The Times - UK (2022-05-26)

32 Thursday May 26 2022 | the times

Letters to the Editor

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whatever, he has done, he will never

resign of his own free will. If

Conservative MPs, and indeed

ordinary members of the party,

continue to support him we shall

know that they are equally shameless.

Richard Willmott

Hereford

Sir, I was delighted to see that Boris

Johnson has taken responsibility for

all the partying in 10 Downing Street.

What exactly does his “taking

responsibility for it” look like?

Elizabeth Thimont

Wimbledon

Sir, The Gray report mentions Covid

rules allowing gatherings to be held if

“reasonably necessary... for work

purposes”. Since when have birthday

parties, leaving drinks, Christmas

quizzes and parties been “reasonably

necessary... for work purposes”? If

Johnson will not resign, Conservative

MPs should show him the door.

Gary Rawlinson

Burbage, Wilts

Sir, As a formerly loyal member of the

Conservative Party I will not be

renewing my membership while we

are led by Boris Johnson. I know that

many of my former colleagues are of

like mind. It is up to the elected

Conservatives, from councillors to

MPs, to rid the party of this charlatan

before he causes its total demise.

J Roger Thomas

Heathfield, E Sussex

Sir, The nation deserves better. Is it so

wrong to demand high standards, a

sense of ethics, and the dignity and

gravitas commensurate with holding

high office? In these challenging

times we need a leader who can

inspire and unify our country, but

time and again the PM has shown

himself woefully unable to rise to that

task. Those with the power to change

the situation should do so now.

Stewart Luck

Cork

Sir, I dislike the holier-than-thou

attitude of all those who want Boris

Johnson to resign. I am no great fan

of our prime minister but they should

give him a break. Besides the war in

the Ukraine, climate change,

threatened strikes and much more,

that he broke his own rules a few

months ago pales into insignificance.

Jane Bland

Bristol

Dearth of dentists

Sir, Your report “NHS dentist exodus

leaves poorest without free care”

(May 24) states that “longstanding

problems in finding a dentist were

exacerbated by the pandemic” but

omits to mention the effects of Brexit.

Before Brexit, many EU qualified

young dentists came to live and work

in Britain and this is no longer the

case. There has been insufficient

planning for and investment in British

dental schools for the number of

dentists required to work in the NHS.

Michael Austin

Ret’d dentist, Hove

Dog-bite injuries

Sir, Rather than reinstating dog

licences it would be better to make

third-party insurance compulsory for

dog owners (“Testing owners for

competence would reduce dog

attacks”, Thunderer, May 24).

Insurance companies would provide

the administration and their expertise

at assessing risk would ensure that

premiums were fair. For most family

pets it would add little to the cost of

vet insurance, but for the minority,

the irresponsible owners of dangerous

breeds, it could provide a important

disincentive. Not least, the victims of

dog attacks might have a realistic

hope of some compensation.

John Cole

Woodstock, Oxon

Slugging it out

Sir, My method for dealing with slugs

(letters, May 24 & 25) is two-fold: a

shallow tray with a little beer attracts

them overnight, then I give the

collected slugs to my hens — they

love them. The result is an excuse for

a beer in the evening and fresh eggs

in the morning.

Duncan Grey

Great Shelford, Cambs

Sir, I was advised to use chilli powder.

It’s very effective, though rain doesn’t

help. My hostas are very happy.

Joanna Delaforce

Linton, Cambs

Superhero trees

Sir, When the steel-and-aluminium

tree being positioned outside

Buckingham Palace is finished with

(“A real marvel, the 350-tree living

artwork outside palace”, May 25),

perhaps it should be donated to

Sheffield city council, whose passion

for urban deforestation may have left

it a bit short of trees.

Philip Mickelborough

Marlborough, Wilts

Corrections and

clarifications

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Free speech online

Sir, In his Red Box article (May 24)
Chris Philp MP states that the Online
Safety Bill poses no threat to free
speech. While the moderating of
online content undoubtedly needs
regulation, the bill does not protect
free speech properly. Far from the
black-and-white situation that the
minister for tech and the digital
economy presents, the bill is full of
vague but key terms to be defined at a
later date. This will inevitably create
legal grey areas that will lead to
perfectly lawful speech being censored
online. Interference with free speech
should take place only for a clear
purpose, and where it is necessary. By
contrast, the bill will allow censorship
by algorithm under a vague test of a
material risk of significant harm to an
appreciable number of adults (where
neither “harm” nor “appreciable” is
defined). That is far from a “close and
penetrating examination of the factual
justification for any restriction on
speech”, which is what existing
legislation requires. The problems
with censoring lawful speech on a
vague basis on a mass, computerised
scale have been raised for years; the
government has clearly not taken
these on board and thought about the
true implications of this bill.
Jim Killock
Executive director, Open Rights Group

Ukraine’s freedom

Sir, Max Hastings is wrong to accuse
Liz Truss and Ben Wallace of
engaging in “irresponsible rhetoric”
for their insistence that the total
withdrawal of Russian troops from
occupied Ukrainian territory is a
precondition to any peace (“Ukraine
must seek peace talks to have any
hope of revival”, May 24; letters, May
25). Far from being “diminished”, the
reputation of the UK and its ministers
has never been higher with most
Ukrainians, because it rests on two
interlocking principles: that
Ukrainians are entitled to defend the
entirety of their lands and that their
destiny cannot be bartered between
the West and Russia. Hastings’s
contention that we are “egging on”
Ukraine to pursue unrealisable war
objectives and that we must now
force it to the negotiating table with
Russia is based on the assumption
that Ukrainians don’t know what is
good for them and need “guidance”
about their future. I assumed that this
condescending and morally dubious
approach was fatally discredited at
the end of the Cold War. But it clearly
survives in some nooks and crannies.
Jonathan Eyal
Associate director, Royal United
Services Insitute

Implications of the Gray report for the PM

Sir, The central charge against the

prime minister, along with the police

fine he received, is that he fostered a

culture of drinking and ignoring

Covid rules in No 10. He has chosen

not to resign but his MPs, and voters,

will decide his fate. A question hangs

over the civil servants implicated too.

It may seem unfair for them to be

punished when Boris Johnson escapes

— for now — but they are not judged

at the ballot box. Simon Case, the

cabinet secretary, who received no

fine, was not in post for the earlier

events and arguably was not in

charge of No 10 culture. But he still

appears to have tolerated the

participation of officials. He now has

to show that he can lead the civil

service out of this episode. Martin

Reynolds, Johnson’s principal private

secretary, who devised and sent out

party invitations, now has a case to

make that he should still become

ambassador to Saudi Arabia.

Bronwen Maddox

Director, Institute for Government

Sir, The prime minister says he feels

“humbled”, by which I assume he

means that he feels foolish to have

been caught out. What is apparent is

that he feels no shame and that,

Sir, Further to your “MPs face new

rules on second jobs after Paterson

scandal” (May 25), as taxpayers why

do we allow this at all, when most

working people with more than one

job do it to make ends meet? It will be

interesting to see how MPs vote on

the proposals in the report by the

Commons standards committee. One

job would leave less time for political

infighting and MPs could give more

support to their constituencies.

Janet Thilthorpe

Edenbridge, Kent

Sir, The trouble with the proposed

rules that MPs cannot have second

jobs that lobby the government is that

it does not stop companies or their

underlings from sponsoring all-party

parliamentary groups and gaining

access that way.

Derek Wyatt

Former MP; Aldeburgh, Suffolk

Sir, Alice Thomson (“MPs find self-

worth far from the greasy pole”, May

25) has never seen MPs “so depressed

and demoralised, adrift and self-

pitying”. In a recent podcast Rory

MPs’ second jobs

Stewart reminded us, the British

public, that by continually heaping

abuse and disdain upon our MPs, we

risk deterring anyone sufficiently

brave and able from stepping forward

as a candidate. Without such people

we forfeit the proper functioning of

what once was a much admired

system of government.

Bill Jones

Honorary professor of political

studies, Liverpool Hope University

from the times may 26, 1922

BOAT TRAIN

JEWEL

ROBBERY

Nurture marriage

Sir, In her Thunderer (“Our

carelessness towards marriage will

cost us dear”, May 23), Melanie

McDonagh suggests that the

marriage allowance be increased.

Statistical data strongly affirm that

married couples have more stable

relationships and that children raised

by a married couple fare better by

every measure than those with

cohabiting parents or with single

parents. The chancellor could

helpfully encourage married couples

by including a “no claims bonus”,

rewarding long-lasting marriages with

periodical increments in the marriage

allowance, thus recognising a little of

what the couple have saved society by

sticking together.

Godfrey Nicholson

Mirfield, W Yorks

thetimes.co.uk/archive

Oldies champion

Sir, I could not agree more with

Esther Rantzen, “Older people need a

champion to take on the digital world”

(Thunderer, May 25). Three weeks

ago I had my pay-as-you-go phone

deactivated, my only form of

communication with friends or family

in an emergency. Why? Because I had

not used it for some months. I was

assured by the company from whom I

got the phone that I had been notified

that this would happen. However,

even the company concerned could

not find any evidence of this. Did it

not occur to them that maybe people

were not using their phones as a result

of Covid, and not going out much?

Discussing this with friends, eight of

them have had the same experience.

Sarah Coe

Faringdon, Oxon

Ordination line

Sir, Douglas Murray’s comment piece

raises issues of the leadership of the

Church of England’s conformity to

particular world views (“Belief in its

own sin is subverting the church”,

May 24). His reference to the block

on Calvin Robinson’s ordination, due

to him not sharing these world views,

has historical echoes. In the early

1940s a young curate named Wilbert

Awdry almost left the priesthood

because he was a pacifist and could

not find a bishop to give him a post in

the midst of the struggle against

Nazism. When all seemed hopeless,

the Bishop of Birmingham offered

him a post in Kings Norton. He

served in the parish with distinction

throughout the war years. He also

created the stories of Thomas the

Tank Engine and Friends. The wrong

sort of priests are often just what the

church needs in troubled times.

The Rev Larry Wright

Kings Norton, Birmingham

The theft of jewelry worth £10,000

as it was being transferred from the

Continental boat train at Victoria to

a waiting motor-car is the most

audacious robbery carried out by

international luggage thieves for

some time. The jewelry’s owner, Mrs

Olympia D Anghelato, is the wife of

a wealthy Greek merchant of Queen

Anne’s Mansions and St Mary Axe,

City. Two men were concerned in

the robbery, and the authorities have

a good description of the principal

thief. Both men had travelled from

Dover in the same first-class

Pullman as Mrs Anghelato, who was

returning from Paris and owes her

loss to the fact that she opened her

small Gladstone bag in the train and

incautiously displayed her jewelry in

its case. From where the men were

sitting they could see the jewelry,

and they must have planned there

and then to get the case. At Victoria

Mrs Anghelato carried the bag to

the platform herself and there gave

it to a porter while she went a few

yards away to greet her husband and

some friends. The two men followed

her out of the car, and while her

back was turned to the porter, one of

them said: “I will take the Gladstone

bag; the lady is following.” The

porter unsuspectingly handed it

over, and went off on another job.

The men strolled casually out of the

station and probably went on the

District Railway to Hammersmith,

for the empty Gladstone bag was

found later the same night on a

tramcar at Chiswick. When Mrs

Anghelato turned round to claim her

bag valuable time was lost in finding

the porter, and this gave the thieves

a clear start. They were heard to say

in the train that they were sailing for

America on the 27th, and efforts are

now being made to trace their arrival

at Dover with a view to identifying

them from their passports. Only by a

lucky chance was a pearl necklace

valued at £8,000 not included in the

booty, for Mrs Anghelato was going

to pack it away with the other

articles in Paris but her friends

advised her that it would be much

safer to wear it. The stolen property

includes seven bracelets, all platinum

and set with rubies, diamonds and

brilliants, two platinum rings set

with pearls, two other rings, one set

with sapphires, another with a single

diamond: a platinum and brilliant

hat pin shaped like a feather, and a

bar brooch set with large diamonds.