SIR: Can we really trust the BBC as it tells us so persistently that we can? Does it deserve a royal charter? Does it speak for the British people?
Sure, it’s time to cut it down to a free to air, reviewable, non-opinion based reporting service and get rid of the license fee.
Dr. Frank Booth
Exmouth, Devon
SIR – Mr Bashir’s forgery of documents in order to get his interview was a shame. He toyed with the feelings of a woman going through a traumatic, high-profile breakup and no doubt confirmed her suspicions of a conspiracy against her.
Although I feel sorry for the Dukes of Cambridge and Sussex, I disagree with Prince Harry’s public soul searching and allegations against his family. We are all products of our upbringing – some parents get it right, others don’t. Most of us just try not to make the same mistakes.
Rae Duffield
Ross-on-Wye, Herefordshire
The fight for general practitioners
SIR – I am grateful for the assistance Allison Pearson and I received in unveiling the NHS General Practitioner Work Instructions during the Covid pandemic and for sharing the tragic story of my late wife Joy (Features, May 5) as a Catalyst for change.
Unfortunately, however, the battle does not seem to be won by a long way, judging by the British Medical Association’s nefarious response to the NHS order for general practitioners to see patients face-to-face (report, May 21). According to the GP committee, it was “nonsense at best, but extremely dangerous at worst” to advise GPs to see patients face-to-face without additional guidance on how to protect against infection. Does the BMA say that general practitioners cannot do what dentists, for example, have done and use practices that prevent infection?
The real problem is that the BMA is only interested in the “needs of the profession” in its own words, without thinking about the needs of the patients. Telemedicine and triage pretend that they take care of us, but in reality they ignore the possibility of unforeseen consequences like my wife’s death.
I hope enough GPs realize how they are being misled by their leaders.
Nick Stokes
Worton, Wiltshire
Business held hostage
SIR – I run a technology company and a large export project is put on hold as we cannot visit the red list country to provide services and products. Significant sales are at stake.
The Covid crisis has to be paid for by the trading and exporting companies, which necessarily involve travel. Staying home after a redlisted visit is appropriate, but expecting a business professional to isolate himself at a government-appointed hotel is not. This is a one-time guideline that does not reflect the reality of trading.
David Johnson
Royston, Hertfordshire
The forgotten army
SIR – Penny Mordaunt (Commentary, May 20), the Paymaster General, described Alamein as “the first and last victory of the war which can mainly be achieved with British leadership”.
A campaign began in Burma in 1942, which at its height involved a larger, mostly Commonwealth army of 1.25 million people. The Japanese Imperial Army surrendered in Southeast Asia in 1945 after a very solid defeat. The victorious army – the 14th – called itself the Forgotten Army, and it’s a shame that a former Secretary of Defense should actually forget about his great achievements, including the largest British-led campaign of World War II.
Viscount Slim
Chairman of the Burma Star Memorial Fund
London SW1
Doll dog
SIR – In the 1940s and 1950s we had a terrier that our grandfather named Von Tirpitz. I’m sorry to say that when I was little I often dressed Tirp in my old clothes and pushed him around in a stroller that he seemed to like.
He also enjoyed going out alone (Letters, May 20). A neighbor once told us that he had seen our dog in a dress in the shops.
Carole Feeney
London E4
SIR – My uncle and aunt owned the boxer Marxie, which Helen Selby was referring to (letters, May 20). He was a great character whose exploits were often featured in the local newspaper.
James Norris
Ottery St. Mary, Devon
University for the few
SIR – Charles Moore (Notebook, May 19) asks what “advancement” is and suggests that this could be accomplished by abolishing “the requirement of a university degree for every public service job, maybe every job at all” becomes. This is not the solution.
The government hopes to dissuade not only working-class school leavers from going to university, but also middle-class ones. “Leveling up” means leveling down. This is nothing new: the privileged have always wanted to keep the Hochschulweg – more fun, with better prospects – to themselves.
Professor Chris Barton
Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire
SIR – Regarding pointless degrees (Letters May 19), the rot started when the hugely successful colleges were renamed universities.
As a lecturer at Leeds Polytechnic, I have used the description of “placing intellectual studies in a practical setting” to explain what this type of education offers.
Their sad decline and the expansion of universities, where unfit students are admitted at great expense to courses of dubious academic or practical value, have devalued degrees at the expense of everyone.
Bill Townsend
Leeds, West Yorkshire
Vintage Medicines
SIR – Len Biggins (letters, May 20th) can return his unwanted medicines to his pharmacist, who will be happy to dispose of them. Unfortunately, medicines that have left a pharmacy cannot be recycled as the dispenser cannot be sure that the product has been properly stored. The NHS organizes the collection of medicines from pharmacies for safe disposal.
Andrew Graham
Upper Poppleton, North Yorkshire
Scary cooking
SIR – In Maryland we are witnessing the emergence of Brood X cicadas.
They emerge from the ground billions of times every 17 years, climb the surrounding trees, mate very loudly, lay their eggs and die. The resulting nymphs fall to the ground, dig in and wait 17 years for their turn to emerge.
Some people cook and eat them (Letters May 18) and find them delicious and a good source of protein. I am not among them.
Mary Al Naber
Parkton, Maryland, USA