Section:GDN 1J PaGe:6 Edition Date:190730 Edition:01 Zone: Sent at 29/7/2019 18:17 cYanmaGentaYellowbla
- The Guardian Tuesday 30 July 2019
6 Letters
It’s not just a new crop of festivals
that are cleaning up ( Secret garden
parties , G2, 26 July ). Some of these
“boutique” festivals have been
around a long time (well before
“boutique” became the way to
describe them ). Stainsby Festival
has just celebrated its 51st event.
It’s a family-friendly, volunteer-run
event that works on a not-for-profi t
basis with very aff ordable tickets.
A number of alumni from folk and
world music royalty have passed
through its tent fl aps over the years,
from Steeleye Span and Barbara
Dixon to hip-hop folk performers like
Dizraeli and the Small Gods. Rumours
that Bob Dylan once appeared
incognito seem to be unreliable – but
we’re not denying it : this is the age of
post-truth after all. W e’re glad to see
that newer festivals are beginning to
catch on to this way of working.
Tony Traff ord
Chair of trustees, Stainsby FestivalJohnson is less demigod
and more demagogue
One hundred years ago this
week the American ornithologist
Alexander Wetmore published
a paper reporting numerous
incidents of wild waterfowl dying
after swallowing lead gunshot,
mistak ing it for grit which they
eat to aid digestion. He concluded
that lead poisoning due to eating
gunshot was a common occurrence
and a “dangerous and usually
fatal malady”.
On the same day in 1786,
Benjamin Franklin wrote on lead
poisoning in humans that “ the
Opinion of this mischievous
Eff ect from Lead, is at least above
Sixty Years old; and you will
observe with Concern how long
a useful Truth may be known,
and exist, before it is generally
receiv’d and practis’d on”.
Yet annually, ingestion of spent
gunshot still kills an estimated
50,000 to 100,000 waterfowl inUse safe alternative
to toxic lead gunshot
Call for change to
assisted dying law
Stainsby Festival still
draws the crowds
Mind
the gap
‘A snail in
my garden in
London. Not a
vast panoramic
landscape, but a
small universe’
ALASTAIR LAMPARD/
GUARDIAN COMMUNITY
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these pages- It is a sure sign of a country that
has lost its historical and cultural
bearings that Boris Johnson could,
without irony, launch a rehashed
package of promises for the north of
England while standing in front of
Stephenson’s Rocket ( Boris Johnson
pledges £3.6bn boost for deprived
towns , theguardian.com, 27 July ).
George Stephenson represented
all that is opposite to Johnson.
He came from a humble background
and his parents couldn’t aff ord
to send him to school. In early
adulthood he learned to read and
write at night school.
Later he faced prejudice from
the scientifi c and parliamentary
establishment because of his broad
Northumberland accent. He made
sure his son Robert was taught how
to “talk proper” as a result.
And what contributed to Rocket
being the winning locomotive at the
Rainhill Trials? Well, international
exchange and learning of course!
Henry Booth, treasurer of the
Liverpool and Manchester railway
suggested to Robert Stephenson
(who was himself back from a stint in
Simon Jenkins’ portrait of Boris
Johnson as a failed Athenian leader
is diverting ( Is there a Greek hero
in No 10, or just a bust? , 27 July).
Unfortunately, Jenkins’ forensic
demolition of the man still manages
to fl atter him by taking his classical
pretensions seriously. A more
relevant and prosaic model for
Johnson can be found much closer
to home, in the unlikely fi gure of
Harold Macmillan.
Both were graduates of Eton
and Oxford. Both could claim
US citizenship. Both were better
known for phrasemaking than
policy success , and displayed
contradictory, shapeshifting,
political qualities.
Since Johnson has neither the
executive power of Trump with
which to realise his narcissistic
fantasies, nor the political acumen
of Churchill to allow him to assume
his hero’s laurels, the comparison
with Macmillan (though far from
perfect) is both more realistic and
suitably modest than the demigods
of Johnson’s daydreams.
Johnson’s promise of a “ golden
age” is already claiming squatting
rights on Macmillan’s “never had
it so good” territory, so perhaps
in a general election we can look
forward to talk of “winds of
change”. Certainly, Johnson is a
perfect candidate to inherit the
famous comic legend of Supermac:
“How to try to continue to stay
top, without actually having
been there.”
Paul McGilchrist
Colchester, EssexWe represent a diverse range of
perspectives from across British
society, including those who have
accompanied loved ones abroad
for an assisted death. We all agree
that the right to choose how we
die is a fundamental one , and that
those who are either terminally ill
or facing incurable suff ering should
have the option of a peaceful,
painless, and dignifi ed death.
It is 10 years since Debbie
Purdy’s successful legal case,
requiring the director of public
prosecutions to clarify when a
person who accompanies a loved
one to Switzerland can expect to
face prosecution under the Suicide
Act 1961. At the time, only two
people a month travelled from the
UK to Switzerland to end their life.
Research from the Assisted Dying
Coalition reveals that now more
than one person a week makes
that journey.In light of those growing numbers,
and of their friends and families
grappling with the heart-wrenching
decision between either letting their
loved ones suff er or accompanying
them and risking prosecution, we
urge that the law be changed.
In the years since the judgment
in Debbie Purdy’s case, new
evidence has emerged that robust
safeguards can be achieved whil e
protecting autonomy. Prominent
medical opinion has shifted and an
overwhelming 88% of the public
have said they favour assisted
dying for those who are incurably
suff ering, in at least some situations.
Parliament has yet to consider
legislation that would have allowed
the late Debbie Purdy and Tony
Nicklinson the right to control the
manner and timing of their deaths.
The time for the law to change is now.
Dr Julian Baggini, Prof AC Grayling,
Rev Rosie Harper, Paul Lamb,
Miriam Margolyes, Dr Henry Marsh,
Phil Newby, Jane Nicklinson Widow
of Tony Nicklinson, Omar Puente
Widower of Debbie Purdy and
24 others ( full list at gu.com/letters)South America) that he incorporate
the fi re-tube boiler, invented by
French engineer Marc Seguin, into
the Rocket design giving improved
heat exchange.
Everything about the Stephenson
story speaks to the real history of
innovation in this land. The forces
that scoff ed at the ingenuity of
George Stephenson because of his
background, meanwhile, are the very
ones that Johnson represents today.
Dr Olivier Sykes
University of Liverpool- Simon Jenkins is absolutely right
that Boris Johnson resembles the
villainous Alcibiades rather than
the heroic Pericles but his idea
that Michael Gove “must become
Johnson’s Cassandra, warning him
against the danger of his ways”
seems somewhat wide of the mark.
Jenkins seems to have forgotten
that Cassandra was cursed always
to be right but never to be believed,
so, even if Gove did metamorphose
into this mythical Trojan woman of
great beauty, her warnings would
inevitably be dismissed as the
utterances of Project Fear. To add
to her frustration, she would also
have to deal with Johnson’s priapic
instincts but it seems likely that,
having previously resisted no less
than Apollo, the transformed Gove
would survive with virtue intact.
Michael Pyke
Shenstone, Staff ordshire - I much appreciated Simon
Jenkins’ article on whether Boris
Johns on is more an Alcibiades than
a Pericles. In view of the fact that he
is likely to take us into an election
sooner rather than later, would an
analogy to Cleon, the demagogue
much criticised by Thucydides, not
be more appropriate?
Pippa Kent
Keyworth, Nottinghamshire
the UK. Predatory and scavenging
birds are also aff ected by eating
lead ammunition fragments in
the fl esh of their prey.
Lead is a potent neurotoxin
and presents health risks to
people who eat game shot with
lead ammunition frequently- especially children and
pregnant women. The Food
Standards Agency has highlighted
the risks.
Alternative non-toxic gunshot
is available, eff ective and
comparably priced. Indeed,
legislation has required its use
in Denmark since 1996. How
much longer will it take for UK
policy makers to catch up?
Professor Alan R Boobis
Des Browne Labour, House of Lords
Dr Ruth Cromie
Professor Rhys E Green
Professor John Krebs Crossbencher,
House of Lords
Professor Ian Newton
Dr Deborah Pain
Professor Christopher Perrins
David Stroud
John Swift
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letters-termsThe forces that scoff ed at
the ingenuity of George
Stephenson are the
very ones that Johnson
represents todayDr Olivier SykesРЕЛИЗ ПОДГОТОВИЛА ГРУППА "What's News" VK.COM/WSNWS