28 Thursday February 3 2022 | the times
Letters to the Editor
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1 London Bridge Street, London SE1 9GFthe voters has increasingly become
more personal and direct. The other
half is that the prime minister’s
relationship with government has
become increasingly limited and
indirect. The trend started when Tony
Blair and Alastair Campbell entered
Downing Street in 1997. It will only be
reversed when parties recognise that
a prime minister who spends a term
in office substituting soundbites for
sound policies is leading their party to
electoral defeat.
Professor Richard Rose
Author of How Sick is British
Democracy? University of StrathclydeSir, Daniel Finkelstein is right.
Presidential-style government cannot
be allowed simply to replace
traditional parliamentary government
without the direct mandates and
checks and balances usually regarded
as essential for executive presidencies
in democracies. The only people able
to choose Boris Johnson directly as
their leader were Conservative MPs
and party members, a tiny proportion
of the population. The only voters with
the ability to elect him as their
representative were the approximately
1/650th of the electorate on the roll in
his constituency. Anyone else whoCourtesy code
needed on roads
Sir, Your correspondent (Jan 31)
rightly castigates cyclists for not
wearing reflective clothing or showing
lights. However, although I wear a
bright yellow reflective jacket and
show lights day and night I am still
regularly passed by cars that leave meactively desired a Conservative
government — or simply wished to
keep out a Labour one — got Johnson
as prime minister whether they
wanted him or not. That situation is
tolerable within the constraints
imposed by a robust parliamentary
and cabinet system. It is not tolerable if
the Office of Prime Minister is allowed
to assume a de facto presidential status
while everything else is left
unreformed. On this subject Jacob
Rees-Mogg and those who think like
him really can’t be permitted to have
their constitutional cake and eat it.
Ian Stevens
Leamington Spa, WarwickshireSir, For parliamentary democracy to
work the main parties must abandon
the idea that party members choose
the parliamentary leader. The
Parliamentary Labour Party suffered
from having Jeremy Corbyn imposed
as leader of the opposition despite
having lost a vote of confidence.
If Boris Johnson resigns it should be
possible for the 1922 Committee to
organise a ballot of Conservative MPs
within 24 hours and send the name of
the winner to the Palace.
Leigh Hatts
London SE1Priest’s nude ‘likes’
Sir, As a member of the General
Synod whose decisions led to the
enactment of the Clergy Discipline
Measure 2003, I am shocked and
appalled that the archdeacon of
Southwark has deemed it necessary
to use its provisions to sanction a
priest for the “offence” of liking
images of male nudity on Twitter
(report, Feb 2). The measure was
never intended to be wielded as a
sledgehammer to crack nuts but was
seen as a means by which serious
breaches of clergy discipline could be
addressed properly. Whatever
happened to the quiet word in the ear
of the person whose conduct was
considered less than satisfactory?
The Rev Dr Jim Wellington
Newark, NottsPregnant people
Sir, Your report “Gender-neutral
terms may put mothers at risk” (Feb 1)
refers to the replacement of the word
“mothers” with “pregnant people” in
research papers. A mother is rather
more than a pregnant woman and, in
the case of nuns, the Mother Superior
is unlikely ever to have been pregnant.
The terrifying thing is that gender-
neutral supporters seem unable to
allow others to be different from
them. I have no children and am not a
mother. The annual celebration of
motherhood on Mothering Sunday or
Mother’s Day, for example, is a painful
reminder that I was unable to produce
a child but the fact that it pains me
does not mean that I do not celebrate
motherhood and all that it embraces.
Being a mother is a role: the word is
not discriminatory and should not be
seen as such.
Caroline Jackson
Sibbertoft, NorthantsTruly offal
Sir, We were dished up a soft grey
mushroom-coloured lump the size of
an apple during the war — sheep’s
brains (letters, Feb 1 & 2). I thought
they were delicious.
Elizabeth FitzGibbon
Elgin, MoraySir, In times of great hunger in the
Fens, of which there were many,
families would be grateful to eat
anything. “Hummer Supper” was fat
from a dead lamb with moorhen’s
eggs on top, and if some of the eggs
were addled it added to the hum.
Michael Rouse
Author, How to Speak Fen; Ely, CambsHappy ending?
Sir, In your leading article “Happy
Ending” (Feb 2) you express regret at
the withdrawal by Pan Macmillan of
Kate Clanchy’s book after complaints
about some of the phrases within it. A
few sentences later you applaud Swift
Press for reissuing it with “the
contentious phrases” removed. For
whom, therefore, was the ending
happy? Those who sought to
constrain free speech or those
determined to uphold it? Surely
it was the former who ended up
having their way.
APN Currie
WinchesterCorrections and
clarifications
6 We said a new lorry park is being
considered by ministers to ease
congestion around the Port of Dover
(News, Jan 31). The Department for
Transport says the purpose of any
new lorry park would be to increase
parking capacity and improve HGV
driver working conditions. We are
happy to make this clear.
We are
committed to
abiding by the
Independent
Press Standards Organisation rules and
regulations and the Editors’ Code of
Practice that IPSO enforces. Requests
for corrections or clarifications should
be sent to [email protected]
Levelling up slowly
Sir, The government’s pledge to
improve healthy life expectancy by five
years and level up the gap between the
richest and poorest is welcome
(“Ten-year plan for longer lives in a
happier Britain”, Feb 2). However, the
white paper only scratches the surface.
We calculate that, at recent rates of
improvement, it will take 75 years to
reach this goal. Devolution is a step in
the right direction but several areas
with the worst health will miss out on
investment. While there is recognition
of the factors that shape people’s
opportunities to live healthy lives —
secure jobs, decent housing and
high-quality education — the
narrowly focused regeneration
schemes proposed are far from the sea
change needed. Tackling entrenched
health inequality will only be achieved
if health is placed at the heart of every
policy and investment decision,
starting with the first 1,001 days of life
when future outcomes are shaped. The
forthcoming “health disparities” white
paper now carries the burden of
honouring this promise.
Jo Bibby
Director of health at the
Health Foundation
Women’s rights
Sir, Janice Turner (“At last there’s a
champion for women’s rights”,
comment, Jan 29) suggests that the
Equality and Human Rights
Commission “waft[ed] away feminist
concerns about single-sex protections”
because of my former position as
chair of Stonewall. This is not so. The
EHRC has a statutory duty to protect
the rights of both trans people and
women. Under my leadership, EHRC
responses to the government’s reform
of the Gender Recognition Act sought
to adopt a balanced view of these
competing rights, supporting the
removal of barriers for trans people in
obtaining a gender recognition
certificate but also acknowledging the
need for a continuing commitment to
single-sex spaces and women’s rights
as set out in the Equality Act. The
commission also attempted to use its
convening power to resolve some of
these conflicts, but sadly without
success. To resolve both groups’
concerns we need to move beyond the
“winner takes all” approach to rights.
David Isaac
Chair, EHRC 2016-20
Johnson is a prime minister, not a president
Sir, Daniel Finkelstein’s article rightly
disparages the notion that a new PM
would be required to have an election
(“It’s dangerous to pretend the PM is
a president”, Feb 2). In any case, the
Fixed Term Parliaments Act is still in
force. Hence a new PM might not
have the power to call an election
unless his or her MPs and the
opposition or SNP also voted for one.
Next week the Lords will further
consider the Dissolution and Calling of
Parliament Bill, which would repeal
the FTPA and restore the prerogative
power for the PM to request a
dissolution and election. Present
events and the claims made by Jacob
Rees-Mogg may give peers another
reason to ask MPs to think again about
whether it would not be better, and
more consistent with parliamentary
sovereignty, for such a request for an
election to be supported by a simple
majority (not the two-thirds majority
required under the FTPA, which led to
the gridlock in 2019).
Lord Lansley
Former leader of the House of
Commons and health secretarySir, Daniel Finkelstein misses half the
story when he correctly writes that
the prime minister’s relationship withminimal clearance, and am also often
forced into the gutter by oncoming
cars. These changes to the Highway
Code are essential to protect
vulnerable cyclists and pedestrians.
Phil Ridgway
Woodbridge, Suffolkfrom the times february 3, 1922EIGHT
BURGLARS IN A
MOTOR-VAN
Fast-food lessons
Sir, I applaud the idea of teaching
schoolchildren to cook (“Pupils to be
taught six basic recipes”, Feb 2) and of
school meals being checked for
nutritional value, but something needs
be done about the “chicken shops”
that plague our high streets and creep
ever closer to school gates. More often
than not, schools provide healthy and
balanced meals to their students but
they cannot be expected to police
what goes into their pupils’ mouths
off-site. While there are legal limits on
the sale of tobacco and alcohol, it
seems impossible to stem the sale and
consumption of high-calorie, greasy
food by schoolchildren. Until a
solution is found, there is no way to
appeal to unscrupulous fast-food
outlets, which have no problem selling
a 1,000-plus calorie “meal” to
adolescents at 3.30pm every day.
Ben Wolfin
English teacher, London NW7thetimes.co.uk/archiveOur view of death
Sir, I agree wholeheartedly with the
report by the Lancet Commission onthe Value of Death that “We’ve got
death all wrong” (news, Feb 1). Seven
years ago my husband, who was 73
and had motor neurone disease, was
rushed to hospital when his breathing
suddenly deteriorated. After two
difficult days and long, lonely nights
in hospital he pleaded to be allowed
to come home. Against the advice of
the doctors on duty, but with the
support of our specialist MND nurse,
I drove him home. Five days later he
died peacefully in his own bed
surrounded by his family, having said
“goodbye” to his dearest friends. As
the commission says, “a fundamental
rebalance in society is needed to re-
imagine our relationship with death”.
Tricia Lawrence
Sherston, WiltsWatching Ofwat
Sir, Further to your report “Water
firms must pay to keep rivers free of
sewage” (Feb 2), illegal pollution spills
into British rivers and seas have been
well documented but poorly
challenged by the water regulator.
Water companies have invested
insufficient funds in environmental
protection, thus giving the impression
that they regard shareholders more
highly than customers. Ofwat has a
range of options open to it when
monitoring performance in the water
industry, so one wonders why these
options have not been used more
strenuously before now. If Ofwat is not
protecting our waterways, who is
ensuring that Ofwat is accountable to
the public? Safe water is at the heart of
life and must be protected as a priority.
If private companies cannot guarantee
this, then nationalisation needs to be
threatened as an option.
Erica Marks
Borehamwood, HertsA gang of expert burglars believed to
have been responsible for several
robberies in the West End narrowly
escaped capture in the early hours of
yesterday owing to the involuntary
stoppage of their car. There were
eight men, including the driver, in
the gang, and they had a Ford van
and a remarkably complete set of
warehouse-breaking tools inside.
The car, itself a stolen vehicle, was
seen drawn up in Cleveland Street
— a quiet thoroughfare of business
premises, flats, and shops off the
Euston Road — by a constable about
4.30am. He walked up to it andimmediately the driver ran away, the
van doors were flung open and seven
men scattered in all directions. The
constable blew his whistle and gave
chase but all the gang escaped down
side streets. Examination of the van
revealed three or four stout jemmies,
a hooked steel bar and several knife-
edged tools for inserting in the
crevices of close-fitting doors. The
van had been repainted black, the
number plates falsified, and the
engine numbers faked after being
stolen from a firm in Hatton Garden.
There is reason to believe that this is
the same gang who recently broke
into a warehouse in Margaret Street
at the back of Regent Street, and had
packed up a quantity of crepe de
Chine and fancy jewelry when they
were disturbed and had to make off,
leaving tools and plunder behind.
The size of the gang and the
workmanlike finish of their tools is
an interesting revelation of the high
pitch of organization to whichwarehouse robbery has been brought
by the modern criminal.
6 A man called at a Plumstead
garage on Tuesday and represented
that he wanted to hire a lorry to
fetch some goods from Stanford-le-
Hope, Essex. The proprietor agreed
to provide the lorry and the driver.
At Stanford-le-Hope the man who
hired the lorry inquired about the
goods and told the driver they would
not be ready until next morning.
The driver rang up his employer,
who agreed that the lorry should be
garaged for the night. The driver and
the man obtained lodgings together
and in the morning the latter went
out, saying he was going to see if the
goods were ready. About an hour
later the driver found that the lorry
had gone. The identification number
of the lorry is given as XE.6811, and
the licence number is 0755622.Letters to the Editor must be exclusive
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