The Times - UK (2021-12-22)

36 Wednesday December 22 2021 | the times

Letters to the Editor

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the moment, decided to preserve the

status quo. Why does social media

want this to cause such consternation

to the rest of us? Whatever happened

to personal responsibility, rational

thought and initiative? We each have a

moral and social duty, to ourselves, our

loved ones, and to our fellow citizens

to act rationally on the available data.

Doug Clark

Currie, Midlothian

Sir, While MPs argue over Covid

restrictions, who is speaking for the

six million people on the NHS waiting

lists? Every Covid patient admitted to

hospital has a disproportionate effect

on healthcare for the rest of the

population. For some months, the

number of excess deaths has been

higher than the five-year average.

After allowing for Covid deaths, this is

potentially 40,000 deaths per year, no

doubt including many caused by

delayed treatment.

Robert Wivell

Wetherby, W Yorks

Sir, When I broke the rules in May last

year, it was to sit a metre away from

my mother in the garden, instead of

two metres away (“Public outraged at

No 10 drinks for staff’s ‘hard work’”,

news, Dec 21). My mum wept

frequently, and still does, at the lack of

touch and physical and emotional

contact. I hold Boris Johnson and his

party in contempt.

Philippa Trevelyan

Gweek, Cornwall

Sir, Given we now have a government

held captive by ideologues on its back

benches, the logic points with greater

urgency to a wartime-style coalition

government. It is inconceivable that it

could be headed by Boris Johnson. We

need a Conservative possessing

competence and moral authority.

Once the Covid crisis is over, there

must be a general election.

David Kynaston

New Malden, Surrey

Sir, I notice that the government is

again asking us not to believe experts,

this time the Sage committee. It would

be interesting to know who is expert

enough to be able to tell us which

experts to believe and which to ignore.

David Osmond

Barnoldby le Beck, Lincs

Legs and legends

Sir, The paucity of fossil evidence of

giant millipedes (“A very leggy past”,

leading article, Dec 21) causes me to

wonder whether the same might

apply to us as a species. Having

roamed the Earth for a tiny

percentage of the millipede’s span,

tectonic plate movement, erosion,

oxidation and microbial appetites

must surely leave future geologists

similarly frustrated about us. All I can

come up with as evidence of our

efforts in, say, 300 million years, are

phosphor bronze church bells,

propellers from sunken ships and

nuclear power plants.

Peter Jones

North Kilworth, Leics

Sir, I wonder if the newly discovered

Northumbrian creepy-crawly is a

remote ancestor of Co Durham’s

legendary “aaful” sized “Lambton

worm”, described in song as having

“greet big teeth, a greet big gob, an’

greet big goggly eyes”.

The worm was partial to cows,

sheep and children and spent its days

wrapped round Penshaw Hill. After

its dispatch by John Lambton, bits fell

into the River Wear and were,

presumably, washed out to sea.

The creature was said to be very good

at regenerating.

Marjorie Caygill

London NW6

Sir, In reply to Colin Marsh’s letter

(Dec 20), I personally voted Remain

but the conclusion of a trade

agreement with Australia is a silver

lining of Brexit and can only give this

country a psychological boost. Shared

histories and sacrifices in conflicts past

and recent mean something. Scrapping

duties on things like Scotch and

Northern Ireland whiskies and

Australian wines is just common sense.

Roll on agreements with Canada and

New Zealand.

John Barstow

Pulborough, W Sussex

Sporting chance

Sir, Since football is grinding to a halt,

may I suggest new league tables to

show which clubs have the highest

percentage of vaccinated players?

Award three points for a boosted

player, one point if vaccinated but not

boosted and zero points for an

unvaccinated player. Teams with the

highest averages qualify for Europe.

Teams with the lowest averages

are relegated.

John Stephens

Cobham, Surrey

Burning issues

Sir, When I was a boy, one of the

consequences of bad behaviour was

the threat of a lump of coal in my

Christmas stocking. However, the

passing of regulations that banned

domestic coal has caused some doubt

in my household about the continued

appropriateness of this threat. Is a

briquette of low-sulphur solid fuel a

suitable replacement? My sons

argue not. And I wonder if Father

Christmas is aware of the regulations

and his possible need to register as a

member of the Approved Coal

Merchants Scheme.

James Austen

Berkhamsted, Herts

Corrections and

clarifications

6 The Environment Agency’s appeal
against a court ruling regarding a
landfill site in Staffordshire has been
heard, contrary to the impression
given by our report (News, Dec 18).
The appeal was successful.

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Community is key

Sir, Rabbi Dr Jonathan Romain is right
to imply that humanism can meet the
deficit in ethics that may be left by
declining religion (news, Dec 18;
letters, Dec 20). But he is wrong to
worry that the lack of community
institutions associated with humanist
beliefs undermines that benefit.
Religious identity, belief and practice
have all now declined to a minority
pursuit and there is no reason to
believe that they will be coming back.
Yet in the UK we have one of the
largest, most diverse, and most active
civil societies in the world and a public
united by very many shared values, in
spite of their diverse beliefs. It may be
a risk to try to build a cohesive society
on shared values rather than on the
shared theologies of past eras but,
since we have no choice, we must all
take up that duty nonetheless. If the
huge social solidarity and outpouring
of altruistic kindness of the past two
years is anything to go by, we can be
optimistic about our chances.
Andrew Copson
Chief executive, Humanists UK

Sir, Rabbi Dr Jonathan Romain is
concerned that minority religions will
follow the trend of increasing
secularisation in the Christian faith. I
do not believe there is such a danger if
the Sikh faith, a minority religion, is an
example. Covid has instead noticeably
lent a sense of Sikh community
cohesion, which the rabbi fears would
be lost with increasing assimilation.
My place of Sikh worship has
reached out to all vulnerable families
and individuals to provide communal
support, provision of food, a hot meal
service, transport and even build a
Covid vaccination centre. It is just one
local example that, when joined up in
the country, lends the faith a sense of
purpose and strength to prosper.
Dr Surinder Singh Bakhshi
Birmingham

Covid messaging confusion and rule breaking

Sir, Jacob Rees-Mogg makes the

reasonable suggestion that we should

make our own decisions about how

best to behave to protect ourselves

from the Omicron variant (news,

Dec 21). However, in order to do so,

the government must provide us with

better data so that we can do so with

the full facts at our fingertips. We

know that admissions to hospital are

rising, but no information is given on

the age, vaccination status and general

health of these individuals, nor how

long they remain in hospital. My own

personal experience of those ill with

Covid in London, including three of

my children, is that they are almost

exclusively under the age of 30, suffer

for no more than a few days, and

describe it as a cold. It is clear that the

NHS sees a different side of the

disease, but without a good deal more

background knowledge, it is hard to

see how we can collectively reach

personal decisions about how to go

about our daily lives.

Jamie Berry

London SW1

Sir, “Christmas hopes grow as Johnson

delays action’’, says the headline (news,

Dec 21). After considering the data, the

prime minister and his team have, for

Sir In his resignation letter (news,

Dec 20) Lord Frost expresses the

hope that “we will move as fast as

possible to... a lightly regulated, low

tax, entrepreneurial economy, at the

cutting edge of modern science and

economic change”.

Meanwhile, in the Grenfell tower

hearings, it is becoming clear that a

bias towards a more lightly regulated

construction industry was a major

enabler of the deaths of 72 people.

How many mistakes do we have to

make before we learn that tight

regulation is essential for the

operation of an entrepreneurial

economy? It channels inventiveness

away from short-changing

customers and stakeholders and

towards solutions that make people’s

lives better.

Mark Goyder

Founder, Tomorrow’s Company

Sir, Light touch regulation has given

us raw sewage in our rivers and on

our beaches, an unwillingness or

inability to detect money laundering,

Resignation of the

Brexit minister

and Grenfell tower. Why it is

thought desirable?

Christopher Wilcock

London SW15

Sir, Have the Tory rebels opposed to

Covid measures — who are also all

the keenest Brexiteers and now

include Lord Frost — noticed that

their views coincide with those of

Piers and Jeremy Corbyn, at the

opposite end of the political

spectrum?

The only obvious thing that seems

to explain this is their common, but

most un-British, characteristic of

dogmatism. The British public did not

take well to that in Labour at the last

election. Conservatives should

take note.

Adrian Cosker

Hitchin, Herts

Sir, I hope that, with her new

Brexit responsibilities, Liz Truss will

still have plenty of time to

concentrate on the plight of

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who is

about to face her sixth Christmas

away from her husband and young

daughter.

Sue Wood

Radlett, Herts

A welcome deal

from the times december 22, 1921

CHRISTMAS

DEMAND FOR

GRAMOPHONES

Fact and fiction

Sir, For my 70th birthday, I published

my autobiography (letters, Dec 20, 21)

and gave it to each member of my

family, primarily to ensure that

whoever gives the eulogy at my

funeral will tell it as I would wish.

I mentioned this to my local vicar,

who told me: “I attend many more

funerals than you, and let me tell

you, you can’t trust anyone — make

a video.”

Neil Kennedy

Burnham on Crouch, Essex

Sir, I assume that when Boris Johnson

writes his memoirs the book will be

placed in the “Fiction” section of

bookshops and libraries.

Will David

Knockholt, Kent

thetimes.co.uk/archive

2021 and all that

Sir, When considering whether a

prime minister is Royalist or

Roundhead (letter, Dec 21) always

remember the distinction by

WC Sellar and RJ Yeatman in their

book 1066 and All That. While

Royalists were “Wrong but

Wromantic”, Roundheads were “Right

but Repulsive”.

Joanne Aston

Thirsk, N Yorks

Letters to The Times must be exclusive

and may be edited.

This week has seen a large increase

in gramophone sales, partly owing to

the improvement in their

appearance, and to the fact that they

make a sightly addition to the

furniture of a carefully arranged

music-room or period living room.

Whiteleys, Westbourne Grove, have

been selling models which supply

concert programmes as well as

music for the impromptu dance, and

there are few houses where young

people will gather for the holidays

which will not have a gramophone.

Once the sound boxes, tone arms,

and motors are brought to their

highest level, the cabinet-making

follows suit. A copy of a Jacobean

linen chest in the Metropolitan

Museum, New York holds a fine

machine and also a large number of

records; the motor is silent and a

front panel slides back to expose the

tone chamber before putting in a

record. There is a bow-fronted

Sheraton cabinet in the period style,

at 59 guineas, a horizontal Jacobean

grand at 28 guineas, a Hepplewhite

at 48 guineas. The horns are of Swiss

pine and sycamore, made on the

violin principle.

Harrods, Brompton Road, are

experiencing a large number of

customers this week. Many of them,

having made their purchases, go up

to the hairdressing and toilet salons

for treatment to cure the ravages of

shopping and make them look their

best for the social activities of the

holidays. Numbers of women are

also having permanent waving done

this week as it is a great trouble

saver, making hairdressing a matter

of minutes, and no longer has the

fixed look that characterized the

early waves, but has a wavy, natural

look which needs the minimum of

“setting”. Massage and manicure are

always a busy section of this

department, and yesterday there

seemed to be quite as many men in

the men’s section having treatment

as women in theirs. Busy men

appear to derive relief from fatigue

by having a face massage after

shaving and they generally have a

simultaneous manicure.

There is a children’s department

also, which is very busy for

Christmas. The Queen of Norway,

accompanied by her lady-in-waiting

and Prince Olaf, spent a long time in

Harrods yesterday making

Christmas purchases. She appeared

to enjoy the shopping crowds.

Signing news

Sir, Your leading article (Dec 20)
noted the effect Rose Ayling-Ellis’s
participation in Strictly Come Dancing
has had in raising awareness of
deafness. It makes one wonder when
No 10’s news conferences will see fit
to include a signer.
Sue Stevens
Teddington, Middx