32 Tuesday March 15 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 9GFneed to be paid £10,000 for each
refugee settled in their area? I wonder
if these figures help to explain why
Britain has seemed so reluctant to
offer asylum to Ukrainians.
Ken Dickinson
Sicklinghall, N YorksSir, Samantha Bishop says that most
village halls are empty for most of the
year and could be used to house
refugees (letter, Mar 12). Checking the
diary, we could offer a couple of hours
on Tuesday afternoons and alternate
Friday mornings. There are possibly
spaces in the dance, painting and
badminton groups, the WI welcomes
interesting speakers, the Scouts
groups always need helpers, Maisie’s
parents could use another pair of
hands at her birthday party but
Lunch Club is full. However, Ms
Bishop will be pleased to know that,
like other caring village communities,
we are finding our own practical ways
of helping in the Ukrainian crisis.
Janet Harrison
Chairwoman, Hambledon Village
Hall, HantsSir, Clare Foges is right (“Staying
neutral on Ukraine must come at a
cost”, Mar 14). All the governmentUniform policies
Sir, In your report “Schools warned off
sexting bans” (Mar 12) you state that
Amelia Jenkinson, chief executive of
the School of Sexuality Education,
“gave as an example a school’s rules
on skirt lengths being explained to
girls ‘in terms of preventing distraction
to boys or male teachers’ ”. May I
make two points: first, that this is the
reason given by many religions for
insisting that girls and women dress
“modestly”; it embeds misogyny into a
culture and takes away freedom of
expression for women and girls.
Second, we have an education system
that often requires girls to wear skirts
as uniform; this makes girls monitor
their skirt lengths and it is no wonder
that victim shaming is normalised as
girls grow up. If boys and men are
“distracted” by seeing girls’ legs, that is
their problem, not the girls’ problem.
Louise Tonkin
Fordingbridge, Hantsneed do is politely inform the
government of Pakistan and others of
like mind that UK foreign aid has had
to be sharply reduced to free resources
for the massive reconstruction that
will be needed once the attempted
colonial reconquest of independent
Ukraine by a former imperial power
has been defeated. I am sure they will
get the message.
Christopher Clapham
Mepal, CambsSir, It is all very well for those such as
John Porter (letter, Mar 14) to urge
that there be a negotiated settlement
between Ukraine and Russia, but
what settlement could there possibly
be? Putin has chosen to invade
Ukraine with the intention of
conquering it, and will settle for no
less. The Ukrainians want their
country back and see no reason why
they should settle for less either.
There is no remotely conceivable
basis for any kind of partition of
Ukraine. Either Putin will win or he
will not; the only question is how long
either of those possibilities will take to
happen, and how much suffering
there will be as a result.
Steve Vince
WolverhamptonRugby’s orange card
Sir, Booing the referee at Twickenham
on Saturday was less to do with his
correct decision to penalise a clash of
heads than the realisation by 82,000
fans that under the red card rule they
were not going to see a proper contest.
The rule that the offender is excluded
for the rest of the match is right but
the contest is destroyed. The orange
card approach being trialled in Super
Rugby is the answer: it allows the full
contest to resume after 20 minutes but
without the offending player on the
pitch. In rejecting this idea Alex Lowe
has leapt to judgment (“Forget ‘orange’
cards, reds are needed for bad tackles
— but tell fans in stadium what’s going
on”, sport, Mar 14). If concussions
under the orange card system prove
no different or lower, then someone,
somewhere should stand up for the
fans who, lest it be forgotten, pay for
the whole damn circus.
Nick Brookes
London SW19Sir, There is a simple way to remove
controversy over high tackles: all
rugby shirts should have a thick black
line on them above which a tackle is
deemed dangerous and illegal. This
would leave no room for dispute.
Richard Warnock
Melton, SuffolkQueasy feeling
Sir, Whether it was castration by
pincers or surgery I always felt a
queasy sympathy for the calf when
performing the operation at
agricultural college (news, Mar 12;
letter, Mar 14). Turning to observe the
faces of the watching female students
I could detect a fleeting joy.
Nicholas Trefusis
Flushing, CornwallMothers in peril
Sir, Shops and catering venues have
begun the run-up to Mothering
Sunday, when vast amounts will be
spent on presents and cards. But what
if mothers asked for no material gift
but for the equivalent cost to be
donated to Ukrainian relief? We
should perhaps forgo shop-bought
flowers, chocolates or an extravagant
meal with the family in a warm, safe
restaurant and instead make a
donation to an organisation such as
the Disasters Emergency Committee,
to support the mothers of Ukraine. I
hope many will join me in this simple
act of practical compassion.
Linda Wild
ReadingCorrections and
clarifications
6 A reader’s letter wrongly suggested
that the standing charges levied by
power companies are not regulated
(Mar 12). Such charges are covered by
the energy price cap, set by the
regulator Ofgem.
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]
Sir, Your news report (“Grade inflation
puts 2:2 at risk of extinction”, Mar 14)
highlights the worrying inflation in
degree grades. As a minister
responsible for higher education in
the first Blair government I was not
surprised to learn that, in 1997, 8 per
cent of graduates were awarded a first;
44 per cent a 2:1, 38 per cent a 2:2 and
9 per cent a third. Contrast this with
last summer, when 36 per cent of
graduates were awarded a first, 46 per
cent a 2:1, 14 per cent a 2:2 and 3 per
cent a third.
I haven’t come across any evidence
that students in 1997 were any less
intelligent or hard-working than were
those who graduated last year. There
is much talk of recalibrating the
awards by, for instance, awarding a
“starred” first above an “ordinary”
first: an adjustment useful, perhaps,
for identifying the most outstanding
students academically but in reality
another form of grade inflation that
will not help employers or research
institutions to judge the qualities of
the vast majority of graduates.
Dr Kim Howells
PontypriddHousing Ukrainian refugees across Britain
Sir, Michael Gove’s proposal to install
Ukrainian refugees in the houses of
sanctioned Russians is opportunistic
and philistine (“Give oligarch
mansions to the refugees, urges
Gove”, Mar 14). Some of the buildings
he is proposing to target are grade I
listed; many others have rare and
precious contents. The devastating
fires and careless treatment of British
country houses that followed their
being requisitioned in the 1940s by the
government for temporary occupancy
show the risks of this approach.
Anyone who has let their property to
even the best-behaved of short-term
tenants knows about the breakages
and destruction that can ensue. Gove’s
threat to grade I buildings typifies our
government of chancers who never
look beyond the next day’s headlines.
Richard Davenport-Hines
Ailhon, FranceSir, My wife and I hope to offer a
room in due course (“Tens of
thousands of refugees to be welcomed
into British homes”, Mar 14) but why
should we be given £350 a month in
return? We do not want rent, and if
refugees receive benefits they can
contribute to the cost of food.
Similarly, why does a local authorityDegree grade’s exit
Sir, I was sad to read that the 2:2
degree, known affectionately as a
“Desmond” after the late Archbishop
Desmond Tutu, may be on the way
out. Holders of Desmonds, in my
experience, wear them as a badge of
pride. They do not see themselves as
under-achievers. But if grade inflation
is to be the order of the day, we are
going to have come up with a new
term for an award given to
undeserving plodders promoted far
above their natural level. May I
suggest a “Sir Gavin”?
David Robson
OxfordSir, Professor Alan Smithers is right
about most things but I wonder if
there is so direct a correlation
between grade inflation at GCSE and
A-level and the endangered status of
the lower second as he suggests. Given
that your article identifies 2011 as the
start of the decline, an alternative
explanation might take as its starting
point the vertical rise in university
tuition fees to £9,000 in December- That’s a hefty price tag for a
humble “Desmond” and universities
may well have reacted accordingly.
Richard Russell
Headmaster, Colfe’s, London SE12
from the times march 15, 1922THE TRIAL OF
CAPTAIN AND
MRS PEEL
Energy security
Sir, You report (“Big push for solar
and nuclear to cut reliance on foreign
oil”, Mar 14) that the prime minister is
keen, once again, on another
old-fashioned large nuclear power
station at Wylfa, Anglesey. The
equivalent Sizewell C was at the same
stage of prime ministerial enthusiasm
in 2010 but the actual decision to
proceed may not be until the end of
this parliament, ie 2024, 14 years later.
The Treasury has been blocking new
nuclear for 20 years. Nuclear plant
designs have changed mightily while
it has been asleep: advanced modular
reactors are now being commissioned
in countries such as the US and
Canada at far lower capital and
running costs. Should we applaud the
Treasury for finally waking up or
chastise it for having kept us in the
dark for so many years?
Tim Ambler
Senior fellow, Adam Smith Institute
Sir, It is clear from your news report
on energy security that the
government is placing a great deal of
hope on expanding solar energy
production from 14GW now to 50GW
of capacity by 2030. In this part of
eastern England there are sizeable
solar farms occupying many acres of
prime arable land. We have seen, in
the past two weeks, just how easily a
substantial proportion of the world’s
cereal exports can be disrupted. Is this
really the time to be converting many
more acres of arable land to energy
use with solar panels? We should
think again.
Norman Mayhew
Woodbridge, Suffolk
Sir, Emma Duncan criticises the
British public for valuing its rural
landscapes (“Nimbys are putting
Britain’s future in peril”, Mar 11). She is
wrong to do so in my view. One
should also treat with caution the
claim by the head of analysis of the
Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit
that onshore wind turbines are
“popular” (“Relaxing rules on wind
farms could ease gas crisis”, Mar 9).
A further rush to intermittent
supplies onshore would achieve little,
save to impose unsightly structures
on our remaining swathes of
countryside, as the government
rightly recognised in 2015. Cornwall,
for instance, has already suffered
greatly in this respect, with its rural
landscapes being industrialised (and
urbanised) at breakneck speed.
Clive Chafer
Newquay, Cornwall
thetimes.co.uk/archiveLebedev’s elevation
Sir, I’m not in a position to comment
on any security implications relating to
Lord Lebedev or his peerage but it is
striking that he has not contributed to
a single debate or cast a single vote in
the Lords since his maiden speech
(“Newspaper peer has minister’s
backing”, Mar 14). Surely the vetting
process should include assessing the
willingness of a candidate to be
involved meaningfully in the Lords as
a legislator. Otherwise one has to
assume that acceptance is not to
contribute to public life but for prestige,
contacts and personal advancement.
Chris Petty
Kerridge, CheshireSir, Michael Gove says: “At no point
did anyone ever say to me that it
would be inappropriate to meet him
[Lebedev] and talk to him.” It seems to
me that “nobody warned me not to” is
not an intelligent explanation for an
experienced politician’s failure to
make his own inquiries about whether
it was appropriate for him to associate
with the son of a former KGB officer.
Nick Hills
Sydling St Nicholas, DorsetThe trial of Captain Owen Peel and
his wife for trying to obtain money
from bookmakers by means of
forged telegrams ended yesterday in
the Central Criminal Court. Mr
Justice Darling sentenced Captain
Peel, who had pleaded guilty, to 12
months’ imprisonment. The jury
were directed to acquit Mrs Peel, on
the ground that within the meaning
of the ancient Common Law relating
to married women she must be
presumed to have acted under the
coercion of her husband and with no
evidence to rebut the presumption
she could not be punishable.The trial has two aspects, social
and legal. In its social aspect there
was no suggestion that want was a
motive, or temptation such as may
exist among poorer persons, who
will not fail to ponder the events as
the doings of the “idle rich”. The
temperament of the gambler is a
branch of psychology which has not
been thoroughly explored. There are
men who, like Macbeth — if we
accept his wife’s taunt — would not
play false and yet would wrongly
win; there are men who have no
need to gain but, punctilious in all
other points of honour, will cheat for
minor sums; there are men who will
stake an estate on a throw of dice. In
short, this trial has proved that not
everyone is temperamentally or
morally fit to gamble, and where
gambling is common a scandal like
this is sooner or later bound to arise.
Perhaps of greater interest is the
acquittal of Mrs Peel. According to
the old law, once utilitarian, nowalmost metaphysical, when a
married woman commits certain
crimes in the presence of her
husband there is a presumption that
she acts under his coercion. Feminist
as the age may be, and much as the
disabilities of women are canvassed,
it is too often forgotten how greatly
women are protected by the law. The
mere statement of such a doctrine in
days when a Sex Disqualification
(Removal) Act is in operation must
remind the Legislature of things left
undone in the levelling processes of
democracy. This legal protection of
the married woman, a remnant not
of chivalry but of serfdom, has more
than served its time and, to use the
words of the Judge, is “absolutely
inappropriate to modern life”, in
which women become Justices of the
Peace, serve on juries, and are
elected members of Parliament.