Musical jewel under threat

Sir, Britain has, for the past 100 years at least, been regarded as a great international centre for music and the arts, producing some of the world’s finest soloists, ensembles and orchestras while attracting the most celebrated artists from abroad.

This enviable position is now under serious threat from draconian new rules that forbid any article exceeding the specified dimensions for hand luggage to be carried on planes. This precludes violins, violas and cellos, as well as most wind and brass instruments. It is now effectively impossible for musicians to travel by air, since there is no way that priceless 18th-century violins or cellos, for example, can ever travel without unacceptable risk in the hold of an aircraft.

By its indiscriminate reaction to recent terrorist threats, the Government is putting under threat some of its greatest cultural assets and cultural ambassadors. Can we allow the terrorists to alter immeasurably the musical and cultural life of this country?