develop you as a person and stimulate you to a lifetime of learning. If that’s Oxbridge, apply there. If it’s not, then look elsewhere.
If you’re bright and your thirst for knowledge and self-improvement is insatiable, you’ll succeed in life, wherever you choose to study.
Richard Hill
Nottingham
***
I am somewhat depressed by the writings of Elly Nowell, who has described Oxbridge as a “symbol of unfairness”, run by a “self-selecting élite”. To describe an institution that is based on meritocracy as unfair seems contrary to the whole idea of modern Britain, and to see interviewers as “self-selecting” is just bizarre. Unsubstantiated comments like this seriously damage the good work (which can be improved) that Cambridge and Oxford do in promoting access to the institutions countrywide.
As internationally top-rated universities, perhaps we should stop doing them down, and focus rather on ensuring children leave our school system on a more equal footing, allowing anyone to attend who has the grades and the ability.
Charlie Bell
Queens’ College, Cambridge
***
I disagree with Philip Hensher. If the precipitate action of Elly Nowell in rejecting Magdalen College makes for fewer feather-bedded imbeciles asking interview questions about candidates’ motives for wearing a watch, she will have done a great service to British society.
Thomas Gibson
Leicester
 
Corners of a foreign field
 
I was disturbed by Mary Dejevsky’s comments (18 January) regarding the burial of dead soldiers. To suggest that we should bury our war dead where they fall suggests that she has no sympathy towards the families of fallen servicemen.
During major conflicts when thousands were dying every day, it was impossible to repatriate every single body. As a result the practice of war graves for the fallen began. In conflicts such as Afghanistan and Iraq, where thankfully, our casualties have been at a much slower rate, it is perfectly logical to bring our dead home.
Every year, the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, along with numerous services charities, spends thousands of pounds helping the relatives of fallen servicemen visit the graves around the world. Does Mary Dejevsky suggest we provide airline tickets to Helmand or Basra for families of more recent casualties?
Richard Haddon
Bristol
***
I’m pleased that Mary Dejevsky has addressed the cessation of the repatriation of dead soldiers through Wootton Bassett.
I visited a Commonwealth war cemetery in 1962 while driving along the North African coast with three friends, all of us aged 20. I did not find it austere; there were flowers blooming in the desert. All ranks and races were buried along side each other. It was deeply moving and I agree that those who died in that campaign might well feel honoured by the fact that the cemetery is still well maintained.
I’m afraid there is something rather jingoistic about Wootton Bassett.
Nick Thompson
Taunton
 
Money and happiness
 
Dominic Lawson (17 January) concludes that more money makes us happier. It is true that most evidence finds a correlation between income and wellbeing, but correlation does not imply causality.
In fact most research suggests that at an individual level the causality is likely to be from happiness to income – happier and more functional people earn more money. One study shows that students who are smiling in their college photos earn more in 10 years’ time than their dour colleagues. Many factors could be involved in financial success.
Nic Marks
Fellow,
New Economics Foundation,
London SE11
 
Don’t fight melancholy
 
Under the heading “Could magic mushrooms help the fight against depression?” (24 January), nowhere in the story is there a mention of a fight, just an interesting discovery.
If we frame it as “fight”, we are losing, as the incidence of depression goes up. Wouldn’t it be better to accept low mood or melancholy as part of our lives, just as January is? We may as well try to get rid of the night-time. But if we did that, there would be no northern lights. So I applaud the useful research into psilocybin and psychotherapy, because it opens a new angle on the cycle of our moods. If it’s a battle, none of us will win, but if it’s an inquiry, we might all get somewhere
Chris Payne
London NW1
 
Listening City
Now that the City of London Corporation has won the first stage of its legal battle to remove the residents of “tent city”, it might like to consider an alternative to a potentially violent confrontation.
From its vast property portfolio, it could provide accommodation to the Occupy London movement in recognition that there are other views as to how the City might best serve the nation. These views cannot be expressed in the Corporation, since it is not run along democratic lines.
Nigel Wilkins
London SW7
 
Larkin’s lines
In her review of my edition of Philip Larkin’s complete poems (20 January) Fiona Sampson cites among “some of his most memorable lines” “What remains of us is love”. But Larkin’s line is “What will survive of us is love”. Among his slighter verses she cites “Well, I must arise and go now, and go to Innisfree, / Where I have heard it rumoured you can get Guinness for free”, and complains “Even the scansion of this annoys”. It does; but Larkin wrote “Guinness free”. And he did not rhyme “Whitman” with “not a titman” but with “no titman”.
Not finding something memorable is one thing; misremembering it, another.
Archie Burnett
Boston University Editorial Institute, Massachusetts, USA
 
Quiet time
I share Ramji R Abinashi’s concern over the long-term effect of excessive sound levels on cinema-goers (Letters, 23 January). I fear the damage has already been done; I recently went to see The Artist and couldn’t hear a word they were saying!
Ed Thompson
Southampton

Telegraph:

SIR – With the Costa Concordia having run on to rocks, similar large vessels will, I hope, now be prevented from entering areas of historical significance. The powers that be in the Venetian lagoon now have the most valid reasons for banning such ships.
Damage to St Mark’s Square or the Doge’s Palace would be horrendous. Clearly, our heritage needs to be safeguarded as much as possible.
Some of us find them eyesores, too.
Paul Cooper
Thirsk, North Yorkshire

IR – I work for an aerospace company at its north Devon site. At least 300 of its 400 employees, many the sole earners in their families, are paid less than £26,000 a year, the Government’s proposed cap on benefits for one family. From that sum, income tax and National Insurance contributions are deducted, so that our take-home pay is less. From this we have to fund our living and housing costs and our journeys to and from work.
Not surprisingly, many of us feel that capping benefits at £26,000 is generous. If, as earners, we can’t afford to live in more expensive areas, then why should we pay for non-earners to do so?
Michael Hailstone
Braunton, Devon
SIR – Iain Duncan Smith, the Work and Pensions Secretary, and his team have done an impressive job getting to grips with a major problem in society. Their recommendations should be introduced as soon as possible.
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Cruise ships should steer clear of historic ports
24 Jan 2012
In too many families, having children becomes the main source of income. Child benefit should remain a universal benefit, but for the first child only, irrespective of income. If people want to have more children, they should first consider how that child will be paid for.
Too many people still believe the state owes them a living; it doesn’t. Generally, there is work out there for those prepared to look. But we have too many workshy individuals who find it too easy to claim benefits. They, like the occupants of our prisons, enjoy a higher standard of living than many of those in low-paid jobs. That is fundamentally wrong.
Many of those who claim to be looking for work have a very narrow view of what they are prepared to do, whereas many migrants are more willing to work. This was the case in the Fifties when people came from the West Indies to seek work, and it has been repeated over the years.
Roy Aylott
Peebles
SIR – Is it not time to re-state all benefits paid to working-age recipients gross of the income tax and National Insurance that they would have to pay if the benefits were income? This would make the proposed £26,000 benefits cap equivalent to £35,000 a year gross of tax, which even Liberal Democrat peers might regard as acceptable.
David Young
Shotteswell, Warwickshire
SIR – As a supporter of the Shelter housing charity, I have always assumed that to be homeless means having no fixed abode. But I understand from yesterday morning’s Today programme that if two children share a bedroom then they are classified as homeless.
If that is true, then my brother and I and my two young sons led a very under-privileged childhood. Where do we go for counselling and where can we apply for compensation?
David Miller
Maidenhead, Berkshire
Iran’s empty threat
SIR – The idea of Iran closing the Strait of Hormuz is absurd (report, January 23). At its narrowest point, the strait is 13 miles wider than the Dover Strait. With its small naval resources, Iran may disrupt shipping for a short time, but with US, British and French warships in the area, even that is unlikely.
I served in the area in the Eighties during the Iran-Iraq war. Even during the “Tanker War”, and despite threats from Iran, the Strait of Hormuz remained open.
Captain John Maioha Stewart (retd)
Breisach, Baden-Württemberg, Germany
Don’t close our deli
SIR – As customers and supporters of Gaby’s Deli in Charing Cross Road, we ask the landlord, the Marquess of Salisbury, to reverse his decision to evict Gaby this summer, which would end more than 45 years of serving delicious falafel and salt beef to Londoners and tourists alike.
We ask Lord Salisbury, in this Olympic year, to champion the diversity of small and thriving restaurants and family-run concerns that bring visitors to London.
Eve Best
Howard Brenton
Colette Bowe
Nica Burns
Simon Callow
Rev Richard Coles
Sean Foley
Henry Goodman
Haydn Gwynne
Jenny Jones
Toby Jones
Ken Livingstone
Roger Lloyd-Pack
Michael Maloney
Miriam Margolyes
Dennis Marks
Hamish McColl
Brian Paddick
Mary Portas
James Purefoy
Michael Rosen
Mark Rubinstein
Val Shawcross
Dame Harriet Walter
Sam West
Timothy West
London W3
Sick notes
SIR – Those who miss medical appointments (Letters, January 23) should produce a letter from a doctor to prove that they were unable to attend.
Michael Cooper
Ashcott, Somerset
Un-knighting Sir Fred
SIR – The hounding of Sir Fred Goodwin, the former chief executive of RBS, led by the Prime Minister, is deeply unedifying.
Sir Fred is not solely responsible for Britain’s parlous financial position. Many share that responsibility, including politicians who continue to squander billions of other people’s money, those in charge of financial supervision and the leaders of other rescued banks.
He that is without sin, let him first cast a stone. None of the above qualifies.
Frances Dobson
London SW3
SIR – It is completely wrong that consideration is being given to rescinding Sir Fred Goodwin’s knighthood. This would set a dangerous precedent. There are many situations where the Government has recommended a knighthood but, with hindsight, wishes it hadn’t.
Sir Fred has been guilty of horrendous commercial decisions affecting many individuals, but he has not acted illegally.
K. R. Sharpe
Hereford
Paper round profit
SIR – Sir Richard Branson is absolutely right in his assertion that young people need funds to start up a business (Letters, January 20). It is not rocket science, and these start-ups need not be complex.
Until recently, we had daily newspapers delivered in our village by an entrepreneurial individual who has now ceased to trade. No one has decided to take his place even though the sums add up from a business point of view.
If someone were to deliver 200 papers a day and charge households £2 a week for that service, the result would be an annual income of £20,000, plus the margin made on the purchase and sale of the papers.
And all this generated before 10am.
Michael Cattell
Mollington, Cheshire
Universities challenged
SIR — Elly Nowell, who withdrew her application to Magdalen College, Oxford, has described Oxbridge as a “symbol of unfairness” run by “self-selecting elites”.
Comments like this seriously damage the good work that Cambridge and Oxford do to promote access to the institutions. We should stop doing down these internationally top-rated universities, and focus instead on ensuring that children leave our school system on a more equal footing, allowing anyone who has the grades and the ability to attend.
Charlie Bell
Queens’ College, Cambridge
SIR – As a shy applicant to Imperial College London, the first culture shock was in the lavatories, where there were graffiti in Latin. During the interview there was a technical inquisition on jet engine design, followed by a discussion about Dostoevsky. I had read enough of The Idiot to know that some Russian towns had boardwalks.
Having taken up my place at Imperial, I went to dinner in Hall. Only once, because the red wine was straight out of the fridge, which gave me a stomach ache. I probably wouldn’t have learnt that at Oxford.
Christopher May
Weston-super-Mare, Somerset
Chippy MPs
SIR – An MP complained that Commons dining room chips are not piled up (report, January 23). MPs were caught piling their chips too high at our expense a couple of year ago. Will they never learn?
Graham Richings
Guildford
Home-made marmalade without pith and pips
SIR – I’m sure Jeanette Brown’s marmalade is delicious (Letters, January 23), but she must spend forever finding all the pips.
I pressure-cook the oranges whole. When they cool, I cut each orange in half and remove the contents with a spoon into a large-holed sieve. It is easy to press the flesh through, adding some of the steamed juice to collect the important setting properties from the pips.
Then I slice the soft skin, add the sugar and boil in the usual way. Half the work.
Sarah Purssell
Pewsey, Wiltshire
SIR – I follow the recipes in the Women’s Institute Book of Preserves. This year I decided to make jelly marmalade with my Seville oranges, but felt almost unable to cope with the instruction to “remove the pith from the peel”. The pith was very thick and a sharp knife not effective.
Fortunately I have a little gadget called a cannella which proved as good at removing pith from the inside as zest from the skin.
Incidentally, correspondents last year mentioned the difficulty of removing labels from used jars. I recommend Rose’s marmalade: the labels soak off very quickly.
Rosalind Hellewell
Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire
SIR – Having completed my annual marmalade production a week earlier than my previous record, I wonder whether this is yet another sign of global warming.
I like to think it is a sign of the Spanish producers wanting to sell their stock as early as possible.
Claire McCombie
Woodbridge, Suffolk
SIR – Home-made marmalade can be given an edge by stirring in a tablespoonful of Angostura bitters immediately before filling the jars. Whisky or Grand Marnier are optional extras.
For a darker marmalade, a quarter of the sugar should be dark muscovado. But a marmalade recipe in kilograms, such as Jeanette Brown’s? Perish the thought.
Philip Corp
Salisbury

Irish Times:

Dark side of the Northern Lights
Sir, – Spectacular as the Northern Lights seen in Donegal on Monday night may have been (Front page Home News, January 24th), the solar storms that produced these auroral displays can have more sinister effects. During periods of increased solar activity, storms can cause errors in GPS positions, disrupt radio communications, cause instabilities in electrical power systems, and damage electronics on satellites.
These effects are nothing new. Following the great solar storm of September 1st, 1859, daily London stock market prices were not received in Dublin due to a “mysterious atmospheric phenomena” ( The Irish Times, September 3rd, 1859), while telegraph operators in Valentia reported receiving electrical shocks in the course of operating the transatlantic cable between Co Kerry and Newfoundland in the late 1800s.
Of more concern was the March 1989 solar storm, which disrupted electric power transmission from the Hydro Québec generating station in Canada, plunging six million people into darkness for nine hours and burning out a power transformer at a nuclear power plant in New Jersey (which is at a lower latitude than Ireland); while very recently, a portion of the GPS network, including a GPS receiver in Shannon, was interrupted for approximately eight minutes following a solar storm in September 2011.
With solar activity expected to reach very active levels in 2012 and 2013, we can expect further spectacular aurora displays and and very possibly interruptions in the technologies on which we depend as part of our everyday lives. Luckily for us though, large geo-effective solar storms and their adverse effects are rare. – Yours, etc,
Dr PETER T GALLAGHER,
School of Physics,
Trinity College Dublin.
‘Touch not a single bough’
Sir, – As George Pope Morris says in his famous poem “Woodman spare that tree,/ Touch not a single bough! /In youth it sheltered me, /And I’ll protect it now.”
The tree now in question is tree No. BNDF025479 at Ballygannon, Co Wicklow. It also applies to 1.2 million native trees planted in the year 2000 for each household in the country, under the People’s Millennium Forest Project, sponsored by Coillte and AIB.
With the present Government’s “flog it” if it’s profitable approach to our State assets, and with Coillte being part of the silverware, are we to assume that the People’s Millennium’s Forests are to be included in the sale, and if so, will the Government have to consult the 1.2 million households to get their consent?
If not, my treasured certificate stating that a native Irish tree had been planted for the Booth Family is worthless, and can be condemned to the green bin.
Maireann an crann – “How are ye”. – Yours, etc,
TOM BOOTH,
Binn Eadair View,
Sutton, Co Dublin.
EU oil embargo on Iran
Sir, – I would like to express my strong protest against the EU oil embargo on Iran, and in particular Ireland’s acquiescence to it (World News, January 24th).
The Western media have conditioned us to believe that Iran is a menace, whereas the opposite is the case, because Iran has not invaded another country in the past few hundred years, which is in stark contrast with the major belligerents for war – the US, the UK and Israel.
We have already had one unnecessary pre-emptive war against Iraq, which never had weapons of mass destruction.  We cannot have another pre-emptive war because the Western powers “believe” Iran to be developing nuclear weapons. Having examined the evidence, the former UN inspector Hans Blix believes that Iran is not developing nuclear weapons.   Pre-emptive wars for alleged good reasons are morally wrong as well as stupid.
We have been fooled once on Iraq. We cannot allow ourselves to be fooled twice. – Yours, etc,
JAMES McCUMISKEY,
Rosetta Park,
Belfast.
First home with a second-home tax
Sir, – I wish to highlight my predicament in relation to the Non Principal Private Residence (NPPR) charge.
With all of the publicity surrounding the €100 household charge, I feel this charge has been overlooked.
I am a qualified solicitor who was made unemployed following the expiry of my training contract in 2009. I went to Australia seeking to further my career in law, but having been unable to find work in the legal profession there I returned to Ireland in early 2011. Unable to find work on my return, I was forced to move back into my family home and lease the house that I had bought as I could no longer afford to pay the mortgage. I am now undergoing an unpaid internship in a company in the hope of gaining enough experience to enable me to get a job.
I was contacted by the council in late October 2011 to inform me of my liability for the NPPR for the previous two years. With a €200 per year payment due, and penalties accruing at the rate of €20 per month per yearly charge, my liability for same is now standing at €920. To clarify matters, I do not own a second home. I own one home. I am informed that I am liable for the charge because I no longer live in it. For economic reasons I was forced to move from it into my family home and I am now being taxed on it at an exorbitant rate. This is grossly unfair. My house is not an investment property, it is a home that I can no longer afford due to the actions of the previous government. I feel that this tax was sold to the public as a tax on “second” homes, with the general attitude being that if you can afford two homes you can afford to pay the charge.
I do not know if the legislators intended to include people such as myself within the remit of this tax. It is irrelevant now, as, barring the legislation being repealed, I will have to pay.
I have been informed by my local council that there is no provision for settlement, part-payment, payment by instalment or any exemption for people on social welfare, such as myself, contained within the legislation, so their hands are tied. There must be a huge number of people who are in the same situation as I am, and it is time we spoke out against this unjust and arbitrary tax. – Yours, etc,
BOBBY KENNEDY,
The Rise,
Mount Merrion,
Co Dublin.
Bin there, waiting for collection
Sir, – I read that Greyhound states that it has had no missed collections and if there were any it was due to “customer misunderstanding” (Home News, January 23rd).
Would that it were so. My mother’s bin was put out for collection last Friday as per the calendar delivered to her address on Clonliffe Road; so no misunderstanding there, but it was not collected. Was this the only uncollected bin in Dublin?
Greyhound might devote more time to operating its contract and not exhibiting such hubris. – Yours, etc,
EITHNE BOYD,
Glasnevin Woods, Dublin 11.
Sir, – I am astonished to read that Greyhound insists that all bins were collected last week; this is simply untrue. My black bin has been collected, but not the brown one – without any explanation. An inquiry as to why the collection failed was fruitless as the Greyhound customer service was unavailable early last week.
It is disappointing for a company to blame its customers first instead of itself for failing to organise a professional transfer of bin collection services in all aspects. Even more concerning is that all alternative private bin collection companies do not collect in south Dublin, at least not in my area. This is unacceptable; customers should have a choice in a now fully privatised market.
Preventing competition and creating a monopoly for one company in many areas cannot be desirable. – Yours, etc,
JOERG SCHULZE,
Belgrave Road,
Rathmines, Dublin 6.
Colm Murray shows the way
Sir, – On occasion, in desperate times, somebody notable and extraordinary steps up to the plate.
Like Lou Gehrig before him, Colm Murray, RTÉ sports broadcaster suffering with motor neurone disease did just that ( Mind: the Inside Track, RTÉ 1, January 23rd). The documentary was both an exercise in craft and love of him. It was evident the esteem in which the man is held. He opened by stating he was making the film and participating in medical trials to “Do some public service”. A rare, admirable, and decent individual. – Yours, etc,
PATSY BRADY,
Carrowkeel, Co Sligo.
€423 an hour seems ‘excessive’
Sir, – I almost had an apoplectic fit on reading the headline “Hourly rate of €423 seems excessive” (Home News, January 18th). The amount in question (to be paid to a special manager appointed by the Central Bank to run Newbridge Credit Union in Co Kildare) is almost double my weekly pension of €227. To put it in an even greater context (and basing it on a presumed working week of 40 hours) the gentleman’s weekly income of almost €17,000 is approximately 134 times that of the average old-age pensioner. Enough said. – Yours, etc,
PETER PALLAS,
Beech Hill Court,
Donnybrook, Dublin 4.
Troika troubles
Sir, – Noel Whelan is correct (Opinion, January 21st). We created this mess all on our own. However, those foreign banks who lent to us created their own mess too. Alas, only one of us is suffering the consequences. – Yours, etc,
DENIS MORTELL,
Friarsland Road,
Clonskeagh,
Dublin 14.
No time for ‘Non, non, non’
Sir, – FX O’Brien’s “Non, non, non” letter (January 21st) expressed precisely my own immediate response to the articles to which he refers; I imagine we are not alone.
However, on reflection, I think that these three words are the reaction of my heart. The reaction of my head is to agree with Macbeth: “I am in blood stepped in so far that should I wade no more, Returning were as tedious as go o’er.” I trust our Ministers are ready for tough negotiations. – Yours, etc,
KENNEDY P O’BRIEN, SJ,
Gonzaga College,
Sandford Road, Dublin 6.
A sticky encounter at Dublin airport
A chara, – We are very grateful to D Breathnach (December 29th), for his speedy reply to our letter (December 27th) and although his bread and butter letter clarifies one or two points, the jam is still missing and some important questions remain unanswered.
Our client had read the notices at Dublin airport and had indeed consulted its “excellent” website.
There was a comprehensive list of prohibited items for hand luggage which included animal stunners, grenades and harpoon guns. He searched high and low but he did not find jam on the list.
On the slightly more complex issue of whether jam is a liquid or not, our client did not find any specific mention of jam as a liquid or a water-tight definition of a liquid that would satisfactorily encompass country market jam.
Dublin airport website states: “Some things are evidently liquid, like drinks and perfume. Others are less obvious, like gels, pastes, lotions, mixture of liquids and solids and the contents of aerosols. Some examples of these are toothpastes, hair gels, face creams, liquid cosmetics, lip-gloss, deodorants, perfumes and shaving foam.” No mention of jam.
As to the actual consistency of the jam in question: we rely on the author Patrick Quigley of Blanchardstown who bought two jars at the same time. “As to Alan’s jam, I can testify that it’s the real thing with no relation to the watery mess promoted in supermarkets. A mouse or other small mammal could trot across the surface without fear of coming to a sticky end. The apricot has a lovely texture this consumer loves to savour for as long as possible before swallowing. On a dark winter morning it evokes the image of a sun-kissed terrace in Longford.”
We see also from the website that the Dublin airport authorities are abiding by EU Regulation (EC NO 1546/2006) for their rules.
But if you try to find these regulations online you find that the annex, which should have all the details and definitions on it, turns out to be a blank piece of paper. It is a classified secret and is not to be divulged to the general public.
So we all have to abide by a secret EU regulation. How can we know accurately in advance how to interpret the law about airport safety if it is not officially published in the EU journal?
We should point out that my client was only in Ireland for one night and was travelling light. He did not have any hold luggage.
And what, we wonder, would have happened if instead of jam my client had taken through three jars of the very best Irish honey that had set hard and was obviously no longer a liquid? This has all the makings of a Flann O’Brien story, but then again the jam was bought in the Michael Collins Bar of the Greville Arms and Flann O’Brien was no stranger to bars. He certainly knew a liquid when he saw one, and also knew how to down a liquid to fuel his writing. Whether he drank jam is not known.
We would be very grateful indeed for further clarification on these important issues either by Irish Customs, the airport search unit, the airport police or the cosy offices of the EU in Brussels.
Just for the record, our client was not “embarrassed”, as D Breathnach suggests, only “bemused” and curious to get to the bottom of this sticky conundrum. – Is mise,
PÓL Ó MURCHÚ,
Aturnaetha,
Cé Urmhumhan Uachtarach,
Baile Átha Cliath 7.
Sir, – The reason that a passenger at Dublin Airport was not permitted to board an aircraft with three pots of jam (Pól Ó Murchú, December 27th) was because the items in question breached European Union security regulations.
The EU regulations regarding liquids, pastes and gels, which have been in been in place for five years, state that liquids, pastes and gels cannot be brought through the passenger security screening area in containers measuring more than 100ml. To comply with the regulations, these containers must be placed into a re-sealable transparent plastic bag measuring 20cm x 20cm and presented at the passenger security screening area.
As the jars of jam measured more than 100ml they did not meet these EU regulations. Other items considered a liquid, paste or gel include honey, peanut butter, chocolate spread, toothpastes and mayonnaise.
Ideally, to avoid having to possibly surrender an item at security, passengers should if possible, place all jams, conserves, pastes, gels and other liquids into checked-in baggage.
These are EU-wide rules and, contrary to the impression given by your correspondent, they apply in the UK as well as in Ireland. Our security screening staff are audited on a regular basis by officials from the Department of Tourism, Transport and Sport to ensure compliance with these rules and all other current security regulations.
Any liquids or gels surrendered at Dublin airport security that are unopened are donated to charity. – Yours, etc,
PAUL O’KANE,
Public Affairs Director,
Dublin Airport Authority,
Dublin Airport,
Co Dublin.
In search of Comdt Edward Daly
Sir, – I am writing a biography of my great-uncle Comdt Edward Daly, of the Irish Volunteers. This is one of a series of biographies of the executed leaders of the Easter Rising, 1916, which are to be published by O’Brien Press between 2012 and 2016.
Aged 25, from Limerick city, Edward Daly was one of the youngest to be executed. The Daly family home, a focus of nationalist activity in Limerick, was raided by Black and Tans in 1920, and its contents burned. There is, therefore, a severe lack of material for Edward’s early years, before he joined the Volunteers. I am interested in personal memoirs or memorabilia relating to him, or to the Daly family. Information can be sent to me C/o The O’Brien Press Ltd, 12 Terenure Road East, Rathgar, Dublin 6, or by e-mail to helenlitton@clubi.ie – Yours, etc,
HELEN LITTON,
Pembroke Gardens,
Ballsbridge,
Dublin 4.
Beethoven’s shopping list
Sir, – I have had a Harty good laugh from your letters. I wonder did Ludwig travel to the Chopin Center by Van or perhaps he took De Bussy? – Yours, etc,
GRAEME GUTHRIE,
Kilmeena, Westport, Co Mayo
Sir, – To be Franck I am browned Orff with all this musical Bolshoi! Our economy is in Verdi deep Strauss and if the Troika Concerto returns, they will tell us we Mozart be so frivolous.
It Beethovens us all to Handel ourselves better and try to Mendelssohn of our economic woes or those guys will be Offenbach. – Yours, etc,
Rev ALPHONSUS CULLINAN,
Rathkeale, Co Limerick.
Sir, – I fear that the composer puns are becoming a little too orchestrated! – Yours, etc,
JOHN HUGGARD,
Moyfenrath, Enfield, Co Meath.
Sir, – Your chorus-pondents are having a Field day passing the Purcell. I want no Moore of it; it’s Pathétique! How about taking a Fauré down their snobby lieder and taking a chanson ABBA et al? You don’t have to be a Lerner to be Lowe! – Yours, etc,
OLIVER McGRANE,
Marley Avenue,
Rathfarnham, Dublin 16.
Dean MacCarthy steps down
Sir, – Dean Robert MacCarthy (Home News, January 23rd): a case of “light blue touch-paper and retire”. – Yours, etc,
WALTER HESELTINE,
Rosmeen Gardens,
Dún Laoghaire, Co Dublin.
A hot topic in the vineyards
Sir, – I have just calculated the GDD (growing degree days) of my “Château Garage” 2011 utilising Simon Tyrell’s very helpful guide (January 24th) and using the mean temperatures from the Malin Head Weather Station, April to October 2011. It comes out at 656.1. I have one question: will it improve with age? – Yours, etc,
CORMAC MEEHAN,
Main Street,
Bundoran, Co Donegal.

Irish Independent:

It was last Wednesday morning, after hearing on the radio of the sad passing of Aengus Fanning, that I attended the funeral Mass of a close relative in Clonskeagh and, later, the burial in Glasnevin Cemetery.
The day was mild and bright; encouraging the crowd to linger on, while engaged in chat and reminisces of the deceased. In the meantime, my patience was waning; more absorbed in the historic surroundings, soon I was lost in the midst of the thousands of headstones.
Deciphering the varied inscriptions, I made my way through the 124-acre walled estate, home to the graves of 1.2 million people since 1832.
Historic, famous and infamous names were intermingled with those of rich and poor. The variety, design and density of headstones intrigued me most. O’Donovan-Rossa, Big Jim Larkin, Eamon de Valera, Michael Collins, Maud Gonne, Roger Casement and Cathal Brugha are but a few of the well-known people I came across.
Peculiarly, the last one to attract my attention was the most famous and obvious of them all — the 170ft round tower at the entrance, overhanging the tomb of the Liberator Daniel O’Connell. Despite family tradition he was buried here, while his heart was buried in Rome.
The coincidence of my day’s outing was a report in the Irish Independent that evening. It read: “Descendant of the Liberator, Una O’Connell (85), who was married to the great-great grandson of Daniel O’Connell, is being returned from London, by her relatives, to be buried in the family tomb on Derrynane Abbey Island in Co Kerry.”
In accordance with her wishes, half of Una O’Connell’s ashes were buried in a coffin at the island-graveyard last Wednesday while the other half were scattered on the River Thames.
Her son, also Daniel, remarked of his great-great-great grandfather — the famous campaigner for Catholic Emancipation and the Repeal of the Act of Union — “I wish there were more like him around at the moment. He had more leadership in his little finger than the rest of them put together.”
I thought, what a pity the second half of Una O’Connell’s ashes were not scattered over the Liberator’s famous tomb in Glasnevin Cemetery, some over O’Connell Street and a good sprinkling thrown to the winds over Leinster House. Hopefully, it might act as a liberating relic for the Irish People from current dictatorship and injustice.
James Gleeson
Thurles, Co Tipperary

When the Government introduces the fresh air charge, will people living in the country have to pay more because of the better quality air they breathe?
Edward Ward
Dublin

The year 2012 marks the 200th anniversary of the birth of the great writer and man of social conscience Charles Dickens, who in his novels and in his life tried to champion the poorer sections of society against the relentless money-grabbing of the rich.
I wonder what he would make of the the current woes in Ireland, economic and otherwise.
In the Ireland of today, however, his Oliver Twist seems to be in reverse (maybe he’s gone with Alice ‘Through the Looking Glass’) as everyone seems to want more from us: universal social charge; household charge; bin charge (up front!); breathing charge (no I jest — well at least for the moment!), rather than the other way round.
One of his characters, a Mr Bounderby — “a rich man, a banker and what not . . . with a great puffed head . . . a man with a pervading appearance of him having been inflated like a balloon” — surely reflects the property bubble with its sudden deflation. In our case this has unfortunately burst the bubble not only of our, but also of our children’s generation.
The novel? Yes, you’ve guessed it: ‘Hard Times For These Times’ (to give it its full and oh so relevant title).
Mr Dickens may also be a rewarding source for upcoming events — ‘Bleak House’, with its long-running court case, whose costs eventually consume all the estate of the participants, is surely a shoo-in for the Mahon Tribunal, while “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness” from ‘A Tale of Two Cities’, surely provides the appropriate catchline for our fall from the heights of the C***** T**** to the keening of the Torturous Tab (which must be paid off again and again and again.)
But let’s return to Alice, or more precisely the Red Queen and “off with their heads” — perhaps your readers might want to provide a list for that particular pleasure!
Mark Lawler
Kilmainham, D8

My late mother moved from Gweedore as a “lifestyle choice” to Westland Row, Dublin, aged 18 and without a word of English. Espying a fellow Gweedore friend in the city, they both spoke in excited Irish. Soon a crowd gathered around to listen to them.
That was 1941 and today I suppose I myself would gather around if I heard two people speaking English in the Blanchardstown shopping centre. That’s how far we have travelled on our road to multiculturalism.
Anyway my mother learned English and spoke it with a crispness and respect that few of the native speakers did. She still thought that you could pick an Irish word that was more descriptive than any English word. I wasn’t always as sure.
As I look at our country today one word leaps out and the English language has the perfect description for it. That word is “Cowardice”. It stands alone leaving nobody in doubt of its connotations.
A Government packed to the hilt with “cowards” who said one thing in opposition and practice the worst excesses of the former bogey men once in power.
Cowardice in targeting the one laying hen left in the country: the public service and working class. Tax them until they fall because they are too tired to mount a proper fight. However, go easy on the welfare class, push them into the nettles and everybody might get stung and don’t touch the gilded wealthy whatever you do.
Cowards allow Irish children to go on “lifestyle” jaunts but allow entire EU families to arrive in and take their places, this at a time when my two eldest cannot for love or money get a job.
Cowardice reeks through the nation. The salaries of the ruling class, the professors, the judges, politicians, advisers, the nation-wrecking top bankers, the nation-wrecking developers are all bomb proofed.
Meanwhile, the wages and jobs of the working class are on the line because we have a troika sitting in Merrion Square poking the Government with a tripod telling them who to sack and what to cut in order for big European banks to get their dosh back.
John Cuffe
Dunboyne

Well I must be off

best wishes John

Off out around the park, tho other joggers, both clad in black is this the new fashion? Seems a bit silly to me you want the traffic to be able to see you. Some people overdo this with flashing LED lights, but its a sensible precaution to be seen. Dog walkers, commuters, but no one delivering newspapers.
Off out to the vets with Pud, weight down, temp low, she is eating, not gaining weight, perhaps she runs it off being pursued by Kitten. We shall have to take her back in a week when her thyroid symptoms stop masking her kidney symptoms, what a lot of fuss about a small black cat, not remotely grateful, just as you might expect.
The end of Series 3 of Doctor Who, the reborn Master as Prime Minister, my goodness he shoots a particularly irritating American President, who eerily looks like a mix of the Republican contenders. Lots of nce nasty alien invaders, how will the Doctor get out of being aged to 100.
Steak and ale pie, we watch Genevieve, John Gregson and Kenneth More in the London to Brighton vintage car drive, with Dinah Sheridan and the lovely Kay Kendall who died far too young from leukemia. They race on the way back. Excellent tuition in how to be an irritating husband.
Scrabble today I win again and get over 400, all without thinking about it, poor Mary, but I am sure she will get a suitable revenge.

Fave Letters:

Jonathan Freedland (There was no Labour U-turn, but not many are listening, 21 January) argues Labour is forced to support the cuts because there will be no money to reverse them in 2015 after Osborne has wrecked the economy. He is wrong: there is money available now, and will be even more in 2015.
What has been left out of the equation in all the public debate about the cuts over the last 18 months is the enormous ballooning of wealth of the ultra-rich. The Sunday Times Rich List published last May found that the 1,000 richest persons in Britain got richer by £77.3bn in the year to 2010 and then by another £60.2bn in the year to 2011. Nor was this just a freak jackpot. In 1997 the richest 1,000 had assets of £99bn; by 2011 they had grown to £396bn. Capital gains tax at 28% on the increase in the value of these assets over this period would raise £83bn, enough to pay off two-thirds of the deficit.
Why is a wealth tax a taboo subject when it has never been more justified? Or a super-tax on excess gains, exactly as Labour rightly imposed a levy on the super-profits of the utilities in 1997? Either of these options would allow the VAT increase to be repealed, which would significantly ease pressure on the poorest households and begin to generate growth by raising demand, and there would still be enough increased revenues left over to fund the creation of half a million jobs in much-needed house-building, infrastructure improvement, and laying the foundations for the green economy.
Too many people have resignedly accepted austerity for years ahead because they believe there is no alternative. But actually there is.
Michael Meacher MP
Labour, Oldham West and Royton

There are few enterprises sadder, in retrospect, than those whose timing is wrong: Navy Dockyards built for wooden ships in 1830; grand plans for canals in 1840; Edwardian country houses built just before war swept away both wealth and servants; British Railways steam locos built in 1960, and scrapped in 1965.
To which list will surely be added in future, the “new aviation hub” that you propose (leading article, 19 January). Rising energy prices are driving up the costs of all forms of travel; measures to reduce CO2 emissions add yearly to these costs; and disposable incomes are shrinking year on year.
While these trends reduce recreational air travel, IT developments are making serious inroads into the business market: why spend three days and £5k to be jet-lagged at a meeting in Hong Kong, when you can Skype it for free?
Henry Ford said: “If I asked my customers what they wanted, they would have said ‘Faster horses’”. Behind the trend as ever, our politicians have completely missed the cultural shift, and are still trying to accelerate the horses.
David Gordon
Hinton St George, Somerset

In your leading article concerning a possible Thames Estuary airport you convey the bizarre idea that “Boris Island” and the Isle of Grain are in east London; of course, both sites are firmly in Kent.
Although the Isle of Grain did once contain an oil refinery, it is part of the Hoo peninsula, a rural area of high-grade agricultural land, panoramic landscapes, magnificent skyscapes, attractive shorelines, seascapes and two RSPB reserves.
The peninsula is full of ancient villages and churches, including St James at Cooling, the churchyard of which is the setting for the opening chapter of Great Expectations. This area of north Kent, including nearby Rochester and Chatham, are known, worldwide, as “Dickens Country”; he lived and died at Gads Hill Place in Higham, on the western edge of the peninsula.
The greatest concern is that any development will spread over the whole of this quiet, unspoilt, rural area and destroy it forever.
DE Williams
Rocheste

Ascot standards
How standards have dropped at Royal Ascot. Your report (23 January) quoted the race organisers as requiring men to wear a “jacket and tie” in the Royal Enclosure. The correct name for the upper half of a gentlemen’s suit is a “coat”. As the redoubtable Hardy Amies once said “The only thing that has a ‘jacket’ is a potato”.
Stan Broadwell
Bristol

SIR – Being a proud Scot living in London, I am pulled in two directions over the debate about Scotland being a Celtic cash cow, as London, not Scotland, has the most spent per head of any region in the UK.
Greg Knox
London SE21
SIR – I, too, enjoy a great variety of ties. I currently have 58, including a wooden one.
The more outrageous patterns came in useful on the occasions when, as a deputy head teacher, I was sent a student who “could not find” his school tie. I would give him mine to wear so that he shouldn’t feel too disappointed.
Quite often, he would find his school tie fairly swiftly.
Mik Shaw
Goring-by-Sea, West Sussex

Obituary:

Professor Sir Michael Dummett was one of the most important philosophers of the English speaking world in the second half of the 20th century. Wykeham Professor of Logic in the University of Oxford, he was enormously influential through major publications and supervision of many outstanding graduate students. He also played a significant role combatting racism, and when he was knighted it was “for Services to Philosophy and to Racial Justice”. He was a world authority on voting procedures, a study of the problem of ensuring fair results as free as possible from distortion by tactical voting.
Brought up in an irreligiously Anglican family, and an atheist at 13, he converted to Catholicism at 18 and remained deeply religious to the end of his life. He pursued a passionate interest in the games played with tarot cards, and in the cards themselves, and published studies which have transformed understanding of the history of tarot. He also loved jazz, and was proud to have heard Billie Holiday sing (in 1956).
Michael Anthony Eardley Dummett was born in London in 1925. His father, George Dummett, was a silk merchant, his mother, Iris née Eardley-Wilmont, the daughter of a colonial administrator. Dummett began his secondary education in September 1939 as a Scholar at Winchester College. After a year on the classics ladder, he opted for science, then switched to history.
In 1943 he obtained a history scholarship to Christ Church, Oxford, but went instead into the Royal Artillery and was sent on a six-month course in Edinburgh. While there he was received into the Catholic Church. After Basic Training he was transferred to the Intelligence Corps and sent to Bedford for a six-month course of training to translate written Japanese, and then to the Wireless Experimental Centre outside Delhi, in which intercepted Japanese messages were translated.
When the war ended, Dummett was sent to Malaya as part of Field Security. He wrote recently that “it must have been in Malaya that a passionate hatred of racism was first born in me. I learned of the means by which the British masters of pre-war colonial Malaya had maintained and acted out the myth of white racial superiority”, though Michael Screech remembers Dummett expressing anger about racism already while on the Bedford course and at the Wireless Centre.
He was demobilised in 1947, just in time to go up to Christ Church that year. He felt he had forgotten much of the history he had learnt, and chose instead to read Philosophy, Politics and Economics (PPE). He was “soon captivated by philosophy”. In Finals he took a newly established paper in which candidates were expected to study four texts from a list of seven, one of which was Frege’s Grundlagen der Arithmetik, recently translated by JL Austin for this purpose. Dummett said later, “I thought, and still think, that it was the most brilliant piece of philosophical writing of its length ever penned.” His lifelong study of Frege’s philosophy has transformed our understanding of Frege.
After receiving a First, Dummett was appointed to a one-year assistant lectureship at the University of Birmingham. He also sat the Fellowship examination at All Souls College and was elected, but he fulfilled his commitment to Birmingham, rushing back to Oxford throughout the term.
The first project Dummett set himself as a Prize Fellow at All Souls was to read all Frege’s published work, most of which had been neither translated nor republished. He also visited the Frege archive in Münster to study what survived of Frege’s unpublished work. Despite his passion for Frege, Dummett began by thinking of himself as a follower of Wittgenstein, arising from the impact of the arrival in Oxford during his last year as an undergraduate of typescripts of The Blue and Brown Books and of notes of Wittgenstein’s classes on philosophy of mathematics, and his philosophical contact and developing friendship with his tutor Elizabeth Anscombe. By 1960 he no longer considered himself a Wittgensteinian.
In 1951 he married Ann Chesney, who had taken just finals in History from Somerville. In 1955 he was awarded a Harkness Fellowship to spend a year at Berkeley studying logic and mathematics. He came to know Donald Davidson, at Stanford; they remained friends and philosophical interlocutors.
In 1958 Dummett spent a term at the University of Ghana, lecturing on the philosophy of time. In 1959 he published Truth, a seminal work and his most important single paper, which contains the seeds of all his later philosophy. It adumbrates the opposition between realism and anti-realism, as Dummett characterises these positions, and surveys a variety of contexts in which this opposition arises. Mathematical intuitionism is cited as a paradigm of anti-realism, but on a basis different from that of LEJ Brouwer, intuitionism’s founder. A connection between these considerations and Wittgenstein’s dictum that meaning is use is sketched.
This is a heady mixture of ideas which have taken decades to explore. In a Postcript to that paper in 1972 he wrote that the dispute between realism and anti-realism “is still a long way from resolution. On the one hand, it is unclear whether the realist’s defence of his position can be made convincing; on the other, it is unclear whether the anti-realist’s position can be made coherent. I remain convinced, however, that the issue between realism and anti-realism, construed roughly along the present lines, is one of the most fundamental of all the problems of philosophy.”
In 1962 Dummett was appointed to the Oxford University Readership in Philosophy of Mathematics. In 1964 he accepted a visiting appointment at Stanford, giving a course attempting to survey every variety of realism and anti-realism, which he planned to develop into a book that would realise the programme of his Truth paper, but came to accept he would never complete.
When he returned to Oxford in 1964, he and Ann decided “the time had come for organised resistance to the swelling racism in England”. For the next four years Dummett devoted himself to the fight against racism while keeping up with his teaching. He and Ann worked both to help individuals and to establish and strengthen organisations to combat racism as a trend in British government and society. He played a key role in founding the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants in 1967.
A graduate student newly arrived in 1967 and keen to discuss Truth with him recalls Dummett being available even while devoting himself to the fight against racism. A telephone call in the midst of discussing philosophy would inform Dummett that an East-African Asian attempting to enter Britain was about to be sent back, and transform Dummett from philosopher to activist, dashing to the airport to argue the case. He described this time as “the most exhausting period of my life”.
During this time Dummett continued to be an inspiring teacher and played a key role in establishing mathematical logic at Oxford. This resulted in a Lecturership in Mathematical Logic, an undergraduate course in Mathematics and Philosophy and a Professorship in Mathematical Logic.
The period in which Dummett gave the fight against racism highest priority lasted until spring 1968, when he spent a term at the University of Minnesota. Back at Oxford he returned to philosophy, working on Frege: Philosophy of Language, published in 1973. In the Preface he explains: “The alienation of racial minorities is now so great that a white ally in the struggle can, except in special circumstances, play only the most minor ancillary part.”
Dummett was elected to a Senior Research Fellowship at All Souls in 1974. In 1976 he gave the William James Lectures at Harvard, on “The Logical Basis of Metaphysics”. In 1977 he published Elements of Intuitionism, a remarkable accomplishment. Pedagogically, it’s a textbook of intuitionist mathematics and logic, which played an important part in making intuitionism accessible to study. Mathematically, it contains new results about intuitionism on many topics,. Philosophically it is extremely important, in establishing that intutionist mathematics and logic can be cast in the form of Dummettian anti-realism, and in this way has an integral place in the pursuit of Dummett’s philosophical programme from Truth. In 1979 he gave up his Senior Research Fellowship at All Souls to accept election as Wykeham Professor of Logic and Fellow of New College. He was now in huge demand as a graduate supervisor, and often was called upon to supervise as many as 15 students at a time.
In 1982 Dummett was awarded an Alexander von Humboldt-Stiftung Research Prize, which he used to work on his book Frege: Philosophy of Mathematics at the University of Münster. In 1988-89 he spent the year in Stanford as a Fellow of the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences. In this, his only full year of sabbatical leave, he finished two books, Frege: Philosophy of Mathematics, and The Logical Basis of Metaphysics.
Dummett retired from Oxford in 1992 and was knighted in 1999. He gave many lectures in retirement, including the Gifford Lectures at St Andrews in 1997 and the John Dewey Lectures at Columbia in 2003. He was elected a Senior Fellow of the British Academy in 1995 and received many other honours, including the Lakatos Prize in 1994, the Rolf Schock Prize in 1995, and the Lauener Prize in 2010, and various honorary degrees. His last major publication, Thought and Reality, in 2006, was a reworking of his Gifford Lectures. One can wonder how Dummett was able to pursue so many disparate interests to such great accomplishment in each. Part of an answer must be that he had an extraordinary facility at written expression: the speed with which he composed at a typewriter was audibly that of an efficient copy typist.
Everyone who knew Dummett has vivid memories of his smoking, which for most of his life he did using a short cigarette holder, tapping the end of his cigarette so many times before lighting it that this action came to be called “dummetting” by those around him.
Dummett’s philosophy lives on not only in his publications but in the many critical discussions of it, including eight books devoted to his philosophy, among them the ultimate accolade, a volume in the Library of Living Philosophers.
Michael Anthony Eardley Dummett, philosopher and anti-racism activist: born London 27 June 1925; Wykeham Professor of Logic, University of Oxford 1979–92, Professor Emeritus 1992; Emeritus Fellow, All Souls College, Oxford, 1979; Kt 1999; married 1951 Ann Chesney (three sons, two daughters, one son deceased and one daughter deceased); died 27 December 2011.

Full Text:

Guardian:

We were pleased to see your report (An abuse of faith, Social care, 18 January) outlining the evidence of the numbers of black children subjected to violence linked to witchcraft. This is extremely concerning and many of us have worked with such children and adults from the black communities who have experienced abusive aspects of juju, Santeria, witchcraft and possession in the UK. While our major religious institutions are now putting safeguarding procedures into place, children (and adults) from smaller religious groups do not have that safety. We are also concerned as individuals and as a committee that the ritual abuse of white children (and adults) is less easily acknowledged (the Kidwelly case in 2011). It can be far easier, sometimes for racist reasons, to accept the ritual abuse of black children (witness the Adam Case known as “Torso in The Thames” in 2001), and especially from working-class backgrounds. The white middle-class children (and adults) and those who work with them and support them are subject to implications that such experiences, if the victim is not black, must be bizarre delusions. This makes it harder for disclosures to be made and for the police to help, and delays the understanding of the impact of ritual on all children and adults when used abusively.
Dr V Sinason, Rachel Wingfield, Prof Joseph Schwartz, Dr Sandra Buck, Dr Joan Coleman, Carole Mallard, Wilfred Wong, Deborah Briggs, Dr Pat Frankish, David Leevers, Orit Badouk-Epstein, Lynn Greenwood
Committee on Ritual Abuse, London

We were interested to read about the importance of children’s happiness to their development and wellbeing (Whatever happened to happiness?, Education, 17 January). Our school was designed with children’s contentment at its heart, for they learn best when they feel comfortable and safe. Good personal habits, including cleanliness and tidiness, are stressed. Inside, we have a colourful, stimulating and cheerful environment to excite very young children. Periods of work alternate with recreation. There are quick changes of subject, meaningful work and frequent breaks for movement and dance. Outside is a playground with flowerbeds where children spend around half of their time. This open-air “classroom” is where much of the social and moral learning takes place as well as play and physical exercise. Here, also, the children can be guided in self-restraint, mutual respect and to care for the living world and the property of others.
This approach is not revolutionary today, but it was when Samuel Wilderspin was pioneering this system of infant education in the early 1800s. Our school is now a museum – hopefully its educational principles will not be consigned to history also.
John Walker
Chair, Wilderspin National School Museum, Barton upon Humber
•  Wellbeing has not been “cast into Ofsted’s dustbin”. Our new inspection framework focuses on what matters most: the quality of teaching and learning in the classroom, leadership and management, pupils’ achievement and their behaviour and safety. When judging teaching, inspectors consider how well teachers enthuse and motivate pupils to learn and foster their enthusiasm and curiosity. Inspectors closely observe conduct in lessons and around the school, and each pupil’s safety from bullying and harassment – a key aspect of pupils’ wellbeing. Happy, well-motivated pupils in safe, well-run schools learn best and leave school best equipped for success in life.
Jean Humphrys
Director, education and care, Ofsted

Over the past decade, a number of academic studies have indicated a worrying and disproportionate trend towards negative, distorted and even fabricated reports in media coverage of the Muslim community. Recent research at Cambridge University concludes that “a wider set of representations of Islam would signify a welcome change to reporting practices. Muslims deserve a better press than they have been given in the past decade.” And according to a recent ComRes poll, one in three people in Britain today believe that the media is responsible for “whipping up a climate of fear of Islam in the UK”.
The Leveson inquiry has so far failed to adequately address unfair media coverage as it relates to less prominent cases, including those relating to Muslims and Islam, focusing as it does on the impact of phone hacking on celebrities and other high-profile individuals.
An alternative inquiry is necessary to investigate what many regard as widespread and systematic discriminatory practices in reporting on Muslims and Islam in the British media. Victims – whether prominent or not – of alleged discriminatory media coverage have a right to have their testimonies catalogued and examined thoroughly by credible, independent assessors. Recommendations can then be made to improve ethical standards in the reporting of not solely the Muslim community but of all sections of society.
Imran Khan Human rights solicitor
Bianca Jagger Chair, Bianca Jagger Human Rights Foundation
Michael Rosen Writer
Jeremy Corbyn MP
Jemima Khan
Navnit Dholakia Deputy leader, Liberal Democrats, House of Lords
Mohamed Ali Harrath Islam Channel
Hajj Ahmad Thomson Barrister
Jenny Jones Assembly member (Green), London Assembly
Andrew Boff Assembly member (Conservative), London Assembly
Rabbi Janet Burden
Walter Wolfgang
Hugh Lanning Chair, Palestine Solidarity Campaign
Sanum Ghafoor, blogger
Jean Lambert, MEP, London
Peter Murray Former president, NUJ
Dr Muhammad Abdul Bari Chair, East London Mosque
Dr Omer El-Hamdoon Muslim Association of Britain
Massoud Shadjareh Islamic Human Rights Commission
Sunny Hundal Liberal Conspiracy
Ahmed J Versi The Muslim News
John Rees Counterfire
Vivien Lichtenstein
Anas Altikriti Cordoba Foundation
Miriam Margolyes
Farooq Murad Muslim Council of Britain
Sarah Colborne Director, Palestine Solidarity Campaign
Dr Daud Abdullah Middle East Monitor
Moazzam Begg Cageprisoners
Phil Rees Out of Office Films
Nabil Ahmed Federation of Student Islamic Societies
Abdullah Faliq Islamic Forum of Europe
Rabbi Jeffrey Newman
Cllr Larry Sanders Oxfordshire county council
Diana Neslen
Shemiza Rashid Director, The Creative Muslim Network
Na’ima B Roberts Editor, Sisters Magazine
Asa Winstanley The Electronic Intifada
Richard Peppiatt Writer and former tabloid reporter
Shazia Arshad Human rights campaigner
Myriam Francois Cerrah Activist
Murtaza Shibli Journalist and author
Lindsey German Stop The War Coalition
Murad Qureshi Assembly member, London Assembly
Cat Smith Chair, Next Generation Labour (pc)
Robert Pitt Islamophobia Watch
Dr Alana Lentin University of Sussex
Robin Richardson Insted Consultancy
Cat Boyd Coalition of Resistance Glasgow
Baroness Pola Uddin
Sean Rillo Raczka University of London Union
Chris Nineham Enough Coalition Against Islamophobia
Mark McDonald Barrister
Dan Poulton Journalist
Yasmin Khatun Producer
Frances Legg Producer
Chris Bambery Journalist
Sadiya Chowdhury Journalist
Supporters of the The Alternative Leveson inquiry

When Jonathan Freedland tells us that “Labour will have no money to splash around reversing cuts or lowering taxes”, we have, indeed, swallowed more coalition economics than is good for us. It is a fallacy to assert that a sovereign government, with its own currency and its own central bank, is ever short of money. How do we think major wars were financed? If a Labour government is returned in 2015 with a programme for restoring output and employment it will have no difficulty in finding the money. It will have not only the usual flow of saving by the public, but also the Bank of England with its infinite powers to create money through “quantitative easing”.
The U-turn, apparent or real, is a foolish ploy. Labour needs to stop pandering to public prejudice, and become the party of full employment.
Michael Kennedy
Former economic adviser at the Treasury and British embassy, Washington
• Placing Tristram Hunt’s article (Socialism belongs here, 21 January) alongside Jonathan Freedland’s made for fascinating reading. Surely if the Labour party leadership were willing to acknowledge that “socialism belongs here”, they would be listened to more sympathetically by would-be Labour supporters. For instance, the gap between the highest- and lowest-paid in the public sector is enormous, and had Ed Balls indicated that those on below-average wages would be exempt from the 1% pay freeze, his arguments might have had a better reception. However dated some aspects of Marxism may seem to be, the mantra “from each according to his ability to each according to his need” surely has particular resonance in the current economic climate.
Carol Anthony
Quarndon, Derbyshire
• Polly Toynbee (Comment, 20 January) claims Labour has “lost the Keynesian argument” and is therefore correct to support Tory cuts. The inconvenient truth remains that the Labour leadership never reached out and interacted with grassroots activists, trade unionists, students, the Occupy movement and other civic groups formulating an attractive alternative policy prescription to Tory (and now Labour) austerity. Unfortunately, they seem unable to escape the Westminster bubble and the cuts philosophy of its chattering classes. Moreover, Labour should know that what is morally wrong is never politically right.
Enrico Tortolano
Kingston upon Thames, Surrey
• Mulberry (expensive gear for the rich) booms; Peacocks (inexpensive gear for the less well-off) busts. Says it all really!
Chrys Henning
Alhampton, Somerset

The reorganisation of art galleries along thematic rather than chronological lines (We need art for life’s sake, 21 January) is in fact not only now widespread, but a disappointing failure. And, as if the visual arts aren’t encumbered enough with “interpretation” masquerading as meaning, the idea of highlighting the artist’s intentions as a way of providing a more didactic experience for the visitor is a pseuds’ charter. What is needed, if anything, is a higher standard of curating to allow the art itself to be seen with less institutional editorialising, not more.
Robin Greenwood
Director, Poussin Gallery
• Asda’s claim (Report, 23 January), supported by David Cameron, that opening new supermarkets is creating jobs, is a nonsense. We don’t all buy more things when a store opens; we transfer our custom from somewhere else, probably smaller shops that employ more people than a supermarket. It may transfer jobs to younger, lower-paid employees, but it does not result in additional jobs.
Martin Wright
Sale, Cheshire
• Deborah Orr (Who’d be a movie star?, 21 January) says Carole Lesley “starred” in Woman in a Dressing Gown. In fact she played a small supporting role in the film, which was produced by my father, now 94. The star was Yvonne Mitchell, and the leading female supporting role was played by Sylvia Syms.
Susan Cran
London
•  Five of the top 10 non-fiction hardbacks are cookery books, and four of the top 10 non-fiction paperbacks diet books (The weekly charts, Review, 21 January). The average sale of each type was roughly the same! A win-win for publishers?
Peter Shilson
Leeds
• ”And everybody, from the secretaries and janitors up to the big guy, got paid in shares,” Gary Mulgrew says of Enron (A bad trade, Weekend, 21 January). Any comment from Nick Clegg?
Keith Bilton
London
• Hockney’s latest oversize canvases (Report, 21 January) are just the job for the parish panto backdrops.
John Lloyd
London

The Costa Concordia tragedy (Five dead, 15 missing, tales of chaos, and a captain who left his passengers behind, 16 January) raises a number of important questions for the cruise industry.
With business models based on very large ships being very full, Carnival and other cruise operators will want answers quickly. This is an industry that has provided high-skilled work for many thousands of UK seafarers since the boom years started in the 1990s. It is vitally important that speculation is kept to the minimum while the competent authorities examine precisely what went wrong and, most importantly, how to stop it happening again. It is therefore not helpful that much media speculation has already focused on the arrest of the captain and the first officer. Their experience and detailed knowledge of what led up to the accident, and the events that followed it, will be key in finding the answers to this tragedy. They should therefore be able to give their accounts to investigators whose responsibility it is to find out what happened, rather than to prosecutors trying to apportion blame. Anything short of this may not restore passenger confidence in what has so far proved to be a very resilient business.
Paul Moloney
Shipping consultant
• I welcome Ian Jack’s brave attempt to express sympathy for Captain Francesco Schettino of the Costa Concordia (How to be a good captain, 21 January). Even so, the article still contains that fatal phrase “but his transgression is enormous”. This may well prove to be the case, but given that no trial has yet taken place nor any inquiry come to a conclusion, a statement of this nature is alarmingly prejudicial. Were he a British citizen accused of a crime on British territory, no UK newspaper would be allowed to publish such an unqualified statement. Why should Schettino be denied the same standard of legal protection just because he’s foreign?
Jeremy Muldowney
York
•  Ian Jack commits an understandable error in making Lichfield the birthplace of EJ Smith, since it was in the city’s Beacon Park that the statue to the captain of the Titanic was ceremonially unveiled by his daughter in 1914. The official reason for its being placed there, rather than in Smith’s native Hanley, is because the Potteries town falls within Lichfield diocese, though the received wisdom is that Hanley refused the honour since it might lead to an unenviable association with an international disaster. The siting of the statue, which was designed by Captain Scott’s widow Kathleen, also stirred controversy in Lichfield. A hundred years later, both towns have been seeking to lay claim to her bronze of this resolute – if not heroic – son of Staffordshire.
Alex Went
Prague, Czech Republic
•  In the wake of the Costa Concordia tragedy, and the potential leakage of fuel oil, it is worth noting that cruise liners boast one of the highest carbon footprints per passenger on the planet.
I asked Carnival for environmental emissions data for one of its Mediterranean cruises, so I could calculate a “per passenger kilometre” CO2 impact. It could not provide this. I believe it was scared to admit the truth and worried it would be taxed like air travel.
Tim Gresty
Congleton, Cheshire

Independent:

 
In your leading article concerning a possible Thames Estuary airport you convey the bizarre idea that “Boris Island” and the Isle of Grain are in east London; of course, both sites are firmly in Kent.
Although the Isle of Grain did once contain an oil refinery, it is part of the Hoo peninsula, a rural area of high-grade agricultural land, panoramic landscapes, magnificent skyscapes, attractive shorelines, seascapes and two RSPB reserves.
The peninsula is full of ancient villages and churches, including St James at Cooling, the churchyard of which is the setting for the opening chapter of Great Expectations. This area of north Kent, including nearby Rochester and Chatham, are known, worldwide, as “Dickens Country”; he lived and died at Gads Hill Place in Higham, on the western edge of the peninsula.
The greatest concern is that any development will spread over the whole of this quiet, unspoilt, rural area and destroy it forever.
DE Williams
Rochester
 
Boris Johnson’s grand idea for an airport in the Thames Estuary is nothing new. Older readers may recall that in the 1970s there were two public inquiries in the search for a third London airport site. Both enquiries came to the same conclusion – Maplin Sands. Neither was acceptable to the government of the time and it took a third inquiry to come up with Stansted, which is what the government wanted in the first place. The attraction of Maplin Sands was not dissimilar to that of “Boris Island”. It would have been “new” land with sufficient space for a very large airport with approaches over the sea. It is conceivable that it could have replaced Heathrow completely, thus releasing a lot of very valuable land for redevelopment.
David Winter
Yeovil, Somerset
 
Benefits cap targets the poor and weak
Mary Ann Sieghart’s defence of the Coalition Government’s benefits cap is a best disingenuous and at worst despicable (23 January). Large families may receive what seems like a large amount of benefit, but the amount they will have to subsist on per person will, in reality, be paltry. Defending the cap also assumes that if claimants migrate to cheaper areas, lower-cost housing will be easy to find.
Sieghart suggests that many traditional Labour voters stayed at home at the last election, “because they were angry with the party’s positions on welfare and immigration”. As a traditional Labour party supporter myself, I stayed at home at the last election due to disgust at the way the party had lurched to the right and now saw its role as representing the middle classes rather than standing up for the poor and low paid. I do however deeply resent the way the mega-rich evade tax and that senior bankers are not being held to account for the deficit they caused.
Tim Matthews
Luton, Bedfordshire
 
The Government’s proposed benefits cap will be easy to avoid. All that is required is for one parent in a family to carry out some sort of work for 16 hours per week to qualify for Working Tax Credit, which makes them exempt from the cap. Following a recent ruling, it appears working as a Big Issue seller for a few hours a day would qualify.
This would enable those such as the Somali family Mary Ann Sieghart describes to retain extensive taxpayer funding, as their continued benefits would dwarf earnings, even if they were forced by other Housing Benefit changes to move to a less salubrious area.
Simon Leadbeater
Benson, Oxfordshire
 
Your leading article of 23 January totally misrepresents my position on the Government’s proposed welfare cap.
You say my “decision to add my voice to all those campaigning against the Government’s proposed cap on welfare payments is regrettable”. It would be if I had done this. But I did not.
On the contrary, as I repeatedly made clear in the Sky interview to which you refer, I do not oppose the Government’s proposals for a cap. I am strongly in favour of a benefits cap, but am concerned that, as currently proposed, the transition mechanisms for this are not yet right.
Mr Duncan Smith is proposing an overall and much needed reform to the welfare system which I strongly support. But he himself acknowledged that there was further work to do on the transition mechanisms before introducing the benefits cap, when he said in the Commons, “We recognise that there must be transitional arrangements… We will make sure that families who need transitional support will receive it.”
These proposals have not yet been published. My Lib Dem colleagues in Government, led by Nick Clegg, are pressing for this. If and when they are published and contain proposals which do, as Mr Duncan Smith promised, provide the most vulnerable families with the transitional support, I shall have no difficulty in supporting these proposals.
Until this is done, I cannot give them my support. That’s what I said – no more.
Paddy Ashdown
Norton sub Hamdon, Somerset
 
May I suggest that a far more appropriate target for Iain Duncan Smith is the universal Child Benefit? If ever there has been electoral bribery on the grand scale it is payment to comfortably off people of money they do not need just because they have children. It is almost as blatant as the much smaller bribe tendered to married couples.
Kenneth J Moss
Norwich
 
Does the Labour Party not find itself in an awkward position on the Coalition’s proposed benefits cap because it has lost touch with those from whom it took its name? People who labour, or work as we usually say now, which is the vast majority of us in the increasingly squeezed middle.
Maxine Watt
Leeds
 
Physiotherapy is the way forward
I read with interest Harriet Walker’s “Notebook” (6 January) regarding lack of physiotherapy resources in the NHS. As an orthopaedic surgeon, I have for years fought for good post-operative physiotherapy in order to not only improve the results but also prevent complications.
Unfortunately pressures on the NHS are now such that even diligent and conscientious surgeons have to prioritise. We at the Droitwich Knee Clinic have been trying to spread the gospel on the importance of good rehabilitation post-surgery and while we agree that in many cases physiotherapy may not make a difference to the long-term outcome, there are many patients who do need significant help post-operatively and the only way to identify this is a good physiotherapy assessment. Even that is denied to some patients, not only in the NHS but in private practice too.
Unfortunately the attitude among some orthopaedic surgeons is: “My surgery is so good that physiotherapy is unnecessary.”
Mohi El-Shazly, Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon
Droitwich Knee Clinic Worcestershire
 
Double standards in City of London?
Residents of the streets around St Paul’s will be fascinated to learn (report, 19 January) that lawyers for the City of London Corporation have argued successfully in the High Court for the eviction of the Occupy London protesters on the ground that “alcohol and other stimulants fuel noise levels that have caused complaints”.
This is the same Corporation that licenses bars, clubs and pubs to operate late into the night in the area regardless of complaints about exactly the type of anti-social behaviour to which it here objects.
Clearly, the Corporation takes a different view of what constitutes a public nuisance when the offender wears Prada. It will be interesting to hear what its officers have to say when its lawyers are quoted at the next licensing hearing.
Mark Wheeler
London EC4
 
This mansion is my family home
In 1970, my husband and I bought a wreck of a house with a jungle for a garden in Highgate for £18,000. Slowly, over the years we tended it, improved it, and raised our family in it. Now, as my retired husband approaches 80 years old, Mr Clegg informs us that it is fair to tax people, which would include retired people on fixed incomes, who live in houses worth more than £2m. Does he really believe that it is reasonable to force elderly people out of their lifetime family homes by imposing taxes they cannot possibly afford to pay because of the vagaries of the London housing market?
Judith M Steiner
London N6
 
Save the date
Outside Holland Park in London there is a plaque confirming that Lt Lapenotiere R.N. arrived there on 5 November 1805 with the news of Nelson’s victory at Trafalgar. So we can legitimately continue to remember and let off fireworks on the glorious 5th, without celebrating the abuse of Roman Catholics or the preservation of governments as opposed to peoples. Rebranding the date with honour may also help to take minds off the coming humiliation of being kicked out of the last outpost of Empire in the Falklands.
Nicholas Taylor
Little Sandhurst, Berkshire
 
Ascot standards
How standards have dropped at Royal Ascot. Your report (23 January) quoted the race organisers as requiring men to wear a “jacket and tie” in the Royal Enclosure. The correct name for the upper half of a gentlemen’s suit is a “coat”. As the redoubtable Hardy Amies once said “The only thing that has a ‘jacket’ is a potato”.
Stan Broadwell
Bristol
 
Yacht argument
David Cameron has a blind spot where fairness lies. This, I think, is self-evident. But surely even he can see that a royal yacht paid for by a bunch of UK tax-avoiders is a royal yacht paid for by UK taxpayers.
David Woods
Hull
 
Noisy cinemas
Cinema sound (Letters, 23 January) is loud to drown out all the munching of popcorn throughout the auditorium, so keep the decibels please…
Nicky Ford
Guildford, Surrey

Telegraph:

SIR – Seville oranges are beginning to appear in the shops, marking the start of the marmalade-making season. Last year, I read your feature (February 1) on Diana and John Knott, who had been making marmalade together for 54 years.
I tried their recipe, which was excellent – it uses one kilo of fruit to one kilo of sugar instead of the more usual ratio of one kilo of fruit to two kilos of sugar. But as I have neither the patience, as it takes two days to make, nor a willing husband to cut the peel carefully, I adapted their recipe.
Scrub the fruit, remove the eye, cut into eight, put into water in a pressure cooker for 15 minutes. Skim off fruit and allow to cool while adding the warmed sugar to the water and boiling rapidly for 15 to 30 minutes.
When fruit is cool, remove the pips and discard. Slice the peel and cut into shreds. Add the peel to the mixture and leave for 10 minutes to cool – the fruit will be more evenly spread, instead of rising to the top of the jar. Screw top into place.
This makes delicious marmalade.
Jeanette Brown
Tunbridge Wells, Kent

SIR – Should the unthinkable happen and Scotland unilaterally breaks the treaty of 1707, we would not need to redesign the Union Flag. The Union Flag predates political union by over 100 years. It signifies the union of crowns, not the union of governments, so unless Scotland became a republic there would be no reason to alter the national flag.
The flag was created by King James I (James VI of Scotland) in 1606 as a royal banner. That is how it has remained, but it became adopted as the de facto national flag in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. However, the only clarification of this status is a couple of answers in Hansard to parliamentary questions on the subject before the Second World War.
We do not have a statutory national flag because there has never been a Flag Act in the United Kingdom. So if Scotland goes her own way and a new configuration is defined for the UK, we will surely need a Flag Act to secure our national flag constitutionally. After more than 400 years of loyal service, is it not time our flag was dignified by a statutory instrument declaring its status in law?
Malcolm Farrow
President, The Flag Institute
Petersfield, Hampshire
SIR – Britain’s coastline is over 11,000 miles long, plus offshore islands, and it includes ports, fuel depots and fisheries.
We once had a big coastguard service, customs boats, helicopters, a reserve naval auxiliary service for coast-watching and shipping control, all largely co-ordinated by the Royal Navy. All that has been fragmented among agencies including the Scottish Fisheries Protection Agency, run by the devolved Scottish executive. Yet three years ago the House of Commons Defence Committee described the forces to protect our coasts as “too small, disjointed and reactive rather than intelligence led”. Nothing has been done about this since.
Whatever else David Cameron agrees in talks with Alex Salmond, he should not make this mess worse: we need to get coast and fishery protection back under British control and give it the ships and men it needs to do the work.
Lt-Cdr John Parfitt (retd)
Painswick, Gloucestershire
SIR – Being a proud Scot living in London, I am pulled in two directions over the debate about Scotland being a Celtic cash cow, as London, not Scotland, has the most spent per head of any region in the UK.
Greg Knox
London SE21
SIR – The parties to the treaty of 1707 which led to the Acts of Union were Scotland and England. Alex Salmond speaks for Scotland in the current debate, but David Cameron can speak only for the United Kingdom, which was not a signatory. The English interest, enormous though it is, is unrepresented and unheard.
Nicholas Guitard
Bude, Cornwall
Pictures for posterity
SIR – Kodak’s troubles come as no surprise (Comment, January 20). It is regrettable that so few people bother printing their photographs any more, which will surely deny future generations of important family and social history.
Who can be trusted to safeguard our digital images long term, even if we leave behind all the passwords? How much information and how many photographs are languishing on obsolete technology like floppy disks, zip drives or CD-R? And no one backs anything up.
What chance do the grandchildren have of enjoying family photographs if nobody sticks them in a book?
Michael Powell
Tealby, Lincolnshire
SIR – The demise of the once iconic Kodak company sent me racing to the loft to retrieve the photograph albums collected by my family and me over many years, which have been gathering little more than dust and the smell of age.
But I was not planning to head off to the nearest refuse tip and throw away the past. I sat down and went through them all, simply recalling the many memories they brought back, of those people and places I once knew.
Would I put them back in the loft to collect dust over the next 20 or 30 years? No. Would I throw them in the bin? Definitely not. They have been dusted down and put on a bookshelf. They will provide much amusement among younger members of the family in years to come.
Stephen Ivall
Truro, Cornwall
Reorganising the euro
SIR – There is some logic to the argument that contributing to the International Monetary Fund eurozone bailout fund would be cheaper than a chaotic collapse of the euro (Comment, January 20). All the more reason, if we do pay up, that we should insist that the short-term bail-out, for which IMF funding would be used, should be accompanied by more fundamental plans and a commitment to orderly currency reorganisation in Europe.
The main problem is that southern Europe is 35 per cent uncompetitive against Germany. The southern European economies cannot recover without a material devaluation. This means they cannot share a currency with Germany. A possible solution would be to split the eurozone into two: a weak currency for the South and a strong currency for the North.
A standard ingredient of IMF help is the requirement for devaluation. Without this, merely financing short-term requirements is throwing good money after bad.
Lord Flight
London SW1
Take a bow
SIR – My friend Ron Kirby has 31 ties, one for each day of the month (Letters, January 20). He will know (not precisely) that I have 117 bow ties.
Tie-my-owns, naturally, not the ready-made variety.
Peter Hiley
Poole, Dorset
SIR – I, too, enjoy a great variety of ties. I currently have 58, including a wooden one.
The more outrageous patterns came in useful on the occasions when, as a deputy head teacher, I was sent a student who “could not find” his school tie. I would give him mine to wear so that he shouldn’t feel too disappointed.
Quite often, he would find his school tie fairly swiftly.
Mik Shaw
Goring-by-Sea, West Sussex
No room in the Lords
SIR – There seems to be a contradiction in Government policy. It proposes a reduction in membership of both the House of Commons and the Lords, but at the same time has increased membership of the Lords to 900 Members.
Now some peers have to occupy seats reserved for the public due to lack of space. But apparently this is going to get worse. Following the defeat of the Government’s Welfare Bill during three divisions last week, it is rumoured that the Government will now recommend another 60 new peers to increase its ability to win divisions.
As well as making space in the Chamber more scarce, an increased membership will mean that debates will require more time, and thereby delay the Government’s legislative programme.
Lord Kilclooney
Independent Cross-Bencher
London SW1
Missing appointments
SIR – My hope is that fines for patients who miss appointments are brought in as quickly as possible (report, January 16).
When playing bowls a few years ago, one of the members, turned up unexpectedly. A friend said to her: “I thought you had a hospital appointment today?” The reply was: “I had, but it’s such a lovely day I thought I would play bowls. I phoned them and said my husband was ill and could not bring me.” However, he had driven her to the match.
I cannot believe the research finding that 30 per cent of people “simply forgot”; but if they did, they should go to the end of the waiting list.
Ralph Broad
Hope Valley, Derbyshire
SIR – An adviser to the Coalition suggests that patients who fail to turn up for appointments at hospitals should be financially penalised. Has the adviser ever tried to telephone a hospital to change or cancel an appointment?
I cannot be the only person to have spent a futile day trying a telephone number which is permanently engaged.
Rosalie Brentnall
Brentwood, Essex
Union heavyweights
SIR – Is it compulsory for union representatives to be overweight? There have been many in the news lately and I’ve yet to see a thin one.
John Maddox
Totnes, Devon
Oxbridge is not the answer for every student
SIR – Matthew Norman’s article (Comment, January 21) makes me wonder why people are so obsessed with Oxbridge. Our daughter chose not to apply because the courses were not right for her; and in one case not good enough. She passed her A-levels with top grades and is now an undergraduate at King’s College, London, which was her first choice.
The paradox of Oxbridge is that if people were so clever, they would realise that there are other universities just as good, if not better in many subjects.
Mark Westaby
Chalfont St Giles, Buckinghamshire
SIR – Matthew Norman’s thoughts on Elly Nowell’s “rejection” of Oxford and his own toe-curling account of an interview at Trinity, Oxford, brought to mind my equally humiliating experience across the road at Exeter College. Unlike Miss Nowell and Mr Norman, I went to Eton. Like Mr Norman, I tried to pretend I had read more than I had, in my case Plato.
Having been tied in knots tighter than those administered by Socrates, I was then asked, witheringly, whether I felt entitled to any more privileges in life. Not surprisingly, I was rejected. What this shows is that Oxford dons can be intimidating to anyone: their main aim is to test the applicant. However, I was not too proud to reapply and was admitted to another college, up the road from Trinity, and one built entirely of red bricks.
Archie Berens
London SE11

Irish Times:

Troika troubles
Sir, – Recent public debate over whether and how we might be allowed to spend money from the sale of Irish State assets has failed to highlight the extent to which our sovereignty has been undermined by the Troika. Given that the total national debt – including debt issued by private banks but underpinned by a State guarantee – is well over €300 billion, while the value of Irish State assets is of the order of €15 billion (only a fraction of which would ever be bought by the private sector), the sale would only be a drop in an ocean of debt.
The alarming fact is that we are being told to sell, and that our Government is willing to do it. The huge losses incurred by financial speculators has presented an opportunity to push full steam ahead on an ideological drive towards privatisation. And a compliant right-wing Irish Government, which includes the Labour Party, isn’t even whimpering.
It’s time that we the Irish people told the IMF, EU and ECB to get their hands off what is ours. – Yours, etc,
JOHN LANNON,
Raheen,
Ballyneety, Co Limerick.
Sir, – Is the Government now getting Vincent Browne to do its job for it, in asking the “hard” question of the Troika: Why do we have to pay the unguaranteed bondholders of the now defunct Anglo Irish Bank (Home News, January 20th)?
Where is the passionate outrage about our dire financial situation that they displayed before they were elected? Perhaps if they thought of the Troika, Merkel and Sarkozy as the Fianna Fáil opposition, we might get a little less “cap-in-hand” and more “hat in the ring”. – Yours, etc,
MARGARET GOODE,
Douglas Road, Cork.
Sir, – Well done Noel Whelan (Opinion, January 21st) for refocusing our attention on the real villains responsible for the nation’s current crisis. The Troika, far from being the cause of our travails, is actually providing the wherewithal to keep the country running, and therefore we have to dance to its tune.
In the meantime the real culprits – former Fianna Fáil cabinet ministers and senior bankers,– exit stage left with golden handshakes, and large pensions while those of us further down the food chain are left to tidy up their mess.
It is high time some of our misguided journalists and Opposition politicians used their investigative and oratory powers to delve into the past and current activities of this infamous “elite” rather than biting the hand that is feeding us, namely the Troika. The words mote and eye come to mind. – Yours, etc,
MIKE CORMACK,
Ardagh Close,
Blackrock, Co Dublin.
Wanted: emergency budget
Sir, – Thomas Ryan (January 21st) is wrong to criticise a group of people who have taken the time to try to end an economic policy that they find unfair.
They are among the many people in our society who are against policies of the Government, feel betrayed by broken promises and believe the best way to effect change is in a non-partisan way – in this case anyway.
It is irrelevant that many of them are academics and high earners. They are calling for the more equitable path of recovery, and I’m sure many of them would not object to more taxation, if it was for progressive reasons. Many of these people are well qualified economic experts, and their reasoning should be examined, not subjected to an attack on their organisational structure, lack of party structure or personal finances.
I’m also quite sure they would be satisfied with any of the more acceptable alternative and opposition budgetary submissions. Their efforts to effect change are to be commended, or at least debated, not swiped at and picked on with repetitive jibes. – Yours, etc,
JEFF MCLOUGHLIN,
Cove Park Road,
Tramore,
Co Waterford.
A chara, – I cannot speak for my other academic co-signatories (January 20th), but I can assure Thomas Ryan (January 21st) that the majority of people working in our universities do not earn even a significant fraction of the €150,000 salaries that are referred to in his letter.
Like all public sector employees, cuts to the funding of universities have affected us, too – in all sorts of ways, including increased workloads, and yes, in our pay. I can also answer his question, and thereby further reassure him, in stating that reading and signing the letter took no more than a few minutes. Thus, I was able to attend, without significant disruption, to my regular work of the training of teachers and guidance counsellors, and my research into helping schools to prevent and counter bullying and violence.
While the latter has not been a particular concern for successive governments (unfortunately, the “concrete proposals” I have made have been largely ignored), I have found that many teachers and parents (and yes, the taxpayers who contribute to university funding) do find this area to be of importance.
Finally, given the disastrous social and economic implications of centre-right policies pursued over recent administrations, let me say that I find no insult at all in being characterised as “left-wing”. – Is mise,
Dr STEPHEN JAMES MINTON,
School of Education,
Trinity College Dublin,
Dublin 2.
Thrice charged for services
Sir, – Ireland has for many years been skilled in the art of making people pay for a service three times over. Classic examples are health care (health levy, VHI and hospital charges), television (licence fee, advertising on RTÉ and the fee to NTL/UPC for something watchable) and now refuse collection (general taxation, local authority charges and the household charge). Water will shortly be added to the list. Owners of septic tanks will find themselves deeply in the mire.
This trend has now advanced to the emergency services. There has long been a charge for the ambulance service. We are now to pay directly should we be foolish enough to call the fire brigade. (We’ve already paid twice and anyone who claims that this will not cost lives is either a fool or a knave!) The logical progression is to extend the charge for use to all emergency services. The most obvious and immediate candidate is the Garda Síochána.
Given the planned programme of station closures, revenue is clearly needed. A charge for Garda services would also result in a dramatic reduction in the crime rate, well the reported crime rate at least. The RNLI does not make a direct charge, and deserves our respect and support for it. – Yours, etc,
Dr ANDREW ROUS,
St Aubyn’s Court,
Killiney, Co Dublin.
How best to prune an economy
Sir, – As all good gardeners know, plants, shrubs and trees occasionally need pruning to supply additional energy for the healthy development of the plant. Pruning plants from the top down will generally result in a more vibrant and healthy plant, but improper pruning can ruin or greatly reduce a plant’s potential and its future growth.
Minister for Finance Michael Noonan is currently wielding a very large shears and he is chopping away at the economy like a man who has heard that pruning can regenerate growth; but he hasn’t a clue where to start.
Perhaps he should dispense with his expensive economic advisers and hire a few horticulturalists, who will tell him to start at the top and work down. – Yours, etc,
JOHN O’CONNOR,
Grange Park Road,
Raheny,
Dublin 5.
Wannsee recollections
Sir, – I read with interest Derek Scally’s excellent article about the Wannsee Conference which took place exactly 70 years ago (World News, January 21st).
Not only did the German senior government officials and top Nazis endorse the plans to annihilate the Jews of Europe, Adolf Eichmann presented them with a list containing the number of Jews in each European country who the Nazis intended to murder – Ireland was on the list with 4,000 Jews. – Yours, etc,
LYNN JACKSON,
Holocaust Education Trust Ireland,
Lower Fitzwilliam Street,
Dublin 2.
Beethoven’s shopping note
Sir, – With regard to your series of printed letters and comments on Beethoven’s shopping note (Breaking News, January 10th Letters, January 16th-23rd). This avid reader of your esteemed newspaper notes that your letter- writers are having a Field day and obviously Ravel in the subject matter. Gluck to them all. – Yours, etc,
JAMES CAVANAGH,
Mannix Road,
Drumcondra, Dublin 9.
A chara, – In this age of increasing sax and violas, I have little symphony for those readers who can’t Handel this seemingly well-orchestrated effort by some to be humorous.
Their unease though is entirely Previntable. I suggest tea in the Four Seasons would help them regain their composer. – Is mise,
CIAN de hOIR,
Dundrum Castle,
Dundrum, Dublin 16.
A chara, – Huge thanks to all those who contributed punny composer letters recently. I have cut them all out and thrown them on my compost heap.
Messrs Lizst, Bach, Beethoven et al can now peacefully decompose! – Is mise,
JERRY TWOMEY,
Fr Russell Road,
Limerick.
Sir, For those gentlemen who wish to emigrate because of Beethoven’s Liszt, as Rimsky said, let the Bums take Flight because of Korsakov they will Bee Bach. – Yours, etc,
NOEL HUGHES,
Lansdowne Park,
Knocklyon Road,
Templeogue, Dublin 16.
Sir, – These punsters are a pain in the Bachside. If I Caccini of them I’ll give them a good telling Orff. It Beethovens you, Sir, to put an end to this nonsense – Für Elise sake. – Yours, etc,
EDWARD HANLON,
Loreto Park,
Troys Lane, Kilkenny.
Sir, – I can Bruch these musical punster no longer. I am tempted to make a Fauré into their camp, armed with gun and Holst-er, and let them have a good Haydn. – Yours, etc,
SEAN CARNEY,
Sooey, Co Sligo.
Sir, – Enough. Far too many people are starting to Ravel in all of this and it lowers the tone of your publication. A Bachwards step indeed. I am getting crotchety. – Yours, etc,
PAULA FALLER,
Kincora Avenue,
Clontarf, Dublin 3.
Sir, – I suggest all these Beethoven punsters just go and get Garfunkel’d. It’s been Cohen on for long enough. I’m on the Edge, and it seems there is no Lennon up on the Harrison. It’s giving me Bocellism. – Yours, etc,
PAUL BARNES,
Sugarloaf Peaks,
Kilmacanogue,
Co Wicklow.
Sir, – Enough of these E.Grieg-ious puns. Please call them Orff! Yours, etc,
FRANK HENRY,
Circular Road, Galway.
Sir, –   I hate to harp on about this, but I’m delighted to note your lieder-writer hasn’t tuned in to all this composer pun nonsense. – Yours, etc,
PADRAIG DOYLE,
Pine Valley Avenue,
Rathfarnham, Dublin 16.
Sir, – May I protest at the amount of utter drivel that has been appearing in the hallowed Letters page. Quite frankly it has all been all Grieg to me and given the current economic situation I am under enough Strauss already.
For God’s sake man get a Holst of yourself and bring back a sense of decorum. – Yours, etc,
IAN KAVANAGH,
Suir Road, Kilmainham,
Dublin 8.
Sir, – After reading the many letters on the above subject, I took to the bottle and got properly Franz Liszt! – Yours, etc.
A LONG,
Rushbrook Park, Dublin 6W.
Holding on to retiring teachers
Sir, – Is it too much to expect that the leaders of the teacher unions would encourage their members, who are taking early retirement with a generous exit package, to continue working as volunteers until the end of the school year, particularly for the benefit of pupils who are due to take important exams? – Yours, etc,
E MOLLOY,
Zion Road, Dublin 6.
Burning of Ballyconree orphanage
Sir, – Niall Meehan (January 20th) seems to have a problem about there being any element of sectarianism here during War of Independence and after, and he quotes a Protestant Convention in May 1922 in Dublin.
However, I would rely on individual Church of Ireland ministers and bishops to know what was going on throughout the land, and indeed land was often the operative word. And we owe it to the burned out boys of Ballyconree that neither their religion nor the views of their warden were justification for what happened to them.
In June 1922, the Church of Ireland Gazette also made it clear that “in certain districts in Southern Ireland inoffensive Protestants of all classes are being driven from their homes, their shops and their farms in such numbers that many of our little communities are in danger of being entirely wiped out.” Mullingar, Athenry, Loughrea and Nenagh were mentioned. In Tipperary on August 5th, 1921, the Bishop of Cashel Dr Miller said: “Five of our members have been foully murdered without the slightest justification” and he appealed to Protestants in the area not to emigrate in the face of intimidation.
Local Rector Rev Sterling Berry wrote on June 10th, 1922 that in the area of Templederry, Silvermines and Ballinclough there was “scarcely a Protestant family which had escaped molestation, houses have been burned, Protestant families have been forced to leave the neighbourhood, altogether a state of terrorism exists”.
As my late father, who was involved, told me, there were many idealistic individuals involved in War of Independence, but this sectarian element was also present. Sadly many Protestants and their clergy remained silent about this and kept the heads down just to be left alone. Indeed on October 7th, 1921, the COI Gazette reported that even the migration of younger clergy had begun. – Yours, etc,
BRENDAN CAFFERTY,
Ballina,
Co Mayo.
A hot topic in the vineyards
Sir, – In response to Jim Ryan’s letter (January 16th) on John Wilson’s article “Now for something different” (Magazine, January 7th), I would strongly disagree with his claim that a 0.81 increase of a degree Celsius is “hardly enough for . . .plants to notice.”
Whilst the increase seems insignificant in the greater scheme of things, it is actually the hotter temperatures during the growing season and in particular more frequent spikes in temperature that are causing problems for grape producers. Grape-growing conditions are a complex subject and are affected by numerous macroclimatic conditions. Sunlight, rainfall, altitude and continentality, as well as what is referred to as heat summation, all have a role to play, with heat being responsible for 75 per cent of the grape growth and ripening. Grape growers refer to the amount of heat generated during the growth season as growing degree days (GDDs).
Added to this, mesoclimatic factors such as aspect, soil, wind exposure and bodies of water also have an influence on the ripening of grapes on the vine.
GDDs are calculated by taking the mean temperature for a month, subtracting 10 and multiplying this figure by the number of days in the month. The GDDs for each month are then added together across the growing season (April-October in the Northern Hemisphere) to get the heat summation figure for the whole year. Typical GDD readings for well-known grape growing areas are: Bordeaux 1440, the Barossa Valley, Australia 1680 and Burgundy 1100. These figures are used by the grape-growing industry to help assign the correct grape variety to the correct area. For example, the Syrah grape requires 1250 GDDs to ripen to a stage where it can be used to make dry table wine and therefore while not suited to Burgundy, it would easily ripen in the Barossa Valley.
Having obtained even fairly recent historical information from the weather station at Frankfurt airport in Germany, it is clear to see that Mr Ryan’s assertion that a small overall temperature increase has no effect on grape production is wrong. In 1997 the GDDs recorded at the station were 1317 and yet for the following 14 years they were recorded at an average of 1474. In fact only 2010 had a lower reading with 1287 while the memorable heatwave summer of 2003 came in at 1700 GDDs.
Under the 1997 reading, a grape-grower would have been recommended to plant varieties such as Chenin Blanc for whites and Merlot or Syrah for reds. In the intervening period that same grape-grower would have regretted that decision as the advice today would be to plant traditional Mediterranean grape varieties such as Grenache Blanc and Mourvedre for whites and reds respectively such is the climatic change in the growing season.
As for the traditional Riesling grape so commonly found in German vineyards, has Mr Ryan not noticed that these wines are no longer found to be at the previous alcohol levels of nine or 10 per cent but more likely at 12 to 13 per cent? Riper grapes equals more sugar which equals more alcohol.
In addition, I don’t think any wine lover would dispute Mr Ryan’s claim that Germany has been making good Pinot Noir for a long time, but with the change in growing conditions I think it is safe to say that they are now doing so more regularly! – Yours, etc,
SIMON TYRRELL,
Tyrrell & Co (Wine Importers)Ltd,
Kilmeague, Naas, Co Kildare.
If you don’t have a TV . . .
Sir, – In reply to Edward D Rafferty (January 20th Jan 2012), I think he should remove “hospital trolleys” from the suggested “movement levy” as it would be paradoxical. – Yours, etc,
JONATHAN WORMALD,
Strand Road,
Sutton,
Dublin 13.
Sir, – Surely an overlooked benefit of changing to the universal broadcast charge is that we will be spared those incredibly irritating ads about TV licence inspectors, carrier pigeons and the like? – Yours, etc,
COLM MAGEE,
Vernon Avenue, Clontarf,
Dublin 3.

Irish Independent:

John Daly’s report on the legal case taken by Percy French against the directors of the West Clare Railway in 1897 (Weekend Review, January 21) brought to mind a dramatisation performed in Ennis Courthouse on the centenary of the event in 1997.
A hilarious production by the Corofin Dramatic Society entitled ‘Laughter in Court’, and scripted by Brian Comerford of Kilrush, covered Mr French’s case, as well as that of a Mary Ann Butler. What a thrill it was to discover the script online recently.
While browsing, I also came across another script of Mr Comerford’s named ‘The Liquidator’. This was a play he wrote for radio in 1987, the theme of which was the arrival of representatives of Ireland’s creditor banks to Government Buildings to strip the nation’s assets.
How prescient that idea turned out to be.
John M Lillis
Lahinch Road,
Ennis, Co Clare

Dr Thomas O’Flynn’s thoughtful reflection on the future of the Catholic Church in Ireland (Irish Independent, January 18) is a very honest attempt to redeem the past and nurture the development of a renewed church.
The clerical abuse scandal led to a considerable loss of confidence in the probity of the institutional church. Sadly, as Dr O’Flynn notes, all the priests and religious have been tarred with the one brush. At the heart of this is an absurd tendency to expect the church to be perfect.
The church is not some kind of abstraction from the messy business of human living. It is corrupt and corruptible as we all are in some measure. It is fallible. The church is not a finished product. We have to work at it. Unfortunately, the acknowledgement in our religious services that we are all sinners tends not to rise above the level of ritual incantation. It is sometimes hard to accept that all of us are a work in progress.
The declaration of the infallibility of the Pope in the 19th Century added to the growing belief that the church could do no wrong. The fact that some priests engaged in aberrant sexual behaviour should sadden, shock but not totally surprise us; it is understandable, forgivable but not excusable.
However, it gives no grounds for the vilification of all priests. There are hundreds of deeply committed, dedicated and hard-working priests who continue to give their lives in the service of our people. It would be a huge injustice if they were written off.
The priests are in the best position to guide us away from the seductions of the three contemporary gods of riches, social and celebrity status.
It is expected that the forthcoming Eucharistic Congress will somehow restore the faith of our young people and cleanse us from the stain of recent history. This looks like a case of digging for gold whilst ignoring the diamonds under our feet. There is a real willingness amongst the Irish priests and people to engage more honestly and openly with what they actually believe, in the hope that church leaders’ faith in their critical voices will be strengthened and inform more radically the future direction of the church.
Philip O’Neill
33 Edith Road, Oxford

While it is tragic many Irish people are being forced to emigrate against their will, it is important to acknowledge that many of us have spent years living abroad by choice.
I am in my mid-30s and have emigrated five times in the last 15 years (to Sydney, Wellington, San Francisco, Edinburgh and London). Before, during and after the Celtic Tiger boom.
Each time it has been the desire to experience living and working in a foreign country that has taken me abroad. Like many Irish people I work in a heavily globalised industry and seeing how things are done internationally has been an invaluable part of my employment experience.
It is said we live on a small island, off the coast of an island, off the coast of Europe. Indeed some of the counties within California are larger than our country. If you’ve only lived and worked in Ireland you measure yourself against Irish standards. If you’ve lived and worked globally you measure yourself against the best in the world.
Shane Brett
Seacrest Manor, Dundalk

On reading Antony Beevor’s masterpiece ‘Berlin’, the story of the fall of Berlin under the Russian advance in 1944/45, one story of barbarity stood out.
Some Russian soldiers, bent on hatred for the Nazis, caught one German soldier, discovered that he could play the piano and proceeded to tell him to play, and that if he stopped, assured him he would be shot. That poor, unfortunate man played and played for 16 hours before slumping over the keyboard in a mix of despair and tears.
Then, as promised, he was patted on the back and shot through the head.
This appalling account of human cruelty instantly brought to mind the tragic pathos of our collective capture as a people, as the international capitalist troika came to listen to our desperate, jangling discords last week.
We, too, are being forced to play for our lives with the assurance that we, too, will meet a terrible end, should we end our dark night of the collective soul that is our dependence on the IMF/EU bailout.
To paraphrase Bob Geldof, ‘is this it?’ Are we destined to be drained of every last public asset, every drop of our collective and creative life-blood, only to get the bullet in any event?
Surely the time has come for Ireland to re-group, gather around us some sense of perspective, and, begin to unwind the greatest historical injustice ever perpetrated against us. . . the banking guarantee of September 2008. Or, are we going to continue to apply the terrible logic of that tragic German?
Are we going to ‘play on’ and fight against terrible odds on the basis that there is always hope?
Regrettably, this citizen soldier can hear the safety catch being taken off the gun of our tormentors.
Declan Doyle
Lisdowney, Kilkenny

I am writing in defence of Taoiseach Enda Kenny following his comments about Junior Minister Kathleen Lynch being a “doughty fighter” as evidenced by her “flaming red hair”.
To demonise Mr Kenny is absolutely ridiculous and gives credence to Kevin Myers’s recent article (Irish Independent, January 12). ‘Equality’ is simply the feminist right to whinge.
Any honest, fair-minded, individual will interpret Mr Kenny’s description of Ms Lynch as being highly complimentary. The ‘Webster International Dictionary’ defines doughty as being brave or valiant.
In the west of Ireland there is an abundance of red-haired people, synonymous with the term ‘fiery redhead’, fiery meaning passionate, committed, single-minded.
I would have far more confidence in our future if “doughty fighters” could be used to describe our government ministers irrespective of hair colour!
Don Byrne
Raheny, Dublin 5

Well I must be off

best wishes John

Off out around the park, I like going around on Sunday, it so quiet. Its damp, though not very cold, the lamp posts slide by, one by one, and I am home at last. The crocuses have poked a cautious nose up. It starting to get light again.
Though I am getting a little fed up with the Glums. Poor Jimmy Edwards, spent his acting career, as a lovable rogue, poor, work shy, drunkard. Then he decided to run for parliament in real life as a Conservative and lost. I can’t think why?
Dick Bentley was Edwards senior by 12 years, ended up playing his son. And of course it was the start of the glorious June Whitfield’s career.
Pud is a lot better, tail up and even a tail swish at the terrifying dangerous Kitten, that is brave indeed. She settles down to her warm air vent. Having spent almost £400 I look into Cat insurance. Petplan seems best, though those banks are frauds. I get them for about £15 each a month the banks offer insurance for £50! each!
Pheasant we watch You Must be Joking, again an 1965 military initiative test comedy film, strange how with all the talent of the British acting profession, and trying hard can they manage to produce something so dull. Or rather misdirected, curious.
Scrabble today I win and get over 400, all without thinking about it, poor Mary, but I am sure she will get a suitable revenge.

Fave Letters:

Three men convicted of distributing literature calling for gay people to be killed (Report, 21 January) claimed they were publicising an Islamic view of homosexuality; I presume the Qur’an is the source of their opinion. The Bible also says of homosexuals “they shall surely be put to death” (Leviticus 20:13). Will the distribution of Bibles and Qur’ans be affected by the ruling in this case?
David Marshall
Llanrwst, Conwy

The skyrocketing price of air
The oil companies are doing their best to keep up with the bankers. Visiting my local BP petrol station, I decided to check my tyre pressure. I was horrified to discover that the charge for this service had increased from 20p to 50p (150 per cent), and received scarce consolation from the till attendant who informed me that I would now receive far more air for my payment (sufficient presumably to inflate a zeppelin) and that all other companies had imposed a similar increase.
Tim Cattell
Croydon, Surrey

Listen to unions
So The Independent has decided that the unions are the enemy: “Labour must stand up to the unions” (leading article, 18 January). For working people, it is only the unions that care about their living standards, their pensions, their health and safety. The Labour Party was founded by the unions precisely to give them a voice. It’s about time someone did listen to them. We might then have a better world.
Steve Mills
London SW17

School cadets gain an early advantage
SIR – My four years in the Combined Cadet Force (CCF) was an invaluable experience (Letters, January 15): it prepared me for the misery of basic training when doing National Service in the Army.
On arrival at the Oswestry camp, I was already capable of rifle drill, pressing uniforms, making bed rolls, “bulling” boots, “blancoing” webbing and polishing brass – all to a reasonably high standard.
I stood out in my troop because none of the others had enjoyed the experience of being a school cadet. For this reason, my sergeant sent me off into the town on his bicycle to do his wife’s shopping. He explained: “I have chosen you ’cos you are the only one that knows how to salute officers properly.”
Chris Harding
Parkstone, Dorset

Marriage of true minds
SIR – My husband and I will be celebrating our 21st wedding anniversary this year (Old enough to know better, News Review, January 15).
There were a few raised eyebrows when I, then aged 45, a curate in the Church of England and a widow with three children, married a 25-year-old reformed drug addict. But we were soon accepted as a normal couple. We are very happy and neither of us regrets the marriage at all.
Rev Liz Thomas
Retford, Nottinghamshire

Obituary:

Mary Raftery was one of the crusading greats of Irish journalism exposing the horrifying treatment over decades of children in the care of the Catholic Church.
Her TV documentaries shocked the Irish people, revealing a scarcely believable system in which children were routinely subjected to sexual, physical and psychological abuse.
They also indicated that many senior churchmen, though aware of the torments of the young, had systematically covered up the crimes of sadistic and paedophile priests and other clerics. Although the Church contested her allegations, which first aired in 1999, a series of official inquiries completely confirmed her findings. Last year, in response to the most recent report, Cardinal Sean Brady admitted it was “another dark day in the history of the response of church leaders to the cry of children abused by church personnel.”
This was a vindication of Raftery’s work. She was no ordinary journalist, but rather a figure who brought about a sea-change in attitudes, shattering the age-old tradition of deference to the Catholic Church. As such, she was probably the most influential campaigning Irish journalist of the last half-century. Her death, at the age of 54, was followed by tributes from many quarters.
One victim Andrew Madden, author of Altar Boy: A story of life after abuse, said: “Without Mary’s determination so much of what we know about our collective past would still remain hidden.” Another victim, Colm O’Gorman, who now heads Amnesty International in Ireland, said: “Where others might have been intimidated by the barriers of a system and a society determined to keep the truth hidden, Mary seemed to know no fear.”
The daughter of a diplomat, she was born in Dublin, where she attended university. But, tiring of engineering, she turned instead to journalism and activism, becoming noted for her determination and self-confidence. She recalled: “I spent my time writing and agitating and didn’t complete the course.” After working on various publications she joined RTE, producing programmes on topics such as health, the arts and the media.
Her documentary series States of Fear was broadcast in 1999. There had been earlier revelations of ill-treatment and abuse in church-run industrial schools, which were essentially orphanages, but her programmes had an immediate and profound impact. This was partly because of the huge research which had gone into them – she spoke in detail to well over a hundred victims – and because she established that abuse was so widespread. But most of all her programmes carried such force because survivors agreed to be interviewed on camera describing their experiences in harrowing and convincing detail.
She won the confidence of interviewees by departing from the broadcasting norm and allowing them to approve their testimonies. She thus provided a rare combination of meticulous research and personal empathy.
Three years later she produced a follow-up, Cardinal Secrets. Although the instinct of some in government was to delve no deeper, the effect was to provide a tidal wave of public anger. The authorities issued a formal apology and set up a commission to inquire into the abuse. This led on to a series of reports, each of which led to fresh shockwaves as more and more appalling details were unearthed. They exposed how priests and others misbehaved, how they were protected by their superiors, and how the civil authorities had been largely indifferent to the welfare of chidlren.
The fact that bishops and cardinals had covered up rather than caring for vulnerable young people, caused major damage to the church. The scale can be seen by the fact that around 14,000 people have received compensation.
Raftery’s programmes brought her under fierce attack and she was accused of being anti-Catholic. “It was like being in the middle of a maelstrom,” she recalled. “There was a sustained assault from a small cohort of conservative Catholics. They stated that my entire determination was to attack the Catholic Church in every possible way, shape or form. It just wasn’t true.”
Following Raftery’s death the Minister for Children, Frances Fitzgerald described her work as “bringing home the squalid prevalence of child sexual abuse while emphasising the life-long damage it could inflict on those abused.”
Over the years she turned to other subjects, last September broadcasting her last documentary, which dealt with the conditions in psychiatric hospitals. But she remained closely involved in the abuse issue, writing a play on the topic and co-authoring a book on the industrial schools. She also highlighted the cause of girls and women who had suffered in the involuntary servitude of the Magdalene Laundries.
She contributed regular articles which chronicled how the religious and political authorities were reacting to the continuing stream of revelations. The articles projected indignation but also dissected, in courteous but clinically remorseless detail, the changing and sometimes evasive reactions of the Irish hierarchy. As a result she built up great personal authority at the same time as the authority of the Catholic church steadily withered.
In death she had the distinction of being commended both by victims and by the institution responsible for the injustice. Diarmuid Martin, Archbishop of Dublin, said of her: “Bringing the truth out is always a positive thing even though it may be a painful truth. I believe that, through her exposition of sins of the past and of the moment, the church is a better place for children.”
Women who had been confined in the laundries recalled that she had once said: “The most important thing you can do is to give a voice to people who have been silenced. And what else would I be doing?” Her words, they said, “will resonate with us.”
Mary Raftery, investigative journalist and campaigner: born Dublin 21 December 1957; married David Waddell (one son); died 10 January 2012.

Full Text:

Guardian:

David Cameron believes he is on a crusade to drive a new “moral capitalism” (Report, 19 January). He should read Will Hutton on stakeholder capitalism and look to Germany, where employee representatives engage in corporate decision-making including levels of executive pay, local banks provide long-term support to business, apprenticeships remain common, stakeholders include suppliers and distributors, and community engagement stems from a responsibility to protect the interests of all employees.
The ghastly alternative of shareholder capitalism engineered by Conservative governments in the 1980s, and cravenly supported by New Labour, has destroyed UK manufacturing and turned the country into a spivs’ paradise, with investment banks and hedge-fund managers holding everyone, including the government, to ransom. Where is the moral compass in gambling on corporate failure? Or in ensuring that one of the few profitable UK manufacturing sectors left is an arms industry mostly in partnership with the US, a war-exporting economy?
Shareholder capitalism regards share value as the only criterion for success, encouraging foreign takeover of businesses like Cadbury’s that for 176 years had applied Quaker principles. Asset-stripping has become a national sport, devastating families and communities. It is inconceivable that Cameron will reverse this ruinous crusade on behalf of the super-rich parasites who have devastated the UK economy.
The tragedy is that the stakeholder model remains under attack throughout the western world. Without a multilateral turnaround by all OECD countries, beginning with the closure of tax havens and the imposition of a financial transaction tax, and the establishment of a World Environment Organisation possessing common powers and veto alongside the World Trade Organisation, we are heading towards an economic, environmental and social meltdown.
Simon Sweeney
University of York
• While Tweedledum and Tweedledee argue over the nature of “popular capitalism” (Socialism belongs here, 21 January), mainstream solutions on both left and right will only deepen our social and economic crisis in the long run. The suggestion that China might be the model to follow to cure our economic woes shows how out of touch with reality we have become (China’s success challenges a failed economic consensus, 18 January). While backing the idea that public ownership should be at the heart of a solution, we must also recognise that China-style 9% annual growth in GDP across all countries would spell long-term disaster for the planet and its inhabitants. The thinktank Green House has embarked on a year-long project to describe the economic and social characteristics of a world in which indiscriminate growth is not a precondition for prosperity. We need a new alternative, not simply a false choice between austerity and increased GDP.
Professor Andrew Dobson
Green House thinktank
•  The UK government is “delighted” that the Chinese government has bought a substantial holding in the company that controls the privatised utility Thames Water (Report, 21 January). Deutsche Bahn, still the monopoly and state-owned German railway company, now owns a major privatised British transport interest (Arriva). A major element of our power generation industry has been bought by EDF, in which the French state has a controlling interest. Even Barclays, determined to be independent of the UK government’s efforts to bail out the banking sector, now has the state-owned Qatar Investment Authority as its largest shareholder. But our own government, having become the principal shareholder in some of our banks, is so keen to get rid of them that it is prepared to sell Northern Rock to Virgin at a major loss to the taxpayer. So it looks like it’s OK for foreign governments to control important UK assets, but not OK for the UK government to do so. Or am I missing something?
Dr Bernard Naylor
Southampton
•  As we step gingerly into the new year, one cannot help but be struck by the degree of political and economic hopelessness which pervades Europe, as governments strain to outdo each other in feats of austerity for fear of the market’s terrible retribution. Meanwhile, unemployment continues to rise and faith in politics and capitalism itself erodes.
The Bank of England should redirect some of its QE toward “shovel-ready” infrastructure projects: social housing, fibre-optic broadband, motorway widening, acceleration of Crossrail etc. Where possible, let the private sector evaluate the economic viability of each project and carry out the work. This funding may also be more effective than conventional QE in creating the demand growth we wish to see and support our economy until the banks and the government itself have stabilised their balance sheets.
The Bank cannot, by statute, be exposed to private sector losses, but this could be overcome by issuing infrastructure bonds via a government entity with guarantee attached to safeguard the Bank against such an occurrence. It is hard to see how such money-printing would be inflationary given the spare capacity in our economy currently. In time, the Bank could reduce its support and balance sheet by selling the bonds, helping to create a retail bond market.
Something similar could be done in the eurozone with the ECB funding the EU’s structural and cohesion funds.
Keynes may be dead, but surely we can adopt his teachings for the modern era rather than submit to this austerity-fuelled melancholy.
Michael Bourke
FPP Asset Management
• The call from the IMF, the World Bank and other international agencies for a move away from job-killing austerity towards green policies and infrastructure spending (IMF warns of risk posed by global austerity plans, 20 January) must shape the growing debate around the slippery concept of responsible capitalism. Since 2008 the Green New Deal Group has been documenting just such an action plan. So here is one we made earlier.
Step one, the government must put its only significant job generator, the “Green Deal”, on economic steroids. £275bn has been e-printed and frittered into the coffers of banks via quantitative easing. The expected next round QE 3 should instead allocate £20bn to kick start a huge energy saving programme involving up to 14 million homes. This would start to tackle the coalition’s biggest deficit – adequate demand in the economy. Step two, use some of this money to act as a guarantor to attract further private funding, particularly pension funds. This could be used to train and employ a carbon army to crawl over every building in the UK to make them energy-efficient. Younger people would be the main beneficiaries, particularly in urban areas where the vast majority live. Leveraging billions from pension funds to employ the young would be a welcome act of intergenerational solidarity.
If the government doesn’t listen to the IMF and immediately adopt such a programme, this would give the two Eds something large-scale and concrete to propose, ie a “Green Prosperity not Blue Austerity” approach that puts clear green-blue water between Labour and the coalition.
Colin Hines
Convenor, Green New Deal Group
• Tristram Hunt is quite right to argue that is a long tradition in Britain of opposition to the excesses of the unfettered free market, and that the choice is most certainly not between Brent Cross and Soviet-style central planning. What he fails to emphasise sufficiently, though, is that there are many versions of the modern “market economy” ranging from the Nordic social-democratic model to Chinese state-led development. Cameron’s “popular capitalism”, like Thatcherism before it, points towards the deregulated capitalism associated with the United States. But it is precisely this finance-dominated Anglo-Saxon model which in recent years has been found wanting. One needs only turn to egalitarian Denmark or Sweden to see that the market, however poor a master, can be a good servant.
Professor George Irvin
Soas, University of London
•  Larry Elliott believes that the rating agencies’ failures in assessing sub-prime investments don’t detract from the accuracy of their downgrades of sovereign debt (Cuts on the menu as five-star guests arrive, 16 January). Maybe, but how do the agencies calculate, if at all, the precise impact of their predictions on investors’ behaviour and the subsequent economic credibility of the downgraded nations? If they don’t or can’t include such impacts in their predictions, then surely we are into similar epistemological territory to Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle – crudely, that by attempting to measure the phenomena they are affecting the very outcomes being investigated; here, making the economic situation worse. If they can predict their impacts, I’d like to get some money on their forecasts for the next meeting at Bath racecourse.
Bryn Jones
Bath

Dr Ann Robinson takes GPs in Hertfordshire to task for asking patients who are obese to lose weight before having non-urgent surgery, and for asking smokers to see a stop-smoking adviser (The rationing is everywhere, 20 January). We need to correct Dr Robinson – no patient in Hertfordshire is refused surgery on the grounds of their weight or because they smoke, if their clinical condition tells us they need it.
Evidence shows that people who are very overweight are at much greater risk of developing serious complications and recover more slowly from surgery. We are making sure patients are in the best possible health before they have an operation.
We know that poverty is a significant factor in obesity, and the poor suffer most from the debilitating conditions that go with it. It is a fundamental part of our duty as doctors to take robust action to support people to develop healthy eating habits that we all know benefit long-term health.
The policy has been working in practice in our area, specifically for hip and knee surgery, for nine months. Early analysis shows that about 75% of people who have been asked to lose weight have reached their target. For some, the weight loss improved symptoms so much that they chose not to have their joints replaced. Attendance at stop-smoking sessions has doubled. No one who has needed surgery has been refused.
We are not making moral judgments, nor is this about rationing. It is about GPs doing more to improve public and individual health.
Dr Tony Kostick Chair, East and North Hertfordshire Clinical Commissioning Group, Dr Nicolas Small Chair, Herts Valleys Clinical Commissioning Group

With regard to Boris Island (Shortcuts, G2, 19 January), there’s already an airport on the Thames estuary capable of dealing with large jets, with road and rail links that could be upgraded at far less expense than a new airport: Manston on the Isle of Thanet, which is used by 747 freight jets.
John Fullman
Thornton Heath, Surrey
•  I have found out that Passport to Pimlico is showing at 1.30pm on Channel 4 on 23 January and the Third Man is also on Channel 4 at 1.10pm on 26 January. Guardian readers deprived of their daytime TV listings will not know this. I would be grateful if you could pass it on.
Peter Russell
Tunbridge Wells, Kent
• J Edgar Hoover, Margaret Thatcher, Wallis Simpson … Any chance of a film character worthy of our sympathy (G2, 20 January)?
Michael Bor
London
• ”Man arrested over importation of Saddam Hussein statue’s buttock” (19 January). Bit of a half-arsed attempt?
Terri Green
Langley, Warwickshire

Independent:
Over the past couple of weeks a number of letters have conflated IT expertise with programming. The biggest shortfall is the understanding of the “I” in IT – information. Programming is a 20th-century solution, with a focus on using as little data as possible to avoid overwhelming machines of limited capability. Today’s problems are about how to enable organisations to work together or sustain businesses, which require the understanding of how information is used rather than technology of manipulating bytes.
For example, aircraft, ships and most buildings have a design life of 40 to 70 years, but for the design software used, the software developers have a business model that sees them rewrite their offering every 10 years. If it were not bad enough that transferring design data from one version of software to another is dangerously error-prone, many software vendors lock the data away in proprietary formats so that the data owners cannot use the data without paying the vendors to develop translators. It is as if a car maker sold you a car but kept ownership of the keys, so that you couldn’t sell it on without paying the maker to transfer the key.
We need people who understand information and its value, and this requires more that technical literacy in programming; it requires information literacy and this is sadly lacking in most engineering and computing graduates.
Sean Barker
Bristol
David Woods (19 January) thinks that it is more important to teach the use of Microsoft’s programs than the principles of computer programming. This must be one of the few fields in which the products of a quasi-monopolist can even begin to be considered a proper subject of general education.
One of the reasons that programming is an important discipline is that it leads students naturally into the subjects of software interoperability and open standards. On these depend the internet and the worldwide web, which arguably have made a far greater contribution to the recent information revolution than any single software company.
Microsoft, by contrast, has been slow to seek interoperability. By all means introduce Word and Excel in schools, but as examples of the classes “wordprocessor” and “spreadsheet”; we don’t teach people to drive Fords or Volkswagens, but cars; and we do teach them something about what goes on under the bonnet, and why.
John Palmer
Weymouth, Dorset
End the subsidies for Scotland
Hamish McRae (14 January) writes: “While Scotland is poorer than London and the South East, it is richer than the whole of the north of England and much richer than Wales.” So taxpayers, including those in Wales and the north of England, are subsidising the higher education of not just Scottish students but of all those in the EU who are accepted to study in Scottish universities, while we ourselves are denied this unless we pay £9,000pa in fees (and Scottish degrees take four years).
We are entitled to ask why we have to subsidise the whole of the EU – let alone the Scots? Does the Government understand why the majority of the English want Scotland to leave the union as soon as possible? The Scottish Parliament is throwing away our tax revenues, money that has been worked hard for in Wales and in the north as well as in the wealthier south-east of England. It must be held to account.
Jane O’Nions
Sevenoaks, Kent
Jonathan Wallace inquires (Letters, 18 January) whether the current arrangements concerning English students attending Scottish universities would prevail post-independence. If Scotland remained within the EU, English students would be on a par with other European countries.
However, if we are to believe the scaremongering by the Unionist parties and Scotland is required to reapply for EU membership, the country might decide to have a relationship with the EU similar to that of Norway. The effect of this might be that the Scottish government would fund Scottish students only and to a greater extent.
The Scottish people and government value students who gain a university education. The task for Jonathan is to persuade his government to do the same.
James W McCurry
Wigan
Governmental independence for Scotland does not necessarily mean a rejection of a joint monarchy. The Royal Arms and their supporters are the personal badge of the monarch and, as long as the Queen also remains Queen of Scotland, there is no need to redesign them, irrespective of the realities of government (Letters, 18 January).
The previous inclusion of the Red Dragon as one of the supporters of the Tudor Royal Arms was in recognition of Henry VII’s Welsh ancestry and birth, not a result of the so-called Acts of Union between England and Wales (Laws of Wales Acts) passed some 50 years later during the reign of Henry VIII.
I agree that Wales is long overdue representation on the British flag, but Y Ddraig Goch does not fit easily into a redesign of the Union flag. If Scotland gains independence, I would suggest that St David’s flag replaces that of St Andrew in the composite design, so that the blue background becomes black and the white outline of St George’s cross becomes yellow.
NIGEL PARRY
Edenbridge, Kent
Derek Easey (Letters, 20 January) trots out all the stock arguments re oil, Barnett etc. If the boot was on the other foot it might be that the Scots would say the same about England – however in reality both would be wrong. Ordinary folk like Derek and me will never know the true facts.
But what is without doubt is that Scotland is changing. That is why the referendum vote should only relate to people living in Scotland. Ordinary folk in Worthing, going about their daily working lives, will not be affected one iota by Scotland becoming a sovereign state again – and more important, I doubt it would affect my daily life either.
Brian Connor
Edinburgh
Shameful attack on doctors’ pensions
It should not be surprising that doctors are so concerned about the attack on the NHS pension scheme. Many would face working in extremely physically and mentally demanding roles until they are almost 70. (“Doctors threaten first strike in 40 years – over £48,000 pensions”, 19 January).
The NHS pension scheme was completely overhauled just four years ago to make it sustainable for the future. It is currently delivering £2bn a year to the Treasury. The new changes – which would leave some doctors paying twice as much into the scheme – come on top of cuts to NHS services, unnecessary top-down reforms and what will soon be four years of pay freezes. For many doctors, the attack on their pensions is the final straw.
It has been 37 years since doctors last took industrial action. The Government must take this indication of the strength of feeling seriously and respond constructively.
Dr Hamish Meldrum
Chairman of Council
British Medical Association
London WC1
Marriage isn’t for everyone
Your leading article in support of same-sex marriage (18 January) unfortunately promotes the misconception that this will provide equal treatment for heterosexual and gay couples. Regrettably this is not so. Civil partnerships will still be denied to heterosexual couples who want to register their commitment to each other but who do not want to marry.
The question always posed is why, for some of us, civil marriage differs from civil partnership when most people nowadays approach marriage on the basis of partnership. The answer lies in the differing nature of the basic contract. The marriage contract is a union, the primary definition of which is “to join together or become one”. A partner “shares or takes part with another”, but is not “one” with another.
The concept of a union in which there is a merging of identity, both in law and socially, is one that some heterosexual people simply don’t want. So we live together, unmarried but committed, without any recognition in law, though usually recognised socially.
There are significant disadvantages which marriage would remove, and indeed many people marry late in life after decades of commitment for that reason only. For instance, we have no automatic rights of inheritance to our jointly owned home; we can’t be recognised as next of kin unless we make a formal declaration to that effect, and we’re liable to pay inheritance tax on the estate of a deceased partner when there is a will in our favour.
If it is accepted that marriage implies for some gay people a subtle but important difference from civil partnership, equal treatment must deliver the same options to both gay and heterosexual couples.
Paula Jones
London SW20
The skyrocketing price of air
The oil companies are doing their best to keep up with the bankers. Visiting my local BP petrol station, I decided to check my tyre pressure. I was horrified to discover that the charge for this service had increased from 20p to 50p (150 per cent), and received scarce consolation from the till attendant who informed me that I would now receive far more air for my payment (sufficient presumably to inflate a zeppelin) and that all other companies had imposed a similar increase.
Tim Cattell
Croydon, Surrey
Roman bikinis
Tell Gyles Cooper (Letters, 20 January) that a leather bikini worn by a female athlete was found in the mud of the Thames not too long ago; it can be seen in the Roman gallery of the Museum of London. So no, it isn’t a new thing and it probably felt and looked good on a beautiful young woman. Let the women boxers wear what they like.
Helen Braithwaite
London NW3
Listen to unions
So The Independent has decided that the unions are the enemy: “Labour must stand up to the unions” (leading article, 18 January). For working people, it is only the unions that care about their living standards, their pensions, their health and safety. The Labour Party was founded by the unions precisely to give them a voice. It’s about time someone did listen to them. We might then have a better world.
Steve Mills
London SW17
Yacht quarrels
If the Queen wants a wretched yacht, why can’t she buy it herself? She has, after all, a massive personal fortune, much of it historically swiped from the people of this country and other countries around the world, and British taxpayers keep her and her family in luxury.
And if Lord Ashcroft has £5m to spare, why can’t he donate it to something worthwhile, like an environmental charity, or one trying to combat poverty?
Penny Little
Great Haseley, Oxfordshire
Cinema sound
Are all cinema-goers deaf, that they need to be bombarded with 300 decibels? Or is the deafness the result of such bombardment? If so can we sue?
Ramji R Abinashi
Amersham, Buckinghamshire

Telegraph:

SIR – If we cut up more English countryside, we will soon have nothing left in the lowlands except fragments of woods and fields between railways, motorways, flyovers, fly-unders, link roads, spur roads, trading estates and housing estates.
This will fulfil the Marxist prophecy that town and country will merge. At most, all that will be left will be garden cities like Welwyn and Letchworth.
Matthew d’Ancona, in his thoughtful article (Comment, January 15), comes down in favour of High Speed 2 and defends David Cameron as a countryman and “the most devotedly rural occupant of No 10 since Sir Alec Douglas-Home”. But a true countryman puts preservation first, and fits in the need for infrastructure and the built environment around that belief. Spiritual death follows the destruction of broad acres.
If there is a need for improved rail links and high-speed trains, why not run them alongside existing motorways? The Government should consult the Institution of Civil Engineers, which exists to provide ingenious solutions, and should ask them to plan, design and supervise upgrades and routes.
James Lewis
Harrow on the Hill, Middlesex

SIR – Peter Kirby (Letters, January 15) says that “HS2 is part of a European high-speed railway initiative.” So how much – of our own money – is the EU going to give us back towards its astronomical cost?
Following the closure of so many of our post offices, as a direct result of an EU initiative to liberalise postal services across Europe and tackle postal monopolies, the further involvement of this shambolic and bankrupt outfit in our transport system is the best possible reason for having nothing to do with it.
Richard Shaw
Dunstable, Bedfordshire

SIR – Alex Salmond and his party have said that the future of Scotland will be decided by the “will of the Scottish people”, but they have not clarified how the “Scottish people” will be defined for the purpose of a referendum.
I was born and brought up in Edinburgh, of two Scottish parents and four Scottish grandparents. My family name represents one of the oldest established clans in Scotland.
My father was an officer with the Royal Scots and both grandfathers fought in the First World War with the Royal Scots and the Highland Light Infantry respectively.
I was educated at an Edinburgh school and the University of Aberdeen, where I gained an honours degree in Scottish history. I have performed with traditional Scottish music bands since I was 15 and am a proud member of the Caledonian Club in London.
I hold exactly the same passport as Alex Salmond. But like so many Scots, my career has taken me overseas. At present, I work for an Italian company and live in England.
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Spiritual death at the sword of high-speed rail
22 Jan 2012
All this notwithstanding, I fear Alex Salmond will deny me a vote in my country’s most important decision since 1707 because, as I understand it, the conditions of suffrage boil down to having a Scottish postcode at the time of the referendum.
Millions of Scots living outside Scotland are anxiously awaiting clarification on this point, and confirmation of our right to vote on the destiny of our country.
Peter Ferguson
Hertford
SIR – The feisty Scots have undoubtedly advanced Britain and the world with stunning innovation. But before they are seduced by the beguiling words of Alex Salmond, they should consider the failure of another Scottish leader, Sir William Patterson, a co-founder of the Bank of England in 1694, who almost bankrupted the Scottish economy with his Panama get-rich-quick scheme.
Another Scottish knight, Sir Fred Goodwin, has also created financial havoc, and it was on Gordon Brown’s watch that the gap between rich and poor was allowed to widen, and the economy brought down.
Alex Salmond is flying in the face of history, as the human race now tries to pull together for universal benefit.
Bill Newham
Worsley, Lancashire
SIR – Matt Showering says that Scotland does not have the constitutional power to secede from the United Kingdom, even if it has the political might to do so (Letters, January 15). But the expression “people”, as defined tentatively by the United Nations Organisation, denotes a social entity with a clear identity, its own characteristics and a long history, and implies a relationship with a territory.
This is the definition for the purpose of establishing whether a social entity is a “people” fit to enjoy and exercise the right of self-determination.
On this basis, Scotland’s claim to self-determination would be unchallengeable. It does not need to ask a British prime minister’s permission to secede.
Dick Gagel
Peterculter, Aberdeenshire
SIR – On the union of the English and Scottish crowns in 1603, the red dragon of Wales was removed from the royal coat of arms and replaced by the Scottish unicorn. If Scotland becomes independent, will the original dragon emblem replace the unicorn?
Furthermore, the Union flag could become green where, now, it is blue, allowing Wales to be represented on the flag for the first time since the Wales-England union in 1536.
That being said, it is to be hoped that a majority of the good people of Scotland would vote to remain within the Union.
Derek Jones
Ingatestone, Essex
SIR – Perhaps England should make a unilateral declaration of independence and secede from the United Kingdom, leaving the Celtic fringes either to get on with their own lives or to negotiate terms to join.
If they joined, they would become part of England in one united country with a single parliament to represent everybody – which is what we had before devolution.
Ted Shorter
Hildenborough, Kent
School cadets gain an early advantage
SIR – My four years in the Combined Cadet Force (CCF) was an invaluable experience (Letters, January 15): it prepared me for the misery of basic training when doing National Service in the Army.
On arrival at the Oswestry camp, I was already capable of rifle drill, pressing uniforms, making bed rolls, “bulling” boots, “blancoing” webbing and polishing brass – all to a reasonably high standard.
I stood out in my troop because none of the others had enjoyed the experience of being a school cadet. For this reason, my sergeant sent me off into the town on his bicycle to do his wife’s shopping. He explained: “I have chosen you ’cos you are the only one that knows how to salute officers properly.”
Chris Harding
Parkstone, Dorset
SIR – Recent letters have mentioned the Combined Cadet Force, but no mention has been made of the Army Cadet Force, the Air Training Corps or the Sea Cadet Corps. These local youth organisations exist throughout the country and provide the same opportunities as the CCF for young people.
Parents, as well as encouraging their children to join, can also volunteer to become helpers. Commitment is for at least one evening a week and the occasional weekend.
The cadet forces are not recruiting agents for the Armed Forces, so Services experience is not necessary.
Alex Clarke
Cardiff
Marriage of true minds
SIR – My husband and I will be celebrating our 21st wedding anniversary this year (Old enough to know better, News Review, January 15).
There were a few raised eyebrows when I, then aged 45, a curate in the Church of England and a widow with three children, married a 25-year-old reformed drug addict. But we were soon accepted as a normal couple. We are very happy and neither of us regrets the marriage at all.
Rev Liz Thomas
Retford, Nottinghamshire
Blair down under
SIR – Your graphic of Tony Blair’s travels over a period of 12 months (report, January 15) stopped short of his July 2011 visit to Australia.
Would that he had done the same.
Chris Watson
Carlton River, Tasmania, Australia
The old royal yacht was a businessman’s dream
SIR – The Royal Yacht Britannia (Letters, January 15) was the finest export tool any country could possess. It could sail into any port in the world and 50 local chief executives would be invited aboard to dine with Her Majesty. Those chief executives would then proceed to place export orders with 50 British chief executives on board. Her Majesty could then sail off to another port the next day.
I am sure a suitable ship could be purchased from a tycoon – Roman Abramovich has four, I believe – and converted into a new royal yacht. Surely the British people would welcome such a move, especially in the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee year.
Peter Kettell
Worrall, South Yorkshire
SIR – A new multi-purpose royal yacht is a great idea. But where would it be built: Germany, Italy or maybe China?
This project will only inspire the nation if the yacht is built in Britain. Do we still have the capacity?
Phil Blower
Southend-on-Sea, Essex
Tilting at Iran
SIR – It’s bad enough that William Hague, our Foreign Secretary, threatens Iran by echoing Washington’s warmongering phrase “no options off the table” (“Hague: Iran may cause arms race”, report, January 15). Worse still, he fails to criticise the recent assassination of another Iranian nuclear scientist. It is not in our national interest to condone state-sponsored terrorism.
It’s time Mr Hague acknowledged that the West’s acquiescence in Israel’s nuclear monopoly in the Middle East has its dangers. Henry Kissinger warned in 1969 that Israel was more likely than almost any other country to use its nuclear weapons because it was one of the few nations whose survival was genuinely threatened.
Yugo Kovach
Winterborne Houghton, Dorset
Leading bishops
SIR – Dr Peter Greenhalgh (Letters, January 8) blames politicians for the bishops we get, but it is the Church which, through the Crown Nominations Commission, chooses the names. The problem lies in the selection process and the criteria employed. As one senior bishop explained recently: “By and large, you rise to the top in the Church of England by not upsetting anyone.” He explained that by character, training and experience, such people are not usually comfortable with crises and confrontation.
The irony here is that it was almost certainly because the Rev Dr Michael Nazir-Ali, the former bishop of Rochester, refused to shy away from controversy and from theological, social and political truths unpalatable to the liberal oligarchy in Church and state that he rose no further.
At no point in their selection or ministry are clergy assessed or tested for leadership qualities or experience, Those subjects tend to be treated with a degree of indifference or embarrassment in the mistaken belief that academic prowess, membership of committees and synods, a lack of orthodoxy and an idealistic social conscience are substitutes.
There are exceptions: at least one diocese has introduced leadership seminars for clergy. But the Church has become so calcified in its prejudices and party politics that its best hope lies in a radical overhaul.
Not that this will happen, of course, because too many stand to lose, while the inbuilt closed-shop safeguards against such a reformation are too strong.
Rev R. C. Paget
Brenchley, Kent
Walrusonomics
SIR – Your take on Ed Balls, the shadow chancellor, is sapient (Leading article, January 15). We should all note his abilities, but as a Leftist he believes that the capitalist goose that lays the golden eggs will never be strangled, and must have as much as possible taken from it to maximise state expenditure.
We have a sort of walrus-and-carpenter politics. Politicians fret about what to do with capital. One party sweeps it into heaps, the other spreads it out again.
But all progress in civilisation comes from the accumulation of economic power. It is only necessary to have a political echelon to curb the excesses of the economic operators, not to hamstring them. Instead, we get Ed Balls. Economic insanity is what we enjoyed under Labour. Pity we get political insanity under the Tories – think EU.
Lord Walsingham
Merton, Norfolk

Irish Times:

Recession causing mental anguish
Sir, – It is now observable in our communities that a lot of mental anguish is being caused by the recession.
People who before the recession were functioning well and flourishing on all levels now are seeking help for stress-related mental health problems such as depression and anxiety disorders.
For example, those who were self-employed before the downturn and paid their taxes, now with collapsed businesses find themselves without even the net of social welfare benefits. Many people find the stress of not being able to pay household bills promptly very difficult, particularly if they have been very conscientious in the past.
Another very difficult scenario is that of having insufficient income (due to job loss) to pay huge mortgages for houses now worth far less than the mortgage cost. This is a millstone of incredible weight and unendurable length for those who have endless years of hardship stretching ahead of them.
There is no sense that the Government is responding to the suffering being experienced by citizens right across the socio-economic groupings. For example, the management of banking arrears difficulties on a case-by- case basis allows an impersonal system to put the squeeze ruthlessly on people who may not be good at advocating for themselves, to the detriment of a sustainable income for themselves and their families and their ultimate mental health.
Enda Kenny showed great courage in facing up to the Catholic hierarchy soon after his election. He now needs to show similar courage in dealing with the ongoing crisis, not just in fiscal terms but on a human level, to keep our citizens from having to face too much suffering. – Yours, etc,
CYNTHIA CARROLL,
Occupational Therapist,
Portryan,
Newport, Co Tipperary.
Charges for fire emergency call-outs
Sir, – I was greatly interested in Anthony G Keane’s letter (January 13th) with regard to the new fire emergency charges in Dublin. Mr Keane’s letter covered, among other aspects, the charge of €500 for “false alarms” which “almost always are untraceable”.
As I write this, I have beside me an invoice from Meath County Council Fire Service Department for €350 (our Council is way ahead of its Dublin counterparts).
The background to this invoice is as follows. While we were on holidays last October our smoke alarm malfunctioned. This activated our alarm system and the alarm company monitor immediately made three phone calls: 1. to The Fire Service – 999; 2. to our kindly key-holding neighbour; 3. to myself. When I phoned our neighbour he confirmed that he had already reached our house and that all seemed well. With that the fire brigade arrived, the firemen were admitted to the house and having satisfied themselves that all was indeed well, they left again.
Within an hour, our smoke alarm malfunctioned again. Happily, when I got my call the second time, I succeeded in convincing the monitor (a different person this time) that it was a malfunction and he reluctantly agreed to cancel the second 999 call to the Fire Service. Otherwise, my above invoice would be for €700. There the matter “rested” until we got home.
When we returned from holidays, the alarm company sent engineers to examine our alarm system. They could find nothing to account for the malfunction of the smoke alarm. As of now no one has a clue as to why it all happened.
Last month the invoice for €350 arrived. I have contacted my home insurers only to be told that their cover is only for an actual fire; it does nor cover a “false alarm”.
It seems to me that what happened to us could happen to any householder with an alarm system installed. This type of “false alarm” is very definitely traceable It will attract the new substantial charge. And Dublin homeowners should take no consolation whatever from the assertion by a Dublin City Council representative that the charge “is covered by household insurance”. – Yours, etc,
VINCENT Mac CARTHY,
Cloncat,
Athboy PO,
Co Meath.
If you don’t have a TV . . .
Sir, – Just to let the Minister for Finance know (whether he believes me or not), that I do not have a TV nor do I watch TV or anything like it on my computer or any other device.
It looks like I’ll be making lots of trips to the post office this year to pay bin charges and TV charges. I might as well get the car tax too, even though I don’t have a car. I do see dogs occasionally, so probably I will need a dog licence as well before long.
Is this indirect taxation gone mad? – Yours, etc,
JENNIFER O’CONNELL,
Carleton Road,
Marino,
Dublin 3.
Sir, – Pat Rabbitte says that people are accessing public service content through, “other than traditional means” and that there must be a charge for this.
Insofar as this comment can only refer to RTÉ, then a quick perusal of the RTÉ Player page raises an interesting question as to what, in his mind, constitutes “public service content”. Surely he is not suggesting that EastEnders, Cougar Town, The Big Bang Theory, Casualty, Holby City, The Bill (and many, many more) now fall within the definition of “public service content”. In fact, the vast majority of the content available online from RTÉ does not originate in Ireland or from RTÉ and what is more, one of RTÉ’s most successful home programmes, Fair City, is not available “other than by traditional means”.
Analysis of television sales volume in Ireland would more than prove that it is still the means by which the vast majority of us access television services and thus, the licence fee method, if collected, is sufficient and no change is required.
Those who evade the licence fee now will evade any new charge for television access and so, the only purpose of his plan is to charge the rest of us so that we can fund those who do not pay.
This is nonsense dressed up as progressive initiative. I think the answer on this one has to be, “No deal”. – Yours, etc,
T GERARD BENNETT,
Bunbrosna,
Co Westmeath.
A day for the ‘lost generation’
Sir, – Regarding your emotive Generation Emigration series (Life & Culture), is it not time for us to erect a marker stone to these and all our lost generations?
May I suggest that we officially rename one of our many bank holidays – perhaps that in June or in August – as Emigrants’ Day? Such a small gesture, it would require so little in cost terms – ideally supported by communications companies – and stand as a call to all our family abroad that they are always in our minds.
Theirs is a sacrifice too great to be forgotten. – Yours, etc,
CONOR WOGAN,
Bow Bridge, Kilmainham,
Dublin 8.
How to save public money
Sir, – I am in full agreement with the comment under the Disability heading in your article “Public proposes 1,000 ways to save money” (Home News, January 19th).
Last week I attempted to return the brand new, never-used commode provided to my late mother-in-law towards the end of 2011. This item will be scrapped as it cannot be taken back in and sent to another person requiring one.
I can understand part of the argument, but why not take the equipment back and just put in a new toilet-pan section? What a waste of resources when the State needs to save every euro it can.
PHILIP SUTER,
Princes Risborough,
Buckinghamshire,
England.
Beethoven’s shopping note
Sir, – Please Tallis the composer puns are Gounod for good (they’re all Grieg to me). Gluck to all your Bizet amusicians! – Yours, etc,
JOHN O’BYRNE,
Mount Argus Court,
Harold’s Cross,
Dublin 6W.
Sir, – Surely Beethoven was too Bizet for Chopin? – Yours, etc,
MARGARET SACCONE,
Mount Ovel,
Rochestown,
Co Cork.
Discrimination against diabetics?
Sir, – Unlike Dr Anna Clarke (January 19th), I thought Brian O’Connell’s piece, “Is Ireland failing its heroin addicts?” (Life & Culture, January 9th) was commendable.
If Dr Clarke thinks the comments in the article were intended to sully the image of diabetics, then she has clearly misunderstood. The whole point of the analogy is that no one thinks any less of people unfortunate enough to suffer from diabetes. The philosophy described by Dr Christopher Luke and Dr João Goulão is based on the principle that addiction is a disease, and drug addicts should be treated with the same level of sympathy and support as sufferers of other diseases. Whether or not one agrees with that philosophy, it was quite clear than no one was trying to cast aspersions on people with diabetes.
I am also surprised that Dr Clarke implied that people with diabetes often need to administer insulin in public because “insulin must be taken as an injection at the specified times or risk ill-health, hospitalisation or worse”. While it is true that people with Type 1 diabetes require insulin to survive, even a delay of several hours would not place them at immediate risk. The most common emergency situation encountered by diabetics is hypoglycaemia, or low blood sugar, which is actually caused by insulin treatment rather than the underlying diabetes. If diabetics fail to administer insulin, they will suffer hyperglycaemia, or high blood sugar.
While hyperglycaemia is also very harmful, it takes hours to develop and days to reach a level that poses an immediate threat. I fully agree that there is no reason for diabetics to be ashamed of their need to inject insulin, but the same is true of various other “activities of daily living” that most of us only undertake in private. – Yours, etc,
PAT DIGNAM,
Mahogany Drive,
Marcus Beach,
Queensland,
Australia.
Young at heart
Sir, – I disagree every point Jacky Jones makes regarding ageism (HEALTHplus, November 15th). I am in my 80s and it’s such a joy to hear people remark “you look great” and “you are young at heart”. It never strikes me that they are being patronising. As far as I am concerned they are kind and thoughtful and put a spring in my step. Ms Jones remarked that a young waiter called her “love” and she admonished him – I would have given him a big tip!
I don’t know what age Ms Jones is, but I would hazard a guess that she is much younger that I am – most people are – but thank God I have good health. Growing old is a fact of life and we are all aware of bits falling off with the years.
On descending steps, if someone offers to help me, I may not need it, but thankfully accept it. A seat on a crowded bus is always welcome as are doors held open – although I am careful crossing the road in case a car hits me and a headline reads “Elderly lady knocked down”!
Ms Jones also wrote that strategies that affect old people include invisibility, tokenism, contempt, disdain and physical revulsion – good Lord – what circles does she move in? As long as I have lived, I have never come across even one of those strategies and I certainly have not led a sheltered life.
As an artist, mother of seven children and with 18 grandchildren, I have met all sorts of people: young and old, rich and poor and I never heard a patronising or offensive word about ageism. A sense of humour and a smile go an awfully long way. – Yours, etc,
MAEVE TAYLOR,
St Brendan’s Avenue,
Malahide Road,
Dublin 5.
The family that dines together
Sir, – In your feature on parenting (Sheila Wayman, HEALTHplus, January 3rd) it is suggested that the family should commit to dining together once a week.
Surely this is an insufficient period in which to set discipline and communicate fully with the children, in order to listen to their needs, views and any problems they may have and one of the few times they have your full attention? Apart from teaching them good table manners, dining together also enables parents to ensure they are eating good wholesome meals.
It was a practice in our house that the family always dined in the evening together from an early age until they left home, resulting in open conversation, where we became aware of many things that might not have become known in the daily bustle of a normal family home. In today’s world – where both parents are obliged to work – I think it might reap untold benefits. – Yours, etc,
HELEN ROYLISTON,
Pollnarooma West,
Salthill,
Galway.
History of Ireland in 100 Rejects
Sir, – It seems harsh of Patrick O’Byrne to add Home Rule to the list of Great Irish Failures (January 18th). After all, it seems that the concept’s time has finally come in this, the centenary year of its only successful parliamentary legislation.
For what is Ireland’s real situation now but that of a Home Rule legislature, where all the serious policies are sorted out elsewhere by external authorities leaving us with merely a modicum of autonomy on purely local issues? – Yours, etc,
JOHN COTTER,
Abbey Drive,
Ferrybank,
Waterford.

Irish Independent:

I was absolutely appalled at Minister Michael Noonan’s comments during the week about emigration among young people.
I graduated in November 2009 with a master’s degree in broadcasting. Lecturers and media professionals I worked with throughout the year warned me of the bleak employment prospects, so I took the initiative and emigrated to the Middle East, where I worked as a teacher until December 2011.
While all but two of my graduating class had employment, I sought a job in Qatar where I could work rather than become a drain on the Irish social welfare system.
I came home this Christmas to seek employment but if I cannot get a job, I will most definitely have to emigrate again, so please, do not tell me minister, that this is a “lifestyle choice”.
Last week, I said goodbye to three friends who returned to Australia. All three are well-educated health professionals and left Ireland for the first time in 2009 because of the embargo in the HSE.
Two more leave in March for Australia, having been let go from engineering and accounting positions.
Through tears, we lamented that some day we would all be able to return to Ireland for employment; so until then, Mr Noonan, I suggest that you and your ill-informed cronies in Leinster House ‘get real’ and realise that we, the young people of Ireland, do not emigrate for the lifestyle, but for a life!
Teresa Timmons
Nenagh, Co Tipperary
• Isn’t it wonderful how insightful politicians can be? Following on from Joan Burton’s discovery that school-leavers are opting for the dole as a ‘lifestyle choice’, Michael Noonan has detected that emigration, too, is a ‘lifestyle choice’.
Lesser minds had thought a lack of effective demand had dried up the pool of jobs, but fortunately these giant intellects have allowed us to see past that old-fashioned Keynesian way of thinking.
The mass outbreak of laziness and wanderlust just happened to break out at the same time as the economic crash and the consequent imposition of austerity.
This coincidence caused lesser minds to confuse cause and effect, but luckily we have these two great thinkers to set us straight.
Tim O’Halloran
Dublin 11

I would just like to take issue with some of the content of the article by Brian Hayes in the Irish Independent regarding so-called “car-crash economics”.
The first thing I would like to point out is that nowhere have I seen or heard anybody suggest that taking some unilateral action would “resolve our problems overnight”, as you implied.
From what I have read, those who advocate leaving the euro are fully aware of the gravity of such action and the potential consequences, and I think it is extremely disingenuous for you to misrepresent such people by saying that they present leaving the euro as an “overnight” solution.
You also imply that leaving the euro would lead to difficulty in Ireland attracting foreign investment, yet fail to consider the attraction of relatively cheaper labour costs due to a new, weaker currency.
It is not unreasonable to suggest that, together with our corporate tax and skilled workforce, a significant reduction in labour costs would, in fact, lead to increased foreign direct investment in Ireland.
You say that those proposing to leave the euro should “honestly acknowledge the likely consequences” of such action.
Well, I think you should honestly acknowledge the likely effect of such action on both tourism and exports. You touched on exports but only to say that our exports were a major positive, but failed to acknowledge that the likely outcome of our exports becoming cheaper was a significant increase in those exports levels.
Also, a new, weaker currency would make Ireland a much cheaper place to visit for tourists. In your ‘honest’ assessment of the situation, you neglect to mention this factor at all.
Just as you fail to mention the flip-side of the export coin — the increase in costs of imports. This, I believe, would naturally lead to people turning towards cheaper domestic produce and providing yet another boost for the economy.
If leaving the euro is “car-crash economics” then there is a case for saying that remaining in the euro is ‘Titanic economics’.
The eurozone has stuck an iceberg and is slowly sinking, yet instead of leading the Irish people to the relative safety of a lifeboat, this Government has decided that we should cling to the rails.
It is clear that this Government has a particular course that it intends to pursue when it comes to the euro crisis. The selective omissions from your one-sided article illustrate this nicely, as does the Government’s determination only to give the Irish people a referendum if it is absolutely legally necessary.
Any decision on the future direction of the European Union should be put to the people of this country for approval, regardless of whether there is a legal requirement or not.,
Simon O’Connor
Address with editor

Dear Mr Noonan,
I can’t believe your ignorance of facts.
Obviously, you’re another politician not living in the real world.
You have been a politician for as long as I can remember — after 30 years in national politics, it’s fair to say that you have had your chance.
It is infuriating for Irish expats like myself that you feel the need to speak on our behalf to explain our rationale for leaving our beloved country.
Yes, perhaps people leave Ireland because there is a better quality of lifestyle in other countries.
Prudent economic management, sensible regulation and astute investment in the growth of any country can give its citizens a lifestyle that is attractive enough to keep them at home.
This, just in case nobody told you, is your responsibility, as an elected representative of the people of Ireland.
Therefore, there is a direct link between your failure in your duties and the plight of so many people leaving the country.
I suggest, if you really want to know what people’s motives are for leaving, that you dispatch some of your underlings to the departures area of Dublin Airport. Ask them five questions:
1. Why are you leaving?
2. How long will you be gone?
3. Is the island “too small”, and do you just “want to get off the island”?
4. Are you leaving all of your friends and family? Do you hate them?
5. What would attract you back to Ireland again?
When your underlings report back, I would be interested to see the results.
It’s not rocket science to run a country properly. You can even emulate a successful country like Switzerland where I am living.
Of course, come election time, you will attribute the relatively low 14pc unemployment rate to your own success in government as compared to Greece and Spain, where the rate is even higher.
Just make sure that the underlings factor in all of those Irish people who have left the country as they had no prospects and no confidence in you and your lot to sort your mess out.
For the record, we expats are leaving the country because we don’t want to feel like losers walking around with nothing to do all day. That would be bad enough, but listening to your bullsh*t every evening would be the last straw.
Ninety-nine per cent of Irish people are proud, hard-working folks — drawing dole is not what we want to do. Our country needs serious change and you are incapable of delivering it.
Resign and leave the country with the rest of your cronies. Then you will get to see what it is like to have to restart your life with no family around you.
Good riddance.
Dave Callanan
Switzerland

The Government has created a great deal of unnecessary confusion on the sale of state assets, a requirement imposed on Ireland under the terms of the EU-IMF-ECB but with the details left remarkably vague and uncertain.
All too typically, we have had no real clarification of such important questions as what public property should be sold, how much money should be raised in this way, or how the proceeds should be spent. The Cabinet is now expected to turn its attention to these issues, perhaps as early as tomorrow. It may shed some much-needed light on the subject — if ministers can get their own thoughts in order.
When the question first arose, it was understood that the proposed sales were designed for one purpose only, paying off our debts. That seemed curious, since figures as low as €2bn were suggested for the likely proceeds, a tiny proportion of our crushing public debt.
Many people felt that they could be better devoted to productive investment with a view to job creation. Very few took up a fundamental issue. Which state assets are “strategic” and “non-strategic”? Which do we consider so vital that they must remain the property of the State?
The ESB tops every proposed list of sales and will presumably feature on any list discussed by the Government. Other likely candidates include Bord Gais, Coillte, Dublin Port, and the State’s remaining share of Aer Lingus.
The value of this last, however, is reckoned at a mere €100m.
Last week the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform Brendan Howlin entered the debate — at a tangent. He claimed that the EU-IMF-ECB “troika” had been persuaded to permit part of the proceeds from the sales to be used for job creation.
The troika’s representatives, visiting Dublin, were reluctant to confirm the claim. But this is far from the main point, or points.
In the correct order, the questions are: Which assets does the Government wish to sell? Are state companies to be sold piecemeal or as single entities?
What proportion of the proceeds will go to paying debt, and what proportion to investment? And how much investment would make a palpable contribution to economic recovery?
A sum of €2bn, along with the €5bn remnant of the national pension reserve fund, would not cure our ills. But it would encourage us to believe that the Government has engaged in some serious thought.
Mitt Romney felt so sure of winning the Republican primary in South Carolina that he left the state briefly, to attend to other matters, during the election campaign. The opinion polls showed him heading for a comfortable win.
The polls were not wrong. They merely failed to catch up in time with an unexpected but powerful trend. Opinion switched in the last hours to Newt Gingrich, who won by the remarkable margin of 40pc to 28pc.
This extraordinary turnaround will be the subject of debate for years, perhaps generations.
It has been identified instantly as a crucial point in this year’s presidential election campaign, and historians will research it and write about it with as much enthusiasm as the journalists of today.
Why did Romney lose? He is a dull speaker, criticised for his “robotic” manner. But the Republican Party establishment prefer a candidate in that mould. The term “moderate” may not have much appeal in fundamentalist South Carolina, but the party needs a moderate to stand against President Barack Obama in November.
Romney is a Mormon, something that makes voters uncomfortable. Although the United States is famed for religious tolerance, it is worth remembering that no Jewish candidate, and only one Catholic, has ever made it to the White House.
More strangely, he seems to have suffered at the polls from attacks on him as a “vulture capitalist”, an asset stripper and destroyer of jobs.
Gingrich for his part has an uncertain temper. With a person of his character in front, the race will grow more bitter. The real winner of this primary was Barack Obama.

May I suggest a few extra taxes that the Government may have missed in its recent cash grab? The ‘walking while texting’ tax, for example — to be levied on everyone, since nearly all of us have mobile phones, send texts, and walk, and thus might have an accident and need to access public health services.
The ‘future politician’ tax, which would be levied on all citizens because they might think of going into politics and cost us a fortune in pensions and benefits.
These are laughable and relate to choices we could, rather than do, make. So does the change in the television licence fee arrangements.
Those of us who have never had a television and prefer to read, play the banjo, or in extremis, buy old films and box sets to watch on the computer, will have to pay for something we do not use. The equitable (and with today’s technology, very simple) solution is to charge for a subscription to RTE Player and other online content, for those who actually do wish to use them.
Jennifer Mooney
Leifear, Co Dhún na nGall

As a former redhead, alas now grey and balding, I see nothing wrong with Enda’s comment on hair colour.
Redheads — and Enda comes within that category — are known to be feisty and combative, so what’s the problem? Just back off and leave him alone.
Fionan Hardiman
Maynooth

Well I must be off

best wishes John

Off out around the park, its damp, no joggers, no paper deliveries, no dog walkers, a couple of commuters, the weather is on the turn, from deep cold to windy and blustery. The squirrels chase themselves up and down the trees. Kitten look on pretending she is above that sort of thing and not at all interested.
The vet rings, one more blood test, and if okay Pud can come home if not then she will have to stay in another night. We wait and wait and wait. Finally the phone rings, she is okay, we can come and pick her up. She looks a little better not quite so seedy. She has to come in again on Monday for a check up but apart from that fingers crossed she will be fine. Kitten in a fit of jealously stabs me with her claw drawing blood. Pud immediately goes and adheres herself to her favourite hot air vent.
Sandy comes around Joan’s previous cleaner Martin is in hospital and needs a liver transplant he is not taking it well. Joan says some of the time she does not want to be at home, she does not want to be at home, she does not want to be in a care hope she does not want to be in hospital, she does not want. Her carers are still having teething difficulties, we will go and see Joan on Monday and try and coincide with a carers visit, oh joy oh rapture.
Fish and Chips we watch You Must be Joking, an 1965 military initiative test comedy film, strange how with all the talent of the British acting profession, and trying hard can they manage to produce something so dull.
No Scrabble today so its off to bed, we are exhausted.

Fave Letters:

With regard to your 101 innovations (“Och i”, 15 January), the Scots are fond of writing their own history. If a person of note can be said to have one gene that can be traced to Scotland, the Scots claim the glory. All of the discoveries claimed by the Scots were by Scots who left that miserable place to seek employment in industries built by others, mostly English or English colonies.
Their greatest achievement is self-promotion. No wonder they play the bagpipes – it needs plenty of wind.
Fred Bishop

SIR – Perhaps the element of distrust of the police that has become apparent recently is no new phenomenon. You report (January 19) that the Metropolitan Police spent £35,000 on calling the speaking clock. This sent me back to the lyrics of that old music hall song “If you want to know the time ask a policeman.”
One couplet in the song goes: “Every member of the force has a watch and chain, of course. / How he got it, from what source? – ask a policeman.”
A later verse blames police for running away from crime. “If you want to learn to run, ask a policeman, / Round the corner he will go, swift as arrow from a bow. / He don’t care to meet the foe, does a policeman.” The lyrics come, I think, from the 1880s, and at least we don’t expect police today to have stolen watches.
Richard Thornton
London SW5

Hearty proposal
SIR – On the subject of marriage proposals (Letters, January 20), in 1730 the 28-year-old Rev Philip Doddridge wrote to a young woman called Mercy: “You have made a greater advance upon my heart in a few hours than I intended to have allowed you in so many weeks: indeed you have possessed yourself of so much room in it that unless you will consent to become a tenant for life, our parting will be exceedingly troublesome and it will be a long time before I shall get it into repair again.” They were married, of course.
David Allen
Cley next the Sea, Norfolk

Obituary:

She took charge of HMRC in the wake of the loss of computer disks containing records of 25 million child benefit cases, leading to the resignation of Paul Gray.

Dame Lesley Strathie at her investiture in 2010
Over three years she pushed through staff cuts and tax office closures, incurred criticism over the level of mistakes in assessing taxes, and saw her Second Permanent Secretary, Dave Hartnett, come under fire for alleged “sweetheart” deals to excuse Goldman Sachs and Vodafone part of their taxes.
Nevertheless, she started turning the organisation round. Nor was she afraid to face her critics, appearing on BBC1’s Watchdog to respond to viewers’ complaints about their tax affairs. When she stood down last November, the Cabinet Secretary, Sir Gus O’Donnell, said her departure came “at a time when HMRC was achieving very real improvements in its performance”, and hailed her as a “wonderful role model”.
Lesley Ann Cooke was born at Stranraer on September 24 1955, and left Stranraer Academy at 16 to join the DHSS as a clerical officer. Transferring to the Department of Employment, she moved to London in 1984. There she took charge of an unemployment benefit office, and developed twin passions for Arsenal and the Royal Shakespeare Company.
After joining the senior civil service in 2000 her advance was rapid: the Department for Work and Pensions’ London field director in 2001; chief operating officer of JobCentre Plus (which she had helped create) in 2003. From 2005 she was simultaneously chief executive of JobCentre Plus; Second Permanent Secretary at the DWP; and head of profession for operational delivery in the civil service.
In November 2008 she was appointed Chief Executive and Permanent Secretary at HMRC. In the year following Gray’s resignation, Hartnett had taken charge while issues of data security were addressed and lines of accountability reviewed.
Gray’s role was divided, with Mike Clasper, previously chief executive of the airports operator BAA, becoming HMRC’s chairman; Hartnett became Second Permanent Secretary for Tax.
After angering the civil service unions by cutting thousands of jobs, Dame Lesley upset the Treasury Select Committee by insisting staff had made “no mistakes”; she deflected blame by saying that HMRC was at a disadvantage because, unlike private business, “we don’t have a choice about who we serve”.
Soon after being appointed DCB in 2010, Dame Lesley carried the can for the failed introduction of a new IT system for Pay-As-You-Earn and National Insurance. She told the Public Accounts Committee it had been brought down by poor communication between the programme team and potential users, poor data quality and, above all, failure to incorporate 400 changes needed in the six years between the system being ordered and going live.
Diagnosed with cancer in July 2011, she went on sick leave; Clasper led HMRC in her absence. She stood down in November to concentrate on her treatment, and a month later Hartnett, after a savaging from the Treasury Select Committee, announced that he would retire this summer. She died 66 days after leaving HMRC.
Lesley Cooke married, in 1974, David Strathie, with whom she had a daughter and a son who predeceased her. They divorced in 1996 and at the time of her death she was finalising plans for her wedding to Kevin White, human resources director at the Home Office. The banns for the marriage were posted a week before she died.
Dame Lesley Strathie, born September 24 1955, died January 14 2012

Full Text:

Guardian:

Neal Ascherson is correct in assuming that there is a case for giving Scotland greater control over its affairs, but wrong in suggesting that this should form part of a referendum on independence – yes or no. (“If Scotland becomes a sovereign, mature nation, England gains too”, Comment). Adding a third question on “devolution plus” or “devo max” would likely result in a large majority for such a move, irrespective of its merits, simply because a large proportion (perhaps all) of the “yes” camp for independence would be tempted to vote also for devo max (or “plus”), but only as a fall-back position, and to this would be added the votes of those who might genuinely favour greater devolved powers rather than independence.
And what about those who want neither devo max nor independence? Only if it were made compulsory to vote for just one of the three options could potential bias be averted – but no one has suggested that as yet.
The extent and implications of the additional devolved powers that may be desirable from both Scottish and UK perspectives are totally unclear and only when clarified could, if necessary, form part of a later referendum. Mr Ascherson is also right in assuming that, given Mr Salmond’s skill at picking quarrels with Westminster and his skill at the blame game and at whipping up nationalistic fervour, he would regard devo max as the next stepping stone to full independence.
In an interview in the same issue of the Observer, Alistair Darling points out the limitations on fiscal autonomy in Scotland imposed by those controlling the currency – whether the Bank of England for sterling or Brussels and Frankfurt for the euro. This applies as much to devo max as to independence.
Dr Gerald Wiener
Inverness
Neil Ascherson’s article is remarkably one-sided. Most would agree that if the Scots want independence then they themselves should decide it (though if parts of Scotland such as the Shetlands decide to go it alone or wish to keep the oil revenues to themselves would Alex Salmond agree? And if not, why not?). However, if the Scots want devo max, then the rest of the UK should have a say in whether they agree or not, since it is keeping costly liabilities and giving succour to a people who seemingly “want their cake and eat it”. In such a case, then the other parts of the UK have a right to say yea or nay.
JKM (George) Krawiec
North Thoresby
Lincs
You and Neal Ascherson plump squarely for devo max. Its necessary implication, and presumably for Wales also, is “United Kingdom lite”. Constitutionally, this entails turning the UK into a federation, with a new parliament for England and federal institutions to manage things of common concern, essentially foreign policy and defence and probably a new constitutional court as well as the supreme court.
Like you, I would welcome this as the harbinger of a “modern confident state”.
Benedict Birnberg
London SE3
The SNP wishes to hold its referendum on independence in 2014 to follow the anniversary of the battle of Bannockburn, which it will no doubt use as a nationalist flag-waving extravaganza.
September 2013 is the 500th anniversary of the battle of Flodden, a devastating defeat for Scotland in which its king and many of its nobility were killed. Should we English flag-wave? I suggest that instead we commemorate that battle by holding a dignified but very visible ceremony (Flodden is conveniently close to the border) to remember the dead on both sides and the politics of divisiveness that led to their slaughter.
We should then challenge the SNP to commemorate Bannockburn in the same spirit.
John Greenwood
Ewhurst
Surrey

Independent:

Your leading article (“A fascinating battle begins”, 15 January)
poses many of the key issues relating to a referendum on Scottish
independence, but omits asking what is a “nation”.
Independence requires adherence to concepts of sovereignty and of a separate nation, whereas devolution needs a cultural identity and a recognition that many activities of government should be devolved to a body democratically elected by those who feel a real sense of being a cultural community.
Is there an ethnic entity that is identifiably Scottish, with clear and defendable borders? Certainly Scotland has a native language, albeit spoken by less than 2 per cent of its inhabitants, and its own legal and education systems. But the nature of modern society, with its mobility and its globalisation of business and of ownership, means the argument for a Scottish nation is arguably much less sustainable than it was even a few decades ago.
I happen to be a Yorkshireman. Yorkshire has a similar population to Scotland, and if many of us look askance at the idea of total independence for Scotland, the debate certainly encourages us to argue for real devolution to our region.
Michael Meadowcroft
Leeds
The current configuration of the UK is not God given but politically constructed, often with military force. In that sense, there is nothing in principle to stop Scotland from leaving if that is what the majority wants. Whether it is the best way of directing political effort is another matter. I’d rather get rid of those people who would let bankers get off with financial mismanagement while slashing the jobs and services of ordinary people.
Keith Flett
London N17
•••
In your article “Scots wha hae!” (15 January), you comment that it’s not clear if Plymouth could be adapted to house Britain’s Trident D5 nuclear warheads if they were no longer held in Scotland.
There is currently a consultation by the Ministry of Defence on how to deal with decommissioned nuclear submarines. The consultation proposes Devonport as a site for their initial dismantling and a possible site for the storage of the resulting intermediate-level nuclear waste.
As you point out, the facilities in Plymouth are not at a remote site. They are in a city of 250,000 people. The MoD is seeking responses to its consultation, to be received by 17 February. See mod.uk/submarinedismantling.
Ginny Davies
Tavistock, Devon
•••
With regard to your 101 innovations (“Och i”, 15 January), the Scots are fond of writing their own history. If a person of note can be said to have one gene that can be traced to Scotland, the Scots claim the glory. All of the discoveries claimed by the Scots were by Scots who left that miserable place to seek employment in industries built by others, mostly English or English colonies.
Their greatest achievement is self-promotion. No wonder they play the bagpipes – it needs plenty of wind.
Fred Bishop
Via email
•••
Your correspondent (Letters, 15 January) wrote about the waste of energy from overflowing Snowdonian lakes and how it could be used to generate electricity. There is such a scheme, Dinorwig (fhc.co.uk/dinorwig.htm). It is used to pump water from a bottom lake to a top one in off-peak hours and supply the National Grid when required. It is a great visit and the coach goes right inside the mountain. It is now privatised. Your correspondent is whistling for a more sensible past. No more will be built.
Dave Nicholson
Windsor, Berkshire
•••
So, Margareta Pagano found some of the best Christmas food offers at her local Waitrose (15 January). Great research, but that “the rest of the nation’s shoppers” were “lured to Aldi and Netto for their bulk buys” is most unlikely. Netto has been closed since August.
Roger Armstrong
Grange-over-Sands, Cumbria
•••
One can only assume Mr Birkett (Letters, 15 January) is one of those who accepts that a 17-year-old may get married, have children, own a home, join the army, pay taxes and drive, yet cannot buy a knife to use in his kitchen or vote for his representative.
Duncan Gauld
Edinbugh
•••
Correction – The Sun
On 10 April last year in an article headlined “Royals believe Eugenie and Beatrice targeted” we reported suspicions held by Prince Andrew that his daughters’ phones may have been hacked. Our article implied that hacking may have been carried out by The Sun newspaper. The Sun has asked us to point out that there is no evidence whatsoever any such hacking was carried out by the title or on behalf of the title. We are happy to make the position clear.

Telegraph:

SIR – Planning studies carried out for the 2001 airports White Paper looked at the whole of the South East. It would be plain common sense to build as close as possible to the heart of England but, while there are several sites with potential, the fury which would result from even thinking about a massive new inland airport would make HS2 look like a picnic.
Both the Lord Foster plan and the Boris Island plan for the Thames Estuary ignore a preferable site. In the 1999 study that included the estuary, the transport department preferred the Isle of Grain site. In the last decade the Isle of Grain has become less suitable, with the further development of the gas terminal.
The other estuary option then favoured by many of the study team was to build on the edge of the Isle of Sheppey.
The advantages of Sheppey remain as they were then: greatly reduced noise impact on south-east London; distance from Heathrow sufficient for both airports to operate to the full; adequate clearances from both the gas terminal and the USS Richard Montgomery. The M2 and Channel tunnel rail link would be no farther than for the Foster site and the costs of construction would be no greater.
Boris Island, by comparison, would be far more costly and take longer to build. Without unduly prolonging consultation, Sheppey should be given consideration as a more sensible compromise site.
Related Articles
Ask a policeman and learn more than the time
21 Jan 2012
The Olympic programme will have taken just eight years to bring to fruition. Similarly, following consultation, building an airport need take no longer than the nine years required for the Hong Kong offshore airport from go-ahead to opening.
Sir Peter Innes Bt
Headbourne Worthy, Hampshire
SIR – It is airport transfers, not the exact time spent in car, train or bus, that are the hassle. Leaving aside costs, Stansted would be less convenient than the estuary for two million people in Kent and Sussex; equally convenient for 10 million in and around London; and much more convenient for 15 million from the West Midlands, southwards and eastwards.
J. A. Sutherland
Raglan, Monmouthshire
SIR – It is not surprising that a letter disagreeing with a Thames Estuary airport as “a disaster for the environment” is signed by representatives of Friends of the Earth and the RSPB. It is surprising that it is also signed by representatives of Christian Aid and the Catholic Agency for Overseas Development.
If Christian charities that collect money to help people in poor parts of the world know nothing about the subject, it seems odd to sign a public letter. If they allow staff to spend time studying the facts about the airport, how can they can justify using them in this way rather than in the ways for which people donate money – helping the world’s poor?
Eric Hester
Bolton, Lancashire
Scottish armed forces
SIR – Many years ago, the same discussion arose regarding an independent Scottish defence force (report, January 19). There was to be a Scottish air force, as well as an army and navy. That is how you recognise that the nationalists have been overcome by their own grandiose ideas for Scotland. Do any of them know what a Typhoon fighter costs to buy and run?
Alan F. Smith
Ponteland, Northumberland
British benefits
SIR – My American-born daughter-in-law lives in this country with her husband, my son, with the permission of a spousal visa. Inserted into her American passport, it reads: “No access to public funds.”
How can we have 370,000 migrants in this country receiving state benefits? Our leaders must tackle the problems caused by lax immigration laws.
Jayne Roberts
Truro, Cornwall
Localism a lost cause
SIR – Ours is a large village of nearly 2,500 people in rural Bedfordshire. For three years, we have been fighting a plan to build a wind farm of 10 turbines, each 400ft high and as close as 820 yards from the edge of the village – against European Commission recommendations, which are for a minimum of 2,187 yards.
After two public meetings, at which 95 per cent of those attending were against the proposal, and a full public inquiry, the development has been given the go-ahead on the basis that the public need outweighs any potential problems for the village. Once constructed, we fully expect a further application to complete the 16 turbines originally proposed.
One must conclude that the process is predetermined by a “presumption to approve” and that we might as well have rolled over at the start and saved ourselves much time, money, and frustration.
Brian Clarke
Langford, Bedfordshire
Turks prefer posh
SIR – Joan Bakewell, who was told by the BBC that her accent was “too posh” (Comment, January 20), might be interested to know that in my native Turkey exactly the opposite situation prevails.
More and more of Turkey’s 75 million population are turning away from the BBC World Service when they hear yet another regional accent instead of the Queen’s English. They assume that the BBC is on an economy drive, and cannot afford to hire speakers of the English they expect.
It is perhaps time the English realised that this “too posh” business is unique to this country. In France nobody speaking with a Marseilles accent would expect to be hired by the French public broadcaster.
Osman Streater
London NW3
Hearty proposal
SIR – On the subject of marriage proposals (Letters, January 20), in 1730 the 28-year-old Rev Philip Doddridge wrote to a young woman called Mercy: “You have made a greater advance upon my heart in a few hours than I intended to have allowed you in so many weeks: indeed you have possessed yourself of so much room in it that unless you will consent to become a tenant for life, our parting will be exceedingly troublesome and it will be a long time before I shall get it into repair again.” They were married, of course.
David Allen
Cley next the Sea, Norfolk
Doctors on strike
SIR – Doctors used the public’s favourable opinion of their profession to halve their work load under Gordon Brown’s government. Now they have the gall to consider striking over pension cuts (report, January 19) when the rest of us have had to swallow the bitter pill of austerity.
Martyn Kennard
Hythe, Kent
SIR – I am not one of the doctors who voted for strike action, but I share their anger. It is a little-publicised fact that the NHS Pension Scheme has a surplus of around £2 billion a year. As the scheme does not have a fund, this represents a substantial annual profit to the taxpayer.
The scheme is in surplus because it was reformed in 2008. The health-care unions accepted that the scheme had to take account of increasing life expectancy. My superannuation contributions rose by 25 per cent. Higher-earning doctors’ contributions increased by 42 per cent.
It was also agreed that the scheme should be reviewed triennially. The next review is due in 2014. Right now, there is no justification for changing the scheme.
Dr Tim Cantor
Ryarsh, Kent
SIR – Current proposals will increase doctors’ pension contributions by up to 15 per cent of salary, in contrast to civil servant or MP schemes which will only require an increase of 5 to 8 per cent.
The combination of a wage freeze for up to five years (with inflation at 5 per cent) together with a proposed increase in pension contributions will represent a 20 per cent pay cut for most doctors.
This will result in current trainees paying in an additional £250,000 over their career and being forced to work to 67 or 68, with a reduced final pension.
Dr Mike Hewitt-Symonds
Lymm, Cheshire
SIR – It was a betrayal of patient interests when the British Medical Association and British Doctors Association became unions and disqualified themselves from professional status. Now we know why.
Dr Nigel J. Knott
Bradford on Avon, Wiltshire
Low-octane post
SIR – If the Royal Mail gets its way (“Price of second-class stamps to rise 50 per cent”, report, January 20), it will be cheaper to buy a litre of petrol than to post three second-class letters.
Lynne Waldron
Woolavington, Somerset
Politicians fail to look cool by not wearing a tie
SIR – How refreshing to note that Professor Martin Roth of the Victoria and Albert Museum bemoans the fact that so few men wear ties with suits (report, January 18).
As Patrick Murphy, head cutter at Huntsman, said: “If a gentleman is wearing a suit and not a tie, it’s as if he hasn’t finished getting dressed.”
It really is the most appalling trend and I can think of no sadder sight than that of a politician being interviewed and trying to look “cool” by not wearing a tie.
Why can’t we take pride in our appearance?
Robin Page
Broadstairs, Kent
SIR – Men’s shirts are designed to be worn with a tie. If being tieless is now the norm, would shirt manufacturers redesign the collar so it does not look an untidy mess?
Cyril Burton
Abbots Morton, Worcestershire
SIR – I share Professor Roth’s sadness that only security guards now seem to wear ties.But should I be worried that every evening I eat my dinner with a security guard who looks very like my husband?
Carol Lambert
Odiham, Hampshire
SIR – Soon after George Simpson took over the GEC-Marconi Group from Arnold Weinstock, a directive was issued to all staff saying that casual dress was now mandatory and that ties were definitely not allowed.
Where is Marconi now?
Mervyn Vallance
Maldon, Essex
SIR – I, too, have a tie for every day of the month (Letters, January 20). It’s a blue one.
Dick Woodhead
Tiverton, Devon

Irish Times:

Irish Independent:

Sir — As a senior citizen in receipt of a pension, I’m beginning to realise just how important I am to this present Government. I know that I’m not alone in this, being one of the 115,000 pensioners to have received the recent tax threat.
We can see now what we voted in. Just when we had digested the bad news of charges for septic tank inspections and the charges of replacing them if deemed necessary and the €100 levy on every household in the country, we are kicked again in the teeth with a tax bill.
After 12 months in office, the Government has enabled two departments to communicate with each other and so now they can chase down the senior citizens of Ireland. Rumours abound that our free travel passes could be next in line to be axed or cut in some way.
May I suggest that if they do take our passes from us they should give them to our so-called ministers and take their perks from them? They should also take our votes from us, because otherwise I can assure you that we’ll break with them at the next general election.
We pensioners are well aware of the financial state of the country. We didn’t cause the problem. I worked all my life, reared a family and tried to put away a few euro for retirement only now to be hit with an unfair tax. None of us is going to take any money with us when we die, it will all go back into the system one way or another.
If it ever comes to a show-down between pensioners and government, I’ll be honoured to lead the white-haired battalion followed closely by the blue-rinse brigade and we’ll march into battle as best we can to the beat of our pacemakers and the rattle of our replacement hips, faulty or otherwise.
James J Heslin,
Lucan, Co Dublin

Sir — As an ordinary, appreciative reader of the Sunday Independent, for so many years, I’d like to express sincere regret at the passing of editor, Aengus Fanning. His hard, dedicated work and his professional expertise and wise care, ensured that our nation enjoyed, and benefited, from a great Irish paper every Sunday.
Sean O Cuinn,
Blackrock, Co Dublin
Sir — As a former contributor to the Sunday Independent, I wish to express my condolences on the death of its editor, Aengus Fanning.
Aengus was a visionary who never lost sight of the moral aspirations of middle Ireland. This was obvious in the courageous way he defended Irish democracy from violent nationalism. It was obvious in the way he ripped through the politically correct pretensions of the liberal elite. It was obvious in the way he cultivated and promoted journalists driven by moral clarity. It was obvious in the way he was forever fostering a sense of traditional community values.
At a personal level, it was obvious in his sense of style. During my three years writing for this newspaper, the editor would regularly send me a hand-written note expressing support and encouragement. It was a gesture full of grace for which I shall always be grateful.
It is not often that we can say with sincerity that “he did the State some service”. Today, we can shout it from the hilltops. For we have not only lost a great editor, but a moral titan whose contribution to this country is simply incalculable.
Dr Mark Dooley,
Killiney, Dublin
Sir — I wish to extend my condolences and sympathy to the family of Sunday Independent editor Aengus Fanning. I certainly didn’t agree with everything that was written and said in the Sunday Independent over the years, but it cannot be denied that the Sunday Independent under the stewardship of Aengus Fanning was never afraid to be controversial and say things, no matter how unpopular they were, and we need more people to say controversial things, no matter how unpopular they are, not less, and those of us who disagreed were always given the right of reply, either by letters to the editor, which I often did, or by having their own column the following week, and I wish to thank you for often publishing my letters. Aengus Fanning, rest in peace.
Pol O CionsalIgh,
Seantrabh, Baile Atha Cliath 9
Sir — I want to express my condolences on the passing of Aengus Fanning. I did not know him, but I supported a few of his articles, and had contact with him once online in relation to a support letter which was published.
He seemed a very nice and considerate man from that fleeting contact I had with him. May he rest in peace; he will be missed.
Pierce Martin,
Celbridge, Co Kildare
Sir — An irreplaceable, universally admired editor, endowed with the gift of wisdom and foresight. May he rest in peace.
Niall Ginty,
Killester, Dublin 5
Sir — My sympathies to all connected with Aengus Fanning. Ireland has suddenly become a darker place now that his light has been extinguished.
May he rest in peace.
Eddie Naughton,
The Coombe, Dublin 8
Sir — Being in shock on hearing of the death of the esteemed, erudite, eccentric, humorous, sometimes “over the top” wonderful editor of the Sunday Independent, Aengus Fanning, I send genuine sympathy to all and feel sure he is smiling down from a more peaceful haven. May he rest in peace.
Kathleen Corrigan,
Cootehill, Co Cavan

Killian Foley-Walsh is spot on (Letters, January 19) — why not use the entire tank in the National Pension Reserve Fund to open our very own Rating Agency?
Money for jam and risk-free. We have loads of large, empty buildings and thousands of nutty economists crying out for useful employment.
Imagine the sheer joy of causing consternation throughout the world as our Irish-based troika sets the fiscal rules of engagement.
Now’s the time to go for it — before the Greeks beat us to it!
Niall Ginty
Killester, Co Dublin

Well I must be off

best wishes John

Off out around the park, its damp, three joggers and I almost get run over by a girl on a scooter. The old couple who deliver papers are there. Both clad in bright orange Hi Vizibility jackets, and grey hair. She waits patiently for him as he goes up the paths to deliver the newspapers.
We go to pay June its her first day she is working for Joan, the kitchen is in quite a state, she said, but she does her best. Sandy appears, and is furious about the state the carers have left the house. She will give them a rocket. We will have to time our visits to see Joan to coincide with the carers.
We wish them goodbye and go and visit Pud who is still at the vets. We meet a lovely dog are sniffed all over, and taken it to the ward section. There lies Pud fast asleep, we rub her ear, and though we don’t quite get an actual purr, I think she appreciates it. One paw is bound with a drip feed going into a vein. She has been very good and is more livier, today, not making any fuss even when injected. With a bit of luck we may be able to have her back home tomorrow. We shall see its a major conference on Saturday morning.
We spend the rest of the day trying, monumentally unsuccessfully not to think about her
Pork chops we watch Whisky Galore as good as ever. I am sure James Robertson Justice would be struck off the medical profession for proscribing tobacco and ‘a wee dram’ to his patient, how things change.
Though tired we play Scrabble today, Mary wins I get stuck with the Q at the end, I don’t even reach 300 never mind 400!

Fave Letters:

A Tory government, recession, rising unemployment, a royal wedding, inner-city riots and now growing tensions in the Falklands (Argentina hits back over Falklands, 19 January) – there’s something familiar about all this!
Joe Hartney
London

Mary Dejevsky (18 January) observes that the Costa Concordia accident reveals the apparent breakdown of the “women and children first” principle.
As an unmarried and childless man, I agree with the basic assumption that in a crisis, all fit and able men present have a natural duty to look to the safety of any women, children and infirm. There are strong social and historical reasons for this, but all of these boil down to a ruthless assessment of the relative value of human beings in the propagation of the species. Thus, save the life-giver and the new life first; let the biologically superfluous male make his own way.
This so-called chivalric code expresses a ruthless and uncompromising view of life that many people today are shielded from by legislation, political correctitude and social taboos. It is not surprising, therefore, that many choose to reject such thinking as an artefact of an old, less advanced world, and imagine that they live in a time when such considerations will never touch them in their relatively safe, modern lives.
These same people might then book themselves a cruise across the most powerful, chaotic and terrifying natural environment never tamed by man: the open ocean.
Michael Ranson

Please could Richard Branson sponsor the new royal yacht? It would be beyond words to have the Virgin Queen.
Fenwick Kirton-Darling
Hexham, Northumberland

Silver service
SIR – Silver cutlery is dishwasher-proof (Letters, January 13), if not mixed with stainless steel, and washed on a “delicates” programme with a liquid detergent.
Our children have accepted canteens of silver as wedding presents, and use them.
Jane Bennett-Rees
Sunningdale, Berkshire

A modest proposal
SIR – Bryony Gordon writes about the trend of extravagant marriage proposals (Comment, January 19). It is not the manner of the proposal that is important, but the passion and commitment behind it.
At least that is what my husband of 16 years has always assured me. He proposed during an episode of Friends in 1995. The fact that he waited until the advertisement break showed more love and consideration than any expensive gesture.
Frances Williams
Swindon, Wiltshire

Obituary:

In 1940 Bryce was a 17-year old Midshipman RNR in the minesweeper Fitzroy when, on the evening of May 28, she anchored off La Panne, nine miles east of Dunkirk. His captain ordered him inshore with the ship’s motorboat, saying: “Mid, I want you to bring off the British Army. Got it?” After several trips to the beach, Bryce’s Fitzroy rescued 109 British soldiers, eight Belgian officers, two French fighters and two Jewish refugees.
On May 30 Fitzroy anchored closer to Dunkirk where Bryce found “khaki everywhere ” and “the air alive with German aircraft”. Such was the press that he once found it necessary to fire his pistol in the air to maintain discipline, but embarkation smartened up considerably after he enlisted the help of a sergeant major in the Scots Guards ; that night Fitzroy landed 678 British troops in England.
A few days later, after two further evacuation trips, Bryce celebrated his 18th birthday, becoming one of the youngest recipients of the DSC.
Ian Kinloch Bryce was born in Darlington, Co Durham, on June 9 1922, the son of a tobacco salesman. He was educated at Queen Elizabeth Grammar School and, after the family moved to Wales, at Monkton House, Cardiff. Although of Scots-Italian stock, he ever afterwards considered himself a Welshman.
He joined the Thames Nautical Training College HMS Worcester in 1936 and was Cadet Captain there when he and a team of cadets helped man Cutty Sark on her last voyage, under tow, from Falmouth to the Thames. He remembered cheering crowds on the shore, and her arrival off Chatham, when she was greeted by his hero, the much-decorated Antarctic explorer Admiral Lord Mountevans.
On February 26 1941, while in Cardiff on leave, Bryce was hit by a bomb splinter during an air raid, but made a speedy recovery. He then served three busy years in the destroyer Oribi. During this time he took part in the raid on Vaagso in Norway (when, he recalled, Jack Churchill’s commandos went into battle to the sound of the bagpipes); and was with the ship when she rammed U-531, and on D-Day.
Postwar Bryce accompanied the Royal Family on their tour to South Africa in the battleship Vanguard in 1947, then transferred to passenger shipping until 1956. After that he spent six years as a shore manager with Regent Oil and a further seven years with Conoco. He then set up Kinloch Bryce Associates, a company which specialised in training young people in management and leadership skills.
In 2005 Bryce published his autobiography, Shipmates & Mistresses – Bye and Large; the mistresses were the ships he served in, but Bryce was also remarkably frank about the romantic life of a sailor ashore.
Ian Bryce married first, in 1949, Brenda Pearce. She died in 1962, and in 1964 he married Sue Balkwill, who survives him with two sons and two daughters.
Ian Bryce, born June 9 1922, died December 11 2011

Full Text:

Guardian:

The decision by President Obama to reject a major new pipeline that would carry oil from Canadian tar sands into the US represents more than the president standing up to cynicism of Congressional Republicans and the threats of the oil industry to wreak electoral revenge in this year’s election (United States: Setback for big oil: Obama rejects Keystone pipeline, 19 January). It is a major opportunity for David Cameron and Nick Clegg to withdraw their support for the Canadian government and Big Oil in pursuing what is one of the most environmentally destructive projects ever.
All eyes are now on Europe where countries are debating proposals – the EU’s fuel quality directive – that would effectively ban oil derived from tar sands from entering European forecourts. The UK should seize the opportunity that President Obama’s brave stand has created, and stop lobbying against these proposals.
Three months ago the Keystone pipeline looked sure to be approved; now the tar sands industry is facing real obstacles in getting to market. The European plan would be another important milestone in stopping the expansion of tar sands exploitation. Obama’s decision hasn’t just been praised by environmental groups, but also by labour unions and thousands of citizens across America and around the globe.
Cameron can now also show international leadership. The world waits to see if he will side – like Obama – with the people, or with the polluters.
Bill McKibben
Schumann Distinguished Scholar,
Middlebury College, Middlebury, Vermont, US

You report (18 January) how Sutton Trust summer schools help students to gain places at an elite university. Eton College universities summer school was founded in 1982 and has now seen 3,409 students from the maintained sector through its doors. Students choose the subject they wish to read at university and are given 10 days of intensive tuition, as well as specific help with their university application process. The school is open to all students at the end of year 12 from the maintained sector and we have forged close bonds with certain boroughs, notably Hounslow and Tower Hamlets. Oxbridge success rates are high, at around two-thirds acceptance for several departments, and most other students go on to top universities, including Harvard. Our small (and subsidised) fee is remitted for students from families in financial hardship.
Andy Halksworth
Director, Eton College universities summer school

Thank you, Zoe Williams, for stating the obvious so clearly (Who pays the Tesco CEOs £6.9m a year? We do, 19 January). There can be no supermarket profits without workers, and yet these workers are routinely paid so little that taxpayer subsidies are required to protect them from poverty. But low pay is not the only evil in modern business.
My adult son works for a major high-street retailer on a zero-hours contract receiving the minimum wage. This means no guaranteed minimum hours each week.It is not unusual for him to be offered just one four-hour shift in a week, which, after fares, leaves him with less than £15 before tax. When a competitor offered him the same exploitative terms, he imagined that he could perhaps do both to build up something approaching a week’s work. No such luck. The first employer warned him that he would be in breach of contract if he accepted work with the competitor. Apparently shop assistants on minimum wage are now subject to the sort of policies on commercial confidentiality previously reserved for highly paid executives. If Labour truly wants to promote a better form of capitalism, it should stop backing extreme austerity measures and start guaranteeing that the minimum wage will become a living wage, and ban zero-hours and unfairly restrictive contracts.
It is a sign of our desperate times that I have asked for this letter to remain anonymous and have not named the retailer. I fear any criticism tracking back to my son could lose him his job. I feel I have to respect his desire to cling on to this job at almost any cost because to be a young man without any means of earning a living is so deeply depressing and infantilising. This is exactly how they get away with exploiting young people.
Name and address supplied
• All the letters (19 January) in response to your leader (Battling the bosses, 18 January) were from men – so here’s a female perspective. I am a former Unison shop steward representing relatively low-paid support workers in further education. As Harriet Harman and Yvette Cooper have pointed out so forcibly, women are in the majority in poorly paid public-sector jobs and have been hit hard by redundancies and pay freezes. When you have no savings and have already tightened your belt as far as it will go, how do you cope when prices go up, but your wages do not? A pay freeze for a couple of years is acceptable, but there seems to be no end in sight to the austerity. The stress on frontline workers now coping with heavier workloads is incredible. It makes me very angry when I hear affluent men talking so glibly about freezing pay and attacking very modest pension provision. They should be made to go and work in a care home for six months on the minimum wage, or in a college helping students with severe behavioural problems, or in a housing department trying to find accommodation for the homeless.
Anthea Beaumont
Highworth, Wiltshire

Jonathan Freedland says expectations about President Obama “were almost impossibly high” (Three years of Obama: Disappointments can’t crush the hope, 20 January). Largely because of uncritical, power-worshipping coverage by the mainstream media, I would argue. For example, a front-page Guardian article about Obama’s July 2008 speech in Berlin breathlessly reported the then Democratic presidential candidate “almost floated into view, walking to the podium on a raised, blue-carpeted runway as if he were somehow, magically, walking on water.” The author? Jonathan Freedland.
Ian Sinclair
London
• It seems paradoxical to see Pakistan and England playing cricket in Dubai in a virtually empty stadium (Sport, 18 January). There are thousands of indentured (slave?) Asian workers in Dubai who would not be allowed to attend the match owing to their apparently subhuman status in Dubai. Does the ECB not have enough of a social conscience to back away from this kind of hypocrisy? They did with South Africa, eventually.
Duncan Grimmond
Harrogate
• Your article on poor dog control (19 January) did not mention dog-on-dog attacks. People are seeing their beloved pets maimed and killed, bringing psychological distress to the owners and in some cases serious mental health issues.
David Gwilliam
Exmouth, Devon
• A Tory government, recession, rising unemployment, a royal wedding, inner-city riots and now growing tensions in the Falklands (Argentina hits back over Falklands, 19 January) – there’s something familiar about all this!
Joe Hartney
London
• Was it wise to drop listings for daytime television from G2 – in the very week we learned that 118,000 more people now find themselves with nothing better to do than watch it?
Willie Montgomery Stack
Norwich
• I’m having difficulty navigating my way round the redesigned paper. Any chance of a wallchart?
Fr Ed Hone
Durham

Independent:

Beneath a photograph of Moldovan dancer Domnica Cemortan your headline asks: “Was this woman drinking with the captain – or an innocent aboard?” (20 January). The Independent clearly assumes, in the former case, that she is guilty of some sort of crime and is at least partly to blame for the wreck of the Costa Concordia.
This is grotesquely sexist nonsense – for which Terence Blacker’s timely report on research showing that men’s cognitive functioning declines in the presence of attractive women (Notebook, 20 January) provides no excuse. Anyone, however beautiful, who is invited to socialise with a ship’s captain is surely entitled to assume that he will remain capable of doing his job safely and responsibly; otherwise, knowing his limitations, the invitation would not be made. Ms Cemortan deserves an apology.
Andrew Clifton
Edgware, Middlesex
In your issue of 19 of January, in addition to a leader about the impeccable conduct of the coastguard in Livorno over the Costa Concordia accident, you publish a letter from a British resident in Italy disturbed by your previous reporting about the accident. One line in this letter struck me: “Stereotyping does not help.”
I dare to add that stereotyping does not help good journalism. Yet your newspaper cannot do without it apparently, as on the same issue you publish a comment by Peter Popham which is a “masterpiece in stereotyping”.
I tried unsuccessfully to appreciate his humour and his attempt to demystify what he calls “our fondest prejudices”, but let me say that he seems to fall 100 per cent victim of them. His choice of words looks quite insulting.
Alain Giorgio Maria Economides
Ambassador of Italy to the United Kingdom, London W1
Unlike your correspondent Andrew J Mulholland (19 January), I did not detect any racism in the reference to Captain Schettino phoning his mother in your 18 January report. On the contrary, I thought your journalist filed an appropriately worded, suitably damning response to the mind-boggling transcript of Schettino’s conversation with the coastguard.
David Cavanagh
Brighton
‘Taste of hell’ doesn’t help to train carers
While we welcome all education related to dementia, and understand that the session described in “Dementia: a small taste of hell on earth” (17 January) forms only part of a longer course offered by Liverpool Hope University, we would like to challenge the basis upon which this training is delivered.
Recently we have seen a rise in experiential learning approaches that involve putting learners through degrading and traumatic simulated experiences. It is a misconception that a learner must be put through an aversive experience in order to learn how to care. In fact all the evidence suggests the opposite; when we are put in a stressful situation general memory formation is impaired, and what is retained are minute details of the stressful experience.
Experiential sessions of this nature usually include being subject to degrading and unkind “care” from trainers taking on the role of staff, which then serves to normalise such practices. This whole aversive approach does nothing to counter the stigma attached to a diagnosis of dementia, and nothing to teach more humane caring skills.
If we no longer believe that children learn from being smacked, why do we assume that adults will learn from being hurt, humiliated and embarrassed? Would we advocate a course about pain management which inflicted severe pain in order to demonstrate what it feels like?
Let’s have experiential learning by all means, but base it on the lifetime’s experience and existing resources that dementia caregivers bring with them to the learning situation.
Dr Claire Surr
Dr Andrea Capstick
Jan Robins
Emily Malet
Bradford Dementia Group
University of Bradford
Royal yacht idea is an insult
I am stung into writing by the news that there is a call among a certain sector of society to buy the Queen a yacht for her diamond jubilee. On the news today I heard that some rich bloke has offered millions to buy or build one. The counteracting soundbite is that its cost should not come out of taxes, as if that makes it all right.
The Queen does not need a yacht. If rich people want to mark the jubilee, why not set up a trust or charity with that name to benefit unemployed people or people who have difficulty affording fuel and food?
If we are all in this together, maybe the Queen could do what some cultures do: give presents on her big day rather than receive something that is an insult to struggling people in Britain.
Sally Evans
Groeslon, Caernarfon
Please could Richard Branson sponsor the new royal yacht? It would be beyond words to have the Virgin Queen.
Fenwick Kirton-Darling
Hexham, Northumberland
Looking for a deal on Greek debt
John Day (letter, 19 January) and President Sarkozy have something in common: they clearly make little attempt to understand the financial markets.
The volume of credit default swaps (CDS) outstanding on Greece is estimated to be €60bn gross and €4bn net, around 20 per cent of Greek sovereign debt, not “many times” the amount. The private-sector bond-holders are endeavouring to strike a deal which will result in a voluntary restructuring, that will not trigger CDS.
This would normally require 75 per cent of creditors (ie bond holders) to accept the deal. Hedge funds in total, given their small balance sheets, will not hold such a significant amount of Greek debt that they could scuttle the deal without the support of other creditors.
The most likely key hindrance to a voluntary deal will be the coupon rate of any substitute bonds Greece issues, since this will impact the losses that the bond-holder will take in exchange for existing debt. As in any restructuring, investors (whether a bank or a hedge fund) are trying to minimise their losses and Greece is trying to reduce the cost of its debt by reducing the amount it pays back.
S Lewis
London, SW13
Curb abuses of lobbying
The Independent is entirely correct in stating that a statutory register of professional lobbyists is necessary (leading article, 10 January).
There is an urgent need to guarantee transparency, and to make sure that everyone in the political debate is operating under the same rules and with equal levels of access. You are also correct in asserting that a statutory register cannot be introduced in isolation, and must be accompanied by a compulsory code of conduct, a ban on professional lobbyists holding parliamentary passes, and a requirement for politicians and officials to declare their meetings with lobbyists.
This is not the pointless creation of additional bureaucracy the naysayers would have us believe. Without these measures, a statutory register will remain toothless. A code of conduct must be policed by a government agency, rather than by the profession itself, whose attempt at a fig-leaf of credibility – the UK Public Affairs Council – is incompetent and ineffective.
Chris Whitehouse
The Whitehouse Consultancy Ltd, London SE1
In brief…
Supermarkets offer real hope
The Fair Pay Network is wrong (“Supermarket success is costing us dear”, 19 January). The route out of poverty is a job, a qualification and an opportunity to progress. That’s not just our view – it’s also that of the Joseph Rowntree Report on poverty.
At Morrisons we help local people from all backgrounds to get a good job in a good company and that is a good start for most people. They also get the chance of an apprenticeship qualification and last year we promoted 2,500 people from the shop floor to management jobs.
We want to form a lifelong commitment to our staff and that involves more than just starting pay; it also involves a wide range of benefits, opportunities and a career.
Norman Pickavance
Group HR Director, Morrisons, Bradford
Three cheers for Birmingham
I was very pleased to see that Birmingham, for once, got good press, thanks to The New York Times (9 January). I lived there for three years: it is a lovely place, with lots of things to do and indeed, very romantic. I met my boyfriend there six years ago and our first date was a long drink at the Tap and Spile, an old pub overlooking one of the canals by Broad Street. The warm and welcoming Brummies can be proud of their heritage and their good humour.
Dr Arianna Andreangeli
Edinburgh
What to call Guy Gibson’s dog
In the TV film guide in The Information (14 January) you said, about The Dam Busters: “Hopefully, this broadcast is the sanitised version in which Wallis’s black labrador is rechristened ‘Trigger’ “. First, the dog was not Wallis’s; it was Guy Gibson’s. Second, its name was “Nigger”, whether people like that or not. The practice of changing historical facts because the truth is inconvenient is at best reprehensible and at worst dangerous. It is shameful that you should advocate it.
Mike Perry
Ickenham, Middlesex
Island homes
Mr Cameron thinks that the Falkland Islanders should have the right to decide their own future. Is he prepared to extend the same courtesy to the Chagos Islanders?
Trevor Walshaw
Meltham, West Yorkshire

Telegraph:

SIR – It is no surprise to me that families regularly argue about the dog (report, January 10). Dogs require rigid and predictable routines, without which they are often miserable and troublesome.
It is a worrying reflection on our society that so many families lead such haphazard and disorganised lives that they are unable to accommodate the needs of their canine companions, and resort to arguing about who should do what.
If we all owned dogs and treated them responsibly, there would be no time for distractions such as extra-marital affairs or family arguments, and we would all be much fitter, as we would be walking several miles a day with our pets and enjoying the fresh air.
Paul Blundell
Rugby, Warwickshire

SIR – Decisions about the future of social care are the heartbeat of our country, touching the lives of every individual and family. The way our society responds to the needs of older people and those with disabilities and mental health needs is an indication of the kind of country we live in.
So decisions about how social care is funded and policies about providing care are not just a matter of how taxes are spent, but of how highly we prize dignity and quality of life for everyone in our communities.
For those of us in local government, there is a great responsibility not only to make the right decisions for our regions, but also to talk to central government about what we think its priorities should be.
As council representatives, we call on the Government to follow the advice of the Dilnot Commission on funding social care. Social care is expensive and, with people living longer, the difficulty of providing quality care should not be underestimated. But concerns about money are not a reason to hesitate; they are a spur to take action. Not only is the current system unfair, it will also be more costly in future.
Changing the system and bringing in reform is crucial and needs to happen soon. Only last week, Dr John Sentamu, the Archbishop of York, called for more to be done to protect the elderly. He said that, while savings were needed, they “must be applied with caution and compassion.” He added: “We all know there are going to be cuts in government expenditure. We dare not cut compassion. Our nation’s humanity is at stake.” It is vital that, in line with Dr Sentamu’s sentiments, we urgently seek a solution to the financial challenge of paying for social care.
Finding an alternative to the current system, as costs climb rapidly each year and become unsustainable, was what Andrew Dilnot was asked to do. His Commission has spent months gathering evidence and considering solutions. While its recommendations are not without cost, they are workable.
The dignity of older people and of adults who need social care should not be at risk because a solution has not been put into place. Indeed, everyone, from the care sector to carers and from local government to older people, needs a solution to be agreed and put into practice as soon as possible. The recent integration report from the NHS Future Forum cites the possibility of using efficiencies from the system to fund social care services as one of the major decisions to be made.
The Dilnot Commission has found a workable solution that balances financial concerns with respect for elderly and vulnerable people. We recognise that the extra cost associated with the Commission’s recommendations prompts questions, and we understand that these are questions for government ministers to consider. On this basis, we can only advise that any limit on costs should be as low as possible to stay affordable, and should not be above about £50,000.
We believe public investment is necessary to protect “our nation’s humanity” and the dignity of older people in Britain.
Graham Gibbens
Cabinet member for Adult Social Care and Public Health, Kent County Council
David Sprason
Cabinet Lead Member for Adults and Communities, Leicestershire County Council
Colin Noble
Cabinet Member for Adult and Community Services, Suffolk County Council
Signed on behalf of the following local authorities: Bedford, Bracknell Forest, Brighton and Hove, Buckinghamshire, Cambridgeshire, Central Bedfordshire, Derby, Derbyshire, East Sussex, Essex, Hampshire, Hertfordshire, Isle of Wight, Kent, Leicester, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Luton, Medway, Milton Keynes, Norfolk, North-east Lincolnshire, North Lincolnshire, Northamptonshire, Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, Oxfordshire, Peterborough, Portsmouth, Reading, Rutland, Slough, Southampton, Southend-on-Sea, Suffolk, Surrey, Thurrock, West Berkshire, West Sussex, Windsor and Maidenhead and Wokingham.

SIR – It is welcome news that the Government has recognised the need to address the shortage of air capacity in London and the South East (report, January 18). We urgently need additional capacity to encourage trade with the growing markets in Asia, the Middle East and South America. However, even with the best will in the world, a new airport could, realistically, take 20 years to build.
In the meantime, what is the Government’s strategy to tackle congestion at our airports and improve our ability to reach key markets?
Baroness Valentine
Chief Executive, London First
London WC2
SIR – In 1970 the Roskill Commission was considering a number of possible sites for a third London airport. The majority of Commission members identified Cublington in Buckinghamshire as the preferred location.
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Professor Sir Colin Buchanan was the only dissenter, favouring a Thames-side location to the east of London at Maplin, Essex. With his long-standing experience as a planning inspector and a professional transport planner he distrusted the simplistic cost-benefit approach that had led to the identification of Cublington, and he argued that a location to the east of London would promote urban regeneration there.
Roger France
Cambridge
SIR – A new hub airport in the Thames Estuary would be a disaster for the climate, and, as a result, for people and wildlife in this country and globally.
What’s more, there is no clear support for this airport from the British aviation industry. We know this because similar proposals have been considered by previous governments on at least three occasions, and each time they’ve been thrown out.
If anything, the case for Boris Island will only look worse this time round, because action on climate change is needed more urgently than ever. Aviation is already responsible for more than a fifth of the UK transport sector’s greenhouse gas emissions, and an airport accommodating 180 million passengers each year, as proposed by Boris Johnson, would be much larger than any airport in operation in the world today.
Such a scheme would effectively be the death-knell for the Government’s promise to be the greenest ever, and would undermine its ability to show international climate leadership. That’s why we will be opposing it every step of the way.
Paul Brannen
Christian Aid
Neil Thorns
Cafod
Martin Harper
RSPB
Craig Bennet
Friends of the Earth
Paul Cook
Tearfund
Colin Butfield
WWF
Joss Garman
Greenpeace UK
Kirsty Wright
World Development Movement
Susan James
Portsmouth Climate Action Network
Sarah Clayton
Airport Watch
Andy Parsons
Swindon Climate Action Network
Nicola Hutchinson
Plantlife
Lorna Howarth
Artists Project Earth
Jake Leeper and Hannah Smith
UK Youth Climate Coalition
Hugo Tagholm
Surfers Against Sewage
Peter Robinson
Climate Alliance
SIR – A White Paper on the future of aviation is due shortly, and much of it will revolve around our ability to handle more air traffic, especially from the Far East.
The four options on the table – an extra runway at Heathrow, Stansted or Gatwick, or a new airport in the Thames Estuary – each have their proponents and detractors. However, in economic terms, only one offers a rapid solution without expensive concomitant development, and that is a new runway at Heathrow. Most properties that would be blighted by such a runway are already owned by BAA and much of the infrastructure is ready. Talk of new roads, railways and islands for the other options is irrelevant if costs are to be limited in this economic climate, which may last 10 years.
A. T. Brookes
Charlwood, Surrey
SIR – If Nick Clegg’s against it, you know it’s a good idea.
C. G. Joy
London N3
Youth start-up loans
SIR – In this economic climate, young entrepreneurs are anxious about access to small-scale finance to start businesses. A young person has access to a loan for a business degree, but not one on equally favourable terms to start a business.
We call on the Government to introduce a youth investment fund. This would make favourable-rate loans available as start-up capital for young entrepreneurs, with the same conditions that exist for the much larger loans to prospective students through the student loans fund.
As university applications fall and young people consider alternative career paths, it is time to review the value society places on a degree above other choices.
Most start-ups look for finance on a small scale – below £10,000 – and, with the depression of university applicant numbers, the fund can be delivered without increasing the overall costs of youth investment. Any risk associated with these loans could be underwritten by a revamped careers service giving support in the same way that Ucas assists with university applications.
This is a bold proposal but we are hugely encouraged by the Prime Minister’s initial response. We now want to ensure his warm support for the idea translates into action.
Sir Richard Branson
Founder, Virgin Group
Neil Berkett
CEO, Virgin Media
Abdul Khan
CEO, ratethatcurry.com
Ronke Ige
CEO, Emi & Ben
Zoe Jackson
CEO, Living the Dream
London W1
Silver service
SIR – Silver cutlery is dishwasher-proof (Letters, January 13), if not mixed with stainless steel, and washed on a “delicates” programme with a liquid detergent.
Our children have accepted canteens of silver as wedding presents, and use them.
Jane Bennett-Rees
Sunningdale, Berkshire
Costing a mint
SIR – The new, thicker 10p and 5p steel coins will save the Treasury £8 million a year. But adapting equipment for their use will cost £80 million (report, January 18).
What lunacy! The Royal Mint should melt down the coins and start again.
Duncan Rayner
Sunningdale, Berkshire
Everyday neckwear
SIR – Well done to Prof Martin Roth, the director of the Victoria and Albert Museum, for extolling the virtues of ties (report, January 19). I have 31 ties: one for each day of the month. I will continue to wear them.
Ron Kirby
Dorchester
A modest proposal
SIR – Bryony Gordon writes about the trend of extravagant marriage proposals (Comment, January 19). It is not the manner of the proposal that is important, but the passion and commitment behind it.
At least that is what my husband of 16 years has always assured me. He proposed during an episode of Friends in 1995. The fact that he waited until the advertisement break showed more love and consideration than any expensive gesture.
Frances Williams
Swindon, Wiltshire
The backgammon habit soon settles scores
SIR – John FitzGerald and his wife’s daily games of backgammon (Letters, January 18) echo my own experience. Given an elegant backgammon set by our daughter one Christmas, my wife and I have played almost every day since January 1982 – and we have kept 30 years of scores in a set of little notebooks.
We play three games every evening, and the rivalry is so intense that we have nothing but affection for each other for the rest of the day.
Jeremy Gotch
London SE21
SIR – We, too, play backgammon daily, having started while on holiday in the Canary Islands some years ago. At the time of writing, I lead my wife by 11,316 to 11,312.
Anyone wishing to verify these figures is welcome to examine our kitchen diary. We remain fiercely competitive good friends.
Michael Brotherton
Chippenham, Wiltshire
SIR – Backgammon was popular among the late-11th-century Norman warrior aristocracy. In 1983, during excavations on the site of the first motte-and-bailey castle in Gloucester, I uncovered the remains of the earliest backgammon set to have survived from the medieval period.
It was made of red deer bone or antler, decorated with pornography, drinking and feasting, hunting, entertainers, astrology, falconry and dragon fights.
The former owner of the set may have finally got fed up with the game; he smashed it up, threw it in a rubbish pit and retired to become a monk in Wales.
Dr Ian J. Stewart
Carleon, Monmouthshire
SIR – My wife and I played backgammon frequently when we were first married. We stopped when she owed me £3 million and I settled for a cup of hot chocolate.
Peter Watson
Great Wolford, Warwickshire

Irish Times:

Emigration – a lifestyle choice?
Sir, – Isn’t it time that we were honest with ourselves as a nation on the topic of emigration? Minister for Finance Michael Noonan has walked into a hornets’ nest in his depiction of it as a lifestyle choice for many young people (Home News, January 20th), but is he actually wrong ?
For a country that seeks to base its recovery on exports and trade, our attitude towards gaining valuable experience of other countries and cultures is surely odd at best. Many of our neighbouring European countries highly prize time spent abroad mastering another language and broadening one’s horizons. Ask any young French or Spanish person about the most valuable addition to their CV and it will often be their stint working overseas. The simple fact is that even in the good years, there was a constant flow of young people in and out of the country to the same destinations as now.
For reasons of history, we appear to have a completely irrational attitude towards the beneficial aspects of emigration and a knee-jerk reaction to being reminded that it is a large part of who we are.
There are times when one needs to get over history and deal more dispassionately with the future we want to provide for our young people. Of course we should seek to provide for them in Ireland – as we did during the boom years. However, a trading nation needs people who know and understand the world. Speaking personally, when I am bombarded with negativity on the airwaves day after day about how bad things are in Ireland, I am hardly alone in wishing sometimes that I could go and ride out the storm in a more pleasant harbour. Alas, my mortgage makes me a real prisoner of the Celtic Tiger. – Yours, etc,
BARRY HENNESSY,
Turvey Walk,
Donabate, Co Dublin.
A chara, – That the criticism of the Minister for Finance’s remarks on emigration comes from Messrs Martin, Adams and O’Dowd is risible. It is people of their ilk that have created an Ireland in which so many Irish choose, of their own volition, not to live.
While being proud to be Irish, this pride does not bring with it a desire to build a life in the State whose passport I carry, moulded as it is by the hands by generations of Fianna Fáil and Sinn Féin. – Is mise,
JOHN O’REILLY,
Carrer Argenter,
Barcelona, Spain.
A chara, – Minister for Finance Michael Noonan should be fired for his insulting, offensive, hurtful and ignorant comments regarding emigration as “a free choice of lifestyle”. I hope he doesn’t take my letter “out of context”. – Is mise,
JASON POWER,
Maxwell Road,
Rathgar, Dublin 6.
If you don’t have a TV . . .
Sir, – The Government’s arguments for the proposed broadcast charge are weak in the extreme (Dáil Report, January 19th).
Argument one is that the charge will reduce evasion. Even if this does happen, it remains for the Government to explain why those who don’t watch television should pay to reduce evasion by users.
Argument two is that public service broadcasting is increasingly accessed online, via the RTÉ viewer and websites. If this is so, I see no reason not to charge at source, as the New York Timesnewspaper does, for example. By charging online, RTÉ can target only those users who wish to pay for RTÉ content online. The Government has provided me with no compelling reason to be forced to pay for online content that I have no wish to pay for.
In addition to this, I have strong ethical reasons for not owning or watching a television. I believe that a life is best lived by actively researching and sourcing one’s information and entertainment.
Television ownership, in my view, encourages a passivity that is harmful to personal development. Good television is so rare that it is best sourced by other means, such as DVD. In particular, the RTÉ State media output is so poor that I would never think about it under normal circumstances.
The Government is proposing to undermine what I consider to be a fundamental right: to freely choose not to watch junk. I would be compelled, under this proposal, to pay for others to do so. – Yours, etc,
FRANK O’CONNOR,
Mellifont Avenue,
Dún Laoghaire, Co Dublin.
Sir, – Before we get to nasal microchips at birth and a breath-tax, is it not time we got down to brass-tax? We could start with a pilot-project on some political chickens’ necks. – Yours, etc,
D FLINTER,
Castleview Estate,
Headford, Co Galway.
Wanted: emergency budget
Sir, – The 60 signatories to the letter calling for an emergency budget spoke of “a worrying rise in income inequality” and the need “to redistribute income from high incomes . . . to low- and average- income-earners” (January 20th).
I note that 22 of the 60 signatories are academics employed by our universities. A report last year showed that 200 of their colleagues working in higher education earn over €150,000 per annum ( The Irish Times, December 6th). Perhaps they could begin by taking a voluntary pay cut and ask their colleagues to do likewise? Their letter contained no concrete proposals of any kind and consisted of the usual vague sloganeering trotted out by left-wing pressure groups. Can they please tell us how much time and resources were spent on drafting and circulating this letter at a time of serious funding shortfalls in our universities? – Yours, etc,
THOMAS RYAN,
Mount Tallant Avenue,
Harolds Cross, Dublin 6W.
An ambassador for the Vatican
Sir, – Raymond Brown (January 20th) notes that representatives of 11 countries, including some among the poorest in the world (but also including Switzerland), recently presented their credentials as ambassadors to the Holy See and contrasts this with the position of Ireland. In fact, the ambassadors concerned are all accredited on a non-resident basis, exactly the same basis on which Ireland is to be represented. The Government’s nominee for the position of Ambassador has been accepted by the Holy See and is expected to present his credentials to Pope Benedict later in the year. – Yours, etc,
NOEL WHITE, Director of Press Information,
Department of Foreign Affairs,
St Stephen’s Green,
Dublin 2 .
Beethoven’s shopping note
Sir, – Donal Moore (January 20th) threatens to leave Ireland for Britten if there are any more composer puns. Having made this “free choice of lifestyle”, I wonder will he be Offenbach. – Yours, etc,
CONOR WALSH,
Carrowhubbuck South,
Enniscrone, Co Sligo.
Sir, – I’m not sure why Beethoven had to go to the bother of writing up a shopping list (Breaking News, January 10th). Why didn’t he just Telemann what he wanted? – Yours, etc,
CIANA CAMPBELL,
Cahercalla, Ennis, Co Clare.
Sir, – I baroque my sides Lauten when I Traetta unRavel the Messiaen with Beethoven’s Chopin Liszt. Peersons have been very Bizet, but to be Franck they have Coste me a lot of Strauss. – Yours, etc,
JOAN TIMONEY,
Grange Road,
Rathfarnham, Dublin 16.
Sir, – I am Verdi annoyed by this endless punning.
Hoddinott paid my subscription to The Irish Times, I would Adam well stop reading it.
Please, Finzi it at once – Mahlerned friends and I are all Straussed out by it. – Yours, etc,
PADRAIG O’ROURKE,
Merrion Road,
Ballsbridge, Dublin 4.
Time to say Non?
Sir, – From The Irish Times, January 19th:
“Pressure mounts on Ireland over corporation tax rate”.
“A key proposal in the Common Agricultural Policy reform talks would do ‘huge damage’ to the agri-food sector and Ireland needs to dramatically change it”.
“The money being used to pay off Anglo Irish Bank’s debts is having ‘catastrophic consequences on Irish society’.”
Given that we are told that our recovery will be export-led and that the agricultural sector is currently one of our best, isn’t it time that we said “Non, Non, Non!”? – Yours, etc,
FX O’BRIEN,
Forster Street, Galway.
Implementing abortion ruling
Sir, – William Binchy’s article (Opinion, January 19th) repeats the argument that Ireland is one of the safest places in the world for pregnancy, and implies that this is somehow related to the legal status of abortion in this state.
Prof Binchy’s campaign group’s website cites a 2010 WHO/UN report for this claim. Looking at the statistics directly, one can see that Ireland was the safest place to have a child in 2005. In 2008 (the latest available statistics), it was the second safest after Greece, which allows for “abortion on demand” up to 12 weeks after conception, and up to 24 weeks in exceptional circumstances.
Indeed, aside from Ireland, the top 10 countries for maternal safety all allow for “abortion on demand”, and respect the right of the mother to choose. Surely this suggests that maternal safety in Ireland has less to do with abortion law, and much more to do with the high quality of care provided by healthcare providers. – Yours, etc,
MICHAEL PIDGEON,
Brook Court,
Monkstown,
Co Dublin.
A chara, – While I agree with much of the sentiment of William Binchy’s piece on abortion (Opinion, January 19th), he is mistaken when he says the consequence of legislating in line with the X-case would involve “introducing into our hospitals an abortion regime, requiring abortion at all stages of pregnancy up to birth”.
The reason he is mistaken is that the test set out by the chief justice in the X-case, that abortion be the only way of avoiding a threat to the life of the mother cannot be satisfied by anyone in the real world.
It had been thought that a threat of suicide would satisfy that test, but the statement in 2002 by Prof Anthony Clare, then head of the TCD school of psychiatry along with his UCD counterpart that abortion is never the only way to avoid a threat of suicide in a pregnant woman, removed any possibility that the X-case could be legitimately used to justify the provision of abortion in Ireland. The same would apply to any other condition.
It would have to be shown that there is no other way of avoiding the risk to the life of the mother, and it is yet to be shown that such a condition exists. In conclusion the test in the X case cannot be satisfied in the real world, and the real legislators should not be introducing laws for imaginary scenarios. – Is mise,
MANUS Mac MEANMAIN,
PRO, Comhar Críostaí – The
Christian Solidarity Party,
Dublin 1
.
Swings and roundabytes
Sir, – Frank McNally was almost generous in An Irishman’s Diary (January 18th) when he described the service provided by AA Roadwatch as “not entirely useless”. While we appreciate that the piece was written with gentle humour there are many motorists across the country who can easily answer his question.
On that same Wednesday morning there were three crashes on the M50 and numerous calls, texts and tweets were fielded by AA staff advising motorists on alternative routes and on delays. There is no doubt that the information provided was needed and appreciated.
In addition to the broadcast reports which are necessarily short, as McNally noted the service also provides very detailed information on its website and via Twitter where it has some 25,000 followers.
McNally also repeats what has become a modern Irish cliché about the “AA Roadwatch” accent. This taunt will not go away even though the Dubs in the current team are outnumbered by their colleagues from Kerry, Clare, Wicklow, Louth and even Frank McNally’s native Co Monaghan.
I suppose that in the same way that John Wayne will always be pictured wearing a cowboy hat, AA Roadwatch will always carry that tag. Still we are grateful that Frank McNally is complimentary about the service, even in a “roundabyte” way. – Yours, etc,
AOIFE CARRAGHER,
Controller,
AA Roadwatch,
Drury Street,
Dublin 2.

Irish Independent:

As I sit in my office on a quiet morning in general practice, I can hear strains of ‘Mr Tambourine Man’ gently wafting in from the radio speakers in the waiting room next door.
This is followed by Pat Kenny talking about something utterly predictable, elucidating an array of opinions on the usual subjects; all of which are presumably in keeping with those of the listening public.
Indeed, the typical nature of my day, with its rather typical opening and somewhat predictable conclusion, causes me to seriously question the pace, and even the existence of social, cultural or intellectual evolution, at least in an Irish context?
‘Mr Tambourine Man’ was written and recorded by Bob Dylan in 1965.
It is often described as an ode to the use of drugs such as LSD, which was certainly part of the social experiment that was the hippy 1960s.
My point here is that whilst Dylan’s muse is of some historical relevance, and was clearly of significance in the 1960s, why does it remain part of the frozen musical repertoire of RTE today?
Fortunately, with the internet and YouTube, we have access to a world outside of the ‘groundhog day’ that is RTE, and to my delight — and sadness — my 14-year-old son almost every night introduces me to a world of music that evolves on a different planet to RTE.
Bands like Beirut; Joanna Newsom; Antony and the Johnsons; Life in Film; Devendra Banhart; M Ward, and many more, all of whom will hardly see the light of day if they are to struggle through the fixed concrete that RTE has poured upon the landscape of Irish media.
The interesting thing here is that the artists I have mentioned are almost entirely unknown to the Irish mainstream but are known throughout the world.
If the numbers of hits on their YouTube videos are anything to go by, they are part of an evolving world of music, passing Ireland by.
Yet there is also a sinister twist to the artistic stagnation that defines our national media. It is possible that this national ossification is more by design rather than by accident. One is not suggesting a conspiracy theory, but there is at present a massive global evolution occurring on the intellectual, as well as the entertainment and artistic front.
An evolution, which we in Ireland remain almost entirely ignorant of.
Old dogs are being buried around the world. Popular philosophers like Slavoj Zizek are reinventing democracy, capitalism and socialism, and would be very quick to point towards the brutal irony that Joe Duffy is as much a media celebrity as he is a ‘man of the people’.
The actual social distance between presenters like Duffy, Kenny, Finucane, or the late Gerry Ryan and the ‘real’ people of Ireland could be measured in light years, yet theirs is the petrified view that spans the airways.
Not only is RTE incapable of evolution, but it is happy to resurrect the retired, in the form of Gay Byrne. RTE has at least evolved the notion of the job for life into a job beyond retirement.
Newness of ideals remains an anathema to RTE, perhaps because newness is an anathema to the Irish people.
We continue to ‘play the Lotto’ and suffer from the same GPI (General Paralysis of the Insane) which Joyce accused us of in ‘Dubliners’ and ‘Ulysses’.
Perhaps it is this same paralysis that causes 1,000 young people to flee Ireland every week. Perhaps the usual palaver about our young having to leave Ireland because of the recession is as untrue as it is true.
Perhaps many of the emigrants themselves believe that the sole reason they depart Ireland is economic. And yet despite the media embrace of the recession, there may be more to this.
It may be that we Irish have no sense of ownership of our land, no sense of belonging to Ireland.
I consider myself a middle-class socialist; it is to my mind the path of least destruction amongst the by-ways of political philosophy. I suspect that most in Ireland are of a similar leaning.
The socialist TD Clare Daly has embarked upon a campaign to ignore the new residential tax. The Left, as is usual in Ireland, have missed the banana boat.
Their tactics remain unchanged since the water charges and the bin tax a decade ago. Don’t pay, go to jail and hopefully raise the profile of the socialist agenda.
But the Government is ahead of Clare Daly and Joe Higgins. The Government has passed legislation to ensure that the socialists will be denied their day in jail, as non-payers are to have the residential tax taken at source from their wages. Checkmate.
The real charge that Daly and Higgins and the entire Leopold Blooming nation of ours should be rejecting with heartfelt enthusiasm is our TV licence, as it is this money that pays for the concrete that is being poured upon the intellectual landscape of Ireland every single day.
Dr Marcus de Brun
Rush, Co Dublin

Killian Foley-Walsh is spot on (Letters, January 19) — why not use the entire tank in the National Pension Reserve Fund to open our very own Rating Agency?
Money for jam and risk-free. We have loads of large, empty buildings and thousands of nutty economists crying out for useful employment.
Imagine the sheer joy of causing consternation throughout the world as our Irish-based troika sets the fiscal rules of engagement.
Now’s the time to go for it — before the Greeks beat us to it!
Niall Ginty
Killester, Co Dublin

You’ll tell me I’ve little to be troubling my head with; getting hot under the collar about the calibre of character invading every crack and corner of our lives; you may be right.
It’s only that I get a chance to slip off the lead on a the odd evening when the War Office goes to central stores with the few shillings that the troika has been kind enough to leave us with.
There was a time on this mighty little island when a fellow had to do something, or be someone, to command a hearing at national level.
There was a bit of decorum about being in the public eye — it came with achievement and accomplishment.
I was about to knock the head off a beautifully formed pint, when a man I’d never even seen before asked me could I settle a bet for him, on the number of husbands Sinead O’Connor might have?
Whatever in the way of rearing I got, one thing remained, which was to be polite. So I forsook the pleasure of imbibing the creamy magnificence for a moment to say no, I could no more help him, than I could the poor, tormented, woman herself.
I’m settling back into cruise control, trying to savour this little bit of solace. We’re lighting the fire that bit later, and keeping the heating down low, in due deference to the austere times.
God be with the days when Lent only lasted 40 days. Thanks to the last troop of monkeys we elected, I think we could have ash on our foreheads and up our noses for a good deal longer.
I’m about to have a decent swig, when a scream like a banshee at an orgy comes from the corner. “Merciful hour,” I enquire, “what was that?”
“Shssssh,” I’m silenced, by a chorus that rings around this once semi-respectable establishment, “’tis ‘The Voice’, boy.”
They say you know your time is past when you start thinking the music is too loud and the voices of those you care for are too low. I supped away, but I’m telling you I was looking forward to going back to my cold house.
The word fame comes from the Latin fama, to have a reputation or to be known by many people; but it is not the same thing as having a good name.
Much of this can be blamed on the instant recognition conferred by the entertainment invasion where celebrity is the only altar of accomplishment.
Celebrity also comes from Latin celebritas, from celeber, ‘frequented or honoured’.
As I took my change off the counter, I wondered had I ‘frequented or honoured’ this place once too often with my custom. All they could provide by way of ambiance was a TV and a grunt from an indifferent barman.
It used to be said that Irish pubs were different: they had a unique X factor. They certainly have now.
BJ Heinz
Galway City

The most revealing aspect of the media coverage of the Rachel Allen pheasant controversy is how little notice the media generally takes of where the bulk of our meat comes from, ie, from factory farms. To focus on Rachel Allen’s exploits is to miss the much bigger picture.
Less than a century ago there was no such thing as a factory farm.
Today, 50 billion (yes, billion) chickens are raised on factory farms worldwide. None of these birds can fulfil any of their natural impulses, such as nesting, perching, exploring their environment, forming stable social units.
They live in windowless sheds for the duration of their genetically-altered short lives of 40 days. The sheds are getting bigger and bigger with every decade that passes.
Sheds containing 50,000 chickens is commonplace among the larger producers.
All factory-farmed birds are fed a cocktail of drugs — as not to do so would almost certainly result in the rapid spread of disease across the farm.
About 5pc of them will die prematurely, mainly from heart seizure, respiratory ailments, or because the excessive weight of their bodies are too much for their brittle-bone legs to support them.
In these cases, which are many, the birds simply collapse, are unable to reach food or water, and are either trampled on or die from stress and/or exhaustion. Three in every four chickens experience some degree of walking impairment, while one in four will have significant trouble walking at all.
This is not a snapshot of a factory farm. To describe properly what takes place on a factory farm would require a much longer letter than this, but it does, I hope, give some idea of what is, by any common-sense animal welfare standards (as opposed to the actual welfare laws laid down by the EU), an utterly unacceptable way to raise any animal.
The industry is incredibly powerful and uses its muscle at every turn.
Factory farms have become so big, so prevalent (they are continuing to grow at an exponential rate still, especially across the Far East and China), that it is only a matter of time before the ugliness within spills out into the wider world in the form of a virulent virus.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) predicts a pandemic; it cannot say when this will happen, it can only say that it will.
The probability is that avian flu will be the source. This is not a personal opinion, it is the opinion of the WHO itself.
Future historians will find it difficult to understand how we allowed the industrialisation of farm animals on such a vast and unsustainable scale.
Gerry Boland
Keadue, Co Roscommon

You’ll tell me I’ve little to be troubling my head with; getting hot under the collar about the calibre of character invading every crack and corner of our lives; you may be right.
It’s only that I get a chance to slip off the lead on a the odd evening when the War Office goes to central stores with the few shillings that the troika has been kind enough to leave us with.
There was a time on this mighty little island when a fellow had to do something, or be someone, to command a hearing at national level.
There was a bit of decorum about being in the public eye — it came with achievement and accomplishment.
I was about to knock the head off a beautifully formed pint, when a man I’d never even seen before asked me could I settle a bet for him, on the number of husbands Sinead O’Connor might have?
Whatever in the way of rearing I got, one thing remained, which was to be polite. So I forsook the pleasure of imbibing the creamy magnificence for a moment to say no, I could no more help him, than I could the poor, tormented, woman herself.
I’m settling back into cruise control, trying to savour this little bit of solace. We’re lighting the fire that bit later, and keeping the heating down low, in due deference to the austere times.
God be with the days when Lent only lasted 40 days. Thanks to the last troop of monkeys we elected, I think we could have ash on our foreheads and up our noses for a good deal longer.
I’m about to have a decent swig, when a scream like a banshee at an orgy comes from the corner. “Merciful hour,” I enquire, “what was that?”
“Shssssh,” I’m silenced, by a chorus that rings around this once semi-respectable establishment, “’tis ‘The Voice’, boy.”
They say you know your time is past when you start thinking the music is too loud and the voices of those you care for are too low. I supped away, but I’m telling you I was looking forward to going back to my cold house.
The word fame comes from the Latin fama, to have a reputation or to be known by many people; but it is not the same thing as having a good name.
Much of this can be blamed on the instant recognition conferred by the entertainment invasion where celebrity is the only altar of accomplishment.
Celebrity also comes from Latin celebritas, from celeber, ‘frequented or honoured’.
As I took my change off the counter, I wondered had I ‘frequented or honoured’ this place once too often with my custom. All they could provide by way of ambiance was a TV and a grunt from an indifferent barman.
It used to be said that Irish pubs were different: they had a unique X factor. They certainly have now.
BJ Heinz
Galway City

If the RTE licence fee is replaced by a household charge on those having neither television, nor computer, I expect regular home visits from Gay Byrne, Miriam O’Callaghan and Pat Kenny — to keep me amused, entertained and well-informed (‘New broadcasting licence to target every Irish household — even those without a TV’, January 19).
Dr John Doherty
Gaoth Dobhair, Co Donegal

Your report that “child benefit payments to over 5,600 people have been suspended for January — because they failed to respond to a department check on their residency details and entitlements”, has a familiar ring to it.
In the US, in the last decades of the 20th Century, actions that emanated from Ronald Reagan’s ideas regarding ‘welfare queens’ — a jibe at lone parents, which claimed that they procreated just to access benefits — began to take hold.
The demonisation led directly to a process known as “churning”. The relevant government department increased the amount of information and paperwork required to determine eligibility and low-income families who failed to keep up with the paperwork had their benefits stopped.
As always, with these things, the most vulnerable people are placed in the very serious danger of getting cut off, resulting in the loss of their allowances on which they totally depend.
Clearly, and particularly where children are concerned, cutting off payment should only follow after a welfare officer has confirmed that the failure to respond to letters sent, etc, is not due to valid reasons, such as illness or an inability to understand.
But perhaps the most amazing aspect of this case is the fact that this high-handed behaviour, of exposing people to the abrupt loss of income, in such an arbitrary fashion, is under the supervision of a member of the Labour Party.
Jim O’Sullivan
Rathedmond, Sligo

Well I must be off

best wishes John