32 1GM Thursday November 26 2020 | the times
Letters to the Editor
Letters to the Editor should be sent to
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1 London Bridge Street, London SE1 9GFanalysis, a whole industry has been
shut down, just like that.
Jonathan Neame
CEO, Shepherd NeameSir, I am 70 this week and read
Joanna Williams’s article (“Covid
restrictions show what we’re really
like”, Nov 25) with increasing anger. I
live alone, not from choice, and
although I am fit and active I have a
heart condition. I long for the time
when I can mix freely with people,
and hate being cut off from others.
However, before Covid-19, I saw the
pressure that the NHS was under
when I was being treated for a heart
attack and when my daughter was
seriously ill. If I am anxious to see
people keep to the rules it is because I
want to protect the NHS. If I contract
Covid-19 I am more likely to need a
hospital bed. I would rather that bed
were available for someone whose
“routine” medical procedure had been
postponed. I have certainly not
“grown fond” of cutting myself off
from others and I look forward to the
time when I can “do exactly what the
state tells us to do” and present
myself for vaccination.
Liz Gordon
Dunbar, East LothianSir, We are concerned about the use of
Ministry of Defence sites to house
asylum seekers and survivors of
modern slavery. These sites are
unsuitable because of the lack of
access to adequate healthcare services,
the public health risks resulting from a
lack of compliance with Covid-19
regulations, and the risk of
re-traumatisation triggered by
accommodation in former military
barracks. Healthcare professionals
have a duty to protect and promote
health. As organisations for British
healthcare professionals, we are
committed to promoting equality and
fundamental rights in healthcare, and
cannot ignore a policy that is
detrimental to the wellbeing and
health of those seeking sanctuary in
our country. We urge the government
to immediately end the use of these
sites as asylum accommodation.
Dr Adrian James, president, Royal
College of Psychiatrists; Professor
Maggie Rae, president, Faculty of
Public Health; Kerry Smith, CEO,
Helen Bamber Foundation; Ellen
Waters, Doctors of the World UK; Dr
Juliet Cohen, Freedom from Torture.Sir, I reject Joanna Williams’s
contention that Britons are looking
for a “pretext to isolate” and “have
grown fond of cutting themselves off
from others”. As an active 75-year-old
I and many others of my age yearn
for the freedoms to be with family
and friends but we are willing to forgo
this until such time as we are
vaccinated and can once again safely
enjoy those freedoms.
John Grossman
Northwood, MiddxSir, Professor Andrew Hayward, a
member of the Sage advisory panel,
has expressed doubts about the
wisdom of relaxing the lockdown over
Christmas to permit families to get
together in limited circumstances,
warning of an increased risk to the
old of Covid-19 infection. May I
suggest that he do a quick poll of the
elderly people of his acquaintance to
find out whether they, being in the
latter years of their lives, would prefer
to take a risk of serious illness or
death or spend a lonely Christmas
without real-life contact with their
family and loved ones? He might be
surprised at the answers he receives.
Christina McLellan
London N12Polite swearing
Sir, The letters from Ruth Snary (Nov
24) and Katie Kitchen (Nov 25)
reminded me of the words and
phrases used by the late Christopher
Martin-Jenkins (obituary, Jan 2, 2013)
in his cricket commentaries. Quoted
in his obituary in Wisden 2014 are
swearwords of his own invention:
“Oh, Captain Carruthers! Fish cakes
and buttercup pie! Billingsgate
Harbour! Schubert! Fotherington-
Thomas!”. No wonder his fellow
commentators admired him.
Mike Bechley
Lee-on-the-Solent, HantsAlternative carol
Sir, Giles Coren (Notebook, Nov 24)
made me laugh out loud with his
reference to offspring of a virgin’s
“wumb”. As a child, my 23-year-old
daughter always sang it as “womp”
(“What is a womp?” she asked).
My 86-year-old mother and I still
mouth it over her head during the
Christmas carol service.
Lucinda Webb
Southsea, HantsIt takes all sorts
Sir, Jonathan Seckl (letter, Nov 24)
warns that higher consumption of
liquorice by pregnant women is
associated with “substantial reductions
in IQ and more impulsive behavioural
problems such as ADHD in the
offspring”. He had best keep away from
Pontefract’s Liquorice Fair in July,
when we gather to enjoy all sorts of
delights made of liquorice, including
beer, bread, toffee, pork pies, cheese,
cakes and ice cream. Even our civic
Christmas decorations have this theme.
David Brown
Pontefract, W YorksCorrections and
clarifications
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Feedback, The Times, 1 London Bridge
Street, London SE1 9GF
Vaccine priority list
Sir, Since the start of the pandemic,
the government’s guidance for people
who are clinically extremely
vulnerable has consistently been more
stringent than the guidance for older
people. Yet the government is now
saying that for a vaccine, people over
65 are likely to have priority over
younger people with health conditions.
It is not immediately obvious why a
healthy 66-year-old has a greater
need for a vaccine than a 64-year-old
with leukaemia, which we know
dramatically increases your risk from
the coronavirus. For the sake of the
hundreds of thousands of younger
people who are extremely clinically
vulnerable, the government needs to
clearly explain the rationale for this.
Gemma Peters
CEO, Blood Cancer UK
The relaxation in Covid rules for Christmas
Sir, It seems that Christmas is not
cancelled after all — except, that is, for
the three million people who work in
pubs and hospitality, their families and
the communities they serve. For
although the rhetoric is about relaxing
the rules, the reality is that most pubs
will not be able to operate at all, and
those that can open are not allowed to
welcome “family bubbles” (“Covid
rules relaxed for Christmas”, Nov 25).
The premise for inflicting this misery
is explained away in flowery scientific
language about the dangers of aerosols
in confined spaces, and people
relaxing so much that they expose
themselves and others to dangers.
This is a compelling hypothesis
until one starts to ask why it is that
only 1 per cent of all infections have
been traced to pubs, why so few pub
staff up and down the country (in our
case only five out of 1,500) have
tested positive in spite of multiple
daily contacts with customers, and
why numerous surveys of operators
all tell the same story: that pubs are
safe and not a significant source of
transmission. The answer is that
social distancing rules are strictly
adhered to in a controlled
environment. And yet without any
consultation, discussion or credibleCombating brain
damage in sport
Sir, Further to Henry Winter’s article
“Dementia warning came 54 years
ago” (Sport, Nov 24), there is a simple
solution for all contact sports to help
their players to understand brain
damage. First, it should be
compulsory for all players to have
brain scans on the opening training
day of every season. These scans
should be held centrally by a
university research department
(Imperial or Cambridge), by the sport
in question and locally by the club
and by the player. Ultimately, we
would need to persuade one of these
world-class institutions to become the
home for sport brain injuries.
When a player is injured during a
game he or she should not return to
the playing field until he or she has
been scanned again so that the doctor
can compare the pre-season scan
with the new one. This would take
about 15 minutes.
All players after retirement should
have compulsory annual check-ups
for the rest of their lives. As this
would not yet be possible through the
NHS it would have to be done
through player insurance, paid for by
the national sport in question.
Contact sports could take a leaf out
of the way Formula 1 or the NFL has
dealt with this issue.
Derek Wyatt
Founder, Brain Campaign; former MP
and England rugby international;
Aldeburgh, Suffolk
Media freedom Military sanctuary
Sir, It is just over a year since the
government hosted the first Global
Conference for Media Freedom. Since
then Britain has since dropped two
places in the World Press Freedom
Index, and is behind South Africa and
Jamaica. This, combined with your
report (“Freedom of Information Act
undermined”, Nov 25) and leading
article (“Official Secrecy”) on the
“clearing house” for freedom of
information requests, suggests that
the government is more intent on
frustrating media freedom than
backing it. To restore our ranking the
government should take two
immediate steps: it should shut down
the freedom of information clearing
house; and second, it should make
private companies that provide public
services subject to freedom of
information requests. That way the
public would know whether the
cronyism shown by ministers in
awarding PPE contracts was mirrored
in the private sector. The public
would then be clear whether they
were fleeced once or twice over PPE.
Tom Brake
Director, Unlock Democracyfrom the times november 26, 1920GOLF CLUBS -
A CALL FOR
REVOLT
Cut to foreign aid
Sir, I take issue with the five former
prime ministers who oppose the cut
in foreign aid (report, Nov 25): it is
easy for them to oppose it as they are
no longer in charge of the UK’s
finances. Equally, I am not convinced
by the argument that it will “destroy
Britain’s international reputation”. I
am not against aid but we have to
recognise that we cannot continue to
spend £15 billion on foreign aid given
the state of public finances.
Alan Howes
Chorleywood, HertsSir, Further to the debate about
reducing the percentage of GDP that
Britain spends on foreign aid to
0.5 per cent, only Luxembourg,
Norway, Sweden and Denmark spend
a higher percentage on aid; in
Germany it is 0.6 per cent, in France
0.44 per cent, in Japan 0.3 per cent
and the US 0.16 per cent. In my view
an international perspective needs to
be added to this debate before we
even start on an analysis of where our
foreign aid donations end up.
Nigel Phillips
Sevenoaks, Kentthetimes.co.uk/archiveOde to cricket teas
Sir, The tea interval has, since the
game began, been one of cricket’s
most charming, intrepid and surely
immovable institutions: sandwiches,
occasionally scones and strawberry
jam, cakes and a huge battered tin
teapot and mugs, some of which have
lost their handles. The captain’s wife,
the umpire’s sister and the wicket
keeper’s squeeze in her turquoise
jersey administer all the above with
verve and joyful inaccuracy. There was
lumped sugar too, but seldom enough.
Cakes, by kind permission of Brian
Johnston, found their way to the Test
Match Special commentary box, where
they became a national institution,
even if John Arlott stuck to his
champagne. We even had a
competition for village tea ladies to
show what they were made of.
Why can’t the petty bureaucrats of
the Sussex Cricket League mind their
own business (“Cricket has no time for
tea any more”, Nov 25)? I dare say that
taking this large dollop of romance out
of the game is all about saving half an
hour. Talk about cutting off your
cucumber sandwich to spite your
batting average.
Henry Blofeld
London SW10Sir, I thoroughly enjoyed Patrick
Kidd’s piece on cricket teas (Nov 25).
He may be interested to know that
when I, as captain of Sydenham
Cricket Club 2nd XI, sat down with
the fixture secretary to discuss the
forthcoming season’s away friendly
matches the list was always based on
the quality of the opposition’s tea, and
not their playing ability.
Jim Parton
NorwichLetters to The Times must be exclusive
and may be edited. Please include a full
address and daytime telephone number.
A correspondent commented in our
columns yesterday on the increasing
cost of golf in England — a matter of
real concern to all who play the
game. There are avoidable causes for
rising golf expenses, though there
are many, too, that are unavoidable.
Chief among the former is the
money expended on the upkeep of
courses, the making of nightmare
greens and fantastic bunkers, the
production of billiard-table-like
fairways, and so on. There is, too, far
too much unnecessary extravagance
in club-house equipment, meals, and
drinks. Soon only the very rich willbe able to be members of golf clubs;
and even if Nature is likely to find
her revenge in the fact that the very
rich seldom play well, this will be a
poor consolation to the poor, who
can play but are unable to afford to
indulge their talent. In many cases
the expense of modern clubs and
club houses devoted to golf is a
protective device of the rich to keep
the “vulgar herd” away. Within
limits, this is unavoidable, but the
limits are being scandalously
extended. Two major evils follow.
Golf is becoming conspicuously the
recreation of one class — an evil
almost absent in Scotland, where the
game is as much the recreation of
the artisan and manual worker as of
leisured and professional men. This
mingling of all states of life upon the
links is the very salt of the game. In
England this is practically an
impossibility. The young player of
promise, too, is finding more and
more that the expense of golf isprohibitive; and the future welfare of
the game is with the young. Our
correspondent yesterday laid much
of the blame for the useless and
harmful luxury of golf clubs today in
England upon club committees,
formed usually of men of ample
means, to whom a few pounds more
or less is a small matter. We believe,
on the whole, that the blame is more
with the bulk of the players, who
demand a ludicrous standard of
perfection both in the state of
courses and in the equipment of club
houses. They grumble at the cost of
their golf, but seldom realize that
they are themselves responsible,
both, at election times, for the
personnel of committees and for the
policy adopted by committees after
election. A few revolts by banded
members of golf clubs who are not
rich men would do much good.