BAD EXAMPLE: Michael Portillo (To spread democracy you have to let bad guys win, Comment, last week) arguing in favour of dialogue with Hamas notes that “terrorist organisations do sometimes metamorphose into law-abiding political parties”. To justify this, he recalls Menachem Begin and the Irgun attack on British forces in Jerusalem’s King David hotel. Irgun tactics never included non-recognition of Britain’s right to exist nor did it engage in a campaign directed at civilians. When attacking targets that could have posed a danger for noncombatants, warnings were always distributed. — Yisrael Medad, Efrayim, Israel.
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STILL GROWING: Good luck to James Lovelock’s “wake-up call” (News Review, last week). The world has gone on peacefully snoring since the Club of Rome’s 1972 report, The Limits to Growth, in which all the same threats of depletion of resources, overpopulation and so on were spelt out. Public opinion in the West has at least stirred from its slumber since then, but when are governments going to wake up and smell the coffee? — Brian Verity, Reading, Berkshire.
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OXYGEN OF PUBLICITY: Maurice Chittenden (Rock stars’ green trees may be hot air, News, January 29) trivialised a serious issue. Deforestation causes about 6.5 billion tonnes of CO2 emissions per year — similar to the global output from motor vehicles. Many climate change scientists and policy makers agree that commercial carbon offset schemes are an innovative and potentially useful way of providing finance to projects that could have multiple long-term benefits. Musicians and other artists who support these initiatives and raise the profile of our efforts should be applauded, not criticised. — Dr Richard Tipper, Edinburgh Centre for Carbon Management.
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CLINICAL LEADER: I was disappointed to see your article Cameron and the sex clinic mystery (News, last week). With the increasing incidence of chlamydia and other sexually transmitted infections, surely we should be striving to disperse the taboo of attending a genito-urinary clinic, not fuelling it. Cameron should be commended, not publicly ridiculed. — Dr Jemma Cooper, Newport, Pembrokeshire.
GOING PUBLIC: Repton hasn’t “shown the way” in exporting its particular brand of education beyond the English context as Jeremy Clarkson reports (McEton, a clever English franchise, News Review, January 29). Harrow, Dulwich and Shrewsbury (and maybe others) are already there — in Thailand and China for starters. Go to the back of the class. — Dr Mary Hayden, Bath.