Letter and emails: October 18

This will be our last chance. Let us grasp it without fear.
Raymond Norman, Former Senior Administrative Assistant
EU Commission, Hemingstone, Suffolk

No, prime minister

So John Major, Tony Blair and Gordon Brown support the “in” campaign (“Three prime ministers fight for ‘yes’ to Europe”, News, last week). Major led us into the exchange rate mechanism, Blair into the Iraq war and Brown into fiscal chaos. I cannot think of a better reason to vote for “out”.
Patrick Howell, Alcester, Warwickshire

No sea change on 5p plastic bags

SO WHO exactly throws plastic bags and other debris into the sea (“The 5p bag tax is a drop in the ocean — we’re drowning in toxic plastic”, Charles Clover, last week)? I take my own bags for shopping but pick up free plastic bags for household waste, which are then collected by the council. What happens to them I have no idea, but I am not guilty of throwing them into the sea. The new law will make some people feel good but it will change little.
Alan Thorpe, Brighton

Waste management

As an industry we are committed to finding solutions to the issue of marine litter. The way to manage this is through changing the behaviour that causes such litter to enter the environment through irresponsible disposal. This can be achieved through a combination of education, public information, law enforcement and the adoption of responsible waste management practices.
Philip Law, Director-General, British Plastics Federation

Paper trail

In the 1970s my local Sainsbury’s provided brown paper carrier bags with reinforced handles. Later, when I worked in London, my local Safeway used paper bags too. I appreciate that wet paper can tear, but we managed.
Mark Morris, Newbury, Berkshire

Grave injustice perpetrated against Brittan

IT NOW appears that Leon Brittan went to his grave under a cloud of sordid innuendo on the wholly unsubstantiated claims of a veteran Labour activist with mental health problems (“It’s not Salem but the ghost of McCarthy haunting Lady Brittan”, Dominic Lawson, last week).

This is the latest fiasco to emerge from the Met’s long investigation into allegations of a paedophile ring of Tory grandees murdering three boys in the 1970s and 1980s, despite grave doubts about witnesses.
John Cameron, St Andrews, Fife

Lettuce ignore Clarkson's vegan insults

AS a vegan, I would like to respond to Jeremy Clarkson’s article “Chickens are safe but Labour’s Ms Vegan will leave us ripped to shreds” (News Review, last week). To imply that Britain would be intensely overgrown if we were all vegans is utterly ridiculous. And I don’t know what kind of farm Clarkson has, but I just hope it isn’t one where cows are kept inside 24/7 and are treated as “commodities”.

As for vegans being ugly, uncoordinated and stupid (he says this is because they are short on Vitamin D) my daughter, who has a degree in English and is a marathon runner, is a vegan, and my granddaughter got a first at university this year. Both are beautiful, intelligent and healthy. In any case, one can buy Vitamin D at any chemist or supermarket.

The church is a disgrace too: it never stands up for animals that are mistreated. I have even written to the Pope (who is somewhat portly) but of course got no reply.
Elizabeth FitzGibbon, Elgin, Moray

Sense of betrayal

People who abuse in positions of trust and authority such as teachers and clergymen should be brought to book (“At the going down of the sun, we will . . . subject a hero to a hideous witch-hunt”, Max Hastings, October 4).

I have been dismayed by the actions of well-known names, notably Jimmy Savile and Rolf Harris. Some of them provided the televisual “wallpaper” of my younger years — I am now 70 — so I felt betrayed.

However, the way in which the authorities in certain cases have acted is unacceptable. The police and the media both stand accused in this respect.
Philip Pughe-Morgan Weston-super-Mare

Smear tactics

After the Second World War, most Soviet satellite countries held democratic elections in which the communists polled tiny percentages. Within a few years, however, they had somehow taken over. In all smear campaigns the goal is power, pure and simple, regardless of the consequences for individuals or the country.
Kate Catleugh, London SW15

PM should commit to free infant school meals

IT IS a sad truth that 28% of our children live in poverty and many have a poor diet as a result. In September 2014 the government introduced free school meals for all four to seven-year-olds, but may now scrap them to make savings.

The prime minister recently declared himself “proud” of the policy and we now call on him to make a clear and unequivocal commitment to saving universal infant free school meals.

These help families out of food poverty. An Ipsos Mori poll found that 8% of parents say their children have missed meals because they cannot afford food. A free school meal helps tackle child hunger and boosts attainment.

It also incentivises work. Without it, families who earn more than £16,190 would have to pay about £400 per child a year for school meals — a significant cost for households on low incomes.

We urge your readers to sign a petition of parliament at petition.parliament.uk/ petitions/107913 to keep universal infant free school meals in schools in England.
Rt Revd Tim Thornton, Bishop of Truro; Ben Reynolds, Deputy
Co-ordinator, Sustain; Chilli Reid, Head of Development and Policy, AdviceUK; Vic Borrill, Director, Brighton and Hove Food Partnership; Alison Garnham, Chief Executive, Child Poverty Action Group; Niall Cooper, Director, Church Action on Poverty; Martin Caraher, Professor of Food and Health Policy, City University London; Tim Lang, Professor of Food and Health Policy, City University London; James Cashmore, Director, Food for Life/Soil Association; Victoria Williams, Project Director, Food Matters; Dr Helen Crawley, Healthy Start Alliance; Elizabeth Dowler, Emeritus Professor Food and Social Policy, University of Warwick; Dr Steve Cummins, Professor of Population Health, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine; Carmel McConnell, Chief Executive, Magic Breakfast; Russell Hobby, General Secretary, National Association of Head Teachers; Councillor Gerry Diver, National Chair, Association for Public Service Excellence (APSE); Rosie Boycott, Mayor of London’s Food Adviser, Greater London Authority; Hannah Laurison, Campaign Co-ordinator, Sustainable Food Cities (and individual cities); Kim Chaplain, Director of Charitable Activities,The Mayor’s Fund for London; David McAuley, Chief Executive, Trussell Trust; Sioned Churchill, Director of Special Initiatives and Evaluation, Trust for London; Dave Prentis, General Secretary, Unison; Christine Lewis, National Officer, Unison; Vicki Hird, Director of Policy and Campaigns, War on Want; Fiona Weir, Chief Executive, Gingerbread; Irene Audain, Chief Executive; The Scottish Out of School Care Network; Paul Nicolson, Taxpayers against Poverty; Kathy Evans, Chief Executive, Children England; Gerri McAndrew, Chief Executive, Buttle UK; Jonathan Bradshaw, Emeritus Professor, University of York; Ade Sofola, 4 in 10; Kim Catcheside; John Veit-Wilson, Professor, Newcastle University; Christine Blower, General Secretary, NUT; Julia Margo, Chief Executive, Family and Childcare Trust; Chris Keates, General Secretary, NASUWT; Simon Hopkins, Chief Executive, Turn2us; Baroness Lister of Burtersett, Emeritus Professor of Social Policy, Loughborough University; Denise Bentley, Chief Executive, First Love Foundation

Corbyn’s welcome break with tradition

AFTER an exhausting 100 or so public meetings in just a few weeks, isn’t a 66-year-old man entitled to a break (“Labour leader took hike to escape Queen”, News, last week)? I, for one, want a potential prime minister to understand the work-life balance — and to walk his principled talk.
Dr Richard House, Stroud, Gloucestershire

Tomorrow’s fish and chip paper

I’m grateful to your newspaper for keeping me up-to-date on the big events such as Corbyn (after months of campaigning) enjoying a plate of fish and chips in Fort William in the company of his foreign wife. And it was good to learn that the owner of the Tavern, after Corbyn had graciously agreed to be photographed with him, posted the picture on Facebook. And, perhaps most interestingly, you revealed that someone on Twitter had commented on his knitwear. It was a shame there wasn’t a photograph of the fish and chips.
Jim Wilson, Gullane, East Lothian

Call of duty

Corbyn should not forget his duty as a political leader under a monarch, albeit constitutional.
Sam Banik, London N10

Casting doubt on Trident nuclear option

YOUR article “Cameron’s doomsday machine” (News Review, last week) clearly illustrates that the Trident nuclear missile system is not just a weapon of mass destruction but one of mutually assured devastation. It was developed during the final decade of the Cold War so that if the Soviet Union launched a nuclear attack on Britain we would be able to respond in kind. Individual submarines can potentially launch 16 missiles, each carrying up to 12 independently targetable warheads.

It seems to me that any nuclear device today is more likely to be delivered by a terrorist from the boot of a car than as part of a massive missile attack. How might we respond to, and deter, such an onslaught? I hope the government and the armed services chiefs have thought this through but, from the rhetoric, their logic may be stuck in the Cold War. Under certain circumstances we might want the option of a nuclear response, but would Trident and its proposed replacement give us the flexibility we may need?
Ken Gregory, Pinner, northwest London

Nothing sensible about supporting Syrian rebels

IT may not have been the intention, but your article “Now Putin rules the skies” (Focus, October 4), provides evidence to support the contention that our government’s decision to support the opposition in Syria was as disastrous as that of going to war in Iraq: the lack of reliable intelligence being at the root of both decisions. How sensible is it to support the Free Syrian Army, “a loose umbrella of home-grown opposition militias” or “CIA-trained rebels”, in a civil war against an army loyal to its leader — and not to take into account that one of President Bashar al-Assad’s staunchest allies is a Russia determined to retain access to a port in the Mediterranean?

Henry Kissinger said that one of the difficulties faced by America, when determining a foreign policy, was that it lacked “the experience of colonialism”. This may well lie at the root of a superpower’s failure to understand that not all societies have to be governed in the same manner for ordinary people to be content.
Ian Stein, Dunblane, Stirling

Home births natural choice for healthy mums

WOMEN already have the right to a home birth and the trusts have a responsibility to send a midwife; unfortunately, few women understand this (“Mothers-to-be may get right to home birth”, News, last week). In most areas women have no choice other than a hospital birth, as in King’s Lynn where women have been fighting for decades for a midwife to attend home births. Small midwife-led units or women giving birth at home are not supposedly just as safe as hospital, they are safer, as a new study by the Birthplace research group has shown. The proposal to enable all fit and healthy women the opportunity of giving birth at home or in small midwifery units has not been advised in order to save money, it has been advised because the research clearly shows better outcomes and lower mortality and morbidity.

Obstetric units are designed to help women and babies who have additional medical needs. Unfortunately, many fit and healthy women who have their babies in these units are exposed to a high level of unnecessary interventions. If safety is truly the priority, then the publicity should be alerting women to the risks of hospital birth such as the five-times increased risk of a blood loss resulting in a transfusion and the overuse of oxytocin, episiotomy and caesareans.

If more women chose a home birth, then the large and overstretched obstetric units would be better able to give quality care to those “high-risk” mothers and babies who need their skills.
Beverley A Lawrence Beech, Honorary Chairwoman
Association for Improvements in the Maternity Services

A leader must lead

Nicola Sturgeon prides herself on being a leader (“SNP facing referendum spend probe”, News, last week). So how come she is showing a complete lack of leadership in the Michelle Thomson saga? If Sturgeon really wants a fairer society, as she claims, why is she avoiding dealing with the moral issues thrown up in this affair? She should be acting rather than hiding behind the legal process, unless there are other factors we have yet to learn. Is this a stalling tactic to get past next year’s elections in Scotland first?
Gerald Edwards, Glasgow

Keep smiling

I was initially puzzled that Professor Mary Beard claimed “there is no word for ‘smile’ in Latin” (“Contrary Mary”, Culture last week). It set me searching and I found that there is indeed no Latin noun for “smile”. But, for the verb, how about “subridere” from which we get the French “sourire”, to smile? I am no great Latinist like the professor but I find in my Elementary Latin Dictionary two quotes from Virgil supporting this usage. I also had a look at Petronius’s Satyricon and found at least 10 uses of the word smile, but most of them translate as “ridere” — to laugh. Clearly, the Romans were not averse to smiling.
Dr Alistair Sinclair, Glasgow

Voting with their feat

Camilla Long’s dismissal of Suffragette, apparently on class grounds, does not serve her readers (“Feminist history rewritten as her story”, Culture, last week). Last night at a cinema in north London the audience broke into spontaneous applause at the end of an experience we all seemed to find moving and thought-provoking. This is a film that should be shown in every school, every year. It may not be a great work of art but it is a story that needs to be told, not least to encourage the young to vote.
Amanda Craig, London NW1

Parental guidance

Why was your interviewer surprised by Bernard Cornwell’s lack of bitterness towards his birth parents (“At ease, Sharpe. The history king has the Bard in his sights”, News Review, last week)? He was told that the relationship of Cornwell’s parents was “a wartime fling”. Social mores were very different then, right through to the 1970s and beyond. Social stigma usually prevented a lone mother from keeping her child. Cornwell would have recognised this.
Lesley Woodfield, York

Dial it down

Surely the time has come; no ifs, no buts: no mobile phones in classrooms, restaurants, cinemas, theatres, parties, on the beach and so on (“Antisocial media”, Focus, last week). Anyone unable to last the duration should be required to absent themselves to a location where they can be as antisocial as they like without disturbing civility.
Julian Gibbs, Lee-on-the-Solent, Hampshire

This charming man

It’s good to see that your correspondent Mark Solon falls into the lazy view that Morrissey and the Smiths were “miserable” (“Laughably bad”, Letters, last week). This opinion is presumably based on a vague recollection of a song called Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now. He overlooks the fact that at the peak of his powers Morrissey wrote some of the most arresting, poignant and — yes — hilarious lyrics of his or any other generation.
Phil Nilson, North Shields, Tyne and Wear

Corrections and clarifications

Rutland was referred to as part of Leicestershire in “The duke and his lover, the duchess and her Grouse God — all cosy in the castle” (India Knight, last week). It has, in fact, been a county in its own right since 1997. We apologise for the error.

The article “ITV set to snap up Ulster broadcaster” (Business, last week) stated that UTV was launched in 1958, the year the television company was set up. We are happy to make it clear that the first transmission was in 1959.

Complaints about inaccuracies in all sections of The Sunday Times should be addressed to complaints@sunday-times.co.uk or Complaints, The Sunday Times, 1 London Bridge Street, London SE1 9GF. In addition, the Independent Press Standards Organisation (Ipso) will examine formal complaints about the editorial content of UK newspapers and magazines. Please go to our complaints section for full details of how to lodge a complaint.

Birthdays

Chuck Berry, singer, 89; Wynton Marsalis, jazz trumpeter, 54; Martina Navratilova, tennis player, 59; Freida Pinto, actress, 31; Om Puri, actor, 65; Robbie Savage, footballer, 41; Michael Stich, tennis player, 47; Mike Tindall, rugby player, 37; Jean-Claude Van Damme, actor, 55; Sarah Winckless, rower, 42.

Anniversaries

1867 ownership of Alaska is transferred from Russia to America after US buys it for $7.2m; 1922 BBC is founded; 1931 inventor Thomas Edison dies; 1961 Le Bateau, by Matisse, is hung upside down in New York’s Museum of Modern Art and nobody notices for 47 days; 1989 Hungary ditches Stalinist constitution.