Letters to the Editor

Critical condition
AA Gill’s was the first column I read on a Sunday morning. His appraisal of the NHS should be compulsory reading for all MPs. We do not have a health service that is the envy of the world and need to address the sentimentality behind this, which seems to be preventing us moving forward. I have worked in the NHS, view it with a great deal of cynicism and dread the day — if and when — I would be reliant on it.
Pauline Wilby, Berwick-upon-Tweed, Northumberland

Cash for questions
Who makes the decision on where NHS funds are allocated? As far as I can see, money is being spent on political correctness (gender reassignment and the like) rather than being devoted to life-saving or extending treatments. When were the people asked about this? Never. Shove the bleats for another Brexit poll: I want one on NHS spending.
Caroline Clark, Bude, Cornwall

Treat cause, not symptoms
Gill was frank, stating: “What Nice doesn’t say about the odds is that immunotherapy mostly works for old men who are partially responsible for their cancers because they smoked.” It’s time either to take full responsibility or action. Instead of campaigning for access to treatments that do not provide a cure, we should press the government to act regarding the big business behind our public health crises in relation to alcohol, obesity and smoking.
Robert Hughes, London SE26

Insurance policy
Gill’s oncologist told him nivolumab was the treatment of choice — even if it might not have been successful, in other countries they would have considered extending life a good enough reason for prescribing it. This would not be happening in much of Europe, America or Japan. The NHS needs to be replaced with an insurance-based system, as in France.
Name withheld, London

Striking a balance
Gill was a great journalist and will be sorely missed but he shouldn’t be used as a weapon to bash the NHS. Do you pay £100,000 a year for one patient or £20,000 each to treat five? Brutal, but there isn’t infinite money. Nivolumab is available elsewhere because people are paying for it, either directly or through their insurance companies.
Chris Simons, Alton, Hampshire

Don’t prejudge cancer patients
My wife never smoked in her life. She was diagnosed with bowel cancer when
17 weeks pregnant. Three weeks later she had to sacrifice a healthy foetus to give herself a chance of survival but died 15 months later, leaving a three-year-old son. Whether leading a “healthy” or “unhealthy” life, death gets us all in the end. Please, don’t prejudge others.
Peter Wright, West Kilbride, Ayrshire

OXFORD’S GENDER AGENDA
We at the Oxford University Student Union were surprised to read that we have apparently issued a leaflet to students instructing them to call themselves and each other “ze” (“ ‘He’ and ‘she’ are now ‘ze’ at Oxford”, News, last week). To our knowledge, no such leaflet has been produced by us. In fact, if we were to insist on everyone using ze pronouns it would directly contradict our deeply held belief as an organisation that everyone should have the right to refer to themselves — and be referred to — according to their choice. This stance is not to avoid “offence” but in order to be as supportive and inclusive as possible towards our students, especially those who are transgender. We are disappointed that this article seems to have been published with very little regard, empathy or respect for trans students.
Orla White, Vice-President (Women), Oxford University Student Union

NOTHING TO MIND ABOUT FERGUSON U-TURN
Niall Ferguson says he is sorry for having changed his mind about Brexit
(“A remainer repents: Ferguson admits he joined the wrong side”, News, and “Sorry, I was wrong to fight Brexit to keep my friends in No 10 and No 11, Comment, last week). One should not have to apologise if one changes one’s mind. What is the point of having a mind if you can’t change it? The alternative is to remain in the “My mind is made up, don’t confuse me with facts” camp.
Goronwy Tudor Jones, Abersoch, Gwynedd

Analyse this
As an (eventual) Brexit voter, I was surprised at the sense of relief I felt at Ferguson’s decision. With tenaciously critical voices still insisting Brexit is an idiotic mistake or simply a protest vote against globalisation, his summary of his own thinking and crisp analysis of the EU situation was much appreciated.
Richard Harris, Shoreham-by-Sea, West Sussex

Benefits street
Did Ferguson change his mind in order to make friends with the new occupants at No 10 and No 11 Downing Street?
David Noble, Leeds

Political discourse
Maybe Ferguson’s recantation could now extend to giving us a proper analysis within Brexit’s historical context rather than behaving like our politicians who seem to change gear depending on how they see temporary advantage.
Joe Eason, Leamington Spa

Rebels with a cause
Many of us in my pub see the necessity of greater Europe, and if there were a democratic, federal, free-market structure with better law as an alternative we would be up for it. Why the brainy people seem prepared to accept the current 18th-century, elite-driven, protectionist, financially incontinent, Napoleonic hash-up of the EU is a mystery to us. Long live the revolution.
Mike Langley, Perry, Cambridgeshire

MAN OF THE MATCH
Phillip Knightley, who will be remembered as one of the Sunday Times greats, had many friends and countless contacts, often cultivated through his love of tennis. At the Queen’s Club, in west London, he invited me to play in a high-powered doubles match against the financier George Soros — a sore loser. Phil was always as good as his word, and unfailingly generous. When he worked as a young reporter on the Sydney Daily Mirror, one of his duties was to interview winners of the state lottery. He was affronted by their tight-fistedness and told his colleagues that he would take over the local pub and stand drinks for everyone and anyone, young and old, if he won the lottery. Some years later, as luck would have it, he did. And he did.
Nick Pitt, Bridport, Dorset

Points

Dutch discourage
Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb calls for a ban on dangerous drivers for life (“Road death laws misdirected”, Letters, last week). The problem then would be the lack of deterrent to the guilty for driving while disqualified. There is a scheme in Holland in which young motorists are taken to a stadium and asked to drive and text at the same time. They are then shown the video, which in most instances shows erratic driving.
Douglas Cusine, Stonehaven, Aberdeenshire

Creation myth
When a reason for not studying science is given as wanting “to do something creative”, I can only refer to my time as a systems engineer (“Pupils need appliance of science”, Letters, last week). To design even a small panel and locate its controls is the most creative thing I have known.
Denis Palmer, Colchester

Scientific enterprise
Why should a young UK citizen pursue a qualification in science? Successive parliaments have rejected the notion of supporting a manufacturing industry that was founded on the entrepreneurial spirit of science and once made our country “great”.
John Laidlaw Bowes, Middlesbrough

On the record
So Patti Smith began mumbling while singing A Hard Rain’s a-Gonna Fall at the Nobel prize awards ceremony (“Hard Rain falters at Dylan’s Nobel day”, News, last week). I can think of a no more apt tribute to absent laureate Bob Dylan.
Greg Hoggarth, Ontario, Canada

Human factor
When Ricky Gervais “goes into impassioned mode” about bullfighting, the interviewer states that this kind of “sentimentality” is a “form of bogus emotion for people who don’t really feel much emotion” (“The wild world of Ricky Gervais”, Magazine, December 4). Those who feel pity only for the sufferings of their own species lack an important component of what it is to be human.
Antony Edmonds, by email

Holyrood must weigh in with legislation to help obese to help themselves
In “Flabby obsession with obesity only fleshes out the problem” (Comment, last week) you called on us all to accept personal responsibility for the obesity problem. Personal responsibility is not a forgotten notion. Overcrowded gyms at the beginning of January are proof of the national will to have a healthy lifestyle, look good and be fit.

One in three Scottish adults is obese and 65% of us are heavier than we should be. Foods that were treats in the 1970s are now everyday snacks. Products full of sugar, fat and salt are cheaper than ever before and strongly promoted. We spend much more time online, on social media, watching TV, and children meet to play video games rather than playing outdoors. Portion sizes are bigger than ever before and the amount of sugar and salt in processed foods is shocking. Eating junk food is socially acceptable anywhere, at any time. The resulting health problems are not only type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease and cancer but also mental health, musculoskeletal or pregnancy complications. The cost to the economy is enormous and growing.

This is why Obesity Action Scotland is calling on the Scottish government to take immediate action to restrict price promotions, tackle the marketing, advertising and sponsorship of unhealthy food and regulate to control portion size. Legislation will not take away personal responsibility but allow for informed decision-making. At the moment it is not a level playing field.
Dr Anna Strachan, Policy Officer, Obesity Action Scotland, Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow

Energy rethink
Thanks to Gridwatch, the UK’s electricity generating capacity is laid bare. The recent cold spell should have spread alarm when it was revealed there is no spare capacity, as wind remains 100% unreliable. We have not had a rational or pragmatic energy policy for decades and that must change, immediately.
Hamish Hossick, Dundee

Birthdays
Christina Aguilera, singer, 36; Field Marshal Lord Bramall, 93; Lizzie Deignan (née Armitstead), cyclist, 28; Robson Green, actor, 52; Ray Liotta, actor, 62; Michael Moorcock, science fiction writer, 77; Brad Pitt, actor, 53; Keith Richards, guitarist, 73; Sia, singer and songwriter, 41; Steven Spielberg, director, 70

Anniversaries
1603 Dutch East India Company fleet first departs for East Indies; 1878 Joseph Stalin born; 1892 Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker premiered in St Petersburg; 1936 first giant panda to be kept outside China arrives in US; 2015 closure of North Yorkshire’s Kellingley Colliery marks end of deep mining in Britain