The Times - UK (2022-02-23)

28 Wednesday February 23 2022 | the times

Letters to the Editor

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guiding principle. It is striking how

many major wars have been caused

by rulers with unlimited power, from

Louis XIV to Hitler. With the decline

of democracy around the world and

the rise of autocracy, it may be that

we and our allies should pay more

attention to an imbalance of

governmental power, seeking to

dethrone or diminish dictators before

they do what seems to come naturally

to them as warmongers.

Philip Allott

Professor emeritus of international

public law, Cambridge University

Sir, The truly chilling aspect of

President Putin’s decision to recognise

the “independence” of rebel statelets

that he himself created and sustained

on the territory of Ukraine is not just

the violation of the most basic

principles of international law but

what this tells us about him. Putin

was often portrayed as just a good

gambler. Yet the past few days have

revealed him as an obsessed leader

who genuinely believes in his

pseudo-historic theories denying the

existence of a Ukrainian nation: he

seems utterly convinced of his own

mission to restore Russia’s glories and

avenge his country’s supposed slights.

Unwitting divorce

Sir, It has always been relatively easy

to obtain a divorce fraudulently

(“Woman unaware of divorce for 12

years after signature forged”, Feb 21).

The applicant for divorce has to give

the address of their spouse/civil

partner on the application but no

check is made as to whether the

postal address is actually that of the

respondent or on the identity of the

respondent or authenticity of the

signature of acknowledgment that is

returned to the court. Anyone

worried about their marital status

should carry out a search of the

central register of decrees absolute.

Peter Devlin

District judge, Oxford Combined Court

Thus, even if Putin’s latest land grab

in Ukraine is his last and he is

deterred from launching a further

military invasion, containing a

Putin-led Russia is now our certain

burden for many years to come.

The post-Cold War period started

with lofty speeches from dissidents

and intellectuals and boundless

optimism. It is now ending with a rant

from an individual no longer

amenable to reasoning.

Dr Jonathan Eyal

Associate director, Royal United

Services Institute

Sir, Our government has fallen

straight into President Putin’s trap by

reserving severe sanctions for if and

when Russia invades the whole of

Ukraine. Putin will now happily

absorb the eastern provinces of

Ukraine at minor cost in terms of

banking rather than trade sanctions,

as happened after the annexation of

Crimea. He will have noted with

relish how Germany has suspended

rather than cancelled the Nord

Stream 2 gas pipeline. Ukraine has

been invaded and we should apply full

and total trade sanctions right now.

Bradley Lightbody

Batley, W Yorks

Sporting traditions

Sir, When it comes to respecting a

sport’s tradition, MCC (letters, Feb 21

& 22) could learn a lot from the Royal

& Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews.

The R&A has shown that it’s possible

to blend all that’s good from the past

with the modern age, as the highly

successful and world-renowned Open

Championship clearly demonstrates.

Bill Burnett

Herne Bay, Kent

Unsung royal son

Sir, Libby Purves (Feb 21; letter, Feb

22) is critical of the Queen’s first two

sons, praises her daughter but does

not mention the third son. Why not

make Prince Edward a counsellor of

state? He has maintained a positive

profile and is loyal to the values and

ideals of the monarchy. He has also

doubtless seen and heard a great deal

but has kept his own counsel.

Ian Sykes

Grantown on Spey, Highland

Skeleton cuts no ice

Sir, Owen Slot (“Time to end

expensive fixation with skeleton”,

sport, Feb 21) is right: Britain must be

more realistic about which sports are

likely to result in medals at a Winter

Olympics and put resources into

those. The obvious model to emulate

is the Netherlands, which has even

fewer mountains and less snow than

Britain but won 17 medals in Beijing,

eight of which were gold. All these

medals, except one bronze, came from

speed skating, a sport in which they

have built upon tradition with great

facilities and excellent coaching. The

success we have achieved at Summer

Olympics in cycling and rowing gives

us clear, repeatable models to find

world-beating speed on the ice rink.

Alan Hearne

Woodstock, Oxon

Date with destiny

Sir, I am worried that Professor Des

MacHale (letter, Feb 22) thinks that

“not many of us will be around” for

the next palindromic date. I hope to

experience 03 02 2030. Does he know

something that we don’t?

Tony Pristavec

Nelson, Glamorgan

Sir, 22 02 2022 is also an ambigram, in

that it reads the same upside down in

an electronic font used in calculators

and other digital displays.

Dr Peter Cowling

Laughton, Lincs

Corrections and

clarifications

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Lifting restrictions

Sir, Your leading article “Testing
Questions” (Feb 22) rightly highlights
that the government’s plans fall short
in not providing free testing for the
over-50s and the clinically vulnerable.
However, the plans also fail to
recognise, and make provisions for, the
unequal impact that the pandemic has
had across society so far, and the
unequal risks from “living with Covid”.
Expecting people to take personal
responsibility to reduce the spread of
Covid overlooks the insufficient
provision of sick pay, which means
that many of those who are infected
will be tempted to continue working
rather than take time off. The removal
of statutory sick pay from day one of
isolating further increases this risk.
Further, limits to free testing could
lead to infection rates increasing more
rapidly in more deprived areas of the
country, where the impact of infection
may be more severe given the lower
uptake of vaccination.
David Finch
The Health Foundation

Sir, I tested positive at 8am on Sunday
morning, an hour before I was due to
participate in a church service of 50
people. The idea that I could have
continued to meet and minister to
such a group of people with such
knowledge, without any restriction,
defies belief. At best, naivety. At worst,
downright dereliction of duty and
responsibility. Boris Johnson’s actions
are the latter rather than the former.
The Rev Tim Storey
Vicar, St Peter’s, Yateley, Hants

Sir, The government’s declared intent
is to continue to monitor the virus to
identify new variants. How can it do
this if people with symptoms choose
not to have a PCR test because from
April they will have to pay? Surely this
will severely limit the number of
samples available for monitoring and
risk new variants becoming established
before they can be identified.
Chris Parry
Farnham Common, Bucks

Time for the West to stand up to Putin

Sir, William Hague suggests that the

“Ukraine crisis is a wake-up call for

the West” (Feb 22). I would suggest

that just as President Putin states that

his decision on Ukraine was “long

overdue”, the West’s prevarication on

Russia is even more overdue. For too

long the British government has

taken a soft line with Russia. The

Salisbury novichok incident was a

state-sponsored terrorist attack on

UK soil, and as such an act of war.

The resulting expulsion of Russian

diplomats was ineffectual, as were

travel and visa restrictions on

Russians close to Putin after the

annexation of Crimea. Meanwhile

Britain has failed to close the back

door, allowing vast sums of money to

flow into the UK through offshore tax

havens from Russian oligarchs close

to Putin. Now is the time to correct

such mistakes and for Britain to stand

up to Putin and his corrupt regime.

We need action, not words.

Stephen J Allen

Portola Valley, California

Sir, William Hague is right that

Putin’s Russia poses a new challenge.

Since Cardinal Wolsey in the 1520s,

British foreign policy has had the

balance of interstate power as a

Sir, Melanie Phillips is absolutely

right about the public indifference

shown over the appalling treatment

by the Post Office of more than 700

innocent sub-postmasters over 14

years (“Where’s the outcry over Post

Office scandal?”, comment, Feb 22).

Speaking as one who sold the

business and got out just months

before the Horizon system was

introduced in late 1999, I consider

myself very fortunate not to have

suffered the same fate as many of my

former colleagues. Sadly, I hold out

little hope that those responsible will

be brought to account or, even worse,

that the victims who have survived,

will get anything like appropriate

compensation. Given this and other

recent and continuing scandals in

high office, I have never been more

ashamed of my country.

John Peacock

Northallerton, N Yorks

Sir, Melanie Phillips reflects the

general bafflement as to why those

responsible for the Post Office’s

actions have not been brought before

a court. It seems a pattern that we

Post Office scandal

have seen with many recent scandals,

including HBOS, Carillon, PPE

contracts and Barclays, to name but a

few, where systemic wrongdoing has

been alleged but the management

that has overseen these matters has

been able to move on with little or no

penalty, sometimes taking bonuses

and high salaries with them.

This case is far worse and can be

compared to Grenfell. The evidence

provided in both inquiries reflects a

grotesque determination to protect

institutions. Our country should be

ashamed that there is no leader

prepared to demand a much more

proactive approach to holding those

responsible to account. One might

draw the conclusion that the

approach undertaken reflects the fact

that the victims of these scandals

largely lack influence and the

resources to make their case.

Hugh Cooper

London SW4

from the times february 23, 1922

QUALITY OF

GRAMOPHONE

MUSIC

Press freedom

Sir, Sean O’Neill (“Press freedom

under sustained attack in Britain”,

Thunderer, Feb 22) and Melanie

Phillips (Feb 22) highlight the role of

a free press in exposing two egregious

miscarriages of justice, the

Birmingham Six debacle and the Post

Office sub-postmaster scandal. In

both cases it was investigative

journalists who exposed the malign

mindset in official circles that led to

innocent people being incarcerated,

and victims being misled as to the

justice they had received. To constrict

such investigations by the threat of

exposing confidential information is

to hand yet another weapon to rich,

powerful and political bodies that

have quite enough power already to

silence criticism.

Mary Pimm and Nik Wood

London E9

thetimes.co.uk/archive

Undetected cancer

Sir, Further to your report (Feb 22) on
the need to raise awareness of the
symptoms of ovarian cancer, the
Women’s Institute recently launched
a national campaign on this issue,
which it is hoped will bear fruit.
Melodie Baines

Sir, My mother’s GP failed to spot her
ovarian cancer 40 years ago and she
had a terrible illness and death. How
can this still be happening?
Peter Hayes
Salisbury

Smartphone slaves

Sir, It was encouraging to read how

James Marriott (Notebook, Feb 21;

letter, Feb 22) met a gentleman who

was reading The Times in print and

who was the proud owner of a Nokia

phone. I follow the same pattern and

have no desire to become a zombie

always attached to a smartphone. Will

the hand evolve into a curved palm

with a twitchy thumb hovering over

it? My simple phone is just right for

texting and receiving occasional calls.

The rest of my time can be spent

taking notice of the world around me.

Rose Hogan

Tewkesbury, Glos

The gramophone is everybody’s

instrument. It regales us with

symphonies and accompanies our

practice of the fox-trot (or whatever

the latest zoological “trot” may be).

It records the utterances of our

favourite politicians, if we have any,

and enables us to hear Morning

Prayer, according to the use of the

Church of England, sung by a

musical curate in collaboration with

the choir of a fashionable church. Its

sphere of operations extends over

practically everything which appeals

to human beings through the

auditory sense, but music of one sort

or another seems to be its special

province at present. There is an

advertisement which concert-goers

find on their programmes which

declares that “the music you have

heard tonight you may enjoy in your

own homes,” and this points straight

to perhaps the simplest and most

profitable use of the gramophone. A

great number of people buy

gramophones without any very clear

idea of what use to make of them,

beyond a vague sense that it will be

nice to “turn it on” in a dull moment.

The advertisement’s suggestion is

that the gramophone will recall the

real music with which human beings

have thrilled us. It appears most

often in the programmes of “star”

singers, but the fact that it is

sometimes found in reference to

music of a more recondite type, the

orchestra, and even the string

quartet, shows how the art of

recording is advancing. Obviously,

we have got to be content with

something less than complete

reproduction, and the failure at

present is chiefly in the direction of

tone. If, for example, one has

intensely enjoyed the Flonzaley

Quartet playing Schumann, the first

finding on hearing the gramophone

reproduction may be one of

disappointment. The magical tone

has fled and the constant burr of the

revolving disc is very present to the

ears. It is extraordinary, however, the

extent to which one can forget the

burr as one concentrates the mind to

catch the balance of phrase with

phrase, the interweaving of the

instruments. The gramophone

record used in this way is, in fact, a

close analogy to the photograph, a

thing which acquires its value from

our knowledge of the original, and

serves not only to recall but to

deepen appreciation of the original.