Defence spending and the threat from Russia

Sir, The debate seems predicated on some form of imminent Russian aggression and threat. I see no signs of this. In recent years, Russia has protected its interests in east Ukraine; in Crimea, where it already had a strategic naval base giving access to the Mediterranean; and Syria, where it has similar interests.

The military always cries “threat” when facing cuts. Of course, we must have strong defence, but let us not create enemies. Russia can still be a strong European ally, as before, if we engage with it on equal terms and not as an enemy.
David Briggs
Drumoak, Scotland

Sir, Your story about defence cuts appears after reports of army athletes going off to the Olympics. Soon army and navy rugby teams will assemble to train for a match in four months’ time, including a Portuguese training camp for the army.

If these “athletes” are not needed to do their day jobs then the day jobs do not need to exist — instant savings that could be invested in real defence.
Richard Saville
Lydney, Gloucs

Sir, General Sir Nick Carter, chief of the general staff, is presenting his arguments about defence cuts in a climate where the “currency” measuring our defence capability defaults to numbers in uniform. Departmental rivalries militate against the structures needed to embrace our capacity for innovation, thought-leadership and “soft power”.

Defence is ever more complex, requiring the integration of a broader range of actors to challenge threats to the UK and to be proactive about where and when we address them.

As soldiers, sailors and airmen leave front-line service, the aim should be for them to work with industry to extend their involvement in defence support, whether in training, education, procurement or delivery.

The government must sponsor UK companies who specialise in international capacity-building, and the Ministry of Defence should allow them “in the tent” through novel partnering arrangements.
Brigadier (retd) AT Davis
Weybridge, Surrey

Sir, I agree with Sir Nick Carter that we need to spend more money on defence. But the reason he gives, that we would struggle to withstand Russian forces on the battlefield, has been true for all of the past 80 years.
Edward Windham-Bellord
Cucklington, Somerset

LEGAL OPPORTUNITIES
Sir, Lord Pannick accepts the premise of David Lammy’s report that we have a problem of under-representation of black and ethnic minority (BAME) judges but rejects targets as a way of addressing the problem (“Why targets are not the way to improve judicial diversity”, Law, Jan 18).

Targets do not require the appointment of unmeritorious candidates, but they do force positive actions. For more than 25 years the official line has been that time will solve the lack of BAME and female judges. But the promised change has not happened. This is in part because too many of those who appoint our judiciary believe that senior judges should come from the ranks of Silks — a small and very white, male pool. But it is also because not enough is done to encourage, support and appoint BAME judges.
Andrea Coomber
Director, Justice

Sir, I was called to the Bar in 1993. Since then I have carved out a successful career at the Criminal Bar. The fact that I grew up on benefits, lived in council accommodation and went to a comprehensive school in Birmingham has proved an advantage in the way I can relate to the different people I encounter in my profession.

However, it now costs anything up to £100,000 to qualify at the Bar. This, and the below-minimum-wage fees the junior Bar receives, will leave the future of our profession in the hands of the few who can afford it.
James Keeley
London WC1

SHARING OUR RIVERS
Sir, You report that British Canoeing claims that I discovered a law from 1664 which states that there is public access for boats to all usable rivers (“Anglers fear invasion of canoeists”, News, Jan 20). I do not recognise any such act. My thesis is that there was a public right of navigation on all usable rivers in the medieval period and that this right has not been extinguished. Hence the right still exists. The Angling Trust agrees with the second proposition and has not challenged the first.
Douglas Caffyn
Eastbourne, East Sussex

MEDICAL NEGLIGENCE
Sir, The letter from John Davies-Humphreys on the cost of clinical negligence in the NHS (Jan 20) was misleading on a number of fronts.

He stated that legal aid funds most claims, but since 2013, legal aid in clinical negligence cases has been available only to babies who suffered a brain injury before they were eight weeks old. Such claims are a very small minority, only 232 of the 10,686 claims received by the NHS litigation authority last year. He quotes a figure of only 17 per cent of clinical negligence cases succeeding, but data published by the NHSLA shows that of the cases they resolved between 2007 and 2017, 60 per cent succeeded.

Learning from errors to avoid repeating them is the way to reduce the human and financial cost of clinical negligence. The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists reported last year that 76 per cent of babies who died or suffered a brain injury in labour or the neonatal period would have had a better outcome with different treatment. Those claims, although relatively few, make up half of the cost of clinical negligence, and the focus must be on reducing those incidents, not blaming patients or their lawyers.
Alan Mendham
Society of Clinical Injury Lawyers Executive

HOUSE REPAIRS
Sir, It is disappointing that the government wishes to delay a final decision on the renovation of the parliamentary building (News, Jan 19). The Times journalist who was shown round saw the defective electrical system, the asbestos, constant water leaks and much else. All this has been the subject of detailed reports to the House for some time, as well as the dangers involved.

Many hoped the decision would have been made by now to carry out the necessary work. It is not sensible to keep on postponing urgently needed work on a building recognised both here and abroad as the heart of our democracy.
David Winnick
London NW10

PART-TIME FAIRNESS
Sir, In your leading article “Fair Fees” (Jan 20) you are right to say that the student loan system is largely working. However, it is not working for part-time undergraduates. Since fees were increased and a tuition fee loan introduced numbers have continued to fall. In the forthcoming tertiary education review we hope the government places an emphasis on part-time students. They tend to be older and have other family commitments but they are a key group in our changing economy.
Professor David Latchman
Master, Birkbeck, University of London

JOHNSON’S ‘CAKE’
Sir, As the second phase of the UK’s negotiations with the EU start, I gather from friends at the European Commission that thanks to Boris Johnson, “cake” has entered Brussels bureaucratic slang for a ridiculous position or demand, one that is so far from being realistic that the other side doesn’t even bother to respond.

For example, a civil servant may say to his or her minister: “Minister, I fear that may be seen as cake.” Or a negotiator may respond to another’s demand with: “Thank you for that piece of cake.” It is marginally more polite than “Get real” but has much the same meaning.
John Nugée
New Malden, Surrey

RUDE DEPARTURES
Sir, For years I have endured the custom of carrying a bucket of popcorn and a litre of cola into cinemas, to be slurped and crunched during the performance. I even bite my tongue at late arrivals.

However, last week at the Royal Festival Hall, following a superb performance by the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the conductor’s arms were barely lowered before audience members began to make a beeline for the exits. While sections of the orchestra were standing for well-deserved applause, crowds streamed out, presumably to avoid the rush. By the time the applause had finished, almost half of the audience had left.

Call me a grumpy old woman, but this seems to me to be the height of bad manners, and disparaging to those splendid members of the orchestra and their conductor.
Sue Rawlinson
Shillingstone, Dorset

CANINE CURES
Sir, While the great and the good can argue to their hearts’ content about whether homeopathy is bogus, I suggest they ask my dogs (Thunderer, Jan 19, and letters, Jan 22). They are given a remedy to remove tartar on their teeth which works within ten days, saving an expensive anaesthetic dental procedure.

Mixed pollens are given to stop sneezing, arnica for bruising, and many more. The remedies are very cheap and really do work.
Adrienne McDonald-Booth
Cirencester, Gloucs

GUILDFORD AND GOD
Sir, I have finally realised that I live in a religious community. As I was driving up Stag Hill, Guildford, the message, “Guildford and God” appeared on my car’s “infotainment” system screen. I wondered if my time on this earth was coming to what I would regard as a premature close. However, I realised that the message was truncated. It should have read “Guildford and Godalming bypass”.
Peter Rooke
Guildford

SCHOOL SARCASM
Sir, Your article “Call for more sarcasm at school is no joke” (Jan 20) reminded me that my housemaster at Bristol Grammar School in 1944 showed remarkable prescience when he wrote on my report: “He is content to excel at mediocrity.”
John Tanner
Winford, North Somerset