The Times - UK (2020-07-27)

30 1GM Monday July 27 2020 | the times

Letters to the Editor

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health are increasingly recognised as

central to schools’ “recovery

curriculum” from Covid-19. This is a

great opportunity for a review of the

whole curriculum.

Mike Weeks director, Gymrun

Sir, Boris Johnson’s aim to slim down

Britain (“Exercise isn’t the answer so

eat less to protect yourself, Britons

urged”, Jul 25) can be achieved with

an old idea that was shot down by

food manufacturers. Processed foods

should carry a traffic light indicator.

Manufacturers would submit the

ingredients to the Food Standards

Agency, under sanction of heavy fines

if they tried to mislead, and display

the red, amber, or green rating given

according to levels of sugar, salt,

saturated fats etc. This would give the

public an easy guide to healthy eating

and put pressure on suppliers to

improve their products, while still

allowing freedom of choice for those

who want to indulge their taste buds.

Bernard Benson

London SW3

Sir, Carol Midgley is right that some

people regain weight after bariatric

surgery, she paints a pessimistic

picture (Notebook, Jul 25). Under the

Sir, It is not only birth registrations

that are delayed by local councils’ fear

of the coronavirus (“Thousands of

holiday plans ruined by birth register

delays”, Jul 25). The same is

happening with planning applications.

We had agreed the sale of my late

father-in-law’s house, subject to the

buyer gaining permission for an

extension. Neighbours’ objections

obliged planners to make a site visit

before giving approval, but when we

had heard nothing at the end of the

statutory consultation period we

contacted the planning department

and were told that no estimate of

timescale could be given because

council leaders had banned visits. It

made no difference that the house was

unoccupied, and the sale fell through.

The housing market will be one of

the key drivers for restarting the

economy. Boris Johnson said he

wanted the country to “stop thinking

of coronavirus as something that

makes it impossible to do things” but

more than words will be needed if we

are to start assessing risk sensibly.

Gordon Lethbridge

Sherborne, Dorset

NHS bariatric surgery is now almost

always a gastric bypass or sleeve

gastrectomy. These have been

repeatedly shown to lead to better

and more sustained weight loss than

medical and dietary treatments alone.

They also help conditions associated

with obesity, such as diabetes,

preventing the complications that

arise from them. Surgery is not the

answer for everyone, and should

always be offered alongside medical,

nutritional and psychological therapy,

but it must be an essential component

of the strategy to tackle staggering

rates of obesity-related illness.

Emma McGlone

Imperial College London

Sir, The dangers of junk food and

excessive eating have been known for

decades but it has taken a near-fatal

brush with the coronavirus for Boris

Johnson to do a U-turn on the need

to fight obesity. Perhaps we must now

wait for him to be admitted to a care

home and start to address the dire

state of Britain’s social care system, or

for Downing Street to be flooded

before the he will recognise the need

to tackle climate change.

Nigel Orchard

Salisbury

Travel money

Sir, I have a suggestion to help

Transport for London fill its coffers

(“TfL pleads for £6.4bn”, Jul 25).

Bicycles could be licensed as cars are

and irresponsible cyclists who jump

lights, ride in packs, terrify people

driving cars in narrow streets could be

identified and penalised. An industry

could be founded around cycling

competency tests etc. That would

help fill TfL’s funding gap and stop

the increase in congestion charging

allowing cultural events, restaurants

and central London shops to see a

light at the end of the tunnel instead

of a slide into non-viability.

Carol Symons

London NW8

Sir, Perhaps Mike van Erp (“Cycling

vigilante snatches Guy Ritchie”,

Jul 24) could train his helmet camera

on cyclists who use their phones, ride

on pavements and ignore red lights.

Carol Hawser

London SW7

Sir, While camera footage captured

by members of the public and used to

report driving offences to the

authorities may be helpful, there is an

unpleasant whiff of the Stasi about it.

Charles Foster

Chalfont St Peter, Bucks

Second homes

Sir, The rush to buy expensive homes

in Cornwall (“Cities lose out in rush

for seaside staycations,” Jul 25)

reinforces the need to protect the

local communities. This is one of

Britain’s poorest regions and yet a

magnet for the wealthy. Medical

provision is limited and

unemployment is high. Summer jobs

pay poor wages. This situation could

be addressed by raising local taxation

for those not in permanent residence,

perhaps through council tax. If

owners of second homes had to pay,

for example, three times the usual

rate this would release money to build

infrastructure and social housing, and

support new industries. To diminish

the prospects of local people on low

incomes, especially the young, by

inflating house prices beyond their

reach cannot be justified.

Jon Scourse

Ingham, Lincs

Track records

Sir, Further to Janice Turner’s article

(“A silver gift shows the mettle in a

marriage”, Jul 23), last year my wife,

Sharon, and I celebrated our vinyl

wedding anniversary — 33 and a third

years married. I gave her an album of

REO Speedwagon’s hits, including the

line: “When I said that I loved you, I

meant that I loved you for ever.”

Iain McHenry

Longcot, Oxon

Sir, After Roy Knowles’s anecdote

about a friend buying his wife a china

mug in which to soak her teeth for

their 20th anniversary, I can only

wonder if the friend made it to his 21st.

Liam Barlow

Cottingham, E Yorks

What’s in a name?

Sir, On her visit to the Yorkshire

Dales (“It’s a feat to put yourself in

Iron Age Brits’ shoes”, Jul 24) Ann

Treneman investigated the origins of

the village named Booze. I am sorry

she did not similarly investigate the

nearby village of Crackpot.

Hugh Sharp

Bexhill-on-Sea, East Sussex

Corrections and

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Migrants need hope

Sir, Your report “For migrants looking
out across the Channel, only Britain
will do” (Jul 25) rightly highlighted
the predicaments of those fleeing
hunger, conflict and persecution and
the dilemmas faced by receiving
countries. However, it did not fully
explain why only Britain would “do”
for migrants transiting other safe EU
countries. The ease of getting work
and housing were mentioned but my
interviews with more than 500 asylum
seekers suggested many perceived
advantages. These include the English
language, pathways to convert
qualifications from the Middle East
and Africa, a weak identity card
regime, a specialised and supportive
NGO sector, fair decisions on asylum
applications, access to legal aid and
translation, informal labour market
opportunities, supportive ethnic
communities and religious groups,
access to the NHS, a generous system
for unaccompanied children, and low
deportation rates. These provide a
sense of security — the holy grail for
those from conflict backgrounds.
The government has blamed the
French and people traffickers, and
highlighted the risks of travelling
across the busiest shipping lanes in
the world. However, and without
wishing to change our human rights
provision, there is a need to engage
with expanded legal routes to provide
real hope for persecuted minorities.
Joseph Mullen
Retired lecturer in international
development, Manchester University

Boris Johnson’s campaign against obesity

Sir, I welcome the proposed

restrictions on junk food advertising

(“Junk food adverts to be banned on

TV before 9pm watershed”, Jul 24).

The causes of obesity for most people

are straightforward, and junk food is a

key player. We gain weight when we

consume more calories than we burn.

Limiting the reach of unhealthy

foods is a positive step, but we should

not overlook the importance of

exercise. It has often been said that

losing weight is 90 per cent diet and

10 per cent exercise; whether this is

true or not, it remains the case that

exercise releases “feel good”

hormones that help us to make better

choices about food. It was refreshing

during lockdown to be actively

encouraged to exercise daily.

To reduce obesity we must focus

less on losing weight and more on

good nutrition and building fitness

through exercise. We can create an

inclusive culture for monitoring

physical health, based on

transparency and an acceptance of

failure. Parkrun and Couch to 5k are

good examples of this, monitoring

fitness in a way that is inclusive and

relevant. Both have helped people to

lose weight and become fitter.

The tools to maintain physical

Sir, Scotland’s independence warriors

appear to have been rattled by Boris

Johnson’s visit last week (“Johnson

nurtures Union with extra £1.9bn for

Scots”, Jul 24). He visited businesses

including Orkney Cheese and Baxters

of Speyside and, true to form, my

fellow countrymen have called for a

boycott of these businesses. If their

boycott is successful, these businesses

could fail and the result will be that

thousands of their fellow Scots — and

potential allies — lose their jobs.

I hope independence-supporting

employees of these companies take

their fellow separatists to task. With

luck, this will add to the infighting

within the SNP.

Douglas Cowe

Newmachar, Aberdeenshire

Sir, On the day of the Scottish

referendum in 2014 I spoke to two Yes

supporters outside my workplace. We

agreed only that it was an historic

moment and I said that, whatever the

outcome, half of Scotland would be

bitterly disappointed in the short term

and the other half in the long term.

The actions of UK governments have

Fruits of the Union Planning failures

since appeared intended to drive

Scots towards leaving. Boris Johnson

occasionally uses the title “minister

for the Union” but that was once the

function of the prime minister. Mr

Johnson, like his predecessor, acts as

first minister for England, treating the

other nations of the Union as hostile.

I asked those Yes supporters how

they would act if their hopes were

dashed. One replied: “We are a

democracy. The eyes of the world are

upon us. We shall not let our country

down.” They have not. The UK

parliament and government have,

grievously and potentially terminally.

Adrian D Ward

Uplawmoor, East Renfrewshire

Sir, Angus MacEachran (Letters,

Jul 25) is right: all four members of

the Union should have equal powers.

England should have its own

parliament and, along with Wales and

Northern Ireland, should have powers

equal to those of Scotland. The House

of Lords should be replaced with an

elected federal senate to deal with all

non-devolved issues, and the prime

minister should be the leader of the

majority party in that senate.

Jane S Haworth

Thames Ditton, Surrey

from the times july 23, 1920

CRICKET: THE

TEAM FOR

AUSTRALIA

thetimes.co.uk/archive

Corbynism lingers

Sir, Philip Collins is right (“Time to
root out Corbynites once and for all”,
Jul 24). Sir Keir Starmer has made a
good start by sacking Rebecca Long
Bailey and easing out Seumas Milne
and Jennie Formby. He has cut down
some tall, noxious weeds but the
“ground elder” of Corbynism is alive
and well in Labour’s grass roots.
The party’s battles with Militant
lasted from from 1975, when the first
report on “entryism” was produced, to
1992, when the last two Militant MPs
were expelled. Neil Kinnock acted
decisively in the Eighties but it was a
process, not an event. So it will be
with Corbynism. I wish Sir Keir every
ounce of luck, but there should be no
doubt as to the scale of the struggle.
Simon Diggins
Rickmansworth, Herts

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The eagerly awaited names of the

team to do battle in Australia during

the coming winter were announced

yesterday at Lord’s. As was known,

the captaincy had caused anxious

consideration, and the question has

been happily solved by the selection

of Mr R H Spooner. It is 15 years

since Mr Spooner first represented

England, and although he has

scarcely played this season, with

practice he should be almost, if not

quite, the batsman whose beautiful

style and supple wrist have long

been such a delight to behold. Twice

severely wounded in the war, he is

now declared fit, and we may be sure

that the news of his selection will be

hailed with delight by the Australian

public, who have never had the

opportunity of seeing this graceful

cricketer. Moreover Mr Spooner

possesses those qualities of charm

and manner which are so important

in a captain. The two other amateurs

are Colonel J W H T Douglas and

Mr P G H Fender. Colonel Douglas

is a magnificent trier, and he and Mr

Fender are two of the best all-round

cricketers that we possess.

As for the professionals, Hobbs,

Woolley, Hearne, Hendren, and

Strudwick have for weeks past been

certain of their places, and Rhodes,

though 43 years of age, is a wise

choice. Dolphin is Strudwick’s

understudy as wicketkeeper, and

Yorkshire have a third representative

in Waddington. Russell has batted

consistently, and Makepeace has

been doing wonderfully well this

year. Barnes made conditions before

accepting the MCC’s invitation

which the MCC could not accept,

but if he is prepared to go on the

same terms as his fellow

professionals a place in the team

awaits him; otherwise Parkin will go.

No bowler has been more consistent

than Howell, of Warwickshire, and

he rightly gets a place.

Of the batting we need have no

fear. The wicket keeping is in safe

hands, and there are no less than

eight bowlers. Some of the team are

not in their earliest of youth, but the

fielding should be good, for the side

is plentifully supplied with slip

fielders. That the team will acquit

itself creditably we have no doubt.

Whether it wil be able to beat the

Australians is another matter, but we

have the satisfaction of knowing that

it is just about the best team that we

can produce at the present time.