The Times - UK (2021-12-18)

40 Saturday December 18 2021 | the times

Letters to the Editor

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that they now reject this style of

government.

Gerard Connolly

London SW11

Sir, Many Conservative commentators

are saying that the result in North

Shropshire had nothing to do with the

popularity of Boris Johnson and that

he has a record as an election winner.

When he first became mayor of

London, Londoners had had enough

of Ken Livingstone so it was a bit of a

walkover. Similarly, the country was

never going to vote for Jeremy

Corbyn as prime minister. Boris

Johnson has never fought an election

with a credible opponent so I cannot

help thinking that this result is all

about Boris Johnson.

Robbie Cathcart

Laxfield, Suffolk

Sir, Please don’t make the mistake of

thinking that the by-election was all

about Boris. Many voted tactically

with a heavy heart to show despair

over the whole machinery of

government and those who milk the

system. It is not only Boris and the

Tories: they are just the icing on a

cake that has lost touch with the great

majority of those on and around

average incomes. Some of the basic

machinery of everyday life is

fracturing for those who cannot

afford to buy their way out. This is

not the politics of envy but everyday

reality. From potholes to breakdown

in the care system, there is

widespread incompetence. We require

a massive change in attitudes.

Peter Bevington

Weston Rhyn, Shrops

Sir, The continuous sniping of many

Conservative backbenchers has

seriously damaged the party they

claim to support. How naive they are

as they show new depths of disloyalty

to their leader, who made it possible

for many of them to win their seats.

Boris Johnson is a prime minister with

vision and needs to be surrounded by

a supportive team who can see off the

ambitious traitors in the Tory party.

Judy Bromley Davenport

Cholmondeley, Cheshire

Sir, I actually feel sorry for the prime

minister. He’s just forked out, be it

eventually, tens of thousands of

pounds of his own money to pay for

the refurbishment of his Downing

Street flat, only to realise he may not

be living there for very much longer.

Bob Maddams

Bognor Regis, West Sussex

West Side wokery

Sir, I’m sure that Gerard Baker

(“Democrats have alienated Hispanic

voters”, Dec 17) is right about the

damage the “woke” Democrats are

doing to their standing among

America’s fastest growing minority.

But his asides on Steven Spielberg’s

West Side Story are off the mark. Yes,

the film avoids the obvious cultural

beartraps (such as subtitles in Spanish

but not English) but not in an overt or

preachy way. Indeed the biggest

change from the original is thoroughly

unwoke; the cops in the 1961 version

are unashamedly racist, which they

are not in Spielberg’s version. It is a

terrific, and essentially unpolitical,

retelling of a universal story.

Sir Anthony Brenton

Former British ambassador to Russia,

Cambridge

Rantzen’s privilege

Sir, Dame Esther Rantzen, while

recounting experiences of misogyny

at the start of her media career

(Times2, Dec 14), blithely accepts a far

more insidious corruption as normal.

I quote: “I prepared myself for a

gruelling interview... but it turned

out some of his team knew me from

Oxford anyway and told him to

employ me.” Rantzen clearly doesn’t

see this an equally wrong form of

discrimination, and doesn’t give a

second thought to all the less

well-connected applicants who didn’t

even get an interview while she was

parachuted into a job. It took another

40 years for this inequity to dissipate.

Judith M Steiner

London N6

Modern Medici

Sir, Michael Gove’s comparison of the

Medici with his government, which

has systematically starved the arts, is

not quite as ridiculous as it may seem

(“Gove seeks a Renaissance for the

north”, Dec 16). The Medici began

their rise to power by manipulating a

representative government and

gradually took it over as autocrats. If

Gove would like tips on how they did

it he could start by reading Florence

and the Medici: the Pattern of Control

by my late husband, John Hale.

Sheila Hale

Twickenham

Drunk judges

Sir, The tale of the judge found drunk

behind the wheel (letter, Dec 17)

reminds me of the two judges who,

having overindulged, decided to cycle

home. Each charged the other with

drunken driving. The next morning

Judge 1 was fined £10 by Judge 2.

Positions were reversed and a

Judge 2 was fined £20 by Judge 1.

Upon complaining about the higher

penalty it was explained by Judge 1

that there was too much drunkenness

on bicycles as this was the second

case he’d heard of that morning.

Major (r’td) Keith Glyn Davies

West Malling, Kent

Helpful bonus

Sir, I am glad that your correspondent

was delighted to receive his £10

Christmas bonus on his state pension

(letter, Dec 17). My wife and I felt the

same way and immediately went to

the local supermarket and bought £20

of food which we placed in the box

that is in all stores to help people less

well off than ourselves this Christmas.

Philip Moger

East Preston, West Sussex

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Troublesome dean

of Christ Church

Sir, “Mad, is he? Then I hope he will
bite some of my other generals.”
These words of George II about
General Wolfe can be applied now to
Martyn Percy, the dean of Christ
Church.
The fifth attempt in four years by a
cabal of disaffected dons to
defenestrate their dean (“Oxford
college turns to medical team in row
over dean’s future”, Dec 16), this time
by voting for him to be classified as
mentally ill, is both comic and
contemptible. I saw Dr Percy this
week. He was on sparkling form,
battered but unbowed by the
continuing civil war at The House.
A humorous observation might be
that he is far sharper and saner than
some of the obsessive academics who
have so far wasted over £3 million in
legal fees and lost at least another
£3 million in cancelled charitable
donations in their fruitless efforts to
dislodge the head of their college.
How much longer can this expensive
and unpleasant nonsense continue?
There are signs that the Charity
Commission and the chancellor of
Oxford University, Lord Patten of
Barnes, might finally intervene.
Biting or, better still, removing the
“other generals” of Christ Church
would be a good start.
The Rev Jonathan Aitken
Christ Church alumnus 1961-64
London SW5

Protecting children

Sir, Richard Lingham’s defence of the
failings of police officers, NSPCC staff
and social workers raises all the
obstacles of the “rights conscious and
culturally diverse” society we have
become (letters, Dec 16 & 17). If
relatives or neighbours express
concern, this does not seem to carry
much weight, yet the time spent by a
professional assessor is limited and
advanced warning of a visit invites
better behaviour.
The problem of social workers,
which also applies to probation
services, is that the profession attracts
people who want to do well, and want
their clients to fulfil their own needs
or success, and to this end will ignore
evidence to the contrary. In the real
world there are unpleasant and
dangerous people and only a minority
can be changed. What is needed is a
sceptical mindset from the beginning
with the application of common sense
in these sad situations.
Dr John Pitts
Dibden Purlieu, Hants

Tory response to defeat in North Shropshire

Sir, After the spectacular swing in the

North Shropshire by-election, it

seems probable that a majority of

Tory MPs will conclude that they are

more likely to win the next general

election without Boris Johnson as

leader. For many voters the final

straw may have come last week when,

instead of showing at least a degree of

remorse over the Christmas party in

Downing Street, the prime minister

suggested that the facts had been

mischaracterised by journalists.

The Tory party is renowned for its

instinct for survival, so a leadership

contest seems likely well before the

next general election. This could lead

to some alienated Tory voters

considering a return to the fold.

Galen Bartholomew

Evesham, Worcs

Sir, It must now be clear that the

Conservative Party is no longer what

it was. The party line stretching from

Margret Thatcher to John Major,

David Cameron and Theresa May has

gone and in its place is a populist

nationalist party. Gradually

traditional Conservative voters who

expect probity, integrity, pragmatism

and good management are

recognising what they have elected.

The by-election in Shropshire shows

Sir, How readily MPs who criticise

Chris Whitty for doing his job (“Wait

until after Christmas for verdict on

further Covid curbs”, news, Dec 17)

have forgotten that it was his idea to

create the vaccine taskforce that

kick-started our fight back against

Covid-19 and has saved more than

100,000 lives in England. Professor

Whitty has been criticised for giving a

professional opinion, because he has

not been elected to office. The reason

his advice has had such resonance

with the public is because of the

vacuum at the heart of government.

Gordon Lethbridge

Sherborne, Dorset

Sir, I agree with those who say the

British public is perfectly capable of

making up its own mind about what it

should do (letters, Dec 17). It has

demonstrated this by opting to follow

the advice of Chris Whitty. There are

very high levels of trust in doctors,

nurses and other health professionals.

Lord Crisp

Chief executive, NHS England and

the Department of Health 2000-06

Trust in Whitty

Sir, It is not mathematically possible

to stop the effects of the Omicron

variant on the NHS or the economy

with a vaccination campaign alone. It

is simply too infectious. Additional

measures are needed. To call them

restrictions plays into the hands of

those who rail against them. They are

prudent precautions. In the case of

masks and Covid passes they would

open up the economy. If they had

been in place now the restaurant

industry would not be haemorrhaging

customers at this important time. We

would all have felt safe to go.

Dr Jeremy W Tankel

Medical Director, Salford Clinical

Commissioning Group

from the times december 18, 1921

NEW FASHION

IN CHRISTMAS

POSTCARDS

Asylum seekers

Sir, I strongly endorse your leading

article on the right of asylum seekers

to work (Dec 17). For eight years I

served on the Independent

Monitoring Board for Haslar

Immigration Removal Centre near

Gosport in Hampshire. The sooner

some detainees were returned to their

country of origin the better. However,

a significant proportion of those

detained had the capacity to make a

useful contribution to the economy,

and were languishing in detention

pending “temporary leave to remain”,

which enabled them to be discharged.

By prohibiting such people from

working legally there was always the

increased risk that they would get

caught up in the black economy, and

find it difficult to extract themselves.

At a time when there is shortage of

workers in many sectors, ministers

need to act on this.

Shaun Leavey

Sherborne, Dorset

thetimes.co.uk/archive

Cheque mates

Sir, Your article on Sir Leonard

Blavatnik (“Richest man saves literary

treasures”, Dec 17) reminded me of a

visit we once made to a magnificent

community centre in St Petersburg. It

was named the Marks Aaronson

centre. Who, asked a member of our

group, was Marks Aaronson? To

which our guide replied, a famous

writer. What did he write, another

asked. The cheque, replied our guide.

Martin Kaye

London N2

The high postal rates are part of the

general high cost of living, but there

is something in the benevolent spirit

of Christmas that makes people

forget to look too closely at the price

of articles, unless they are buying for

themselves.

The custom of sending Christmas

cards lives on as sturdily as that of

sending presents. There is some

indication that a decorated postcard

is taking its place as an accepted

type of greeting card, recommended

by its neatness and simplicity and

the facility with which it can be sent

through the post.

The tendency seems to be to

produce less ornate and elaborate

cards than those that were popular

in the past. A card for which there is

a growing demand is the plain white

pasteboard slip on which are printed

in plain type the name and address

of the sender and a greeting

contained in a single sentence.

Sometimes the severity is relieved by

a decorative crest or monogram,

which is repeated on the envelope.

Cards with humorous pictures

continue to beguile children, and

there is still a market for good

wishes expressed in rhyme. Messrs C

W Faulkner and Co offer a wide

selection of Christmas cards and an

attractive collection of artistic

calendars. Many of the latter are real

works of art, which deserve a place

in the home long after the year has

passed for which they are designed.

Messrs A R Mowbray and Co have

issued a large number of Christmas

cards and calendars with a special

appeal to Churchmen. A feature of

the latter is the reproduction of

pictures of old English abbeys and

city churches.

Messrs Valentine and Sons are

offering a popular attraction in the

work of Mabel Lucie Attwell. Her

drawings have a particular charm

due to a thorough knowledge of

children and their ways. The new

designs are as good, if not better

than some of those which have

proved most popular in the past. The

round-faced baby, for example, with

a huge pipe murmuring “Thank God

for Farver” is in Miss Attwell’s

happiest vein.

The Underground Railways have

issued a calendar comprising

reproductions of Elijah Albert Cox’s

familiar London characters, and the

Metropolitan Railway has chosen for

its design “A Home in Metroland”.