Quiet

14 September 2014 Quiet

I jog around the park I still have arthritis in my left knee, but I manage to get round the park. A sunny but cool day.

Mary’s back much better today, breakfast wt down duck for tea and her back pain is still there.

Obituary:

Sir Donald Sinden, the actor, who has died aged 90, was variously described as “orotund and declamatory”, “magnificently resonant” and “a complete ham”; his talents, admittedly, owed little to method acting, but made him one of the best and most recognisable comedy actors on the circuit.

In a career which spanned 50 years of film and theatre Sinden, to his lasting irritation, became best-known for his work in television, a medium he deplored. But his establishment English demeanour provided perfect casting for comedies exploiting cultural or class differences.

He became a household name when he starred with Elaine Stritch in the LWT sitcom Two’s Company (1975-79), in which he played the feisty American grande dame’s inept English butler. He later repeated his success in the Thames Television sitcom Never the Twain (1981-91), in which he played an upper-crust antique dealer forced into business with a downmarket rival (played by Windsor Davies).

His success on television meant that Sinden’s other achievements, in the film and theatre world, were often overlooked.

During the 1950s, he immersed himself in cinema work, appearing in more than 20 films, including The Cruel Sea (1953), in which he shared top-billing with Jack Hawkins, and Mogambo (1954), a huge safari epic in which Sinden received fourth billing after Clark Gable, Ava Gardner and Grace Kelly, as Kelly’s cuckolded gorilla-hunting husband.

When the British film industry stalled in the 1960s, Sinden’s film career stalled with it. By the end of that decade, however, he had secured a place for himself at the Royal Shakespeare Company, where he gave critically acclaimed performances in leading roles including as the Duke of York in The Wars of the Roses (1963), opposite Peggy Ashcroft as Queen Margaret; Lord Foppington in The Relapse (1967); and as King Lear (for which he won the 1977 Evening Standard Award for Best Actor). In 1979 he played the title role in Othello, directed by Ronald Eyre, becoming the last “blacked-up” white actor to play the role for the RSC.

Sir Donald Sinden has died at his home aged 90

It was, perhaps, the role of Malvolio in Twelfth Night that showed Sinden at his best; yet it is the one that — paradoxically, given that the role is often regarded as a comedy part — he found most difficult to play. When he reread the play in preparation for the RSC production in 1969, he telephoned the director John Barton. “I’m afraid you may have to recast Malvolio,” he said, “I find him tragic.” Barton agreed, and in his exploration of the role, Sinden exposed a whole range of moods, from offended dignity to ebullience and madness. Of Malvolio’s final humiliation, Sinden later wrote: “There is no fight left in Malvolio… the degradation is too great… there is but one thing left for Malvolio — suicide.”

The theatre was always Sinden’s true home, and in the 1980s his passionate interest in its history led to the establishment of the Theatre Museum in Covent Garden. Another great passion was English church architecture, his encyclopedic knowledge of which led to both a television series, The English Country Church, in 1988, and a book on the subject. “My grandfather was an architect,” Sinden explained, “and it was he who told me always to look up. That’s where all the best things are in churches.”

By the 1980s Sinden was firmly established as a television celebrity, a position consolidated by the regular appearances of a Sinden puppet on ITV’s satirical Spitting Image. The puppet represented Sinden as a grotesque parody of “the actor’s actor” posturing theatrically and endlessly pleading for a knighthood.

Sinden was not amused by the caricature. “When have I ever suggested I wanted a knighthood?” he asked. “I don’t watch the programme because I don’t find it in the least funny.” He would accept a well-deserved knighthood in 1997.

Donald Sinden was born in Plymouth on October 9 1923. He suffered constantly from asthma as a child and as a result missed most of his schooling. “I not only did not pass an examination,” he recalled, “I never took one.” At 16 he became an apprentice joiner to a Hove firm which manufactured revolving doors. “I earned 6s 6d a week,” he said, “and enjoyed it enormously.”

Sinden claimed that he had no aspirations towards acting until he was 18. “My cousin Frank was called up for the RAF,” he remembered. “He asked me if I’d do his part in an amateur production at Brighton Little Theatre.” Donald was talent-spotted by Charles Smith, who organised the Mobile Entertainments Southern Area company (known as MESA), a local version of the wartime entertainments service Ensa. “Of course I thought he wanted me because I was miraculous,” Sinden remembered, “but I know now it was because it was wartime and he couldn’t get anyone else.”

Rejected by the Navy because of his poor health, Sinden joined Charles Smith’s company in 1941. “I stayed an actor because I was awfully interested in girls,” Sinden explained. “Actresses were a lot better looking than joiners.” After four years with MESA he spent six months in Leicester with a repertory company and two terms at the Webber Douglas School of Dramatic Art.

Donald Sinden joined the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre at Stratford-on-Avon for the 1946-47 season. In October 1947 he made his West End debut as Aumerle in Richard II, and in 1948 joined the Bristol Old Vic. He left Bristol to appear as Arthur Townsend in The Heiress, an adaptation of Henry James’s Washington Square. Sinden had nine lines and appeared in all 644 performances of the show.

^{Donald Sinden in 1953 (REX)}

In 1952 he was noticed by the film director Charles Frend while playing the Brazilian Manuel Del Vega in Red Letter Day. “Charles Frend spotted me,” Sinden remembered. “He said he’d always wanted to meet a blue-eyed Brazilian.”

The following year Sinden joined the Rank Organisation and was offered the part of Lieutenant Lockhart in The Cruel Sea, for which he had to spend an uncomfortable 12 weeks filming at sea.

He recalled his time in Africa filming Mogambo as the least enjoyable of his career, largely because of its director, John Ford, whom Sinden described as “the most dislikable man I ever met”. He was particularly irritated by Ford’s peremptory direction techniques: “On one occasion he had Clark Gable backing towards a cliff. Ford kept shouting ‘Further back!’ and Gable just disappeared over the edge. We found him stuck in a tree 15ft below.”

After playing Tony Benskin, a womanising medical student in Doctor in the House (1954), Sinden began to find himself being typecast in comic roles. He played Benskin and characters like him for the next eight years.

When the British film industry began to falter in the early Sixties, Sinden’s film career ended. “It was a bad time for me,” he said. “I was 40, married with two children and no work at all.” His first attempts at a return to the theatre were unsuccessful. He was turned down after Peter Hall had made him audition for the RSC. Sinden later described Hall as a “pipsqueak”.

However, after their initial differences Sinden joined the company and appeared in The Wars of the Roses, an epic amalgam of the relevant Shakespeare history plays, put together by Hall and John Barton, which lasted more than 10 hours and won ecstatic reviews.

Sinden went on to make a name for himself as a comedian and farceur. He appeared as Robert Danvers in There’s a Girl in My Soup at the Aldwych in 1966, and won Best Actor awards for his appearances in the Ray Cooney farces Not Now, Darling (1967), Two into One (1984) and Out of Order (1990). In 1976 he was nominated for a Best Actor Tony Award for his performance on Broadway as Arthur Wicksteed in Alan Bennett’s Habeas Corpus.

^{Donald Sinden and his wife Diana in 1956}

In 1989 Sinden was offered the opportunity to play his long-time hero Oscar Wilde, whose work had always fascinated him, in John Gay’s one-man show Diversions and Delights. In 1942, at a poetry club reading, Sinden had met Lord Alfred Douglas and had been one of the few mourners at his funeral. Thirty years later, when Wilde’s London home was being demolished, Sinden bought the fireplace for his own house in Hampstead.

Sinden continued to perform well into his eighties. From 2001 to 2007 he played Sir Joseph Channing in BBC Television’s legal drama Judge John Deed (starring Martin Shaw and Jenny Seagrove), and he recently appeared in the Gideon Fell mysteries on Radio 4.

Donald Sinden published two volumes of autobiography, A Touch of the Memoirs (1982) and Laughter in the Second Act (1985).

He was appointed CBE in 1979.

In 1948 Sinden married the actress Diana Mahony, who died in 2004. They had two sons, of whom the elder, the actor Jeremy Sinden, died in 1996. His surviving son is the film director and theatre producer Marc Sinden.

Sir Donald Sinden, born October 9 1923, died September 11 2014

Guardian:

Your trenchant editorial calling for prison reform was timely. Unfortunately, the secretary of state for justice refused to acknowledge the problem or the solution when questioned in Parliament two days later. Contrary to the evidence, ministers claim that overcrowding and violence are not a problem; apparently deaths in prison fluctuate regardless, and they seem to think prisoners are getting education. I don’t know if they being deliberately disingenuous or are being poorly advised.

Independent:

As a Welsh woman, proud of my nationality and protective of the Welsh language and culture, I can sympathise with Scots thinking of voting Yes. We Welsh have also been led for years by Conservative governments that we didn’t vote for. However, like many of my compatriots, I am staunchly Labour and don’t feel that I could vote for any other party, and that includes Plaid Cymru. For me, nationalism and socialism are uneasy bedfellows, and bring to mind the dark shadow of one A Hitler.

The other worry I have about nationalism is illustrated by the scenario being played out in Eastern Europe – tribal fragmentation, based on the principle that one set of beliefs is superior to another’s. Nationalism has a feeling of “I’m alright, Jack” about it, “and sod the rest of you”. Socialism is to do with social justice, the strong helping the weak in society.

I hope with all my heart that Scotland will vote No – breaking up the Union will only add to the fragmentation and uncertainty we are seeing all over the world. We need to celebrate what we have in common, and respect each other’s differences.

Gill Figg

Swansea

Why do large parts of the British media keep talking about the possible break-up of “Britain” when they mean the United Kingdom? Britain is a geographical term meaning the island of Britain, comprising England, Scotland and Wales. Also, Rory Stewart MP (News, 7 September), reportedly spoke of: “A third of the land mass of the United Kingdom being removed for the first time in 400 years.” Isn’t Mr Stewart aware that 26 out of 32 counties in Ireland left the United Kingdom in the 1920s?

Brian Stowell

Douglas, Isle of Man

Last week’s headline “Scotland: the independence crisis” should have read, “Scotland: the independence opportunity”. The Scots have a chance to shake off the suffocating Westminster malaise, and strike out on a different course, away from a failed state.

Go for it Scotland. Open up those new opportunities.

Michael Williams

Tenby, Pembrokeshire

The real challenge facing Scotland will be to repair the damage done by this referendum in splitting a nation, and how it can be drawn together again in trusting unity, encouraged by some unique political honesty.

Dennis Forbes Grattan

Bucksburn, Aberdeen

Scotland is enjoying the greatest period of prosperity for many years, so why put it at risk for a leap into the dark? Remember: if Scots go independent they will no longer have any say in English politics, English finance, English membership of the EU; they will no longer be able to use pound sterling; they will face new border controls between England and Scotland, etc. It will be a very unstable situation for Scotland and what is left of the United Kingdom: England, Wales and Northern Island, still standing together but, overall, we will all be much weaker. Please, please, please, canny Scots, vote no and stay strong together.

Simon Icke

Aston Clinton, Buckinghamshire

Scotland, like the rest of us, wishes to be released from the shackles of that cesspit of incompetence, egotism, arrogance, near criminality and greed, which is London. The solution is to keep the kingdom “united” but to shift the seat of government to Edinburgh for 25 years, then on to Belfast and then Cardiff, similarly. Birmingham or Manchester might be next. London could be included when it has learnt how to behave.

T J Montagnon

Uppingham, Rutland

Despite two million people marching against the war in Iraq, Westminster MPs still voted to illegally attack the country. This shows that Westminster does not reflect the views of its voters. Only by voting Yes can Scotland be truly free of undemocratic Westminster. It can also look forward to governing itself.

Mark Richards

Brighton

A note about last  week’s newspaper

Joan Smith’s comment piece last Sunday about Ashya King caused upset to his extended family. Ms Smith did not mean to suggest in any way that Ashya is not very seriously ill, but she does believe the King family were unwise to remove their son from the care of the NHS against the advice of doctors in Southampton. I regret that the piece has generated anger, and sought to present the case as responsibly as possible. The principle of freedom of expression is an important one, and Joan was entitled to voice an opinion on this difficult and  much-discussed case. We wish the King family well over the coming weeks, during Ashya’s treatment in Prague.

Lisa Markwell

Editor

Times:

Those who favour a ‘no’ vote in Thursday’s referendum say that a greater stress should be placed on the shared history of Scotland and the rest of Britain

Scotland’s ties to Britain should make us celebrate, not separate

I AM fed up with hearing Alex Salmond promise voters that separation will solve all Scotland’s ills, with no mention of who will pay the bills (“Yes leads in Scots poll shock” and “A yes vote will usher in a ‘banana republic of tax rises and turmoil’”, News, and “Only 11 days to save the Union”, Editorial, last week).

I’m sick too of him attributing every problem to the Tories and Westminster and the English, when his party has had control over much of Scotland’s affairs. But I also think Alistair Darling’s indisputable economic arguments for a “no” vote urgently need much more positive presentation.

Sure, paint the vivid picture of employers flitting south in the event of a “yes” vote. But simultaneously shout about the emotional high we all gain from Scotland being a leading nation within the UK. Heaven knows there’s a lot to be proud of. Why else are immigrants bypassing countless countries to queue at Calais? Why else are British institutions globally admired?

Scotland and its diaspora are intimately woven into the fabric of Britain, and we have only a few days left to convince the undecided that this is a cause for celebration and retention.
Graeme Crawford, Edinburgh

COLD FEET

I was born and bred in Scotland and am a director of a South African-Australian company that has just had to abandon plans to invest in a £50m project expected to have created 100 jobs in rural Scotland. Sadly the possibility of a “yes” vote persuaded our board not to invest. Our business cannot handle uncertainty, and two governments negotiating terms over a two-year period would raise too much risk for us, particularly over whether or not Scotland would continue using the pound.

We will now invest in a more stable environment. Naturally we are disappointed that the Scottish government hasn’t understood what businesses such as ours need.
David Fuller, Brisbane, Australia

SPLITTING HEADACHE

I have remained neutral on whether or not the Scots should support independence but am concerned that if the ballot is close, nearly half of those voting will not get their wish: that could cause harm to the social cohesion of a great country. I am also concerned that Westminster politicians could promise all sorts of inducements to encourage the Scots to vote to remain in the Union that could be at the expense of the rest of the UK.

If there is a narrow majority in favour of independence, then our negotiators must put the interests of England, Wales and Northern Ireland first, including the rejection of a currency union. Independence must mean exactly that.
Norman Porter, Crawley, West Sussex

PILING OFF THE POUNDS

It appears that Salmond will do or say anything to facilitate Scottish separation. However, he still demands that Scotland has the pound, which is run by the Bank of England. How on earth does he expect to run the Scottish economy when he will have to toe the English fiscal line?

To protect the pound, the Bank of England will have to place its considerable foot on the neck of Scotland, which may end up being independent by name but will face a hard time raising cash to survive, let alone grow.
Keith Skinkis Loftus, Manchester

LEADERS AT A LOSS

David Cameron spends his time threatening Russia and fighting terrorists in Iraq while occasionally pontificating about the stability of the UK, seemingly unaware that the political entity he leads is potentially about to partly disintegrate. The fight to maintain the UK has been largely left to politicians who — incredibly — have been unable to link convincingly Scottish patriotism with the concept of the Union. Scots who died defending Britain are hardly mentioned at all in this context.

The MPs in Westminster we have voted for and entrusted our country to — whatever their political persuasion — must make an extraordinary effort to maintain the UK they represent.
Dr Marek Dominiczak, Glasgow

NO WAY FORWARD

Voting “yes” means voting “no” to a British passport, British armed forces protection, the pound, Clydeside shipbuilding for British vessels and holidays in Europe without an expensive Schengen visa.

It really is a very big decision for those lucky enough to vote, and I hope they all — especially the 16-year-olds — use it responsibly and are not swayed by sentiment.
Jane O’Nions, Sevenoaks, Kent

EMPTY THREAT

It is claimed the switherers — or waverers — are likely to climb on the bandwagon for a “yes” vote for fear of reprisals by a threatening minority of nationalists. Neither opinion polls nor the vote itself could be affected by such fears: the ballot is secret for that very reason.

This pretence by the media that the threatening conduct is all from the nationalist side is embarrassing. Many will have heard all about the Labour MP Jim Murphy having an egg thrown at him but are unlikely to know that two “yes” supporters were beaten up by a crowd of “no” supporters.
David Clinton Jr, Hamilton, South Lanarkshire

BETTER OPTION

The problem the “no” campaign has is its inability to answer the obvious question: if Scotland is better together, then why isn’t it better together now? A far more effective tactic for it would be to admit that Scotland has been exploited.
David Telford, Fairlie, North Ayrshire

INDUSTRIAL DISASTER

Being a Scot born and raised within sight of the Culloden battlefield, I believe a “yes” vote would be another socialist disaster.

Through no fault of my own, but because of trade union actions, I lost three jobs. I watched in horror as the largely communist-inspired unions destroyed the shipbuilding, steel, coal and motor industries. A “yes” vote may generate initial celebrations, but when the sober truth and the cost is revealed, the party will be truly over.
Maurice Horsburgh, Palm Beach, Australia

BOTTOM OF THE PILE

While I hope there is a “no” vote, what bribes are our politicians offering the Scots for that vote? Many people in the neglected industrial areas in the rest of the UK and particularly in England will be wondering when it is our turn.
David Booth, Macclesfield, Cheshire

TIME STANDS STILL

Should the vote be “yes”, will Scotland establish its own time zone, thereby absolving the rest of the UK of the necessity to change the clocks twice a year?
John Farmborough, Rickinghall, Suffolk

HEAD MUST ROLL

If Scotland votes “yes”, Cameron and Ed Miliband are morally bound to resign on September 19. The former for recklessly risking the break-up of the UK, and the latter for failing to rally Labour’s faithful north of the border. A “yes” vote would be the result of Westminster’s arrogance, neglect and ineptitude, ruthlessly exploited by Salmond.
Dominic Shelmerdine, London SW3

HEARTS AND MINDS

The heart dictates tribal loyalties; the mind better understands economics.
Peter Lack, London N10

SALUTING KISSINGER’S SHUTTLE DIPLOMACY
AS THE biographer of Henry Kissinger (Kissinger’s Year: 1973), may I congratulate Toby Harnden on his insightful article (“We’ve made ourselves bystanders in the Middle East”, Focus, last week)? At the height of the Cold War, Kissinger scored on détente through the relationship he established with the bearish Russian leader Leonid Brezhnev. Now nobody in the West knows Vladimir Putin as well as Kissinger, and he is right to apportion blame to America and Nato for events in Ukraine.

We should have pursued a policy of collaboration, not confrontation — of détente, in fact. Successive regimes in Washington have shown far too little sensitivity towards the imperatives of Russia’s history. It is late but not too late. And we urgently need Russian support over the crisis in the Middle East.

One of your correspondents last week took Kissinger to task for his being soft on Israel. I remember well his remarking to me while I was researching my biography that as the first Jewish-American secretary of state he had many critics to deal with. But the two most severe were from Israel itself and the Jewish lobby inside Washington. Yet it is surely to his great credit that he was able, through his famous shuttle diplomacy, to lay the basis of the peace — whatever its imperfections — that has existed between Israel, Egypt and Syria these past four decades.
Sir Alistair Horne, Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire

Leaky EU borders behind tide of migrants to UK
THE comment by Natacha Bouchart, the mayor of Calais, that Britain is somehow responsible for the number of illegal immigrants attempting to get to the ferry terminal are almost laughable (“We’re not to blame for the siege of Calais”, Editorial, last week).

As UK/EU citizens we are subject to tedious passport and customs checks, albeit for “security purposes”, which we understand, but thousands are entering the EU every year seemingly without problems. It appears the external border checks on mainland Europe are as secure as a sieve.

You addressed very clearly the failures of the signatories to the Schengen agreement to control their borders. The police alone cannot be held responsible for restricting the trafficking gangs — the EU countries have to take effective action.

However, action by the EU would probably be as effective as a chocolate fireguard. The Eurocrats have more important issues to address such as banning high-powered vacuum cleaners. That’s cynical, perhaps, but it is an indication of why many people in Britain look at the EU with degrees of doubt.
Neil Davey, Ivybridge, Devon

CLOSING THE FLOODGATES
In your article “Calais police warn migrant dam is about to burst” (News, last week) you quoted the former home secretary Michael Howard as observing: “The principle that every EU member state has subscribed to is that refugees should apply for asylum in the first safe country they reach.”

Putting to one side the probability that many trying to board ferries are illegal immigrants, not genuine refugees, is it not the case that if France were to give asylum to those who qualified for it, they would then be free to relocate anywhere else in the EU — for example, here? And if so, wouldn’t that merely delay the inevitable?

And is it not the case that the only hope Britain has of avoiding being the destination of choice for the increasing army of people flooding into Europe from across the planet is to leave the EU and finally secure our borders?
David Milburn, Dereham, Norfolk

TRUMP CARD
Those at Calais have already travelled across Europe through several countries without stopping in any of them. Is this because, unlike most other European nations, we do not have identity cards, so once the migrants are here, it’s much easier to stay undetected?

I know some people have privacy concerns, but they’ve probably got at least one store card that holds personal information. An ID card could have embedded in it our national insurance and NHS numbers, which would show entitlement to benefits.
Jean Phillips, Cheltenham

Corrections and clarifications
The photograph of the Queen on the front page of the first edition last week was wrongly captioned as “The Queen and Prince Philip attend the Braemar Gathering yesterday”. This was corrected to the Queen and Prince Charles in subsequent editions. We apologise for the error.

The headline “Don’t write a will, all you’re likely to leave behind is confusion” in the Money section last week should have read: “If you don’t write a will, all you are likely to leave behind is confusion”.

The article “The state may threaten but a parent knows when a child is sick” (Comment, last week) stated that an emergency protection order makes a child a ward of court. This is incorrect and we apologise for the error.

In Phil Daniels’s review of the Jaguar E-type Lightweight in Driving last week, the scooter in the picture from Quadrophenia was wrongly captioned as a Lambretta. It was a Vespa.

Complaints about inaccuracies in all sections of The Sunday Times, including online, should be addressed to complaints@sunday-times.co.uk or Complaints, The Sunday Times, 1 London Bridge Street, London SE1 9GF. In addition, from tomorrow, the Independent Press Standards Organisation (Ipso) will examine formal complaints about the editorial content of UK newspapers and magazines. Click here for full details of how to lodge a complaint.

Birthdays
Amanda Barrie, actress, 79; Ben Cohen, rugby player, 36; Morten Harket, singer, 55; Walter Koenig, actor, 78; Andrew Lincoln, actor, 41; Bernard MacLaverty, novelist, 72; Steven Naismith, footballer, 28; Sam Neill, actor, 67; Renzo Piano, architect, 77; Martin Tyler, football commentator, 69; Ray Wilkins, footballer, 58

Anniversaries
1741 George Handel completes Messiah oratorio; 1752 Britain adopts Gregorian calendar, and, for one year only, September 14 comes straight after September 2; 1852 Duke of Wellington dies; 1901 US president William McKinley dies eight days after being shot; 1982 Princess Grace of Monaco dies; 1983 singer Amy Winehouse born.

Telegraph:

6:57AM BST 13 Sep 2014

Comments

Irish Times:

Irish Independent:

Madam — National Suicide Day reminds us of the  great distress of a suicide for both victim and those who loved and cherished him or her.

When I was a young man seventy years ago, one morning I was walking past a house and the man of the house came running distressed and in agony. He told me that his wife was lying on the floor of the scullery. Her throat was cut and the gas was on full.

I went in, turned off the gas,  and examined her to see was she alive. Sadly she was dead. So I phoned the police who did everything in their power to help him and were very kind and professional.

I went with him to the parish priest to make arrangements for the funeral. Sadly he said the church condemns suicide and your wife cannot be buried in a Catholic cemetery and have a Catholic service.

I was with the poor man at the time. They had no family. He was on his own they were private people. I had a great friend a  Protestant minister., with whom I differed a lot on politics and religion but that did not interfere with out friendship. Any time a Protestant  friend of mine died, I went to the service in the Protestant church, which, at the time was forbidden by the Catholic Church. Friendship to me was more important than politics or religious bigotry. When a person dies you pray for them in any church.

The minister said he would get in touch with the priest and if the Catholic Church did not provide the respect for the dead he would do it and arrange for  her burial. There is no such thing as a lost soul. God is too merciful for that to happen.

Soon afterwards, the priest got in touch with the grieving widower and  told him he would do the Mass and service and his wife could be buried in the catholic cemetery.

At present there is a lot of change some for the better. People now get cremated  and their ashes  scattered in the place they want. I look back on those years and think how every church was on the one road to  the eternal happiness but went against the teaching of God and His Holy Mother and Father by killing each other over what church they belonged to.  More people were killed over religion than for any other cause.

Hubert Doran

Artane, Dublin 5

Madam — It was heartening to read that the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) were “decisive” in guiding Ireland’s mission in the Golan Heights away from imminent death or capture by Islamist extremists (Jim Cusack and John Drennan article, Sunday Independent, September 7). It was far from the only recent rescue by the IDF.

As the Gaza conflict raged, it set up a border field hospital for wounded Gazan civilians. Warned by Hamas against seeking treatment there, few took advantage of it. A similar source of succour was set up in the Golan Heights for suffering Syrian civilians and Free Syrian rebel forces.

Perhaps such acts as those will open not a few eyes as to the true nature of the IDF and Israel, generally. Though threatened throughout its existence by forces similar to the ones that threatened that Irish contingent, Israel has managed to build a thriving liberal society.

Nonetheless, calumny upon baseless calumny continues to be reflexively directed at Israel. Reality, though, suggests that it should be a nation greatly to be emulated, not denigrated.

Richard D. Wilkins ,    

Syracuse, New York

Writers ‘are wrong’ about Israel/Gaza 

Madam — I am so disappointed in your becoming a cheerleader for the murderous, land grabbing Israelis. I am not anti-Jewish or anti-Zionist, but I am against the destruction of a people. As far as religion goes I don’t give a rattlin’ damn what wall people wail against. The people of Gaza are living in a virtual concentration camp. The indifference of you and some of your columnists to the plight of these poor people is appalling. You are on the wrong side on this one.

W.Dunphy,                                           

Carrick-on-Suir

Islam is unfair to women

Madam — International lawyer, Dr John Reynolds’s, (Letters, September 7) insistence that Eoghan Harris is wrong and that Gaza is still under Israeli occupation would be welcome news to the oppressed women of Gaza if only it were true.   Because the last time these women were free was when the Israelis did in fact govern Gaza.  As children  they were free to attend school and when they grew up they were free to teach school.

Then Hamas took charge of their future and introduced Sharia Law.  Anyone following the latest flare up between Hamas and Israel cannot have failed to notice the absence of female doctors and nurses at the hospitals and sites in Gaza where men, women and children were killed and injured.

This is Sharia Law in operation where women are not allowed to be anything other than vessels for carrying babies.  But try as I might I cannot find any reference to these wretched women in the missives of Dr John Reynolds.  Perhaps I missed it.

Eddie Naughton,

The Coombe

Dublin 8

No Sharia law in our schools

Madam — Having read Carol Hunt’s article ( Sunday Independent, September 7) and previously read the views of Dr. Ali Selim on our education system and how his community would like to see changes, might I say that we  in Ireland treasure our system whilst at the same time accepting that it may from time to time require reform.

However, there is one reform which we will not tolerate  or accept and that is the  degrading of our female students.   The fact that Sharia Law and the Muslin way of life still promotes favouritism towards male dominance might explain what is happening in the Islamic world today.

Dr Salim,  you are now residing in the West in a democracy . The Islamic community are entitled to open their own schools but they must abide by our state system and this  promotes the same  opportunities for our male and female students.

Adrian Burke,

Dundrum,

Dublin, 14