Letters: Letting standards drop in the Army would threaten national security
SIR – The police came unstuck by downgrading vetting of applicants, which allowed criminals and coercive people to join – with tragic results.
Might not the Army learn something from that experience before taking a similarly wrongheaded decision that threatens national security in the name of diversity (“Army’s cash being squandered for political agenda, says Grant Shapps”, report, February 12)?
Monty Taylor
Martock, Somerset
SIR – The key to maintaining effective manpower in the Army is the retention of good soldiers beyond the minimum three years of service. This will be achieved by showing we care about those currently serving, rather than by schemes to attract replacements.
Personal equipment and clothing must look the best and be the best, and not simply be the result of the lowest tender. Fighting gear should be obtained by smart procurement and be ready in time for current warfare. Perhaps most importantly, accommodation and leisure facilities should be of an acceptable quality. Soldiers leave because they and their families are expected to live in sub-standard quarters, often mouldy and plagued by other faults.
We risk losing good soldiers if we lower the standards of those joining them. It would please the current cohort if they were to read that the head of the Army is addressing these issues as his highest priority.
The British Army is still the finest in the world, but it won’t be for much longer if we continue with eye-catching schemes rather than fixing the real problems.
Colonel Mark Rayner (retd)
Eastbourne, East Sussex
SIR – When I commenced my last sea job as marine engineer officer of a Type-42 destroyer, I told my new department that I was the most politically correct boss they would ever work for (which will probably come as a surprise to those who
know me).
I told them I did not care where they came from or what colour their skin was. I cared even less whether they were male or female, which half of the species they chose to go to bed with, or which god they worshipped. I did, however, care passionately about their ability to do their job as a marine engineer in my department, which consisted of gay, straight, white and black men and women.
For most sailors, that is the priority: do your job to the best of your ability. Anything else is additional nonsense that we don’t need.
I pride myself on never having attended compulsory diversity and inclusion training in my career. Somehow, I managed to complete two challenging, back-to-back South Atlantic deployments without it. Maybe it was thanks to the excellent people who worked for me.
George Adams
Brading, Isle of Wight
Trump’s patience
SIR – Donald Trump was laughed at by Germany when he warned that it should not rely on Russian piped gas.
He was ignored by the majority of Nato countries when he urged them to increase their defence spending in line with Nato requirements.
He understood that a well-armed Europe would deter his “friend” Vladimir Putin from any incursion into Ukraine.
His latest message warns that those sheltering under US power will no longer be defended unless they pay up (“Trump’s ‘Putin invite’ condemned by Nato”, report, February 12). Mr Trump is about peace not war, but his patience with a Europe unwilling to pay for its defence has come to an end.
Squadron Leader David Lott (retd)
Storrington, West Sussex
Fake conversions
SIR – The Bishop of Durham, Rt Rev Paul Butler, accuses me of presenting “an imaginative range of allegations” regarding the fake conversions of asylum seekers that I uncovered during my time as priest in charge of St Cuthbert’s in Darlington (Letters, February 12).
He presumably means to convince your readers that the sizable groups of young male Iranians – failed asylum applicants who came to me week after week asking for baptism – were imaginary. Are my clergy colleagues with similar experiences also deluded?
Bishop Butler accuses me of not raising the matter with him or presenting evidence. Quite apart from the fact that the eyewitness testimony of a priest (backed up by congregation members) is evidence, there would have been little point in raising the matter with him, for two reasons.
First, I dealt with the matter myself by speedily shutting down the conveyor belt of applications (hence the small number of pre-booked baptisms that took place after my arrival). Secondly, when I disclosed to Bishop Butler, on two occasions, that I had been bullied by congregation members (one cause of my resignation), he dismissed my claims without investigation. Any confidence in his commitment to investigate the present matter would therefore have been misplaced.
This is made clearer now by him publicly rubbishing my claims without bothering to contact me for the further evidence, which I could have provided.
Rev Matthew Firth
York
Stranded livestock
SIR – On January 5 a boat left Australia bound for Israel with about 15,000 sheep and 2,500 cattle on board.
Due to war conditions, it was eventually rerouted back to the west coast of Australia. These animals were not allowed back on Australian soil because of rules and regulations. They were therefore stranded on this boat, standing in their own excrement, which after five weeks must have been appalling. Another boat left on February 1, this time with 60,000 sheep, also destined for the Red Sea.
Is this the way to treat animals in our day and age?
Evelyn England
Southam, Warwickshire
Cooking with cookies
SIR – While I agree that Oreo biscuits have a “pitiful” appearance, “like a biscuit that could not afford a coating of chocolate” (Features, February 9), I must give them my support as an ingredient in Lorraine Pascale’s recipe for fudge brownies. Delicious.
Sandra Forsyth
Fleet, Hampshire
Clueless coders
SIR – We have an excess of coders (Business, February 12), with poor computer systems as a result. Too many companies hand computing problems straight to coders without going through the systems-analysis phase – which would encourage a design focus on tasks that users wish to undertake. Too often coders produce systems that are data-oriented rather than task-oriented.
Looking at online services provided to the public, how many times do we log in to a system only to be asked for our name and/or address that we already gave when we registered? Or desperately search to find out how to undertake a task other than a straightforward order or return?
Our experience would be better if software developers were trained to analyse what users want from systems, and produce a design reflecting that analysis before starting coding.
Phil Benton
Marlow, Buckinghamshire
Scourge of measles
SIR – My great-grandparents lost five small children within two weeks in a measles epidemic (“Measles cases increase by a third in a week”, report, February 9).
Anti-vaccination parents need to know this.
Elisabeth Boss
Bath, Somerset
Inglorious goalkeeping
SIR – The recent correspondence about football (Letters, February 10) reminded me of an incident that occurred when I was goalkeeper for my youth club, aged about 15.
My team had reached the final of a knockout competition and we were playing a team, Stamford Hill, whose centre forward was Reg Drury. Reg later became a well-known football reporter for the News Of The World and was a chairman of the Football Writers’ Association.
Reg was a tall, gangling lad and ran with his knees high and elbows akimbo. After I had caught a cross from the right wing, I spotted Reg racing towards me at speed; he looked a terrifying figure. In those days, goalkeepers did not have the referee protection that there is today, and so, panicking, I threw the ball over the bar to save myself and the ball being bundled into the net.
Inevitably, from the ensuing corner Reg outjumped our defence and headed in a goal.
Raymond Nathan
Buckhurst Hill, Essex
The harmless fun of a fairground horse ride
SIR – Peta, the animal rights organisation, claims that the horses on fairground carousels encourage “exploitation” (report, February 10).
How can this be? The brightly coloured horses are part of the magic of the experience. Children and adults enjoy a few minutes of fantasy as the roundabout turns, taking them up and down to the music. If the galloping horses were replaced with cars and trains – which is what Peta is calling for – it would not be the same, and a centuries-old tradition would be at risk of being lost.
Ann Tomline
Long Wittenham, Oxfordshire
British firms are failing to incentivise work
SIR – I am 60, and work as a software engineer and manager.
The wages on offer today are lower than in 1998 – not in real terms but in actual numbers. What is left of the contracting industry is paying less than in 1995, and IR35 off-payroll working rules make it uneconomic (“Britain is giving up on work”, Leading Article, February 11).
Worse, despite all the experience I have, I am told I am not experienced in the things that any application requires, despite ticking every box in the advertisement – which leads me to believe that the real issue is age. Apparently I cannot switch from working on safety-critical embedded software to banking software.
Before workers head off abroad, businesses need to start paying enough, providing sufficient training and being flexible in their demands when it comes to previous experience. Moreover, requiring people to be in the office two or three days a week means that it is only possible to recruit from those who are already in the area – or able to afford to move there, despite the peanuts they will be paid.
The problem is not the British worker, but the pathetic excuse for management that this country is saddled with.
Dave Hitchman
Exning, Suffolk
SIR – Welfare benefits should be a safety net, not a lifestyle choice, and should be distributed via a pre-paid debit card that can only be used to purchase essentials such as food, clothes and toiletries. Alcohol, tobacco, electronics, streaming subscriptions, meals out, beauty treatments and holidays would not qualify under such a system, and should not, realistically, be accessible to those on out-of-work benefits.
People who wish to have these things need to be told to get a job, because we are not paying. The first political party to take a meaningful stance on this country’s benefits culture is likely to gain great support from hard-working British families.
Will Curtis
Raydon, Suffolk
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