The Week UK 17.08.2019

29

Funding the police

To The Times

No onecan be certainthat

ther eisadirec tcausal

connection betweenthe rise in

police numbers, prison places

andthe strengtheningoft he

justic esystem, and the signifi-

cant reduction in crime that

took place between around

1995 and 2010. However, the

coincidence between these sets

of data is uncanny; as has been

the reverse since 2010, with

cuts in police numbers, a

collapse in prosecutions, a

weakening of police powers –

and rising crime and disorder.

Whatever one’s affiliation,

the latest announcements from

the Prime Minister–reversing

cuts and giving the police the

powers they need–should be

welcomed, andasensible

opposition would have done

this, as well as gently pointing

out who had been in power

from 2010. Instead, the

Shadow Home Secretary,

Diane Abbott, has focused

on the rebalancing of stop

and search powers, saying

these area“recipe for unrest”.

The police had these powers

(or similar) during the whole of

the last Labour government. I

can recall no such unrest.

Jack Straw, Home Secretary

(1997-2001), Lord Chancellor

(2007-2010)

The satisfied don’t vote

To The Economist

Ican thin kofatleast one

reason whythe increase in

happiness in European

countries coincides with the

rise of populist parties. The

rise in happiness that has been

recorded in national surveys

does not necessarily affect

elections, as onlyasubset

of the population turns out.

And populist parties are more

successful at elections with

alower turnout. The parallel

rise of happiness and populist

parties is not puzzling if the

satisfied tend to stay home

on election day.

Dominik Schraff, post-

doctoral researcher, Centre

for Comparative and

International Studies,

ETH Zürich

Housing in demand

To The Times

Jame sMarriott’sarticleshould

be acallfor action on housing

but, to be effective, action must

go beyond boosting supply.

Theother side of the dismal

equation is spiralling demand,

driven by rapid population

growth. Atatime of low birth

rates, this arises largely from

continuing net migration.

Ironically, low birth rates

are often cited asareason for

needing more young migrants.

Yet Marriott’s article shows

that competition for housing –

the inevitable consequence of a

mismatch between supply and

demand–isd riving down

domestic birth rates. People

need space to have children.

But each incoming family

needs somewhere to live too,

sharpening that competition.

The Government is rightly

taking steps to boost house-

building, but it should also

address pressure on demand.

Astart would be to extend the

brief of the Migration Advisory

Committee beyond the needs

of the labour market, to take

account of housing pressures.

Julian Brazier, MP for

Canterbury 1987-2017

Acompromised cabinet

To The Guardian

Wheretos tart with Caroline

Lucas’scallfor an all-female

“emergency cabinet” to avoid

ano-deal Brexit? First of all,

it strikes me as odd that a

“national unity” government

should be defined by its

discriminating against a

group which makes up half

the UK’s population. Second,

Lucas’s implicit argument

that only women are capable

of cross-party compromise

will probably come as a

surprise to Dominic Grieve

and Oliver Letwin, who have

led virtually all cross-party

moves to stop no deal and have

probably torched their careers

as aresult.

Then there’s the fact that

Theresa May’s refusal

to engage opposition

parties on Brexit is one

of the main reasons that

no deal becameaserious

possibility in the

first place. All in all,

aridiculous idea.

Daniel Peacock,

Manchester

Delaying menopause

To The Times

Martha Gill questions

whythere has not been

amore enthusiastic

response to the claims

made byaprivate fertility

clinic that women could

delay their menopause by

up to 20 years. While she cites

possible reasons for the

negative responses, she has

missed the most obvious one:

the very limited scientific data

to support this claim.

This service is based on

astudy of nine women, the

20-year claim is unsubstan-

tiated, and the long-term

risks –including those of

prolonged ovarian function

on ovarian and breast cancer

risk –have not been evaluated.

Although this development

may beawindow into the

future, until such time as this

technique is rigorously

evaluated against tried and

tested standard treatments for

the problems of the

menopause, such as hormone

replacement therapy, women

would be well advised to be

cautious about pursuing this

option.

Tim Hillard, Kathy Abernethy

and Haitham Hamoda, British

Menopause Society

Straws for grown-ups...

To The Daily Telegraph

Whythe fuss aboutthe

gree ncredentials of

McDonald’s straws?

Why not just ditch the

straws and drink your

shake likeagrown-up?

Georgina Johnson, Ringsfield,

Suffolk

...or just useaknife

To The Daily Telegraph

IsuspectGeorgina Johnson

is no taregular consumer of

McDonald’s shakes.

Rather than drinking them

withoutastraw, as she

suggests,Iwould advise using

aknife and fork.

Steven Broomfield,

Fair Oak, Hampshire

17 August 2019 THE WEEK

LETTERS

Pick of the week’s correspondence

©NEW YORKER/CARTOON BANK

●Letters have been edited

Exchange of the week

Do we care about animal welfare?

To The Times

It appearsthatIhavebeentoo complacent in relyingupon

legislatorstouphol dthe highestpossibleanimal-welfare

standards. Untilreadingyour leader,“FoodandFairness”,

Ibelievedthatstringentnewlawshad long agoabolishedthe

barbarousbroiler chicken regime.

In the 1970s my family had the misfortune to live next to

abroiler chicken farm. Four dilapidated sheds housed 56,000

birds which, when they were eight weeks old, were stuffed

into crates and transported live in open lorries to the

processing factory. During that eight-week period, the stench

of ammonia in the sheds became unbearable and many of the

birds suffered hideous deaths. Growing piles of fly-blown

carcasses around the sheds defiled farming as we knew it, and

we were fortunate in being able to join neighbours in buying

the site and demolishing the buildings.

Philip Evemy, Deal, Kent

To TheTimes

In your leader you suggest that because the public will buy

free-range eggs, it follows that they will buy higher-welfare

chicken. This is not the case. Asaretired poultry producer of

some 50 years’ experience,Igrew higher-welfare birds for the

supermarket trade until about five years ago, whenIlost the

contract due toalack of demand from the public.

While most people will declare their concern over some

methods of production, this does not translate into purchases

at the checkout. Production follows demand–not the other

way around.

David Masters, Wells, Somerset

“I guess I’m sort of enraged

by the burgundy”