30 Wednesday May 25 2022 | the times
Letters to the Editor
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1 London Bridge Street, London SE1 9GFlike-minded states determine that
Putin’s Russia be denied any benefit
from its latest aggression. This will
not be achieved by bemoaning the
costs of the war and by reference to
Ukraine remaining the weaker party,
as if that by some means denies
Ukraine the right to defend the
entirety of her sovereign territory.
Peregrine Rawlins
Devizes, WiltsSir, Your leading article “Getting out
the Grain” (May 23) sets out in clear
terms what needs to be done at once.
If Ukraine’s grain is to be used to
avert famine across the world, an
ultimatum must be given to Putin
that unless he immediately orders his
army to allow Ukraine to ship (if it is
safe to do so) its grain to market or (if
it is not safe) to export it through
Romania or any other route of its
choice, Nato will send military forces
into Ukraine to support the
movement of grain. If Putin refuses it
will be plain to those who have so far
refused to accept that he is out to
eliminate Ukrainians as a nation that
he is bent on genocide, with all the
consequences that it entails. This
does not mean that every member
state will send in its forces but somewill do so. The risk that Putin will
escalate the war is a risk that has to
be taken.
Sir Michael Nicholson
Comber, Co DownSir, Naturally there are concerns that
proposed United Nations escorts for
export vessels might be considered
aggressive by Russia and might lead
to an escalation of the war. But would
Russia really want to challenge the
UN militarily? I doubt it.
Mike Shiman
Gerrards Cross, BucksSir, Max Hastings offers a rather
convoluted argument for settling the
Ukrainian conflict in my view.
Certainly Russia is a reality and must
be a player on the world stage, but
that should not include Putin. Regime
change may be achieved in different
ways. Perhaps the Russians around
Putin might get the message if the
world were to refuse to discuss
anything with Putin (“send someone
else”, “put someone else on the
phone”) or to refuse even to mention
the man by name. In effect, send
Putin to Coventry.
Hedley Piper
Dartmouth, DevonSir, Further to your report “You don’t
know what racism is, trainee priest
told” (May 23), if the Church of
England were genuinely as open as it
professes to be then Calvin Robinson
would not have had to have used the
Data Protection Act to find out why
he was being blocked from becoming
a priest. I would have thought that
Mr Robinson was better placed than
most to have a first-hand view of
institutional racism. His experience
seems to indicate that the CofE is not
as broad a church as it should be.
Quentin Soanes
Brentwood, EssexKabul evacuation
Sir, Further to your report
“Afghanistan withdrawal was a
disaster and betrayal, say MPs” (May
24), the woeful failure of leadership
and lack of judgment shown by Sir
Philip Barton, permanent secretary at
the Foreign Office, by not returning
from holiday during the Afghanistan
withdrawal crisis was staggering. If his
poor judgment continues and he does
not resign, Liz Truss should sack him.
Philip Mathias
Rear admiral (ret’d), Southsea, HantsWork-free zone
Sir, It seems that “working from
home” has morphed into “working
from cafés” (“Only 8% who worked at
home plan full-time return to office”,
May 24). In one of my favourite haunts
recently a consumer of coffee and cake
was conducting a Zoom meeting with
two colleagues, loudly. In another café,
on the same day, a self-identified
manager and two of his staff were also
engaged in a very vocal meeting —
with only one coffee between them.
There must be a market for those of us
who want to enjoy our (several)
coffees in peace and quiet.
Maria Sproulle
Orwell, HertsSnail solution
Sir, Nigel Adams (letter, May 24)
should arm himself with secateurs or
a large pair of kitchen scissors: the
partying molluscs can be snipped in
half and left where they fall. A foray
at dusk three times a week during the
growing season should do the trick. I
got more than 60 last night.
Jinny Fisher
Sketty, SwanseaCorrections and
clarifications
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[email protected]
Online court cases
Sir, The widespread concern about the
use of remote hearings shows the lack
of solid evidence available to
understand the impact they have on
our justice system (“Fair trials at risk
with online courts”, Law, May 19).
Only weeks into the first lockdown in
2020, my report for the Civil Justice
Council (chaired by the Master of the
Rolls) recommended that substantive
research was needed to understand
the effect of remote hearings on the
process of decision-making, if such
innovative arrangements were to be
adopted longer-term. Two years on, no
research on decision-making has been
made available or even commissioned.
We continue to have little idea
about what impact remote hearings
are having on court outcomes or on
vulnerable users, especially those with
neurodiverse conditions, and we do
not know with any certainty how the
use of online technology affects the
length of hearings (an important
aspect, if it is being cited as a way of
clearing the backlog of court cases).
New technology can make a valuable
contribution to a modernised justice
system but the lack of evidence can
only undermine innovation and
confidence in the provision of justice.
Dr Natalie Byrom
Director of research,
Legal Education Foundation
Restricted entry
Sir, The decision by Newnham College
at the University of Cambridge to
exclude independent school entries
from its essay competition
undermines the credibility of the
prizes and the institution that awards
them (report, May 20). Fifteen per
cent of sixth-form pupils are educated
in independent schools; a significant
number are from disadvantaged
backgrounds and receive bursaries or
have parents who have to work
extremely hard to afford two years’
fees. The result of this decision will be
that the college marks a large number
of essays from children at highly
selective grammar schools and sixth-
form colleges in leafy, wealthy towns
(which have high house prices and
high-income parents). If the college
wants to broaden its outreach it would
do well to keep it separate from a prize
competition and use postcode
indicators of deprivation for pupil
intake, rather than distorting a
competition entry by type of school.
Tom Lawson
Headmaster, Eastbourne College
Striking a deal to end Russian aggression
Sir, Max Hasting says that almost
every western expert has been
astonished by the Russian military’s
incompetence (“Ukraine must seek
peace talks to have any hope of
revival”, May 24). And yet he still
believes that somehow Russia’s
military is strong enough to preclude
a Ukrainian victory. Since at least the
19th century, Russia has not won a
major offensive war without allies.
The Russian military is no different
from the Russian state: big, but weak.
We have for too long allowed
ourselves to be deterred by flawed
assumptions of Russian power.
Ukraine is not going to be spooked
into seeking unsuitable terms with
Russia, and neither should the West.
Dr Bendor Grosvenor
Earlston, BerwickshireSir, I have little doubt that President
Putin would be as comforted to read
Max Hastings’s piece as I was
disappointed. Of course Russia will
remain “an indispensable major
partner in the global arena”. However,
it does not have to be Putin’s Russia.
Just as the Allies were determined to
ensure that Germany would not
retain any of the fruits of Hitler’s
aggression, so should Nato andSir, It seems the prime minister has
been treated more favourably by the
Metropolitan Police than at least one
other participant in the Lee Cain
leaving party (reports, May 24). To
suggest, as No 10 has, that the Met’s
failure to serve a fixed penalty notice
on Boris Johnson is an answer to any
charge that he broke the law is clearly
absurd. To discriminate between two
participants at the same gathering is
irrational at best, whether they stayed
for ten minutes or the whole night,
unless justified by some exceptional
mitigating factor, which does not
seem to apply here. If a gathering is
unlawful then it is unlawful in respect
of all who attended. The Met decision,
unexplained, smacks of Pontius Pilate,
faced with a politically sensitive issue.
The Metropolitan Police must provide
an explanation voluntarily or it may
be compelled to do so by an
application for judicial review.
David Farrer, QC
LeicesterSir, Hugo Rifkind is correct: it is as if
we are living in a parallel universe in
which serious matters become merePartying PM Narrow church
trivialities (“PM’s superpower is to
trivialise everything”, May 24). I too
watched with incredulity as Nadhim
Zahawi tied himself in knots to defend
the prime minister. The Downing
Street parties affair is not trivial now
and it wasn’t then, and the public are
rightly up in arms about it. It is clever
shapeshifting because, as Rifkind
states, it is almost that we are
brainwashed to believe that it doesn’t
matter, when it plainly does. It is
indeed a creeping debasement of the
Conservative Party, the government,
the civil service and the police. It must
be stopped before any further serious
harm is done to their reputations.
Judith Daniels
Cobholm, NorfolkSir, Boris Johnson appears to justify
his presence at leaving parties for his
director of communications and
others as “work events”. There must
have been many people across the
nation, including those retiring after a
lifetime of work, who had to leave
their employment without so much as
a single glass being raised to wish
them well. It was, indeed, a question
of rules for “them” and “us’.
Judith Wells
Felbridge, Surreyfrom the times may 25, 1922THE SEASIDE
FOR
CHILDREN
Angling for space
Sir, Further to Andy Griffee’s letter
(May 24), in my experience the
anglers hate every other lot of users.
Their rods are either across the canal
or across the towpath or even often
across both. I am a dog walker and we
used to own a share in a narrowboat
so I’ve seen it from both angles.
Yvonne Bailey
Christian Malford, Wiltsthetimes.co.uk/archiveKPMG’s priorities
Sir, I note from your report (“Don’t
discuss ski trips, staff told”, May 24)
that KPMG regards diversity training
as “the right thing to do as building
an inclusive, diverse and equitable
business remains a key priority”.
Given the firm’s recent record of
accumulating fines as a result of
shortcomings in its audit and
insolvency procedures — it faced a
further £4.5 million fine, according to
your report (“KPMG faces being hit
with further fine”, May 23) — maybe
KPMG ought to consider including
“competent” as well.
Stephen Briggs
Litlington, HertsSuperb sovereign
Sir, In an otherwise sensitive and
insightful column, Janice Turner
includes two remarks that deserve to
be challenged (“Cleaner or Queen,
you can’t hold back time”, May 21).
Far from being “preposterous in the
modern age”, constitutional monarchy
is the form of government of most of
the world’s stable and successful
democracies, including Norway,
Sweden, Denmark, the Netherlands,
Belgium, Luxembourg, Japan,
Malaysia, Canada, Australia, and New
Zealand, as well as the UK. In Spain,
fascist rule might have returned had
the constitutional monarch, Juan
Carlos, not acted courageously to
defeat an attempted military coup in- Turner calls the Queen “this
most cosseted 96-year-old”. A more
accurate phrase might be: “This most
good-humoured, keen-witted, hard-
working, selfless 96-year-old.”
Allen Bass
Cork
Letters to The Times must be exclusive
and may be edited. Please include a full
address and daytime telephone number. No mother whose budget can
possibly provide her family with a
few weeks at the seaside between
now and August (when resorts
become too crowded) should miss
the chance of storing health for their
bodies whilst filling their hearts with
glee. This is not a very expensive
treat. The price of lodgings has come
down, or a bungalow can be taken
for a very reasonable rent. Tired
adults may crave quiet but children
love the glare, noise, and glitter of
the seaside resort. They and their
nurses will enjoy the esplanade —
the band, donkeys, “Happy Snaps”,
and Punch and Judy — are pleasures
as intense as the smell of brine and
the roar of surf. The good effects of a
long stay by the sea can scarcely be
exaggerated. To derive any lasting
benefit three weeks should be the
minimum. The ideal is two or three
months. The children seem so
thoroughly pickled by sun and salt
as to be for some time immune to
infection and exposure. The air on
the East Coast has the greatest tonic
effect. The first whiff of salted air,
the feel of ribbed sand under bare
feet, the delights of digging, the thrill
of crabs alive or dead, paddling,
bathing, shrimps for tea, shells, pools,
starfish, anemones, and seaweed!
Seaside life is far better arranged for
children than it used to be. The
writer remembers when paddling
was a solemn ritual. Ten minutes by
the clock and out she was pulled, her
feet ruthlessly if ineffectually dried,
to be thrust — all sandy and sticky
— back into the bathos of stockingsand shoes. Nowadays the children of
enlightened parents leave their shoes
and stockings at home and run in
and out of the sea at will all day. In
the case of a baby too delicate for
paddling, sea-water should be
brought home in pails and warmed
for its bath. Each child should be
provided with oil-skin paddlers.
These indispensable garments can
be obtained at any large draper’s in
attractive colours and a good pair
will last out a summer. They keep
the underclothes dry through any
amount of wading and can be worn
over tunics, knickers, or frocks. All
the outfit requires is a wooden spade
(tin ones are most dangerous), a pail,
and a shrimp-net. The joys of the
seaside are part of the birthright of
children, and parents should be
willing to put themselves to some
inconvenience to provide them.