8 July2014 Rain

I jog around the park I still have arthritis in my left knee, but I manage toget round the park. I am so tired rain today

ScrabbleIwin, but get under 400. perhaps Marywill win tomorrow.

Obituary:

Guardian:

Gordon Maloney and others rightly deplore the failed experiment in fees and marketisation over the last four years of a Tory-led government (Letters, 3 July). They state that before the election they want to put free accessible public education back on to the political agenda, a sentiment I share with thousands of others who are committed to re-establishing the tradition of independent working-class education that existed for much of the 20th century.

Kathleen Ferris (Letters, 1 July) claims that my discovery of James Joyce‘s anti-syphilitic treatment, galyl, “rests on sources and facts” cited in her 1995 book, James Joyce and the Burden of Disease. My sources are two 1928 Joyce letters published in the 1950s and 60s. The fact that Ferris also cited these letters (as with Richard Ellmann before her) does not mean that my argument “rests” on hers.

Barclays is to spend tens of millions on an academy to provide training in truthfulness and compliance (Report, 4 July). Should that not have been instilled on joining the bank? David Walker says that the work done so far in teaching about compliance “is not a sign of failure … but indicative that it takes time”. It provides another breathtaking example of the ethical mindset of an industry where profit outweighs any moral considerations and where insular arrogance definitely rules.
Tony Roberts
Preston, Lancashire

I was working with children who had suffered sexual abuse in the 1980s, running a therapeutic programme (Questions child abuse inquiry must answer, 8 July). While we helped in changing many lives, we were conscious how difficult it was to prosecute and convict offenders. It was often too difficult for the children to face disbelief at their testimony and the frightening prospect of appearing in court even behind screens. The perpetrators were often established members of the community.

The greatest danger facing our democracy is the ability of the public relations community to distort debate by corrupting the meaning of words. When country A invades country B and its inhabitants fight back, as they have every right to do under any conceivable international law, they become “the resistance”. An “insurgent” is defined as one who surges in. Thus, when the US army surged into Iraq in 2003 they became insurgents and the Iraqis who fought back became resistance fighters. While the Guardian has not sunk to the level of idiocy inherent in PR phrases like “clean coal”, you persist in getting this the wrong way round (Iraqis once craved unity, 20 June). Would you favour rewriting the history of the second world war to discuss the French insurgency?
Graham Andrews
Spokane, Washington, US

Apply diplomatic pressure

Facing Shia-Sunni bloodletting in Syria and Iraq, US President Barack Obama has rightly rejected any military intervention and the majority of Americans are opposed to any intervention. Michael Cohen quotes Obama saying “some of our most costly mistakes came not from our restraint, but from our willingness to rush into military adventures without thinking through the consequences” (No mood in US for a fight, 20 June).

However, the world cannot sit by and let the Shias and the Sunnis slaughter each other. The US should use its leverage over Iraq’s Shia prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki, to pressure him to extend moderate Sunnis a share in the Shia-led government, which Obama is already doing. He can also use the newfound negotiation with Iran to prod the Iranian leaders to pressure Bashar al-Assad to extend similar sharing of power with the Sunnis in Syria. Obama should also persuade Saudi Arabia to stop supplying arms and financial support to the Sunni extremists. It seems both Iran and Saudi Arabia are conducting a proxy war against each other through their surrogates in the Middle East.

Obama has rightly chosen not to intervene militarily in Iraq and Syria. But he cannot let the Shias and Sunnis slaughter each other in the name of religion.
Mahmood Elahi
Ottawa, Canada

Dogma and incompetence

Will Hutton, in Obsessed with reform of the NHS (27 June), exposed the fallacious thinking behind the modern panacea of corporatisation for perceived inefficiencies in public institutions such as the NHS. These fallacies arise as a consequence of: 1) a preoccupation with party dogma based on half-baked economic theory and the vested interest of other influential sectors, coupled with 2) sheer incompetence. Everybody remembers Sir Humphrey, but we tend to forget that Westminster included Jim Hacker.

Economists from Adam Smith onwards have touted hypotheses dressed up as theories with general validity as if they were holy writ. Such treatment is inappropriate for highly complex social systems. These require a more pragmatic approach involving clearly defined objectives, thorough investigation of the means of achieving them, and continual review to improve their efficiency in the light of experience and new knowledge. To cure the ills of both our bodies and our institutions, we should only resort to amputation as a last resort but, in public life at least, the barber-surgeon appears to be making a comeback.
David Barker
Bunbury, Western Australia

Sport is expensive

Sir Michael Wilshaw misses the point when he thinks that the problem of few top British sportspeople coming from state schools lies with the schools (Playing field is hardly level, 27 June). To become a top athlete in most sports requires about 10,000 hours of training. We have to charge £4.50 ($7.70) minimum for a one-and-a-half hour recreational session. Those starting to show promise would need to do maybe six hours a week (£18). Those training at a higher level may need 15-20 hours a week – and so the costs rise. Add to this costs of equipment, competition entry, travel and accommodation at competitions and squads and you are left with only the children of rich parents. Grants that cover all this are only available once you have become a top athlete. Local grants to promising juniors maybe reach £100, which goes nowhere. We try to pay our coaches – and half the costs of their training, but this is becoming prohibitive as the cost of the lowest level of qualification is over £300, the second level over £500 and the third level over £1,000. Sport is rapidly becoming only for the rich. What is amazing is that anyone from state schools manages to become a top athlete.
Catherine Page
Birkenhead, UK

Cameron is wrong on EU

How can prime minister David Cameron claim there is a democratic deficit in the European Union (4 July)? How can he accuse the European parliament of having no legitimacy and being involved in a power grab when it votes on the head of the commission? Each one of the 700-odd MEPs has been elected by a citizen of the EU. What’s more, this has been done only very recently. Cameron, in fact, has never been elected as prime minister. Unlike France, for example, Britons do not elect their leader. He is prime minister because a coalition of Lib Dems and Conservatives, the biggest group in the British parliament, wants it to be so. In the EU parliament the biggest coalition is the centre right, which wishes Jean-Claude Juncker to be leader of the commission. How is that in any way different to the process that produced Cameron as British PM?
Mike Owen
Blandford, UK

Flesh-and-blood reality

Simon Jenkins’s piece on how technology has not replaced flesh-and-blood experiences (27 June) harks back to the old science-fiction scenario of robots obsessed with seeking the human qualities they lack, as in the theory that robotic aliens have come to earth and retrieved samples of our flesh in an attempt to replicate our “power of live”, as Jenkins quotes the latest California mot du jour. One simple non-scientific experiment to prove the “exhilaration” of “physical interaction” is to look up from your iPhone the next time you’re in public and cast your eyes on some new real flesh and blood faces again.
Richard Orlando
Westmount, Quebec, Canada

A greener option

Zoe Williams’s article (4 July) neglects to mention the green(ish) option of long-distance container-ship travel. It’s hard to see any advantage in flying from Luxembourg to Amsterdam. Train would be faster and without the time-wasting airport and security procedures.

Container-ships are polluting – but less so than aircraft – and they are going to operate anyway.

I have, over 22 years, travelled nearly two dozen times by container ship. I have no guilty conscience about this, since for those with time to spare there is no greener option.
Alaisdair Raynham
Truro, UK

Briefly

• Once again the Guardian refers to Narendra Modi’s landslide victory (27 June). This is deceiving and propagates a myth that politicians love. Modi got 31% of the vote: that is not a landslide, it is a minority. It is only because of the peculiar way that votes in the British electoral system are converted into parliamentary seats that it seems that he won. It is not democracy. Why do people put up with it?
David Huntley
Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada

• Catherine Corless’s persistent research into what is hidden in the grounds of an abandoned nunnery might well inspire the same sort of digs in Canada (27 June). Similar sordid secrets are coming to light here.

What did James Joyce mean when he said, “Ireland is the old sow that eats her farrow”? Surely he could not have imagined the mysterious deaths of innocents in pious institutions – or could he?
William Emigh
Victoria, British Columbia, Canada

• Michael Pritchard’s filtering water bottle is an excellent example of a technical innovation (13 June). There was one thing missing, though. Having filtered a large amount of water, one is left with a filter heavily contaminated with pathogens, and that requires safe disposal.

No mention was made of this. May I suggest burning, along with instructions in the safe handling of the used filter?
Derek Williams
Donvale, Victoria, Australia

• The latest action of footballer Luis Suárez strikes us Europeans as shocking but not, it seems, his countrymen (4 July). Perhaps in Uruguay they refer to football as The Bite-iful Game.
Alan Williams-Key
Madrid, Spain

• Peter Geoghegan’s report on oil booming and busting Aberdeen features in your international news pages (27 June). A subliminal pro-independence stance?
Ángel Diaz Mendez
Oviedo, Spain

• Following on from your story about Jimmy Savile’s abuse (4 July), isn’t now the time to stop our obsessive cult of celebrity status. In all walks of life?
Suzanne Fletcher
Stockton on Tees, UK

Independent:

I guess I am as “English” as anyone in this country can be, my family having lived in the village where I reside for 250 years now. As far as I know, I do not have a single “Scottish” gene in my body. Yet some years ago I joined the Scottish National Party.

I did so because I grew tired of the continuous whining of Scottish politicians about how unfair the other countries in the union were to them. In the absence of a credible “English Nationalist Party” I decided the best way for me to be rid of Scotland would be to support its own drive to independence.

I will be happy to see the Scots pay for their own free university education, nursing-home places and prescriptions, rather than a large part of it coming, as currently it does, from the Barnett formula. I predict that after a brief period of euphoria the Scots will be taking their tartan begging bowl to the IMF and EU.

So, if ye gang awa’ Alex, from my point of view it will have been two pounds a month well spent.

John Glasspool

Timsbury, Hampshire

Around half of what the SNP claims is Scottish oil is in waters that would be lost to Scotland if Orkney and Shetland were allowed the same freedom to decide on nationhood as the SNP is demanding for Scotland.

While the financial arguments for Scottish independence are debatable, one thing is certain. If Orkney and Shetland, with their historical links to Norway, threw off the Scottish yoke, an independent Scotland would have a monumental financial crisis and a much impoverished future.

When is Alex Salmond going to tell us how his party intends to squash any attempt by the Northern Isles to gain independence since their retention is essential to a prosperous independent Scotland?

Roger Chapman

Keighley, West Yorkshire

Why on earth should anyone listen to Alistair Darling’s musings (report, 8 July) on the impact of a Yes vote on the economy of Scotland and the UK? This is the ex-chancellor who allowed the continuation of  the Thatcherite de-regulated regime in the financial industry, who presided over the run-up to the banking crisis and also supported the Iraq war, the Afghanistan war and the renewal of Trident. His campaign in support of the Union is motivated solely by his fear that the loss of the Scottish Labour MPs would put his party out of power for a very long time and possibly forever.

Colin Yardley

Chislehurst,  Greater London

People living in England and Wales will be unaware that HM Government has sent to all homes in Scotland a glossy, 16-page, full-colour brochure entitled What Staying in the UK Means for Scotland.

It contains nothing other than arguments supporting the Better Together campaign. The only nod to impartiality is a sentence on page 15 that states, in smaller type: “Alternatively, you can request information by writing to: Scotland Office…”

What is the London-based media doing to investigate this misuse of public funds for political purposes?

Peter Martin

Muir of Ord, Highland

If the cringeworthy uniform to be worn by Scots competitors at the Commonwealth Games is an example of Scottish decision making, it will do much to swell the No vote in the independence referendum. Frankly, one would not do this to a sofa.

John Eoin Douglas

Edinburgh

The role of celebrity status in sex abuse

It was obviously wrong of Rolf Harris to do what he did (report, 7 July). But if we put people on pedestals and insulate them from regular reality checks, we should expect this type of behaviour.

It is likely that we evolved from polygamous apes and much of our behaviour may still be based on this genetic history. Many apes use sex as one mechanism to create or reinforce social bonds. This can take the form of enforced sex as well, including the kind of assault Rolf was found guilty of. A male ape leader of a polygamous group would seek to reinforce the social bonds regularly to prove to the whole group, and himself, that he is in charge.

When our celebrities are surrounded by people who are always reinforcing how wonderful they are, it is unsurprising when the celebrities lose their moral compass and social perspective. These celebrities are repeatedly given the message that they are the dominant male in their social group. When females are introduced into the social group, does our biological background play a part in driving these “dominant males” to do the things they do?

Our sycophantic celebrity culture, and our biological hard wiring make this society’s problem. We may drive this behaviour underground by showing that people sometimes don’t get away with rapes and assault, but it won’t stop until we work out how we can destroy the cult of celebrity. These people  are skilled entertainers,  not heroes.

Andrew Roberts

Newbury, Berkshire

The child-abuse allegations are the most serious consequences to have arisen from a string of examples of institutional failures and mismanagement (“Independent inquiry to look into paedophile network claims”, 8 July).

At the root of these failures is a belief in the virtually sacrosanct nature of “management” and “leadership”. For too long, leadership positions have gone to those who can be trusted to toe the line, rather than to ask questions. This has resulted in management structures that may be suitable for the purposes of the establishment, but not for the many on the receiving end of their policies.

I Christie

King’s Lynn, Norfolk

One of the key roles of MI5 has been to monitor our senior establishment figures to identify any potential circumstances that facilitate blackmail by a foreign power. It is inconceivable that, in a period that began before the end of the Cold War, the activities of a Westminster-based paedophile ring would not have been closely monitored by our secret services. And even if they had failed to spot it, any files relating to such a blackmail risk would surely have been sent to them as soon as the Home Office received them in 1983. Has Theresa May asked them if they kept their copies?

Colin Burke

Manchester

Why do we need to know that Theresa May made her statement “in a sombre all-black trouser suit”?

Margaret Lyons

Sheffield

A grandfather lost in the first world war

“A History of the First World War in 100 Moments: Their identification tags were embedded in the putrid flesh” (5 July) was both horrifying and grisly. My grandfather was killed at the Somme in August 1916 and his body was never found. I always had a fond thought that some French farmer would turn up his identification tag while ploughing his fields.

Alas, when I attended the opening of the visitor centre at Thiepval I was informed that only officers had metal tags and the other ranks had tags made of cardboard. My grandmother never saw the memorial at Thiepval, never knew where exactly or how her husband died. All she knew was that she had six children to bring up on her own.

Rosalind Grey

Ely, Cambridgeshire

John Lichfield’s article on the First World War and presumption that it was a myth that the German army was never defeated is not correct. In spite of massive losses and the entry of America to the war, the German army remained a force that would have made it very difficult for the Allies to actually occupy Germany.

At sea, as in the Second World War, the German U-boats remained undefeated and could have continued to wage war against the Allies. At Kiel in the Second World War the U-boat crews showed their resolve and disgust by turning their backs on the Allies when the surrender was taking place.

Technically the Germans were not defeated in the First World War but sought an Armistice when they had almost run out of men and the army had to engage in fighting Communists in the homeland rather than at the front. Battle for battle the Germans came out of the war with far more victories than the Allies and would undoubtedly have won had it not been for the intervention of America with thousands of fresh troops and armaments.

D Cameron

Farnham, Hampshire

Struggles with sexuality

It is great that Grace Dent is so accepting of other people’s sexuality (8 July). But from my work as a counsellor, I know it isn’t always that easy. I have seen parents who have struggled with “the announcement”. They want to be supportive but find it a challenge accepting a person who feels different to the one they have lived with for 15 years.

And despite the numerous celebrities who either play gay TV characters or are gay themselves and proud to  be so, it is still challenging for most 16-year-olds to accept their sexuality  if it is different to that  of their peers.

Owen Redahan

London SW18

Times:

Telegraph:

SIR – Even the Liberal Democrats, who endlessly promoted nuclear cruise missiles on Astute-class submarines as an alternative to Trident – a strategy mooted by Mark Campbell-Roddis (Letters, July 3) – have been forced to abandon this notion.

SIR – Recently I have had visited upon me a small Moroccan tortoise by a lovely granddaughter whose interest in animals has now turned to kittens.

SIR – A single event – the death in 2004 of a patient, Mary McClinton – was the necessary “rallying cry” for staff in Seattle’s Virginia Mason Hospital to implement new methods to improve patient safety (“Can the Japanese car factory methods that transformed a Seattle hospital work on the NHS?”).

Irish Times:

Sir, – Fintan O’Toole is right (“Trashing the concept of a public service”, Opinion & Analysis, July 8th). The locked-out Greyhound workers deserve the total support of everyone who believes that decent pay and conditions are worth upholding and that the race to the bottom should be stopped. They have my wholehearted support.

However, Fintan’s understanding of the history of this issue is somewhat flawed. The privatisation of the bin service, the abolition of the waiver for those on low incomes and the waste of €96 million on the Poolbeg incinerator all stem from the removal of all powers on waste matters from elected councillors.

That transfer of power was the one and only victory of the “anti-bin tax brigade”. Those who advocated a “don’t pay” policy left Dublin City Council with debts of nearly €20 million. That gave the city management the excuse to get rid of the service. – Yours, etc,

Cllr DERMOT LACEY,

Beech Hill Drive,

Donnybrook,

Dublin 4.

Sir, – Fintan O’Toole’s column and Jack O’Connor’s interview on Morning Ireland highlight eloquently the dangers to workers’ conditions of the present cut-throat competitive mode in the disposal of public waste. But there is also a serious health hazard when the quality of waste disposal services is determined by the quantity of money to be made in providing an essential public good. Could I suggest this is not just a “race to the bottom” for workers but a “rat race to the bottom” for all of us? – Yours, etc,

PADRAIG YEATES

Station Road,

Pertmarnock,

Co Dublin.

Sir, – Fintan O’Toole correctly laments the loss of the publicly operated bin collection service in Dublin city but omits to fully explain how and why that council’s bin collection service was privatised in the first place.

Responsibility for the loss of this well-run council service can be traced right back to the populist far-left’s long-running and lamentable campaign to oppose the concept of a charge to fund a safe and sustainable domestic refuse collection and disposal service, operated by people represented by trade unions and who were paid a fair, living wage.

This campaign encouraged householders not to pay, thereby putting the viability of the public collection service at risk and precipitating the Fianna Fáil-PD government to remove important waste policy decision powers from the hands of democratically elected councillors.

As the Greyhound workers fight against the prospect of crippling pay cuts and as citizens like Mr O’Toole lament the loss of their public bin collection service, we should not forget who is responsible for creating the circumstances which have allowed this sorry situation to come to pass. – Yours, etc,

GERALD NASH, TD

Leinster House,

Dublin 2.

A chara, – Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform Brendan Howlin writes that the “Freedom of Information Act is being restored” (“Labour must defend – not apologise for – its role in Government”, Opinion & Analysis, July 4th).

In removing section 16 of the current law and replacing it with a new section 8, the Minister is conferring legal authority on all public institutions across the State to decide what criteria will be published for the making of decisions, including decisions that affect citizens’ entitlements.

This is in stark contrast with the current law’s section 16, under which all public bodies must publish the criteria for making such decisions. The publication of such materials enables citizens to ensure that decisions are being made in a fair and consistent manner and that like cases are being treated in a similar fashion.

The proposed code of practice and guidelines are not legally binding and in any event, almost an entire year after the Bill’s publication, the much-vaunted code of practice and guidelines have still not been published for examination by our elected legislators.

The apparent removal of upfront fees is a welcome development but the removal of the protections enshrined in section 16 will be a grim piece of work for democracy and for those who have neither the financial resources nor the capacity to protect their rights in the courts.

Those with sufficient financial resources will continue to be able to vindicate their rights in the courts. Section 16 went some distance in expanding that potential to those not so financially enabled to protect those rights.

Let us hope Mr Howlin will retain section 16 and improve it, rather than the proposed disaster for law-based transparency and accountability that will ensue upon its abolition. – Is mise,

LAURENCE VIZE,

Ramillies Road,

Ballyfermot, Dublin 10.

Sir, – If the “Garthering” is to be cancelled, perhaps the President should intervene and ensure that Brooks is made to feel welcome in Ireland in the future. I propose rescheduling the concerts to take place around Easter 2016. – Yours, etc,

NIALL McARDLE,

Wellington Street,

Eganville, Ontario.

Sir, – The Labour Party won 122,000 first-preference votes in the recent local elections. Some 400,000 tickets have been sold for the Croke Park gigs. Maybe Joan Burton should spend two days talking to Garth Brooks, rather than Enda Kenny. She might find there’s more votes to be had in the “country and western” regions. – Yours, etc,

CONAN DOYLE,

Pococke Lower,

Kilkenny.

Sir, – While the cancellation of all five Garth Brooks concerts must come as an undeniable disappointment to hundreds of thousands of people, this debacle has had a silver lining – the refusal of the authorities to compromise on the procedures laid down to determine the granting or refusal of such licenses. A event that was “too big to fail” was created, and an assumption made that its holding would be facilitated by Official Ireland simply because the alternative was too disruptive, too damaging, to be contemplated. By standing by their decision, albeit that it had unfortunate consequences, the relevant officials have demonstrated that they will not be bullied by well-orchestrated PR campaigns into ratifying what should not have been ratified.

If our event-licensing system is somehow not fit for the purpose of holding such large events, then this matter should be dealt with by way of legislative reform and not presenting decision-makers with a ready-made disaster. – Yours, etc,

STEPHEN FITZPATRICK,

Kerrymount Rise,

Foxrock, Co Dublin.

Sir, – It’s no small wonder that Garth Brooks feels unwelcome in Ireland. Perhaps the iconic country star could tour the UK, where his significant fan base would guarantee him a warm reception. – Yours, etc,

FRANK GREANEY,

Lonsdale Road,

Formby,

Liverpool.

Sir,– The injuring of four people during the annual Pamplona bull run (“Pamplona bull run leaves four hospitalised on first day”, July 7th) is another reminder of how cruel and irresponsible this barbaric ritual is, despite the romanticised image that attaches to it in the minds of the heartless, the deluded and the misinformed.

Apart from the risk to human participants, the bulls don’t deserve this vile mistreatment. They are goaded by “sportspeople” who prod them or administer electric shocks prior to the run. The animals are teased and aggravated to the point of frenzy, and the presence of so many people – standing, gesticulating, or running along the narrow cobbled streets – adds to their fear and distress.

Traumatic though the run is for them, the bulls are afterwards subjected a far worse ordeal. They are tortured to death in another so-called traditional event, the bullfight, in which they are hacked and stabbed with razor-sharp lances before being teased by a caped matador who dispatches him with a sword thrust. All for the edification of a blood-crazed mob that wouldn’t look out of place in an ancient Roman coliseum.

The biggest myth surrounding this twisted and sadistic form of entertainment is the notion that the matador, whatever one thinks of the “sport”, is a heroic fellow who puts his life on the line in the pursuance of a noble custom.

In fact, apart from the softening-up process in the ring with the repeated stabbing by the picadors, the bull is also weakened even before entering the ring. This is accomplished by beating the animal with great force over the kidneys and rubbing Vaseline into its eyes to impair vision.

I find it revolting that the Pamplona “festival” is still being covered by the media as an almost normal cultural activity. It doesn’t deserve any such standing. It belongs, not in the annals of culture or legitimate tourism but in the dustbin of history, along with bear baiting, hare coursing, and dog fighting. That there are people who organise and participate in such barbarism is a disgrace to humanity. – Yours, etc,

JOHN FITZGERALD,

Lower Coyne Street,

Callan,

Co Kilkenny.

Sir, – Jacky Jones (“The Catholic Church still does not get child abuse issue”, Health + Family, July 8th) states that the National Board for Safeguarding Children received 164 allegations against priests and religious between April 1st, 2013, to the end of March 2014. What she does not clarify is that the vast bulk of theses are historical cases that related to the decades between the 1940s and 1990s, with the largest number from the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s. All were reported to the Garda or PSNI and relevant health authorities. – Yours, etc,

JB WALSH,

Ardlui Park,

Blackrock,

Co Dublin.

Sir, – Sean O’Cuinn (July 7th) asks what the consequences for Ireland of a UK exit from the EU would be. It would be an unfortunate and regrettable move on many levels for this island, but also an opportunity. As the only remaining English-speaking country in the EU and a timezone shift by one hour to the west, the city of Dublin would be well placed to reap the benefits from a marginalised City of London. – Yours, etc,

W MEEHAN,

Killiney Hill Road,

Dublin.

Sir, – Further to Seamus Boland’s letter (July 7th), Minister for Communications Pat Rabbitte is on the record as pledging broadband speeds of not less than 30 Mbps throughout the country by 2015. Is Mr Boland suggesting that a Labour Minister would break an important promise? – Yours, etc,

JOHN GRIFFIN,

Bloomsbury,

Kells,

Co Meath.

Sir, – Footpaths used to be safe for pedestrians. This is no longer the case. Footpaths have now, all too frequently, become “flight paths” for “kamikaze” cyclists, who whizz at speed from road to pathway, weaving without warning in and out between the walkers, young and old. Texters with heads bent are another hazard who pay no attention to where they are going. But worst of all are those cyclists who cycle with one hand on handlebar and the other using a mobile phone. Are cyclists above the law? – Yours, etc,

GEAROID KILGALLEN,

Crosthwaite Park South,

Dún Laoghaire,

Co Dublin.

Sir, – On Saturday you printed a fitting tribute to “one of the greatest modern Irish architects”, Ronnie Tallon (Obituaries, July 5th).

As he was involved in designing the Papal Cross in the Phoenix Park in Dublin, perhaps the OPW would think of a suitable refurbishment in this the 35th year since the papal visit? – Yours, etc,

HILARY CARR,

Dale Road,

Stillorgan,

Co Dublin.

Sir, – Patsy McGarry (“In a Word”, July 7th) will be gratified to know of an increase in the number of copies of The Irish Times on sale in Portadown. There are now at least four news outlets in the town which sell the newspaper.

Even if only one copy is sold in each, this is an increase on the three copies sold in the town, as once perceived by Patsy McGarry’s contact.

As an Irish Times reader it has been my experience that the copies of the paper available in Portadown seldom survive past mid-morning. Does the marketing strategy lack rigour? – Yours, etc,

CHARLES McCULLAGH,

Kilmore, Armagh.

Sir, – The best arrangement of castors for manoeuvring heavily laden supermarket trolleys in confined spaces is fixed wheels on the front, pivoting wheels on the back. Ask any forklift driver. – Yours, etc,

FERGUS CAHILL,

Cuil Ghlas,

Dunboyne,

Co Meath.

Sir, – In recent days several correspondents have in turn championed the less familiar, responded with the orthodox, before finally introducing uncertainty and denial into the supermarket trolley debate. If I might summarise this debate so far, the supermarket trolley is designed to keep us to the straight and narrow literally, and allows us to pass one another up and down the aisle. Whether one steers oneself to the checkout, or one is guided by fixed castors, is irrelevant to someone who knows that the real world exists outside in the car park, and the pavement where the trolley rests is simply not fit for purpose.

Surely this has to be an extended religious metaphor arrived at by random accident, or could it be by intelligent design? – Yours, etc,

JOHN McANDREW,

Old Kilmore Road,

Moira,

Co Down.

Sir, – Why can’t men ask a woman what to do with supermarket trolleys, asks Jane Nyhan (July 8th)? That might be described as castor dispersions. – Yours, etc,

PATRICK O’BYRNE,

Shandon Crescent,

Phibsborough,

Dublin 7.

Sir, – Never mind about pivoting castors or fixed castors, all I want is a trolley that goes in the direction I want it to go and does not have a mind of its own. – Yours, etc,

JEAN DUNNE,

Upper Glenageary Road,

Dún Laoghaire,

Co Dublin.

Sir, – I had no idea until I read Arthur Henry’s letter (July 7th) as to how dangerous shopping really was, except of course for the credit card.

I have weighed up the different solutions offered by various contributors to this page and I have decided that my preferred option, and by far the safest, is from now on to shop online and just have it delivered. – Yours, etc,

MARK SHEEHY,

Burgage Manor,

Blessington,

Co Wicklow.

Dear Sir, – I’m sure the Government’s Cabinet reshuffle will make an enormous difference to the running of the country. Is it really any different than reshuffling a deck of cards with 52 jokers in it? – Yours, etc,

SEAN McPHILLIPS,

College Point,

New York.

Sir, – The resurrection shuffle? – Yours, etc,

TOM GILSENAN,

Elm Mount,

Beaumont,

Dublin 9.

Sir, – Further to Lucy Kellaway’s entertaining – as always – piece (“Sorry if you don’t like my column . . . eh, not really”, July 7th), can I contribute an example of apologetic insincerity proffered by Dublin Bus? This is the message frequently seen on the destination board of a bus: “Sorry. Not in Service”.

I confess that I find it disconcerting to have a bus apologise to me, especially in public. – Yours, etc,

KEN MAWHINNEY,

Clonard Drive, Dublin 16.

Sir, – If Una Mullally thinks Glastonbury is such a fine example of good crowd behaviour (“Croker debacle down to disrespect for outdoor spaces”, Opinion & Analysis, July 7th), how come it needs a force of 800 people working for six weeks to clean up after it (“What’s hot, what’s not”, Magazine, July 5th)? – Yours, etc,

TONY O’BRIEN,

Belgrave Road,

Monkstown,

Co Dublin.

Irish Independent:

‘Disappointing’ is a word utterly devalued and deflated by its over-zealous usage by our political elite. But it has to be given one last decrepit shambling waddle – to describe the reaction of this and many other long-term Burton political admirers as we watched the 6.01 television interview on the evening of her victory.

Apart from a rollicking game of musical cabinet chairs with Enda behind closed doors, all she wanted was a low pay commission and more social housing!

These are very worthy proposals if they could begin to be delivered during the limited life of this administration. But they are no more than what could be proposed by a smart liberal-conservative. Indeed, I could well imagine Disraeli and Bismarck, the fathers of modern pragmatic conservatism, heartily approving them!

This is not a party of serious, radical but pragmatic reform. There was not even the most carefully hidden, veiled hint of a critique of the deeply flawed global socio-economic system, which, crashing into our own amateurish consumer/capitalist Haughey/Ahern/Cowenism, brought us to where we are today.

Most of us understand the precarious situation in which Joan and Labour find themselves, as well as the complex situation in which the Labour collective leadership found itself when attempting to implement government in a war for national survival.

But these offer no excuse for not telegraphing the eventual quantum leap in mindset if Labour is to be true to itself. Sadly, Joan’s failure to telegraph the eventual necessity for this leap indicates how an introspective, redundant and irrelevant Labour sees itself.

Sadly, I cannot recommend our young, and young at heart, to support a Burtonian Labour Party which now appears to have settled for bread and circuses. For it’s a quiet, gentle, leafy-suburb tiptoeing from the pages of Irish history – a self-obsessed bourgeois Cheshire cat without even the genial courtesy of a jocular grin.

MAURICE O’CONNELL

TRALEE, CO KERRY

JUSTICE FOR IRISH SOLDIERS

On Saturday, July 5, I attended a silent vigil at the Embassy of the United States in Dublin. The event, which was organised by the Justice For Smallhorne & Barrett campaign group, is principally made up of men who served with the 46th Battalion in the Lebanon. It is supported by all ex-Irish military veterans and indeed the event was attended by approximately 800-plus ex-soldiers, mainly Irish but included French, British, Czechoslovakian, Dutch, Americans and others.

The group is seeking justice for the murder in cold blood on April 18, 1980, of two Irish soldiers, Private Derek Smallhorne and Private Thomas Barrett, and the attempted murder of a third, Private John O’Mahony. These men were kidnapped and tortured while serving as peacekeepers with the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL).

What has brought this story to the forefront is the fact that the perpetrator, Mahmoud Bazzi, who is living openly in Detroit, Michigan, is now applying for US citizenship. The campaigners are seeking that Mr Bazzi be extradited to Lebanon and tried for war crimes. Is an Irish soldier’s life worth less than others?

THOMAS B SHEEHAN

MOYVANE, CO KERRY

VACCINE NEEDED FOR BADGERS

The Department of Agriculture’s plan to have 12,000 badgers killed over the next two years as part of an anti-bovine TB initiative is monstrous. An estimated 100,000 of these shy nocturnal creatures have already been snared and shot in Ireland in the course of successive department-sponsored culling programmes, and still the disease continues to afflict farms nationwide, with the badger killing to date failing to make even a dent in the incidence of bovine TB.

Instead of targeting the badger I suggest the department focuses its energies on the search for a badger vaccine.

Snaring is cruel to badgers. Each animal caught has to wait, struggling to break free from the stranglehold, for the arrival of one of the “animal lovers” contracted by the department to end its life with a rifle shot.

JOHN FITZGERALD

CAMPAIGN FOR THE ABOLITION OF CRUEL SPORTS

SHUFFLING A PACK OF JOKERS

I’m sure Enda Kenny’s reshuffling of government ministers will make a huge difference. It’s like reshuffling a deck of cards with 52 jokers in it.

SEAN MCPHILLIPS

COLLEGE POINT, NEW YORK

GP PAY FIGURES MISLEADING

Highlighting exceptional total general practice incomes could mislead some readers of Brian McDonald and Eilish O’Regan’s article (Irish Independent, July 7) to believe that they represent true personal income for regular GPs.

However, the OECD recently published the average 2012 Irish GP income before personal pension deductions that used a more reliable methodology than had been previously utilised. It found that the average Irish GP income to be much closer then the average national wage than most of our western peers. And that was despite some other countries included part-time GPs and trainees in their figures or the GPs elsewhere had full state pension entitlements.

It should also be noted that 2012 GP income figures do not fully reflect the 2012 FEMPI reductions or any of the 2013 FEMPI cuts.

As the OECD information was only released last week, I find it a little odd that these facts were not included to give more balance to this article.

DR WILLIAM BEHAN GP

WALKINSTOWN, DUBLIN 12

BIKES SCHEME LOSES ITS FIZZ

Our wonderful Dublin Bikes scheme, promoting exercise, health and mobility, is being co-opted by a multinational corporate sponsor promoting soft drinks, often linked to obesity. I object and refuse to collude. As a city cyclist I will never use Dublin Bikes again.

MAEVE HALPIN

RANELAGH, DUBLIN 6

TAKING CARE OF BUSINESS

If we take a look at Ireland now – from the pressure to allow Croke Park its profits and freedom, to the stripping away of our welfare entitlements, to the imminent slaughter of our badgers – one thing becomes clear: Ireland is run now along the lines of a businessmen’s charter, what’s good for business takes precedence over all else.

Why has this system taken such deep roots in us, a people who have never been successful in business?

Why have we have abandoned so much of our culture and past to aid it?

And why we allow this model is a mystery.

Our low tax ethos pushes it deeper into Europe now and so soon it may be our real and permanent contribution to humanity.

SEAN MACGREINE

DROMCONDRA, DUBLIN 9

BROOKS PROTEST OUT OF TUNE

I’m feeling ashamed of us Irish. I’ve just come back from Maastricht in the Netherlands where I attended one of eight concerts in the city centre by Andre Rieu over a period of two weeks. There is major disruption to traffic and even business but the local people have taken the whole thing to their hearts.

Are the people living near Croker so selfish as to try to spoil things for not just a city but the whole country? Cop on guys!

PAT BROWNE

BLACKROCK, CO CORK

Irish Independent