SIR – You report that Ms. May warned the Prime Minister of the effects of the travel restrictions.
It is not uncommon for a new prime minister to have an active predecessor to provide guidance. Tony Blair looked over Margaret Thatcher’s shoulder. But Boris Johnson has five predecessors available, all willing to offer him support and guidance (Mr. Blair, Gordon Brown, Sir John Major, David Cameron, and Ms. May). How lucky can you be?
Alan Cumming
Stratford upon Avon, Warwickshire
SIR – Why can’t the government even use its common sense and trust the people?
June will lift the restrictions as planned and advise the unvaccinated or vulnerable to remain cautious and the rest of us to use our own judgment on how to behave. Hospital stays and Covid deaths are low because of the vaccine rollout: Let the people decide.
Jennie Naylor
East Preston, West Sussex
Cambridge’s leader
SIR – Douglas Murray has twice attacked Cambridge University Vice Chancellor Professor Stephen Toope in an unjustified and highly personal manner (comment of May 22nd and June 8th). As the heads of the six academic faculties of the university, we are independent from central administration, but we cannot watch Professor Toope face such gross misrepresentation.
Cambridge is a democratic institution with 800 years of roots. No vice chancellor can impose his will on the university, and all political decisions are made through a balanced body structure. While generations of Vice Chancellors have no doubt found this frustrating, in Cambridge it is a fact.
Mr Murray makes the absurd suggestion that Professor Toope wants to restrict freedom of expression and promote an agenda in which academics can be punished for attracting a student. The reality is more mundane. Mistakes were made in launching a campaign to establish workplace conduct policies and procedures. Once the bugs were discovered, the campaign website was deleted and the policies and procedures are now under further democratic scrutiny.
Professor Toope is an eminent international lawyer and experienced university director. He is committed to freedom of expression and makes the university a welcoming place for our students and staff from all over the world. The two goals are complementary, not incompatible. As a manager, he enjoys the respect of the whole university and as high-ranking scientists we offer him our unwavering support.
Professor John Dennis
college of Technology
Professor Tim Harper
Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
Professor Patrick Maxwell
Faculty of Clinical Medicine
Professor Nigel Peake
Faculty of Physical Sciences
Professor Anna Philpott
Faculty of Life Sciences
Professor Chris Young
College of Arts and Humanities
Financing of foreign aid
SIR – The debate should not be about what percentage of national income should be spent on development aid (letters of June 9th), but whether it is right to use taxpayers money on matters that do not directly benefit them.
The government should set up a foreign aid fund for those who can afford to donate. Low-income families who have difficulty paying their taxes should not spend their money overseas.
Foreign aid is another policy in which politicians use taxpayers’ money to show signs of virtue.
Eric Gibbons
Dunfermline, Fife
SIR – Am I the only one who wants a detailed account of where exactly the foreign aid has gone?
Rosalind Ward
Keynsham, Somerset
Despised verses
SIR – Prior to the war, St Cross Hospital in Rugby Post was moved to the theater anteroom for medical personnel. Billy, one of my wet nurse’s suitors, was a friend of Dylan Thomas (letters, June 11); my doctoral supervisor his rival.
When a letter arrived from Billy containing a poem “To Mary,” written by Dylan, my father was derogatory. The poem was thrown in the trash can. This was long before Dylan became famous and later regretted.
Petrina Rowley
Blandford Forum, Dorset
Village churches
SIR – Bishops without touch destroy an important element of village life (Commentary, June 5th).
The villagers want the parish church to be there for them – not just at baptisms, weddings and funerals. Some who seldom attend church services donate church funds (like our parish council) and enjoy attending church events.
In turn, we encourage people to come to our church when they move to the village or when, for example, they have a bereavement and need consolation. Although the number is small, we have a few more in the Church than we did in 2019.
Our rector is about to retire and cannot be replaced. We are left with two part-time clerics in the Benefice (nine churches) who are being subjected to a totally unreasonable workload.
The Church of England needs to cut red tape and administrative costs, focus on funding the rural and urban clergy, promote diversity in worship and build on what already exists.
We volunteers who keep churches going on a daily basis are not heard by people in ivory towers with little experience in our world.
Sue Lansdale
East Tisted, Hampshire
Palliative care
SIR – Why is the euthanasia argument polarized? People want two things at the end of their life. Above all, they do not want to suffer pain, hardship or degradation. You don’t want to die alone either.
To deny “unwanted interference”, as Dr. Idris Baker put it (Letters June 4th) is not a recipe for reassurance. Some of these are simply not food, water, antibiotic, or cardiopulmonary resuscitation. It doesn’t cover pain that can’t be controlled.
It’s okay to advocate better palliative care. The experts are hospices – their average NHS funding is a risky 27 percent. The rest is raised through a charitable donation. Governments prefer not to think about dying and neglect funding for end-of-life care.
The Euthanasia Act is at least a step in the right direction.
Linda Hughes
Newton Abbot, Devon
Talking turkey
SIR – I have just received my first Christmas promotional email from the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra with the caption, “Is it too early to talk about Christmas?”
Mike Hames
Cradley, Herefordshire
