The Times - UK (2022-05-27)

28 Friday May 27 2022 | the times

Letters to the Editor

Letters to the Editor should be sent to

[email protected] or by post to

1 London Bridge Street, London SE1 9GF

describes a sordid sub-culture at the

centre of government in which the

head of the civil service was

personally so complicit that he had to

be stood down from the investigation

that he was initially asked to lead.

Boris Johnson clearly will not resign

on the basis of present evidence, but

Simon Case should do so now.

Michael Johnson

London N6

Sir, Next week the Queen’s Platinum

Jubilee celebrations will begin.

Whatever one’s views on the

monarchy, all can agree on what a

superb example as monarch she has

been. Her dignified leadership has

been a gift to the nation over the past

70 years of service. How appalling,

then, that the incumbent of No 10 will

sully these celebrations, mired as he is

in allegations of parties, law-breaking

and sleaze, displaying leadership at

the polar opposite of Her Majesty’s.

He should do the decent thing and

resign as soon as possible.

Melanie Lloyd

Three Crosses, Swansea

Sir, As regards minor breaches of the

law, police officers are expected to use

their discretion. It’s the reality of day-

to-day policing, allowing for flexibility

in applying the law sparingly and with

common sense: junior officers are not

endlessly harangued by senior

colleagues to explain why this or that

person was reported or not.

The mayor of London, knowing

that a fixed penalty notice has been

issued to the prime minister already,

wants the Metropolitan Police to

explain its lack of action over further

alleged offences (“Met on the spot

after top civil servant spared fine”,

May 26). Well, perhaps discretion was

applied, with the officer deciding that

they had better things to do with their

time. The mayor should be politely

told to mind his own business or, if he

is so interested in operational matters,

be invited to become a special

constable: the Met needs a few.

Richard Hill

Ret’d Metropolitan Police officer;

Pirton, Herts

Sir, I dislike the “holier than thou”

letter from Jane Bland (May 26), who

says we should give the PM a break.

Not only did he break his own rules,

as she accepts, but he lied to the

Commons when party allegations

were made. He lied to journalists that

“all guidance was followed”, smirking

while doing so. He did not show any

understanding of the conduct

required of those in the highest office.

The lying is not insignificant and

causes me to wonder who else he has

lied to throughout this sorry affair.

Christabel Liddle

High Shincliffe, Co Durham

Sir, Ben Ellery’s article on the

appointment of six individuals to the

Independent Scrutiny and Oversight

Board by the National Police Chiefs’

Council was eye-opening (“New

team tackling racism wanted to

defund police”, news, May 25). This

was in light of the comments of the

chairwoman, Abimbola Johnson, on

“defunding the police” and her

“hatred” of the Conservatives. I

applied for the role of chairman and

was not interviewed. Instead

someone whose ultimate aim is to

end funding for police forces was

given the role. Surely her previous

views should have been taken into

account in the interview process? If

not, why not? Either way, anyone

who thinks that defunding the police

is a legitimate policy should be

subject to scrutiny.

Fiyaz Mughal

Founder, Faith Matters and

Tell MAMA (Measuring Anti-Muslim

Attacks)

Field of medicine

Sir, Steve James’s excellent article on

Hallam Amos’s retirement at the age

of 27 to concentrate on his medical

career (sport, May 25) contained a list

of notable Welsh internationals to

combine rugby with medicine,

including JPR Williams, Jack

Matthews, Gwyn Jones and Jamie

Roberts. Dr Gwyn Rowlands should

be added to this list. Despite winning

only four caps between his studies

and national service in the RAF, he is

still the last Welshman to kick Wales

to victory over New Zealand, with

two conversions and a penalty goal in

the 13-8 win in December 1953.

Some ten years later he helped to

bring me into this world. I weighed

9lb 3oz at birth, and he predicted to

my parents that they had produced a

potential second row forward. He was

later proved correct, but sadly I did

not approach anything like

international standard.

CJ Rawson

Burnley, Lancs

Not appy

Sir, Deborah Ross (Times2, May 26) is

right to put the spotlight on parking

apps. Computer programmers seem to

take no account of people outside

their bubble. When mobile phones

first came out I was given one for

Christmas. The instructions said:

“Enter PIN.” I kept entering this word

until enlightened by a younger person.

Philip Moger

East Preston, W Sussex

Home consultants

Sir, Further to your report “Call for

WFH medical consultants” (May 23),

as a radiologist who works mainly

from home I can only support the call

for this mode of working. It

eliminates the need for travel to

hospital and reduces the requirement

for, and cost of, hospital office

accommodation, which is especially

important given the need for more

medical staff. The cost of the “office”

is borne by the employee, which is

not a bad deal for the NHS. WFH is

also particularly attractive for retired

consultants like me. It’s easy for

radiologists, who are familiar with

viewing images on computer screens

and with transferring them, though

perhaps less so for the clinical

specialities, but it should be possible

by adopting modern software.

Dr Chris Loughran

Macclesfield, Cheshire

Slimey breakout

Sir, We collect up our slugs and snails

in a large lidded bucket (letters, May

25 & 26). Once a week we take them

to a rural location and evict them. At

least they have a second chance.

Lesley Kant

Norwich

Corrections and

clarifications

The Times takes
complaints
about editorial
content seriously. We are committed to
abiding by the Independent Press
Standards Organisation (“IPSO”) rules
and regulations and the Editors’ Code of
Practice that IPSO enforces.
Requests for corrections or
clarifications should be sent by email to
[email protected] or by post to
Feedback, The Times, 1 London Bridge
Street, London SE1 9GF

Child home vetting

Sir, Your report “Drug gang boss is
owner of home for vulnerable
children” (May 25) forcefully
highlights the limitations of the law
and regulations governing children’s
homes and their owners. However, I
want to be clear that Ofsted has
limited powers to vet the directors of
companies that run homes. We can
and do make criminal record checks
for a home’s registered manager, but
the owners are not eligible for these
checks. We do everything we can
within the legislation but have for
years said that the Care Standards
Act needs to be reformed. It is simply
not good enough that there is no
market oversight for privately owned
children’s homes, as there is for adult
care homes. The independent Care
Review published this week
recognises and addresses this gap, and
we stand ready to act if government
decides to implement its
recommendations. In the meantime,
we use the powers we have to make
sure that children in homes are safe
and well cared for, and always act
when we find that children are not
receiving good-quality care.
Amanda Spielman
Ofsted chief inspector

Investing in Britain

Sir, In his business column (May 26),
Simon Nixon rightly draws attention
to Rishi Sunak’s efforts to persuade
British companies to invest more.
Raising investment and thence
productivity has to be one of the most
important goals for Britain. Without
it we will simply be unable to afford
the rising costs of healthcare,
pensions, defence, infrastructure and
so on. There are two other forces
likely to depress investment, at least
in the quoted sector, which Nixon
does not mention. One is the fact that
increased investment feeds through
one way or another into reduced
profits in the short term. Since in
most cases 50 per cent or more of
executive director bonuses are tied to
profits, UK listed companies are in
this sense incentivised to keep
investment down.
The other has to do with
institutional shareholder attitudes.
Many of them are focused on annual
increases in dividends, and increased
investment might suck up some of
the cash that would otherwise go to
pay them. We urgently need a
holistic solution to Britain’s
shortsighted and counterproductive
record on investment.
Rupert Robson
Gillingham, Dorset

Civil servants must take their share of blame

Sir, Even after months of revelations,

the Gray report still has the power to

shock. Your leading article (“Party

Politics”, May 26) captures the sense

of outrage and dismay that many

people feel. Much of what happened

— the late-night parties, drunken

behaviour, rudeness to porters and

cleaning staff — would have been

unacceptable in any circumstances,

much less during the stringent rules

of lockdown that applied at the time.

Those senior civil servants involved

must acknowledge their share of the

blame in allowing this to happen. It is

important to say, though, that most

civil servants will feel as angry and

dismayed as the general public, if not

more so. Their reputation has been

damaged through no fault of their

own and they too deserve an apology.

To those who ask why there haven’t

been consequences for those involved,

the answer is clear: how could they

reasonably be held to account when

the person whom the buck ultimately

stops with hasn’t been?

Lord Kerslake

Head of the civil service 2012-14

Sir, I served in the senior civil service

for more than 30 years. When we got

things wrong it wasn’t pleasant, but

we mostly had the consolation of

integrity to fall back on. That is

conspicuously absent from the

follow-up to Sue Gray’s report, which

Anti-racism team

from the times may 27, 1922

A MENU FOR

AMERICAN

GUESTS

Cost of living crisis

Sir, Daniel Finkelstein (“How to beat

inflation: be bold, stand firm”, may 25)

correctly emphasises the need to face

down pay demands that lead to price

rises. But Rishi Sunak has cynically

addressed price increases, the day

after the Gray report, using the same

profligacy he employed to combat the

pandemic. One need only remember

the £840 million cost of Sunak’s “eat

out to help out” ploy and the

Treasury’s waste of billions of pounds

on Test and Trace as well as its failure

to recover other monies paid out to

businesses to see that Sunak’s

stewardship of the Treasury has been

abysmal. He is now subsidising energy

costs for all. While there are justifiable

reasons to assist the poorer in society

this should be balanced by the need to

encourage reduced energy usage. The

more one subsidises the true cost of a

commodity, the greater the

wastefulness in its use.

RA Connell

Guildford

Sir, Energy companies charge us

extortionate amounts and so make

massive profits. The government

imposes a windfall tax on them and

returns some of our money. Why not

charge us less in the first place?

Peter Davies

West Kirby, Wirral

thetimes.co.uk/archive

Dog-bite liability

Sir, Further to John Cole’s claim

(letter, May 26) that third-party

insurance would add little to the cost

of medical pet insurance, I would like

to point out that it is already included.

I agree, however, that all dog owners

without medical insurance for their

pet should purchase third-party

liability insurance. This is something

that I have suggested to prospective

adopters during the home checks that

I have carried out on behalf of dog

rescue charities such as the RSPCA.

Su Pond

Basingstoke, Hants

Reluctant ordinand

Sir, Sensing a possible vocation and

rather dreading it I attended a

selection conference in 1975

(comment, May 24; letters, May 25 &

26). Hoping to avoid ordination, I

behaved as badly as possible and

answered questions with political

incorrectness. I miscalculated. The

worse I was the more they said: “This

is just the sort of chap we need in the

C of E.” Had it been today I guess the

church would have been deprived of

my ministry, as it now will be of the

no doubt excellent Calvin Robinson.

The Rev Canon Andrew

Wingfield Digby

Asthall Leigh, Oxon

While women who do the catering

enjoy nothing more than a dinner at

a restaurant, it must be remembered

that friends visiting London are

probably staying at an hotel and

infinitely prefer to be entertained in

their hostess’s own house. For the

intimacy of a meal taken at home is

lacking in a restaurant, and it is this

which is so much appreciated by

visitors from abroad. The note struck

should be friendliness and simplicity,

though this last should be tempered

by careful choice. There should be

no elaboration, but everything as

well served and cooked as possible.

The other guests, moreover, should

be carefully chosen; just two couples,

and let these have either some claim

to special interest or be conspicuous

for qualities of good fellowship.

It is well to begin with Grape

Fruit; so loved by Americans, it will

strike a chord of welcome. Then,

perhaps, a Consomme d’Asperges,

Truite Doria, Noisettes d’Agneau, a

Parfait a la Florentine and Crevettes

endiablées to conclude. Grape Fruit

has so thoroughly naturalized itself

here that it is hardly necessary to

give a method of preparing it, but for

those to whom it is not yet a

household word, the pulp must be

carefully removed from the bitter

skin, the juice well flavoured with

sugar and a small teaspoonful of

Kirsch or Maraschino added to each

portion. The fruit must be cut in

half, and the halves neatly emptied

of skin, &c, and the mixture then

replaced, and ornamented with

angelica, pistachio or glace cherries.

Rather more than half a fruit should

be served in each half rind.

To Americans no dinner is

complete without an “ ice cream”.

This parfait should certainly impress

them: Make a caramel of a pound of

sugar, and when it is a good brown

colour add half a pound of Jordan

almonds browned in the oven. Turn

out on to a well-buttered baking

sheet, and when cold crush up fine.

Whip enough cream to fill a parfait

mould, and divide the quantity into

two basins, flavour one with vanilla

and a tablespoonful of sugar and the

other with grated chocolate. Then

fill the mould with alternate layers of

vanilla and chocolate and between

each layer sprinkle the caramel

mixture. Freeze for two hours. There

can be no doubt about its success,

while the devilled shrimps to follow

will give just the necessary reaction.