28 Wednesday January 26 2022 | the times
Letters to the Editor
Letters to the Editor should be sent to
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1 London Bridge Street, London SE1 9GFSir, Dictators should not be rewarded
for bad behaviour and President Putin
has a history of flouting international
law. He is a revisionist who hankers for
the old Soviet Union and has no time
for the rights of the populations of
states that were in the Soviet sphere of
influence. Nevertheless, his concerns
cannot be completely ignored. He may
know that Nato is a defensive
organisation but many Russians don’t,
and the premature pressure by some
to get Georgia and the Ukraine into
Nato is seen as a threat. The Russian
invasion of Crimea, although
inexcusable, needs to be understood in
its full historical context, which should
be remembered when trying to
negotiate an agreement. Putin has to
some extent boxed himself into a
corner and fears the “groundwork”
identified by William Hague. The US
and Nato need to ease his escape by
negotiating an agreement without
conceding key fundamental principles.
Admiral Lord West of Spithead
House of LordsSir, As someone who grew up in
occupied Holland, I think my view
may well be coloured by the sacrifices
made by the USSR during the last
war but I find it difficult not to feel aVery last post
Sir, Christmas cheer continues to
arrive in south London in the form of
delayed greetings cards (letters, Jan 21
& 25; report, Jan 22). Here in Crystal
Palace we received 11 cards today,
bearing postmarks ranging from
December 18 to 22.
Judith Hough
London SE19certain sympathy for the Russian
position since the break-up of the
Soviet Union. There can be little
doubt that Nato and the EU have
taken advantage of the vacuum left by
a weakened Russian Federation, both
by incorporating the Balkan states as
part of a military alliance and hastily
accepting Bulgaria and Romania into
full economic membership. Surely it is
possible for the West to recognise that
Putin has some legitimate concerns
by firmly ruling out further eastward
expansion? The end of the Cold War
remains too valuable a prize to be
endangered now by gesture politics.
CT van Hoorn
CroydonSir, William Hague gives an
interesting insight into Putin’s
possible brinkmanship strategy but
could have said more about the
consequences of attacking Ukraine:
numerous deaths, fierce sanctions and
destruction on who knows what scale
— and all for little gain. It feels as if
Putin is losing his grip and wants to
take Russia down with him. The only
reward he and the Russian people will
get is the mocking laughter of China.
Neil Jones
London SE24Sir, As ever, Clare Foges produces a
detailed examination of the political
scene and suggests that Labour’s path
to power should lie in telling voters
that there will be pain ahead, in
contrast to Boris Johnson’s eternal
boosterism (“Starmer must be honest
about the pain ahead”, comment, Jan
24). She feels that “the British public
might have an appetite for pain” so as
to sort out the country’s problems.
Sadly, history shows that, faced with a
choice between optimistic boosterism
and financial pain, voters tend to
choose the former.
John Grossman
Northwood, MiddxSchool dropouts
Sir, I agree wholeheartedly with
Richard Branson (“I was a school
dropout and we’re still killing
creativity and risk”, Times2, Jan 25).
Children at our son’s prep school had
two assessments: they were assessed
on their academic achievement and
on their effort and enthusiasm for the
subject. Their consideration for
others, humour and character were
also mentioned. The non-academic
curriculum was very full, including
beekeeping, canoe building, gardening
and extra art, and if any child wanted
to try an activity a teacher usually
tried to accommodate them. It was a
brilliant school and the boys we knew
were happy and fulfilled.
Pam Davey
South Petherton, SomersetWartime escapes
Sir, Hardy Krüger’s obituary (Jan 21)
and subsequent correspondence (Jan
22) repeat the assertion that Franz
von Werra was the only German to
escape from British captivity during
the Second World War. This is not the
case. A less famous escaper was Kurt
Reich, an engine room artificer from
U-63, sunk off the Shetland Islands
on her maiden patrol in February- Reich was captured and in
September jumped overboard from
the steamer taking him to Canada
while in the St Lawrence Seaway and
swam to shore, having trained for his
escape attempt in the ship’s swimming
pool. He then succeeded in making
his way to the US and claiming the
protection of the German consul.
Derek Nudd
Hayling Island, Hants
Music to die for
Sir, Meat Loaf’s appeal was wider
than many would expect (obituary,
Jan 22). My mother, who was well
into her nineties, was recovering in
hospital when the in-house DJ asked
her for a request. “Bat out of Hell”
was her immediate response. When
questioned by the bemused DJ, she
replied that she didn’t want any of
that “Sweet Jesus” stuff. Indeed, “Bat
out of Hell” remained a firm favourite
with her until the day she died. We
would often visit to find her head-
banging to this wonderfully mad
anthem on her Sony Walkman. She
loved it so much that it was played as
her farewell number at her funeral.
John Calvert
Wombourne, StaffsBlue is the colour
Sir, Thomas Gainsborough’s painting
of The Blue Boy could not have
received critical acclaim in The Times
in 1770 as you imply, as the first
edition of the paper in its early
incarnation as The Daily Universal
Register did not appear until January 1
1785 (“Boy in blue back at the
National”, Jan 24). Although there
had been earlier notices on the Royal
Academy exhibitions in the London
newspapers, there were no detailed
reports until 1773, when the editor
and part-owner of the Morning Post,
the Rev Sir Henry Bate, wrote several
articles on the exhibition under the
heading of “The Painter’s Mirror”, a
tradition he continued for many years
in the Post and later in the Morning
Herald. Bate was the major supporter
of his friend Gainsborough in his
rivalry with the president of the Royal
Academy, Sir Joshua Reynolds, until
his friend’s death in 1788.
John Matthews
Wymondham, NorfolkCorrections and
clarifications
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Feedback, The Times, 1 London Bridge
Street, London SE1 9GF
NHS independence
Sir, There is much to welcome in the
government’s Health and Care Bill
but it also brings the risk of a
damaging erosion of NHS
independence. New powers for the
government to intervene and make
changes to local NHS services could
result in political calculations
trumping clinical judgment.
Improvements to patient care could
face significant delays as ministers
unduly insert themselves into
decisions that should be made locally.
MPs could come under political
pressure to intervene in NHS
decisions, and in turn many would
beat a path to the health and care
secretary’s door. This would risk a
decision-making logjam and those
MPs who shout the loudest getting a
veto on changes to NHS services.
As members of the House of Lords
debate the Health and Care Bill we
encourage them to, at the very least,
support amendments tabled by
Baroness Cumberlege to limit the use
of these powers.
Richard Murray, CEO, the King’s
Fund; Chris Hopson, CEO, NHS
Providers; Matthew Taylor, CEO,
NHS Confederation
Probing Putin for weak spot over Ukraine
Sir, In his piece “How we can floor
Putin the judo black belt” (Jan 25),
William Hague says that the West
“should make him [President Putin]
worry more”. Towards this goal the
UK, with the backing of its key allies in
Nato, should explain to the Kremlin
how an invasion of Ukraine would lead
to Russia becoming embroiled in an
Afghanistan-style quagmire far worse
than the 1980s. This threat should
have three components. First, Ukraine
would be provided with battlefield
intelligence from satellites and other
means on Russian military operations.
Second, Ukrainian forces would be
trained, equipped and supported by
Nato special forces in areas of Ukraine
not occupied by Russia. Third,
Ukrainian forces would be supplied
with lethal military assistance,
including Stinger missiles, to remove
Russia’s domination of the air.
Economic sanctions are important
but Putin has shown he does not care
about the Russian people. In contrast,
issuing a threat to turn Ukraine into
Russia’s quagmire by sending
thousands of body bags home would
be far more likely to deter Putin’s mad
dash to start a third world war.
Dr Taras Kuzio
Research fellow, Henry Jackson SocietyLabour pains
from the times january 26, 1922THE BLUE BOY.
SAVING THE
OLD MASTERS
New rules of road
Sir, Quite rightly we now have to give
a wide berth (1.5 metres) to a cyclist
when overtaking. There is, though, a
problem when driving on narrow
single-lane roads. If, as is now
allowed, the cyclist stays in the centre
of their lane and the driver overtakes
leaving a 1.5m gap, an average SUV
would have to drive in the gutter and
an HGV would end up with its wheels
on the kerb. Fire engines would be
even farther over. If one factors in
cyclists riding two abreast, all vehicles
will have to drive over the offside kerb.
During the summer months
country roads used by cyclists will
have long tailbacks of cars; I can
foresee a rise in road rage incidents as
well as damage to vehicles’ suspension
when driving up on to the kerb.
Dr Martin Seely
Worsley, ManchesterSir, One Highway Code change gives
pedestrians priority over drivers and
cyclists at junctions. From my
experience of driving in Canada, where
a similar rule applies, pedestrians
ignore any vehicles and blithely cross
the junction in total ignorance oftraffic around them. The change in the
UK will have the inevitable
consequence of injuries until everyone
is fully aware of the change. Perhaps
the UK should also import the
four-way junction, which certainly
slows traffic in residential areas.
David Parkes
WinchesterSir, Like Kevin Maher (Times2,
Jan 24), I find crawling behind middle-
of-the-lane cyclists irritating, but
infinitely worse are those cyclists who
do this when there is a cycle lane a few
metres away that is completely empty
and unfortunately too narrow for cars.
Jacqueline Frampton
Leigh-on-Sea, EssexSir, Giles Coren (Jan 25) may hope to
improve the behaviour of SUV drivers
but he can’t do much about the length
of SUVs. We have a four-car residents’
parking space outside that is regularly
taken up by two SUVs, leaving a lot of
parking space but not enough for
another car. Drivers of diesel cars
here pay more for their parking
permit than do drivers of petrol cars.
SUV drivers should do the same.
Paul Dimarco
London NW6thetimes.co.uk/archiveNo10 police inquiry
Sir, Police officers working at No 10
must surely have noticed social
gatherings during lockdowns but no
action was taken. Almost two years on
we have the welcome announcement
of a police investigation. One wonders
if this was prompted by public and
media pressure or whether Cressida
Dick belatedly realised that for the
past 800 years Magna Carta has
decreed that no one is above the law.
Robert Stone
Skegness, Lincs
Strangers on a train
Sir, Your otherwise thorough obituary
of Jack Hedley (Jan 25) contained one
error. In the 1974 remake of Brief
Encounter, filmed on location in
Winchester, Hedley’s character was
not the one whose flat Richard
Burton borrowed for a “bungled
assignation”. Hedley played Sophia
Loren’s husband, a solicitor fretting
about rights of way. The owner of the
flat was John Le Mesurier. It remains
one of the biggest jokes in Seventies
cinema that we were expected to
believe that Burton and Loren
commuted to Winchester every day
from Basingstoke on public transport.
Roger Lewis
Hastings
To the Editor of The Times
Sir, It is of no use crying over spilt
milk, however much we may deplore
the passing of the “Blue Boy” across
the Atlantic. What can be done in
the future to ensure that as much as
possible of Gainsborough’s work
shall be available for the public who
flocked in their thousands to see the
“Blue Boy”? It is probable that in
private collections in this country
there are many portraits by
Gainsborough that have never been
open to the public. If an influential
appeal were made no doubt many
owners of his pictures would bewilling to lend them for stated
periods to the National Gallery for
public exhibition. In order to support
my argument I am writing to say
that I am willing to lend to the
Trustees for six months (and
probably till the autumn) my full-
length life-size Gainsborough of Sir
Thomas Rumbold, Bt, Governor of
Madras, with his son, William
Richard Rumbold. The latter is
represented as a youth of about the
same age as the “Blue Boy” and
forms an interesting comparison.
The conditions are as follows: (1) The
Trustees shall take all reasonable
precautions when transporting the
pictures from here to London and
back, and pay cost of transit. (2)
They allow no photographs or copies
of the pictures to be taken without
my permission in writing. (3) They
take steps to inform the public that
in no circumstances will the pictures
be sold. The last condition is more
necessary than your readers mightsuppose. Although these pictures
have never been publicly exhibited,
certain persons have heard that they
were in my possession and have
caused me considerable annoyance.
One man, who wished to secure
them, tried to gain admission to my
house under another pretext, and I
have been pestered by letters of
inordinate length from would-be
buyers. No doubt before accepting
my offer the Trustees would like to
send a representative to view the
pictures. I am ready to show them
any day by appointment, except
Tuesdays and Saturdays, for on
those days we in the Blackmore Vale
are apt to pay more attention to the
work of a living master than to that
of an old master, however great.
Yours very truly,
chas e a l rumbold, Capt,
Godminster Manor, Bruton, Jan. 23.