11June2014 Liz

I jog around the park I still have arthritis in my left knee, but I manage toget round the park. Off to pick up Liz and Anna

ScrabbleMary wins a very respectable score perhaps Iwill win tomorrow

Obituary:

Guardian:

D-day was a decisive moment but the 70th anniversary celebrations (Report, 7 June) are in stark contrast to earlier observances that I recall from postwar summers spent with my French grandmother. So many more civilians died than allied troops as a result of indiscriminate bombing that locals claimed the safest place on the Normandy coast that day was the beach. The traditional image of grateful French women showering soldiers with flowers needs to be tempered by the reality of a summer of chaotic violence, brutality, looting and rape. Nobody wanted to hear this after the war – especially De Gaulle – but before D-day fades into history we might reflect that, for many, Libération was “a bitter road to freedom”.
Dr John Cameron
St Andrews

Two factors stand out as responsible. First is the potential power vested in governing bodies. The School Governance (Role, Procedures and Allowances) (England) Regulations 2013 state that the functions of the governing body include “ensuring that the vision, ethos and strategic direction of the school are clearly defined”. Surely this should be the professional function of the teachers – for which they have trained – with the governors having oversight. But, as it seems has happened in a number of schools, obsessive governors have interpreted this as expecting them to lay down the law for teachers to follow.

The second factor is that governments (the coalition and to some extent its predecessors) have so cut back on finance for local authorities that their education departments are weakened. They have become unable to monitor and challenge changes in schools which seem inappropriate in a multicultural society. It is local inspectors and local administrators, familiar with the social features of localities, who are needed – not Ofsted inspectors briefed by London administrators.

At a deeper level, the spread of faith schools should be challenged because these can sow the seeds of future tensions in communities. There are few ideas which we should import from the United States, but the ban on religious instruction (not religious education) is one. Thomas Jefferson, in 1791, saw the wisdom of this, but would any of our current politicians dare advocate it?
Professor Michael Bassey
Newark, Nottinghamshire

•  As a primary school governor in the wake of the 1988 Education Reform Act, I was soon confronted with the impact of its requirement of a daily act of “wholly or predominantly” Christian worship, a requirement introduced by an amendment inserted by Christian “extremists” in the House of Lords (All schools must promote ‘British values’, says Gove, 10 June). Members of a local evangelical C of E church were quick to demand that their children should worship according to their religious views, and not be subverted by what they called an irreligious “hymn sandwich”. An intense debate ensued, involving Christian, atheist and agnostic parents, and the merely bemused. The outcome was that the staff declined to lead such worship, which was subcontracted, once a week, to local Protestant priests, one of whom had advised the school not to bother inviting “the Romans”. At one such act of worship, one of the priests cited the Japanese race as evidence of human evil, with a Japanese child sat in front of him. The head, to her credit, promptly banned him from the school premises. The legal requirement to conduct religious worship in schools is inevitably divisive and, self-evidently, puts parents of minority faiths in an invidious position, and can leave some children excluded from school assemblies. It would be much easier for school staffs and governors to contend with the demands of local religious communities to influence school activities if this invidious requirement that our children take part in acts of religious worship in their schools were repealed.
Dr Steve Ludlam
Sheffield

• Bernard Crick must be spinning in his grave. Whatever happened to all the work he did to establish citizenship – promoting knowledge of the system, tolerance and engagement as citizens – as a national curriculum compulsory subject? With its inclusion in teacher training, and training places allocated for the specific subject? And what about Keith Ajegbo’s report and the requirement to promote community cohesion in schools? Sidelined, vanished or downgraded by state schools who have had support for citizenship and community cohesion reduced or withdrawn by this government and “no longer required” by academies, and free schools not obligated to follow the national curriculum. Mr Gove, all the tools are already there, in detail and with associated materials and developments; why then the refusal to use them, instead relying on a vague statement about “British values”? This smells much more of politics than genuine concern.
Dr Neil Denby
Admissions tutor, teacher training, University of Huddersfield

•  Amid the present concern in certain schools for what Sir Michael Wilshaw has called “a culture of fear and intimidation” and whatever systems of regulation the realities may perhaps justify, there remains the issue of how to promote a culture of trust and respect, a culture in which children and their families of all backgrounds may prosper and contribute to each other’s wellbeing. I believe that a modern course in religious studies meets those needs, being critically focused on the accurate appreciation of a commonwealth of wisdoms in traditions both religious and secular. In that sense, it ticks all the boxes; it is academic in methodology, empathetic in technique and constructive of community, without prejudice to the concerns any individual’s interest in the notion of truth may have. As such, from my 30 years of observation, it is a subject which should be a universal birthright that can only be enriching for any modern society.
Esmond Lee
Head of religious studies, Trinity school, Shirley Park, Croydon

•  ”A culture of fear and intimidation has developed in some schools,” laments Michael Wilshaw, head of Ofsted. The same man who said in 2012 that: “If anyone says to you that staff morale is at an all-time low, you know you are doing something right.” And they say irony is dead.
Tony Clarke
London

•  Just checked the recent Ofsted report for my local community college (we don’t do academies down here in darkest Devon). Ethnicity of the pupils? Overwhelmingly white British. Preparation by school for children to live in multicultural Britain? No mention anywhere. Perhaps Mr Gove would like to call for a reinvestigation down here, as well as in Birmingham.
Sylvia Rose
Diptford, Devon

• Michael Gove expects schools to teach that gender segregation is wrong. I wonder if he has run this past the prime minister and the other Old Etonians in the cabinet?
Simon Cherry
Claygate, Surrey

PA

Independent:

Who is Michael Gove to perceive extremism? He is himself an extremist, a disciple of Bush and Blair, an ardent believer in the worldwide existential threat to western civilisation, whose fifth columnists  are in our midst plotting against us. 

Notice the charge against the schools involved: not that they have been teaching the jihadist view of the world, but they have been “failing to protect” pupils from exposure to any views which might lead them to further views which might perhaps cause sympathy with opinions which need to be proscribed. The extremist requires the teaching of his own views, and failure to do so (or even insufficient ardour in doing so) is further proof to him of the omnipresent threat which he fights against.

Roger Schafir

London N21

In his madcap crusade to create “free schools” and academies and to destroy local education authorities, which he regarded as part of the “Blob”,  Michael Gove has failed to provide any monitoring or accountability procedures.

Given the appalling problems identified at the Al-Madinah school in Derby and the numerous accounts of financial mismanagement in a host of academy chains and academies, he has failed to act decisively.

The programme has carried on at a giddy pace, and now it appears has gone completely off the rails. The education of children in some schools has been taken over by radical elements, and the “revolution” which he promised has been subverted by others with a quite different agenda.

Mr Gove chooses, like many fanatics, to blame everyone else. Now is the time for him to stand up and be counted, stop faith school groups creating free schools, and bring all academies back into a structure that can oversee them, like local authorities. He may thus salvage something from this disastrous monster that he has created.

Simon G Gosden

Rayleigh, Essex

There was a time – the 10 centuries preceding the past half-century – when immigration was low enough for newcomers to be absorbed, and they expected to be absorbed into the culture in which they had chosen to settle.

Along came multiculturalism. Then the idea of a host nation’s culture taking precedence began to unravel. All minority cultures were to be regarded equally, regardless of the lack of equality practised in some of them.

There was bound to be a clash sooner or later. One of the results of the multicultural approach is now being played out in Birmingham and Whitehall.

Edward Thomas

Eastbourne, East Sussex

When the “Popish Plot” was exposed as phoney in 1685 its author, Titus Oates, was flogged at the cart’s tail through the streets of London. Now it’s the Islamic “Trojan Horse Plot” that is creaking at the seams. Better get the newspaper down the trousers, Mr Gove.

Richard Humble

Exeter

What cottage hospitals could do

Kenneth Taylor (letter, 4 June) was almost certainly a hospital doctor and certainly not a GP working in a GP-led cottage hospital as I was for 25 years back in the 20th century. He should not make generalisations based on his own limited experience.

In that hospital we, the GPs, were delivering 250 babies per year in the maternity unit and had the best safety figures in the region.

My partner, a GP surgeon, was doing two lists per week in our small operating theatre.

After morning surgery we went on a rota system from the GP surgery to the hospital minor injuries unit to deal with casualties and undertake minor surgery.

We had visiting consultants in all specialities from the district general hospital every week coming 12 miles to do outpatient sessions in psychiatry to gynaecology to dermatology and undertake ward rounds on the medical, surgical and geriatric wards.

We had a thriving physiotherapy department, X-ray facilities and a day hospital.

It is now a shadow of its former self, purely for economic reasons.

Ask anyone what they want from the NHS and they will say, the best possible treatment as local to where I live as possible.

Dr Nick Maurice

Marlborough, Wiltshire

I understand what Kenneth Taylor writes about the downside of cottage hospitals. But I wonder whether a physician, even an obviously caring one like him, realises that his familiar working environment is a frighteningly alien and impersonal place to a vulnerable old person.

Any old person who does not wish to go “gentle into that good night” would welcome Dr Taylor’s concern. But many of us would readily swap access to the latest technological equipment for a shorter life with palliative care in the more homely atmosphere of a cottage hospital.

Friends that I visited, 40-odd years ago, in a Suffolk cottage hospital seemed to me to be cared for, virus-free and relatively happy. It is what I would wish for myself.

Margaret Cook

Seaford, East Sussex

Cautious welcome for carrier bag charge

Most campaigners against plastic waste will give a cautious welcome to the 5p charge on plastic bags announced in the Queen’s Speech. The welcome would be much warmer if the Government had been brave enough to be consistent and include all single-use bags and all retailers, large or small. As it stands, the charge will confuse shops and shoppers, and still allow significant amounts of waste and litter to pollute our environment.

Those who care about our environment will also greet the “food poisoning threat” from reusing bags with some scepticism. Most food, even from small retailers, comes so well wrapped that cross-contamination seems highly unlikely, and those of us who regularly use cloth bags don’t, in any case, “store” fresh meat and vegetables in them, as the researchers seem to think we do.

We store fresh produce in our fridges and cupboards, where contamination is also possible if proper precautions are not taken. We also wash our cloth bags occasionally and most of us have so far survived the dangers of reusable bags rather well.

Marilyn Mason

Kingston upon Thames, Surrey

The announcement of a 5p charge on plastic carrier bags in the Queen’s Speech comes as welcome news for England’s canals and rivers.

Plastic bags are an unsightly blight on the nation’s waterways, blocking weirs, getting tangled in boat propellers and trapping wildlife. Even with the help of many volunteers, the Canal & River Trust still spends over £770,000 a year removing litter from the 2,000 miles of historic waterways in our care, money we have to divert from vital maintenance.

What would make a real difference is if the money raised for the charge were recycled back to those environmental charities, like ourselves, that are at the front line of tackling litter.

Richard Parry

Chief executive, The Canal & River Trust

Milton Keynes

A penal tax on expensive homes

There remains a strand of political thought that the solution to every problem is to increase taxes on someone else. You assert, with no evidence, that the present system of council tax means that the bills of the super-rich are “subsidised” by those in the lower bands (editorial, 4 June).

The truth is that most of local government expenditure is financed by grants from central government.

These funds are derived, inter alia, from income tax, and the highest earners are the larger income tax payers by a long, long way. Council tax is intended to be a payment for council services and was never intended to be a penal tax on expensive homes, whose occupants may not be wealthy.

Richard Horton

Purley, Surrey

Mix-up in the Great War trenches

It was nice to have John Lichfield share his thoughts on the Somme offensive (“Massacre of the innocents”, 28 May) but could I point out that the illustration captioned “going over the top during the Battle of the Somme” in fact shows members of the 9th Cameronians (Scottish Rifles) carrying out a  trench raid near Arras on  27 March 1917?

Professor Jim Sharpe

Department of History

University of York

Fewer children produce less art

I have just read Zoë Pilger’s article about the RA summer exhibition (3 June) and see there is a work entitled “In 2013 14% Less Children Chose Art at GCSE …”.  Let us hope that these 14 per cent fewer children were busy learning English grammar so that they will not commit the same mistake.

Shirley Leuw

Stanmore,  Middlesex

Times:

Sir, Birmingham city council gets its share of the flak. However, 25 years after the Education Reform Act how can we talk about local authority “control” of any schools — especially academies, which account for most schools now being placed in special measures. The local authority role has been largely written out. Look at school governance, financing and inspections — how can anyone seriously suggest that there are effective levers of local control?

Nick Henwood

Littlebourne, Kent

Sir, A secular, taxpayer-funded school in Birmingham has been criticised by Ofsted for interfering with the performance of a nativity play, while another has incurred the wrath of the inspectors because it cancelled Christmas celebrations.

By what right did these secular schools attempt to foist a Christian celebration on their non-Christian pupils?

Professor Geoffrey Alderman

University of Buckingham

Sir, Isn’t it high time that all religious state schools be phased out to make way for equal opportunities for all pupils under a state education system to receive an impartial and inclusive education that is free from any religiously biased activities? Citizenship education does not need to be delivered by any acts of faith, be it Christian or otherwise.

Jane Tam

Birmingham

Sir, The head of Ofsted does little to build confidence in either the transparency of working procedures or reporting conclusions of his organisation. His talk of “a culture of fear and intimidation” summarises precisely that Ofsted-generated climate which continues to erode morale among teachers, of whom more than a few would relish the opportunity to carry out an unannounced inspection of Sir Michael Wilshaw’s work.

Robert Gower

Egleton, Rutland

Sir, I have been a Scottish Presbyterian missionary in Ghana; a Hebrew-speaking Jew; a Catholic school social worker and the manager of a Sunni camp after the Pakistan earthquake 2005. This background leads me to conclude that Ofsted could create a multicultural educational system at a stroke by separating education from religion. In this post-Christian country, it must be the only way forward to prevent friction in children’s lives and education.

Miller Caldwell

Dumfries

Sir, I am amazed that it is only now that inspections without notice for schools are being considered. As a retired head teacher of primary schools in London, I would have appreciated not being given any notice. Why have special preparations for an inspection? Why shouldn’t Ofsted see what goes on in a school, warts and all? It should be able to go into any school, without forewarning, and see what everyday life is like in that school.

The time between notice of an inspection and the inspection was an extremely nerve-racking for all in the school community. And, as has been alleged in Birmingham, it may be possible to manipulate what inspectors see. Indeed, more generally it is often suggested that difficult pupils are “encouraged” to be absent for an inspection — not possible if it is sprung without notice.

David Collins

Tel Aviv

Telegraph:

6:58AM BST 10 Jun 2014

60 Comments

SIR – Why give schools even 30 minutes’ warning of an Ofsted inspection? When I worked for a high street bank, the thought that the inspectors might walk in at any moment focused minds on correct procedure and prevented any misdemeanours.

SIR – Max Pemberton describes the current NHS policy of forcing medical staff to remove ties and watches as making no sense. He is perfectly correct.

Irish Times:

Sir, – As an alumnus of Bessborough (1985), I remember vividly the screams of the institutionalised in the middle of the night, the old nun who said my baby would be fine in America and the girls who came and went without notice. But in that strange world of false names and shame there was also a strong and grim camaraderie between the girls, and some green shoots of humanity as I have a clear memory of the same nun helping me study for my Leaving Certificate French exam.

My daughter was adopted in Cork and, natural bonds rent asunder, we are now reunited and trying to piece together a relationship that has a beginning, no middle and an end to be determined. – Yours, etc,

CLAIRE GARVEY,

Killester Avenue,

Dublin 5.

Sir, – I was born six weeks prematurely in Sean Ross Abbey, Roscrea, Co Tipperary, in March 1965, and my birth mother, who was 21 at the time, died from a post-partum haemorrhage three days later. I was alive, thanks to the same nuns who may well have neglected my mother. No thanks to my grandmother, extended family or society, who had discarded me and my mother as an inconvenient truth.

There was a chicken-and-egg scenario in Ireland whereby the church fed societal fear and shame but society also accepted it. The valley of the squinting windows took easily to rigid Catholicism.

When I met my grandmother (more than 30 years later) she said that no one in the family would have had a future if they had taken me home. They would have been spat at in the street. The parish priest at the time didn’t want to bury my mother on sacred ground and my grandmother lied to neighbours about the cause of death.

The “culture” of the time was largely influenced by the Catholic Church.

On a recent visit to the abbey, I visited the chapel where the girls would have prayed daily. Over the altar is a stained-glass image of Mary Magdalene – the prostitute and sinner. But who was the real sinner? – Yours, etc,

Dr MARY MULLANEY,

Rowanbyrn,

Blackrock, Co Dublin.

Sir, – One line of thinking I have seen repeated since the dreadful Tuam story broke in the media is that the public must consider the tragedy in the context of the country’s economic and social profile at the time. Well I say this – no particular time in our history should be an excuse for what happened here. All our shameful history needs to be brought out in the open – corporal punishment in our schools, the dreadful industrial schools, the Magdalene laundries, clerical sex abuse, and now this latest news on the remains of 796 babies, who died at a religious-run and State-funded home for unmarried mothers in Tuam from 1925 to 1961.

We must not separate these dreadful happenings, and realise and accept, once and for all, that as a society we have no excuses whatsoever. – Yours, etc,

BRIAN McDEVITT,

Ardconnaill,

Glenties,

Co Donegal.

Sir, – The refusal of the Irish authorities to reveal the extent to which they sought orders for the disclosure of content from Vodafone is a matter of the gravest concern (“Thousands of requests made to secretly track Irish calls”, June 6th). While one might accept that the details of such warrants may be sensitive, the number of warrants issued simply gives a measure of how much covert surveillance is taking place.

In a functioning democracy, citizens have a right to know the extent to which the apparatus of state impinges upon their privacy and they have a right to challenge the state if they feel that the state is exercising the enormous power that they have vested in it inappropriately.

Entire networks have been penetrated covertly by a State that is not prepared to quantify the extent of its surveillance.

This matter needs to be clarified immediately. The State has already been found to be utterly remiss in its administration of justice. Seen in this context, any attempt to prevent publication of these figures can only be interpreted as an indication that the State has something to hide from its citizens. – Yours, etc,

BOB STRUNZ,

Ogonnelloe,

Scariff, Co Clare.

Sir, – Frank McNally’s interesting “Irishman’s Diary” (June 5th) recalls the infamous libel action taken by the poet Patrick Kavanagh against the Leader in 1954.

As late as the autumn of 1966, 12 years after that trial, Kavanagh’s anger over that disastrous fiasco still burned strongly in his heart, as this writer was to experience in an encounter in the Bailey Bar in Dublin. At the time I had just graduated from UCD with a degree in history. I joined Kavanagh’s company in the Bailey and was carrying a copy of the literary magazine Envoy.

Kavanagh spotted the magazine, asked to have a look at it and he then went into a paroxysm of anger when he discovered that his own diary column in that particular back issue dealt with the Leader trial.

He accused me of deliberately setting him up to read it and denounced the staff in UCD history department. It seems that he strongly suspected that a certain professor of modern history at UCD had had a hand in writing the Leader profile of him which had caused him to take the libel action against the periodical. – Yours, etc,

HUGH McFADDEN,

Harold’s Cross,

Dublin 6W.

Sir, – When will we learn? It was disturbing to read (“Nama considers offering 500 apartments as social housing”, Home News, June 3rd) that consideration is being given by Nama, the Housing Agency and the Department of the Environment to using 500 apartments near the Square shopping centre in Tallaght in Dublin for social housing. According to the article, Minister for Finance Michael Noonan has urged local authorities to reconsider the national guideline placing an upper limit of 20 per cent of social housing dwellings in a private development.

There are solid, evidence-based reasons for that limit – the long-standing and compelling evidence from around the world that undue concentration of disadvantaged families compounds the disadvantage experienced by those families, affecting children’s educational outcomes and life chances as well as the residents’ health, employment prospects and wellbeing.

The present housing crisis in Dublin must not be solved by adopting short-term strategies that could have serious long-term negative outcomes for people and communities, and especially for children. If we are serious about placing children’s needs and interests at the centre of policy, as set out in the recent National Policy Framework for Children and Young People 2014-2020 published by the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, we must recognise the lasting impact of housing on children’s lives and plan accordingly. – Yours, etc,

ANNE COLGAN,

Ballinteer Road,

Sir, – I have sympathy for your correspondent Dr Martin Pulbrook (June 9th), who had the misfortune of seeing so many errors of spelling, punctuation and translation in notices for the public in Portlaoise railway station and elsewhere. From now on he will have to quickly avert his eyes when he comes across another, as they are everywhere, especially in Galway, where it seems that a concerted effort is being made to propagate the notion that Irish is spoken and understood in the city.

On consecutive road signs, “Galway West” is “Gaillimh Thiar”, then “Gaillimh Siar”. A road sign in Loughrea has “Bóthar Átha na Rí” instead of “Bóthar Átha an Rí”. I had to look twice when I saw “Shráid na Siopaí” in gold lettering on a shop window.

I saw “Sean No’s on Friday” in a pub window. Somebody must have pointed out the error, for a few days later the apostrophe was extended backwards to become a síne fada. Then it became “Seán Nós” followed by “Séan Nós”. Above its doors a beauty salon has “It’s Ú mo Chuisle”. The phrase was taken from the internet, they told a friend of mine, and was therefore correct!

In radio advertisements “An Post” is pronounced in genteel English tones to rhyme with “on” and “lost”.

The daddy of them all can be seen in the Bon Secours hospital in Galway. The English version is: “If you think you may be pregnant, please tell the radiographer before you have your X-ray”. The translation underneath is: “Ma dh’fhaodadh e bhith gu bheil sibh trom, leig fios dhan radiographer mus teid sibh a-steach airson X-ray.”

I agree with Dr Pulbrook that those responsible should hang their heads in shame but for his own peace of mind I suggest aversion therapy. He should start collecting examples. He will very soon have a full notebook and will be able to smile and shrug his shoulders. What else can one do? – Yours, etc,

SEAN GLYNN,

Donnellan Drive,

Loughrea,

Sir, – Cían Carlin (June 10th) repeats one of the cardinal errors of Irish politics when he reduces “unionism” to a mere political preference. The divisions in Northern Ireland span not only politics but also culture, religion, history and ancestry. “Unionist” and “nationalist” have become shorthand names for Ulster-British and Gaelic-Irish ethnic groups, each with their distinct mythology and cultural norms. Pretending that a word when uttered by someone else means only that which you would prefer it to mean serves only to derail the argument.

To believe that one ceases to become “unionist” if one votes for a united Ireland is to reduce the entirety of a culture to a single issue. If changing your mind about a particular policy also implies wholesale abandonment of your culture and history, then it is no wonder that Northern Ireland politics is so dysfunctional. For too long we have pretended that a struggle for ethnic supremacy is a mere political disagreement, perhaps because we fear the implications of admitting that our problems are not amenable to quick-fix solutions.

More thoughtful politicians and commentators prefer to use “pro-union” for the political viewpoint in order to clearly distinguish it from cultural “unionism”.

It is quite possible to mix and match political and cultural labels – there is a distinct body of “unionist” opinion that would prefer an independent Northern Ireland state, and many “nationalists” are content to be part of the UK.

So many fruitless arguments hinge on the misinterpretation of ambiguous terms. Just as “Ireland” can mean either the 32-county island or the 26-county republic, so can “unionism” and “nationalism” have multiple, distinct meanings depending on context. Debates descend into slanging matches where opponents aim their rage past each other, each using the same words but meaning different things by them.

Perhaps it’s time we stopped using the words “unionism” and “nationalism” altogether, as they seem to create more confusion than enlightenment. – Yours, etc,

ANDREW GALLAGHER,

Trimbleston,

Sir, – I fully share Cormac Meehan’s view that the nomination of Ireland’s next EU commissioner should not be a consolation prize for political failure (May 31st).

Instead, I believe Ireland’s next EU commissioner should be directly elected by the Irish people. What would be required would be for the Government to hold an election and to undertake to nominate the candidate chosen by the people. This would in no way contravene existing European treaties as the actual nomination would still be formally made by the Taoiseach. It would simply be a way for the Taoiseach to ask the people whom they wished him to nominate.

One advantage of this arrangement would be that it would be extremely difficult for the EU Council of Ministers, the incoming European Commission president and the European Parliament to reject the people’s choice, which is, of course, why it probably won’t happen. Nevertheless, I think the Government should give it a try. Who knows, it might even catch on in other countries if someone sets the example. – Yours, etc,

ED KELLY,

Keswick Road,

St Helens,

Sir, – Your Editorial (“Educating Together”, June 9th) on plans by the Stormont Executive to fund “shared education” between Catholics, Protestants and those of other faiths, gives a guarded welcome to the initiative.

However, I believe the provision of “shared campuses” rather than the complete integration of students is a failure to take the bold steps necessary to confront sectarianism and racism in Northern Ireland and could be construed as promoting a benign form of apartheid.

You cite as an unacceptable reality that of 291 schools in Northern Ireland in the 2011-12 school year, 180 had no Protestant children and 111 had not a single Catholic on their roll.

Since the foundation of the Northern state a policy of segregation of communities was rigorously enforced in line with the policy of gerrymandering to ensure continuation of unionist hegemony in predominantly nationalist areas.

Indeed, a recent survey found that in excess of 90 per cent of the population in the North lives in denominationally segregated housing.

Therefore, the successful integration of students in education can only come about if there is the same appetite to pursue a similar policy of integrated housing. This policy of integrated education, which I fully endorse, must be consensus-based, not mandatory, where difference is not just tolerated but respected, where all creeds, colours and systems are celebrated and where the existence of schools with a differing ethos is both welcomed and defended. – Yours, etc,

TOM COOPER,

Templeville Road,

Templeogue,

Sir, – Donald Clarke’s recent article suggested that many parents participate in Christian rituals in order to gain school places for their children (“If you don’t approve of the church then don’t take part in its rituals”, Opinion & Analysis, June 7th). Yet the recent census of 2011 revealed that over 84 per cent of the population regard themselves as Catholic, while 6.4 per cent said they were from the Church of Ireland faith. Perhaps these statistics explain the large numbers willingly participating in Christian rituals. – Yours, etc,

JOHN BELLEW,

Paughanstown,

Dunleer,

Co Louth.

Sir, – It was with great sadness that I learned of the sudden and untimely death of Prof John Fitzpatrick (“Outstanding doctor who became a world leader in urology”, Obituaries, June 7th).

Known to a litany of surgical trainees and junior doctors that worked in his department as “Prof Fitz” or, but never to his face, “Fitzy”, his remarkable qualities are outlined in your obituary.

I had the immense good fortune to receive his guidance both as an undergraduate looking up from a packed lecture theatre on Wednesday mornings in the Mater hospital, where he would impart his wisdom without the aid of chalk or PowerPoint, and as a junior surgical trainee scrubbed alongside him during one of his intricate cancer surgeries.

I also had the luck to work alongside his youngest son – a true gentleman, a remarkable character and excellent doctor. My heartfelt sympathy to him and his family. I know I echo many UCD and surgical graduates when I say his character and guidance will be missed. – Yours, etc,

Dr HUGH Ó FAOLÁIN,

Strandhill,

Co Sligo.

Sir, – I take no side in the dispute between Aer Lingus and its cabin crew. Be that as it may, I prefer to take my holidays on the days I choose – and with that in mind I have just made a booking for later this year with a competitor, despite a higher price and a less convenient time. I cannot be the only one. – Yours, etc,

RICHARD BANNISTER,

Pembroke Square,

Ballsbridge,

Sir, – I have been waiting for at least five days for the forecast “thundery showers” here, “with possible flooding”. Nothing so far. Perhaps if “Weather Watch” stops forecasting it, it might happen. Otherwise, sending this letter might just do the trick! – Yours, etc,

PADRAIG J O’CONNOR,

Lower Dodder Road,

Rathfarnham, Dublin 14.

Irish Independent:

* The attempted rationalisations conjured up by the church and its followers with regard to the Tuam mass grave are not surprising.

The “we weren’t the only ones at fault” attitude has almost become a slogan for the church and religious apologists in modern times, wheeled out in times of controversy in an attempt to inoculate itself from further disgrace.

I would take issue with Dr Munjed Farid Al Qutob’s and Fr Con McGillicuddy’s letters (Irish Independent, June 9) where they say things such as “we should blame societies who at times condemned unmarried mothers or children born out of wedlock to neglect, ostracism and abandonment”, and “adoptions were forced on unfortunate single mothers because there were no social services for them and Christian families would not bear the public shame of caring for a daughter who had a child born out of wedlock”.

Both men focus on symptoms rather than drilling deep for the cause. However, they hit on an accidental truth (thus disproving their intended points). An aside . . . even if their points were true (and church and State were completely separate) it wouldn’t make a difference, for only one of these organisations preaches divinely inspired morality.

At the time in question (still to this day, some would argue) Ireland’s politics, culture and society were so deeply couched in religion that it was arguably, if unofficially, a theocracy.

In fact, so much power had church and so tightly had the concept of sin impressed itself into the lives of the people, a kind of proto-caste system had emerged, and the unlucky were cast into indentured servitude, to which no one batted an eyelid.

This had a crippling effect on society and Irish culture. Ultimately, it’s at such times, when dogmatic religious fervour has gripped a national consciousness to such an extent, that the church can preach righteousness, morality and love while simultaneously, and apathetically, committing acts of unspeakable cruelty.

This mental and emotional compartmentalisation coupled with such pervasive political power allows the church (and all religions) to be able to eschew empathy in lieu of preserving its supposed virtue.

Dr Al Qutob goes further to say: “The more we distance ourselves from religious doctrines, the more we become ruthless, indifferent and void.” I dare say if the unwed mothers and terrified children (and everyone else) of 20th-Century Ireland had been more distant from religious doctrines, they’d (and we’d) be all better off for it.

It’s time to cast aside the mental manacles of religion, to cull this willing suspension of our critical faculties and seek intellectual and emotional independence just as we once sought national independence.

BRIAN MURPHY

BRITISH COLUMBIA, CANADA

A CHANGING OF THE GUARD

* What people have to remember is that when the Tuam babies were being buried, the Catholic priests of the time were talking Latin to a wall while all the people of the parish were looking around wondering what was going on.

They were then treated to the thoughts of a single man on the evils that could beset all those outside wedlock, while at the same time expected to believe that this man was above these very same temptations.

This placed the clergy in an ascended position in society through the simple trick of their being the only ones brave enough to speak about sexual matters in public and from an unchallenged position.

This was a power, involving different themes, eg, Hitler speaking about Jews, that has been manipulated for centuries.

The antithesis to this is the truth. Once evidence emerges, then the problem has to be dealt with. In today’s world, one of inter-connectivity, one where all opinion and all stories are shared, the old days of burying a file or dancing an advocacy group to oblivion, or outliving them in the courts is coming to an end.

What the world is evidencing in the recent votes is a changing of the guard, the new replacing the old, the method of governance in the digital age is emerging. Ancient methods and ancient theories and superstitions are being broken down by an emerging educated youth.

The politicians that best resemble this emergence are those who will be elected in the future.

DERMOT RYAN

ATTYMON, ATHENRY, CO GALWAY

SEE NO EVIL, SPEAK NO EVIL

* A shocking discovery of a mass grave of 796 babies who died in a mother-and-baby home in Tuam. Another case of see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil in good old Catholic Ireland. Another dirty little secret hidden under the nuns’ habits.

Church and State have always gone hand in hand so they too are responsible for turning a blind eye through the years of Ireland’s past.

How many more of these babies not buried went to hospitals/colleges for medical research?

This was raised in the Dail in 1930 but maybe the government was too busy with the treaty and had no time to bother about its young citizens dying like flies. To the outside world, Ireland was this picturesque island of fairies and leprechauns with horses and traps and donkeys going around the lakes of Killarney, a land of saints and scholars, the land of milk and honey – well, what a pretty picture this latest scandal paints.

Suffer little children to come on to me, the Lord said. Safe in the Lord’s hands they now rest, away from the hands that promised to serve God but failed.

KATHLEEN RYAN

TALLAGHT

IRRESPONSIBLE MEDIA

* Media failed to challenge the spending spree brought about by the decisions of a small number of our most powerful citizens during the boom.

That ended with a bankrupt country.

The consequent austerity was denounced by the same media as unnecessary since it was someone else’s fault and should be paid for by someone else.

Now media are orchestrating an early election and the return of an anti-austerity government in a country that is borrowing billions to keep public services going.

How irresponsible is that?

A LEAVY

SUTTON, DUBLIN

CULTURAL QUESTIONS

* Columnist Ian O’Doherty trawls far and wide in his quest for new cultural patterns to share with his readers. The latest offence he has unearthed in the US is “cultural appropriation”, ie, going native. I had heard of cultural imperialism where small nations are dominated by great powers.

The newest politically incorrect offence means that those pilgrims touring here clad in looney leprechaun costumes are looting our traditional treasures.

Blush in shame.

TONY BARNWELL

DUBLIN 9

THE BEAUTIFUL GAME

* As the great World Cup fiesta approaches, one must note the widespread criticism about questionable FIFA decisions, inequalities in Brazil, overpaid underperforming prima donnas, etc.

But we football fans must also embrace the beautiful game and look forward to some spectacular moments of sheer skill.

The balletic artistry of performers such as Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Neymar and more is sure to enthral. These ball-juggling wizards are the Rudolf Nureyev or Vaslav Nijinsky of their discipline. A joy to behold. Game on!

TONY WALLACE

LONGWOOD, CO MEATH

Irish Independen