The Times - UK (2022-01-01)

26 Saturday January 1 2022 | the times

Letters to the Editor

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Sir, All the government’s Covid

measures to protect the population

are short term compared with the

longer-term strategy of vaccinating

poorer nations. Unless this strategy is

urgently implemented by all the

richer nations another strain of the

virus is likely to emerge. Christmas

2022 will then become an inevitable

repeat of the past two years. Perhaps

this is a chance for our new foreign

secretary to prove herself by making

the UK the co-ordinating force.

The Very Rev Michael Higgins

Dean emeritus, Ely; Great Dunham,

Norfolk

Sir, We are increasingly being told to

do our own risk assessments, but the

lack of granularity in the data

released to the public is not fit for this

purpose (leading article, Dec 31). The

government has a moral responsibility

to publish data on cases, reinfections,

hospital admissions, ICU admissions

and deaths, broken down by age, sex,

ethnicity and vaccination status, at as

local a level and as frequently as is

feasible. Much of this can be found in

disparate government reports, but it is

out of date for dynamic risk

assessment purposes by the time it is

released. Pulling the relevant data

together in an easily searchable

database could be done for a fraction

of the £37 billion budget for Test &

Trace and would probably be better

value for money.

Gordon Lethbridge

Sherborne, Dorset

Sir, The NHS must know the age,

gender, ethnicity and vaccine status of

those admitted with Covid. One can

understand a desire not to divert

NHS resources, but surely the

government can work with the ONS

or Sage to mine the data and produce

more useful and persuasive statistical

output. Were the public to know that,

say, over three quarters of those in

ICUs were unvaccinated, this would

send a much more powerful message

than the rather anodyne newspaper,

radio and TV adverts.

S M Southall

East Horsley, Surrey

Sir, I enjoyed the Royal Institution

Christmas lectures presented by

Jonathan Van-Tam detailing the

Covid virus, its spread, effect and

treatment. I suggest watching these

lectures be made obligatory for MPs.

Richard Pring

Clevedon, Somerset

Bishops’ freedom

Sir, Matthew Parris puts his finger on

the weak pulse of the Church of

England (Dec 29; letter, Dec 31). I

don’t know many happy bishops at

the moment, what with the issues of

safeguarding, finance and downsizing.

They are not helped by the demand

that as “symbols of unity” they should

all somehow agree in public. It means

that bishops today find it hard to be

symbols of integrity, perhaps a more

important vocation, and are forced to

go into theological and moral

camouflage, when the Church and

public arena need imaginative, honest

input. The result has been an internal

culture set by a dominant committee-

language that ticks boxes but resonates

with virtually no one. We need a brave

Tutufication of the Church, allowing

bishops more creativity, freedom of

speech and honesty about what they

believe, with a commitment to never

let religion compromise justice.

Canon Mark Oakley

Dean, St John’s College, Cambridge

Sheeran’s rewilding

Sir, Your article on Ed Sheeran’s

rewilding plans (Dec 30) overlooks

one important point. There are a

huge range of views on what is right

and wrong in climate crisis mitigation

policy. That probably does not matter

too much as the majority of what is

done will do more good than harm in

the long term. The value of Sheeran’s

involvement is not only in his

contribution; it lies also in his ability

to persuade a large segment of the

population who might not otherwise

be particularly engaged on the critical

need for action.

Alasdair Laing

Forres, Moray

Lesson on Russia

Sir, Lord Lexden (letter, Dec 30)

wonders if Attlee deserves the praise

heaped upon him. As the excellent

biographies of Attlee by John Bew and

of Ernest Bevin by Andrew Adonis

make clear, the population of western

Europe has an enduring debt to Attlee

and his foreign secretary for their

leadership in containing the territorial

ambitions of Stalin. Their approach

provides lessons for the West’s

response to the build-up of Russian

troops on the border of Ukraine.

Peter Wolton

London W4

Come a-wassailing

Sir, I am sure many will be astonished

by the suggestion that orchard

wassailing is “long gone” (nature notes,

Dec 29). My first wassail was in the

Walsall community orchard four years

ago, my second in Milton Keynes and

the third in our new community

orchard in Allesley Park, Coventry.

We celebrate again on January 15

with music, King Tree, Queen Tree, a

traditional blessing with sops, mulled

cider, homemade ginger beer, cake, a

procession of pot-banging to ward off

evil spirits, and great good cheer.

Tim Claye

Coventry

Snail mail

Sir, Further to the letters on delayed

post (Dec 28 & 30), with the rest of

the mail on New Year’s Eve I received

a pristine Christmas 2012 (yes, 2012)

Royal Mail first day cover, addressed

in the hand of my late Uncle Jim.

E Paul Tuddenham

Felixstowe, Suffolk

Corrections and

clarifications

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Respect for teaching

Sir, The government could do more
to restore respect for teaching
(Thunderer, Dec 30; letters, Dec 31).
Three examples spring to mind. First,
the failure to deal effectively with the
hundreds of illegal schools (report,
Dec 29) runs a risk of demonstrating
that sound education using qualified
teachers is a low priority and that
“anyone can do it”. Secondly, the
government increased the rate of the
employers’ contribution to the
teachers’ pension scheme to 23.68 per
cent with the result that teachers in
the independent sector are often
faced with quitting the scheme (which
was perhaps the only financial
incentive to stay in the profession) or
funding part of the employers’
contribution by a pay cut. Thirdly,
teachers have not been given any
priority for Covid vaccinations despite
being required to teach unvaccinated,
often unmasked children in schools.
Nick Ford
Sevenoaks, Kent

Sir, Regarding the shortage of supply
teachers and the call for retired
teachers to fill the gaps, I suggest that
Ofsted inspections be temporarily
halted and that the inspectors become
supply teachers. This would have the
advantage of lessons being delivered
by very experienced, able practitioners.
Christine Bennett
Sutton Coldfield, W Midlands

Policing in the US

Sir, After the accidental shooting dead
of Valentina Orellana-Peralta by Los
Angeles police (world, Dec 29) you
reported that the LAPD had shot 37
people during 2021, killing 17. In
England and Wales police shot dead
two people. Perhaps a little defanging
in the US might not go amiss (“US
police are defunded and defanged”,
Justin Webb, comment, Dec 31).
Mary Pimm and Nik Wood
London E9

Sharing vaccines abroad and clarity on Covid

Sir, Clive Dix is right that Britain

needs to get serious about vaccine

sharing to increase global Covid

vaccination rates (Thunderer, Dec 31).

But the government needs to go

further than donating excess doses

and funding Covax if we are to have a

chance of vaccinating the world and

avoiding further mutations.

The UK government is one of only

a handful blocking a proposed waiver

of intellectual property rules for

Covid vaccines, tests and treatments,

which is supported by President

Biden, the World Health

Organisation and many developing

countries who are struggling to get

the doses they need. Less than 1 in 11

people in low-income countries have

received at least one dose. Such a

waiver would allow developing

countries to make their own doses.

With Covid, no one is safe until

everyone is safe, so it makes no sense

for the government to protect the

excessive profits of pharmaceutical

companies over saving lives, by

blocking a proposal that could help to

end the pandemic much faster.

Max Lawson

Co-chairman, People’s Vaccine

Alliance; head of inequality policy,

Oxfam

Sir, Anyone who has followed the

UK’s poor treatment of former

Afghan allies, friends and colleagues

won’t be surprised by the

reclassification of many who arrived

in August under the Arap scheme to

the Afghan Citizens Resettlement

Scheme (report, Dec 30). Since 2013

the leitmotif has largely been a mix of

bare-minimum support, delayed and

incompetent execution and

penny-pinching.

Operation Pitting may have

brought out 15,000 Afghans but left

hundreds who should have been

rescued. To that extent, I have some

sympathy for the Home Office; many

of those rescued might more properly

be classified under the ACRS, if it had

existed, and not the Arap scheme,

which was originally envisaged for

those who worked directly for us.

Regardless of how the Afghans

came here, we owe them; they are

here because we were there. Many

are highly educated, well-motivated,

and deeply attached to this country;

the chancellor should be encouraged

to regard their support as a wise

investment for the future, not a

Resettling Afghans

burden to be minimised.

Colonel Simon Diggins (ret’d)

Defence attaché, Kabul, 2008-10

from the times january 1, 1922

A GARDENER’S

THOUGHTS

FOR NEW YEAR

Future of university

Sir, Lord Rees bemoans the “undue

weight [given] to research rather than

teaching” in universities (“Universities

must embrace new ways to learn”,

Dec 31). This has been exacerbated by

the research excellence framework

whereby universities’ published

research, over five years or so, is

peer-assessed and some limited

funding is allocated as a result. This

has led to an internal transfer system

whereby supposedly star researchers

can name their price to move

between universities and make

demands to do no teaching. Their

salaries are, in turn, paid for by the

increased numbers of students who

may never get to meet the “stars”.

John Pal

Poulton-le-Fylde, Lancs

Sir, As someone who has delivered

lectures to groups of “200-plus” most

of my adult life I fear Lord Rees omits

a vital point. The key aim when I

lecture is not to transmit information

but to convey enthusiasm and

excitement for the topic that will

stimulate students and support their

studies and tutorial work. Suggesting

that online lectures can be as effective

as face-to-face ones is like saying that

watching Emma Raducanu’s final on

TV is as good as being in the stadium.

While I cannot claim to create those

levels of excitement, I do believe my

being there and doing my best to

engage our students is a very

important aspect of what we do.

Andy Keane

Professor of computational

engineering, Southampton University

thetimes.co.uk/archive

Andrew’s duties

Sir, Your leading article (“Princely

Prevarication”, Dec 31) rightly asserts

that the Duke of York can never

return to official duties. However, he

is still the Colonel of the Regiment,

Grenadier Guards, appointed by the

Queen, a position originally held by

the Duke of Edinburgh. This

continued link is disrespectful to a

fine regiment and the duke should be

required to stand down.

Douglas Kedge

Sonning Common, Oxon

To the amateur gardener intent on

his hobby, the turn of the year,

winter or summer, is a time for

reflection. At the summer solstice, all

nature is at flood tide, and the

knowledge that the sun is about to

begin his downward course is

tempered by the floral feast

midsummer brings. With Christmas

comes the joyous sense that the sun

is once more in the ascendant, and

every hour will bring us nearer to

the day when, without warning and

after many false starts, there comes

to every one the indescribable

feeling that spring is here. To the

older gardener the winter solstice

means something more than

anticipation of joys to come. To him

it is another notch on the fast filling

stick of years, a reminder that he

himself is but a humble plant in the

great garden of life. Of all vocations,

of all hobbies, that which brings man

into intimate touch with the

wonders of plant life is the most

refreshing alike to body and to mind.

That, no doubt, is the reason men

who have been famous in the world

— soldiers and sailors, explorers, big

game hunters, merchant princes, and

the rest — turn with such interest to

the cultivation of their gardens.

Just now the uppermost thought

in the mind of the gardener, old or

young, must be one of gratitude that

he should have lived to see such an

astonishing year as that now drawn

to a close. Such times are memorable

long after those who have lived

through them have passed away.

Gardeners often rail at what they

consider the hard measure meted

out to them by an inscrutable

Providence in the way of black May

frosts, cheerless summers, soaking

winters, and, above all, what we term

the instability of our climate, but no

fair mind can doubt that in the end

the balance is even. It is that which

bids the gardener take comfort at a

time when climatically we seem

heading straight for disaster. At no

time within living memory has our

country, and especially the southern

half of it, been so destitute of water.

If copious rains do not fall soon the

outlook for gardens is black indeed.

The effect of the long drought on

trees and shrubs will not be evident

till the time comes for the green to

push forth from the buds in the

spring; but if rain does not come ere

then, there will doubtless be much

less green than usual.

Cheers to that

Sir, Years ago, at the Brown Horse
Inn, Winster, Cumbria, I had one of
the best New Year’s Eve celebrations.
The barman’s idea was that from noon
we would follow the international date
line and every time it passed through
a capital we would have a drink
representative of that country. Lager
for Sydney, sake for Tokyo, vodka for
Moscow. Needless to say, by midnight
GMT we were much refreshed.
Andrew Thompson
Liverpool