Sir, Robert Crampton’s article was spot on, albeit he was not the only Brit in France (“Brave or daft, we felt like the last Brits in France”, Jul 31). I arrived on July 14, a week before my wife and the unexpected “amber+” categorisation of France (she is not now coming over as she does not want to quarantine for up to ten days). Since I arrived in the Savoie I have not seen another British car or spoken a word of English.
In our local bar I was welcomed warmly by the owner and we agreed on two matters: that President Macron and Boris Johnson make some décisions folles, seemingly just to spite each other, and that either they do not teach geography at Eton or Boris Johnson did not pay attention. That Réunion is roughly as far from France as the Falkland Islands are from Britain underlines the idiocy of Johnson’s decision.
Richard Bott
Kingston St Mary, Somerset
Sir, Robert Crampton and his wife were not the only two Brits in France and suffering the annoyances of quarantine: my husband and I were there too. We seem to have paid even more than he did for our tests. A very expensive experience, and I side with all his opinions. However, the near-empty Eurotunnel, in both directions, was an unexpected pleasure.
Trish Mardon
Winchester
Sir, I was sorry to read about Robert Crampton’s quarantine after returning from France now it’s on amber-plus alert. Perhaps he can find consolation in knowing that all the lorries can get across the Channel at Dover now without being held up by all those pesky Brits in their cars hoping for a week or two in the sun.
Margaret Jones
Shoreham by Sea, W Sussex
Sir, Any government should seek to persuade its citizens to carry out their civic duties, preferably without the use of either stick or carrot (“Vaccine passports deny basic freedoms, say cabinet critics”, Jul 31). If persuasion fails, should government turn a blind eye, exact penalties or take money from the obedient to bribe the disobedient? Our rights are limited by the rights of others. The obstinacy and foolishness of young people refusing vaccination should not meet sympathy just because the refuseniks are young. Once the government starts start bribing us to act responsibly, we will be encouraged to be even less responsible until further bribes manifest themselves. Vaccination passports are the most modest of sticks.
Tim Ambler
Cley next the Sea, Norfolk
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Sir, Apropos of Christopher Ray’s letter (Jul 31), I too am travelling to Iceland for five days. So far I have had to download two NHS apps on to my phone; download one Icelandic government app on to my phone; register on a third-party remote testing website and order three tests (one before I fly out, one before I fly back and one once I’ve returned); register on the Icelandic government website; register for, and download and print, an Icelandic government bar code; perform a remotely monitored test, receive a negative result and print the official certificate; register on the UK government’s track and trace website (password of a minimum of 13 alphanumeric keys, including small, capital and numbers and one non-alphanumeric symbol; print out proof of my two coronavirus jabs. Impressive indeed. Straightforward? Less so.
Anthony de Normann
Lower Shiplake, Oxon
NHS ‘POWER GRAB’
Sir, Professor Sir Malcolm Grant is right to argue against creeping centralisation over how the NHS is run (Red Box, Jul 30; letters, Jul 31). Government legislation will give ministers powers over hospital finances and the shape of local services. The government should be careful what it wishes for. To coin Nye Bevan’s dictum, bedpans that are dropped in local hospitals make an uncomfortable political din when they are heard in Whitehall. Instead, as James Forsyth (Comment, Jul 31) proposes, the challenges facing the NHS — not least the pandemic and record waiting lists — require powers to be devolved to those on the front line of care.
Of course more investment will be needed in health and social care but it was only when the right reforms were introduced in the early 2000s that waiting times tumbled. More autonomy for local services, more choice for patients, more collaboration with private providers: these changes unlocked NHS improvement then and remain the keys to success now. It would be a supreme political irony if a Conservative government were to turn its back on such managed market mechanisms in favour of a doomed attempt to run the system like an old-style nationalised industry. It will not work for the politicians but it will be patients who pay the highest price.
Alan Milburn
Health secretary 1999 to 2003
Sir, James Forsyth is right that reducing hospital waiting times must be a key focus for the government and the NHS. The pandemic has meant that waiting times for treatment have grown to levels not seen since the early 2000s. Previous experience indicates that there are no quick fixes. The main factor to bring waiting times down will be staff capacity, so a new plan for recruiting and retaining the staff that the NHS needs is essential. The government must be honest with the public about this: overpromising will only exacerbate the concerns of staff and patients.
It is also vital that the focus on hospital waiting lists does not come at the expense of investing in other services. Efforts to tackle waiting times will be hamstrung if pressures on GPs, social care and community services are not also addressed.
Siva Anandaciva
Chief analyst, the King’s Fund
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IMPRISONED IN IRAN
Sir, On August 13 Anoosheh Ashoori, 67, my husband, will have spent exactly four years in jail in Iran. He is a British citizen who was targeted by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard-dominated judiciary and jailed on fabricated charges after a scandalously unfair trial.
The past four years have been hell for Anoosheh and our family. He has been subjected to torture and constant threats, his health has deteriorated dramatically, and he is held in an overcrowded and unhygienic cell with no means of protecting himself from Covid-19.
His case has been taken up by Amnesty International but what is the British government doing? Boris Johnson says that the plight of Anoosheh and other arbitrarily detained Britons in Iran “remains a top priority”. Yet actions speak louder than words. It has been more than a year since our family requested a meeting with the prime minister: he is apparently unable to meet us. Meanwhile, the government has not yet agreed to grant Anoosheh diplomatic protection, which would elevate his case to a more serious status. We have again written to the PM seeking a meeting. I urge him to meet us and show that he genuinely cares about the fate of my husband.
Sherry Izadi
London SE12
UNFAIR DETENTION
Sir, Matthew Parris is right: “There are 3,000 lifers who shouldn’t be in jail” (Comment, Jul 31). The imprisonment for public protection scheme, indefinite imprisonment for the protection of the public, has for many years been a great and growing stain on the criminal justice system.
The strand of reasoning underlying the scheme which Parris calls “removal” I call “preventive detention” or “internment” because, once these prisoners have served their tariff terms (as the great majority have, many by more than ten years) that is what keeps them incarcerated. This grave injustice is now being compounded by an ever-increasing number of recalls (often for minor breaches of licence).
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The impending Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill provides an opportunity at last for amendments to eradicate this stain. It must be taken.
Lord Brown of Eaton-under-Heywood
Ret’d justice of the Supreme Court, House of Lords
KEN CLARKE’S GRIP
Sir, Quentin Letts’s political sketch (Jul 30) about Lord Clarke of Nottingham’s appearance before the contaminated blood inquiry, including the QC’s question of whether Clarke had actually read all the paperwork that had been sent to him, reminded me of many years ago when I was a junior official in the private office of the Department for Health and Social Security. Clarke was a minister of state for health and it was a joy to send him briefing material for social security questions in the House of Commons because he had a fabulous ability to absorb the information by reading it just once and did not require any additional guidance when he got up to the dispatch box to answer all questions and any supplementaries.
Vincent Shanahan
Watford
PIPING UP FOR ORGANS
Sir, Huw Edwards (News, Jul 31) highlights a problem facing many of our nation’s pipe organs. For many years our craft has been striving to ensure that these significant parts of our heritage are preserved for future generations. In 2006 the Institute of British Organ Building implemented a national list of redundant organs. Over the past 15 years we have logged 677 instruments, of which 400 have been successfully rehoused in the UK or overseas: an average of 27 per year. There is more to be done.
The pipe organ is the most complex of all musical instruments. As an historic building requires careful conservation of its fabric, so a pipe organ needs regular maintenance. It is inconceivable to think of a Stradivarius violin being thrown into a skip or a significant work of art left to rot. Many pipe organs at risk are likewise of worldwide importance.
Our generation has a duty to conserve the remarkable vision and resulting legacy of former custodians by raising awareness of these great instruments so they can be preserved for future generations to enjoy.
Andrew Scott
Chairman, Institute of British Organ Building
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MUSIC OF SUFFERING
Sir, James Marriott’s article on human suffering (Jul 30; letter, Jul 31) was a refreshing read. Many musical masterpieces of the 20th century would surely not exist without the suffering endured by the composers. Two who stand out are Shostakovich, who lived under the terror of the Soviet regime, and Mahler, who endured so much tragedy in the early death of six of his siblings and one of his daughters. There are countless other examples from all centuries.
Benjamin Frost
London SW1
A GRAND HOLIDAY
Sir, Further to your photo showing the Grand Hotel in Scarborough towering over the beach (“If you want a proper escape, only the glories of a hotel will do”, Weekend Essay, Jul 31), in the late 1950s, as a student at the Scottish Hotel School in Glasgow, I did a month’s work experience at the Grand. The staff bedrooms were on the top floor and we were woken every morning at 6.30am by a man banging loudly on every door, regardless of one’s shift. I was on reception, which included “control”, ie we had to balance the books at the end of the day. There were no calculators so sometimes we sat up till 2am, as the books had to balance to the last penny.
I wonder if there is still a piano playing in the lounge in the afternoons — it was a lovely soothing sound wafting around the ground floor.
Carol Macdonald
Bishop’s Stortford, Herts
LOST FOR WORDS
Sir, Further to Lord Jones of Birmingham’s complaint about the BBC sports presenter Alex Scott dropping her “g”s, I am more bothered by the people who overemphasise theirs.
Yvonne Bailey
Christian Malford, Wilts
Sir, Lord Jones must, I suspect, also be irritated by the pronunciation of his title: my relatives from the south always drop the “g” in Birmingham.
Malcolm Clark
Solihull, W Midlands