The Times - UK (2020-10-20)

30 1GM Tuesday October 20 2020 | the times

Letters to the Editor

Letters to the Editor should be sent to

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than to one complaining about the

government’s handling of Brexit.

David Harris

London SW13

Sir, Those who criticise the

archbishops for getting involved in

Brexit politics should remember that

the much-cherished “sovereignty” that

has been apparently reclaimed from

the EU resides in our parliament of

two houses, and that the bishops sit in

one of them and are therefore already

involved in politics and in the exercise

of that very sovereignty.

Adrian Cosker

Hitchin, Herts

Sir, The most transparent Brexit

falsehood is that the EU “needs a deal”.

Its integrity depends on experience of

Brexit being seen universally as

disastrous for Britain. Claims that the

interests of German carmakers etc will

outweigh that political imperative have

always been risible. Whatever is said, a

no-deal Brexit has been unavoidable

from the start. The EU would remain

the world’s biggest economy and

amass global trade deals that duly

enlarge it. But Brexit is not irreversible.

Far from it. Stricken voters would

demand its reversal and despairing

Brexiteers of all levels and sorts would

have to face that reality.

Rod Tipple

Cambridge

Sir, A failure by Boris Johnson to

achieve a deal with the EU will be a

betrayal of the people of this country.

Anaesthetised by the banality of the

Get Brexit Done meme and now

distracted by Covid-19, few have yet

taken on board just how casually this

government is letting our future slip

away. What is one to make of an outfit

that pays more attention to fishing

rights than financial services; that

prioritises nostalgic notions of

sovereignty over western solidarity;

that favours double dealing over the

rule of law? Where is the fastest trade

deal in history, the cake our erstwhile

partners will be begging us to have and

eat? This government must be called

to account.

John Mann

Moretonhampstead, Devon

Sir, All is explained: the prime minister

forgot to switch the oven on.

Anthony Harris

Newbury, Berks

Sir, The situation regarding the loss of

male teachers has been a long time

coming (“Exodus of male teachers

leaves boys without role models”,

News, Oct 19). In 1965, I joined the

National Association of Schoolmasters,

as opposed to the NUT, which was

open to men and women. One of its

ambitions was to ensure that boys

were predominantly taught by men, as

well as to secure improvement in

teachers’ salaries. This was a time

when a married family man was

traditionally the sole breadwinner and

many salaries outside of the profession

were increasingly attractive.

Such parity of salary was never

achieved and the consequent drift of

males into better-paid work became

inevitable, whereas a teacher’s salary

and holiday pattern made it

increasingly attractive to married

women. Subsequent changes in

society, such as the rise of single-

parent families, have resulted in fewer

male role models. Women are just as

competent teachers as men, or even

more so, but a balance is essential for

the welfare of our society.

Roger Bawden

Melton Mowbray, Leics

Animals need help

Sir, While many businesses are being

helped by government funding during

the pandemic, animal welfare charities

are being excluded and do not even

receive money from the National

Lottery Heritage Fund. This has

resulted in the closure of no fewer

than four animal welfare centres in

west London, including the RSPCA’s

Southall Cattery, two animal hospitals

and an equine centre. This is totally

unacceptable in a nation of animal

lovers. We need urgent financial

assistance for animal welfare charities

and for the animals that are abused,

neglected or homeless at this time.

Sylvia Browning

London SW1

Please, no more

Sir, An English parliament (Letters,

Oct 17 and 19) would add another

suffocating layer of bureaucracy, just

as devolution elsewhere in the UK

has — all paid for out of taxation. I

cannot think of any problem to which

the answer is “more politicians”.

Andrew Lodge

Salisbury

Our trust betrayed

Sir, News that the police will be given

access to test-and-trace data is yet

another betrayal of public trust (“Fines

for not isolating may stop people

getting tested” News, Oct 19). Public

health experts have consistently

advised that coercion and criminal

penalties are counterproductive.

Meanwhile, the government has not

done enough to support compliance —

particularly for people with caring

responsibilities, people on low incomes

who can’t take time off to isolate or

otherwise risk sanctions from

employers. Bringing the police into this

mix, with the threat of £10,000 fines, is

just another threat to the already

beleaguered test-and-trace system. We

should be supported in order to follow

the health guidance and our data

should be safeguarded with a firewall.

Martha Spurrier

Director, Liberty

Corrections and

clarifications

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We need to tackle

disinformation

Sir, I applaud the call by the former

chairman of the joint intelligence

committee, Sir Paul Lever, to be more

proactive in tackling disinformation

(“Russian campaign against British

vaccine”, Letters, Oct 17). Merely

exposing such activity, especially

through official channels, does not

sufficiently discredit a story. In our

polarised world, it risks tit-for-tat

accusations of censorship, conspiracies,

confusion and further disinformation.

Governments cannot keep up with the

barrage of disinformation. Exposing

one story and not another risks tacitly

accepting the latter. Nonetheless,

reviving the Foreign Office’s

Information Research Department to

spread unattributable information

would not work. It is difficult to

control a narrative in today’s

fragmented media landscape. Amid

declining circulation, inserting a story

in a foreign newspaper no longer has

the impact it might once have had.

There is certainly space for a proactive

and unattributable response to prevent

a narrative from gaining traction, but

such activity would have to be tailored,

targeted and disruptive. This should be

led by the intelligence services, with

proper oversight, not by diplomats.

Rory Cormac

Professor of international relations,

University of Nottingham

Archbishops and the threat of a no-deal Brexit

Sir, Thank God for the archbishops.

No doubt the usual suspects will be

shouting the odds, demanding that the

Church should not interfere in politics

(“Archbishops decry ‘disastrous’ Brexit

bill”, News, Oct 19), but if justice and

integrity are to be more than noble

aspirations, its leaders must speak out.

When obsessive and amoral politicians

are willing to dishonour treaties before

the ink is dry and not only scorn the

advantages of international

co-operation but are recklessly

disregarding the risks of breaking up

the United Kingdom, and when

opposition leaders seem to have

decided for reasons of political

advantage to hold fire until we have

learnt by hard experience the

consequences of the government’s

folly, then someone needs to speak up

for truth, justice and the welfare of

the nation.

Richard Willmott

Hereford

Sir, It was good to read in The Times

the letter highlighting the positive

contribution church buildings make to

national life (letter, Oct 19). If only the

Archbishop of Canterbury could lend

his signature to letters like that, rather

Sir, Libby Purves quite rightly

emphasises the pluses and minuses of

quarantine (“Covid is not the only

killer — I should know”, Comment,

Oct 19). My husband and I are both

considered vulnerable. We certainly

are of a certain age, there might or

might not be certain underlying health

issues, we are sensible, practical, have

no wish to jeopardise the wellbeing of

others but the freedom that is so

precious to the young is in a way even

more precious to older people. Let us

be realistic and not be taken prisoners

by the Covid police.

Carol Symons

London NW8

Sir, It’s so heartening to read the wise

words of Libby Purves — “Let the

vulnerable shield and the rest go free”

— before more lives are ruined. When

we were educated we were encouraged

to question and evaluate evidence

before coming to our own conclusions.

It seems that these basic human rights

have been completely devalued in the

current obsessive and panic-stricken

climate. We have a moral duty to our

Common sense to Male teachers lost

tackle coronavirus

grandchildren to look for the truth

beyond the hype. Let’s take sensible

measures but resist being led blindly

into an authoritarian future.

Pauline and Alan Wilson

York

Sir, Libby Purves wants the

government to allow Covid-19 to run

through the community while the

vulnerable stay shielding at home. I

am intrigued to know who she means

by the vulnerable. Are they the

over-55s, 60s or 70s? Are they people

of a different ethnicity from Ms Purves

— and me — who are known to be

much more vulnerable than we are?

Children with severe asthma?

Smokers? Or maybe they are

apparently healthy but tubby

55-year-old white men who nearly

die when they contract this disease.

Ann Kent

Stowmarket, Suffolk

Sir, Having long pondered what we

acolytes of your columnist Libby

Purves should term ourselves,

“Purvesite” being an entirely

ridiculous suggestion, I have today,

after reading her comment, settled on

the more fun-sounding “Libbyterian”.

Clare Holland

Chester

Skills of the editor

Sir, I enjoyed Ben Macintyre’s piece

on the invaluable role of the

sub-editor (Comment, Oct 17, letter,

Oct 19). The world of journalism is not

alone in benefiting from editing skills.

As a young surgeon working in a

university department of surgery,

I was encouraged to submit a

summary of my research in the form

of an “abstract”. This was then

submitted for presentation to a

national or international society. I will

never forget when the senior professor

returned my first attempt. I had

complied with the rule of no more

than 150 words but his multiple red

pen corrections reduced it by 20 more.

I regret the decline of academic

departments in our NHS hospitals.

They taught many of us skills that

were not directly related to the safe

use of a scalpel.

AJ McKay

Eaglesham, East Renfrewshire

from the times october 20, 1920

THE

ROWDYISM IN

WHITEHALL

Feedback needed

Sir, Rather than simply calling for an

increase in the numbers of medical

students, it may be better to ask why

consultant medical staff are seeking to

leave the NHS before retirement

(News, Oct 19). Having worked in the

NHS for over 40 years, I think it is

most likely because consultant medical

staff feel undervalued and sidelined

from running the services for which

they are responsible. To address these

issues may not require much money

but simply positive feedback from

management to consultants when

deserved — something that the NHS

is not good at doing for any of its staff.

Jonathan Gibson

Ret’d consultant ophthalmologist,

Edinburgh

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Letters to The Times must be exclusive

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At Bow Street Police Court, Sir

Chartres Biron dealt with charges

arising out of the disorderly scenes

in Whitehall on Monday. There was

one case against three men of

breaking and entering a jeweller’s

shop, and there were two of

assaulting the police, one of wilful

damage, two of throwing missiles to

the common danger of the public,

and five of insulting behaviour. After

being informed that the Mayors

forming the deputation to the Prime

Minister on behalf of unemployed

ex-servicemen had marched from

their respective districts at the head

of processions of unemployed, the

Magistrate said that the disturbances

might have developed into a riot but

for the police acting so promptly. For

a time the position was very serious,

and he thought it would induce

people who were going to a peaceful

deputation to consider how far it was

desirable for them to go at the head

of large crowds of people over whom

they had no control. Mr Muskett,

who prosecuted for the police, said

that the acts of violence did not

appear to have been committed by

those who formed the procession.

William MacGillivray, 45, a

painter, stated to be a member of the

Willesden “Council of Action”, was

sentenced to two months’

imprisonment with hard labour for

assault. It was stated that a lorry

laden with stones was held up in

Whitehall, and that the prisoner was

one of those who filled his pockets

with stones, and afterwards threw

them at policemen.

William Middleton, omnibus

driver, charged with throwing

missiles and with insulting

behaviour, was fined £2. Edward

Cannadine, aged 19, packing case

maker, of Hoxton, who galloped up

to the police cordon at Downing

Street on a grey horse, was fined 40s

for insulting behaviour. He stated

that he had taken the horse out for

exercise and turned into Whitehall

to see the demonstration. Someone

struck the horse, which got out of

control, and he was unable to

prevent it charging into the police.

Francis Richard Prior, aged 17, a

labourer, was fined £1 for breaking

two windows at the Treasury. About

40 or 50 windows in this building

were broken. A boy, aged 14, charged

with being concerned in breaking

windows at the Treasury, was

discharged.

Cartoonist’s first

Sir, I believe that James Gillray got

there first (“Unfunny Russians”, letter,

Oct 19). In 1802 he published his

cartoon The Cow Pock, lampooning

Edward Jenner’s pioneering work on

a smallpox inoculation by suggesting

that vaccination could lead to

cow-like excrescences on people’s

anatomy. I wonder if Gillray was

the first antivaxer or just a very

funny cartoonist.

Richard Handford

West Wittering, W Sussex