Letters: Now is the moment to equip Ukraine with all the military tools it needs

SIR – President Joe Biden is the latest Western leader to visit Ukraine (report, February 21). Like the others, he has been warmly welcomed by President Volodymyr Zelensky.

However, almost one year into the war, the tanks so badly needed by the Ukrainians are still some way from the front line. And what about fighter jets? Our leaders should be focusing on these matters, rather than media-friendly visits.

Mike Cattrall
Doncaster, South Yorkshire

SIR – Joe Biden, for all his faults, must be applauded for flying to Kyiv in support of Ukraine.

After one year of Russian aggression, the invasion clearly isn’t going to end while Vladimir Putin remains at the helm. Britain’s defence budget must increase substantially, otherwise Putin may start to probe our weaknesses. "We in the West must accept that we are in an undeclared state of war with Putin, though not the Russian people. We cannot allow Ukraine to be defeated, because our own survival is threatened if we do.

Dominic Shelmerdine
London SW3

SIR – As much as I would love to see Ukraine achieve the air superiority it needs to condemn Putin’s “special military operation” to the dustbin of history, exactly how many combat aircraft do Liz Truss and Boris Johnson think Britain could provide (report, February 21)?

The United States has hundreds of “surplus” jets in its reserve force, the Air National Guard. Britain has none.

Stuart C Smith
Houghton, Norfolk

SIR – As we approach the first anniversary of Russia’s brutal attack on its neighbour, it is time to take stock.

The West has progressively increased its involvement, from the provision of anti-tank weapons to tanks and now possibly aircraft, while the increase in hardware has been matched by an increase in the rhetoric as our leaders today proclaim, rightly, that Ukraine must win.

At the Munich Security Conference, President Zelensky called for us to speed up our provision of kit. However, the supply of aircraft will take time, even if other nations agree to lend them to him.

As Russia prepares a spring offensive, a step change is required. We need a coalition of the willing to bolster the Ukrainian position, perhaps with the declaration of a no-fly zone. Yes, there is a risk, but the fact is that we are becoming ever more involved; and Putin has already had an excuse to retaliate against us, as weapons supplied by Ukraine’s allies have killed thousands of Russian soldiers.

The real risk lies in allowing him to win. As President Zelensky told parliamentarians in Westminster Hall, a Ukrainian victory would not only be morally right but would also send a signal to every other potential aggressor that such behaviour will not be tolerated.

Sir Gerald Howarth
Chelsworth, Suffolk

The new Victorians

SIR – The ridiculous editing of Roald Dahl’s stories (Letters, February 21) reminded me of a book I had from the 1830s of Shakespeare’s plays for reading to families. All the naughty or violent bits were printed in italics. The introduction, which instructed the “gentle reader” to leave these passages out, was hilarious to my generation but would please today’s woke folk.

Can we soon also expect Victorian frills on piano legs, so as not to offend?

I lost the book in a house move, to my great regret.

Annette Tranchant
East Wittering, West Sussex

SIR – I hope Puffin will have a clear banner across future editions of Dahl’s books, saying: “Censored edition.”

Christine Beharrell
Petworth, West Sussex

SIR – I would like to see leading booksellers such as Waterstones boycott the woke butchering of Dahl’s children’s books and stock only the original editions. This would send a strong signal to publishers not to tamper with great writers of the past.

Jean-Marc Evans
London N12

Tough on pollution

SIR – In December 1955 my great-uncle Mr Justice (later Lord Justice) Danckwerts threatened to imprison all 32 members of Sevenoaks Rural District Council for failing to comply with an injunction restraining them from polluting the River Eden.

I feel sure that a similarly robust approach to the boards and senior management of privatised water companies would work wonders.

Peter Danckwerts
Richmond, Surrey

Sandwich envy

SIR – My mother provided variety in our school lunches (Letters, February 20) by making us sandwiches filled with crushed Fry’s Chocolate Cream bars. This ensured a queue of children desperate to trade their lunch for ours every day.

Claire Reuben
Ufford, Suffolk

SIR – Every time I make a sandwich I hear my mother saying: “Sweet fillings in brown bread, savoury fillings in white.” And it’s true: a brown bacon buttie has nowhere near the flavour of one made with good white bread.

Christine Baldock
Colsterworth, Lincolnshire

A ‘good’ death

SIR – What a thought-provoking and sensitive documentary Prue and Danny’s Death Road Trip (Arts, February 17) was.

I instinctively felt that assisted dying was a step too far until I witnessed my sister die a horrific and prolonged death from bowel cancer aged just 37. I now agree completely with Prue Leith, that those dying of terminal illness should have the right to say for themselves when enough is enough.

I have seen the reality – that not every patient can be ensured a “good” death, despite the best palliative care and strongest drugs. It seems that those such as Danny Kruger, who choose to scare with stories from Canada, ignore the real human damage being inflicted on dying people and their families every day in Britain.

Since 1997, Oregon has shown us how it is possible for mentally competent adults within six months of death to have control at the end of their lives. There has been no “slippery slope”. If Oregon can manage it, then so can Britain.

Elizabeth Atherton
Cardiff

Care for the carers

SIR – Has anyone stopped to really think why nurses, doctors, ambulance staff and physios are striking? Why aren’t we holding our hands up in horror that these people cannot afford a decent living standard, despite having spent years training to do highly responsible jobs?

Every day we rely on them, often in the most desperate circumstances, to care for us. It is their goodwill that has largely kept the NHS working up until now. We fail at our peril to treat them with the dignity, respect and working conditions that they deserve.

Jacky Ellinger
Southampton

Trans language classes

SIR – Jo Bird  (Letters, February 20) references the Society of Local Council Clerks (SLCC) and its offer of training in how to communicate with transgender people.

As the professional body for clerks to more than 5,000 town, parish and community councils throughout England and Wales, we offer this training to our members alongside a range of other courses. Besides sector-specific qualifications, we provide training on how to navigate the planning system and unravel the intricacies of public accounting and VAT; how to run cemeteries, play areas, allotments and major events, take on markets, encourage civility and respect at work, and much more. We are driven by our member clerks on the type of training needed and provide them with what helps them to serve their councils and communities.

While others are welcome to attend our courses, the SLCC is a membership organisation with a small staff and small budgets, and does not seek profits or external contributions. There’s no direct promotion of our training outside our membership.

Rob Smith
Chief Executive, Society of Local Council Clerks
Taunton, Somerset

Census centenarian

SIR – How unusual is it that I was able to show my mother, Joyce, who recently had her 102nd birthday, her entry in the 1921 census?

This could not be repeated for 30 years as the 1931 census was destroyed by fire, and it did not take place in 1941 because of the war.

Tony Slade
Chester

Handwriting free from classroom pressure

SIR – My handwriting at junior school (Letters, February 21) was a beautiful italic script. However, the time taken to create works of art for every piece of written work meant that it was both laborious and slow.

At senior level, we were required to take notes in lessons. My handwriting was not up to the task, and I soon developed a rather liberal scrawl that lives with me today.

During lockdown, I rediscovered the art of calligraphy, and now enjoy many a peaceful hour writing in the script of my childhood.

Anne Hanley
Gunnislake, Cornwall

SIR – I remember another nefarious use of the inkwell.

A small piece of blotting paper (aka “blotch”) soaked in the inkwell made a messy loaded missile, which could be fired a considerable distance across the classroom from a flexible wooden ruler.

Professor Emeritus Irving Benjamin
Deal, Kent

SIR – I was born left-handed but was forced from an early age to write with my right hand. Henceforth my schoolwork often had the comment at the bottom: “Why so untidy?”

My handwriting is no better today.

D F Middlebrook
Frampton, Dorset

SIR – If a fountain pen is held correctly, one’s hand will be below the words written. Therefore no smudges will occur. I am left-handed and never experienced any difficulty when I was at school or university.

Brian Keeling
Denmead, Hampshire

A reckless change to Cambridge admissions

SIR – You report (February 19) that Cambridge’s Gonville and Caius College has “changed its admissions policy to emphasise academic potential over achievement”. This is an outrage against the national exam system.

Why should a group of Leftie dons be permitted to indulge their personal and political prejudices to discriminate in this way, and why do they believe themselves remotely qualified to judge human potential? Dons will be no better at picking academic winners than governments are at picking industrial winners.

Objective excellence, demonstrated in exams, must be the sole criterion for admission to our elite universities. All forms of positive discrimination just lower the bar across the piece.

Gregory Shenkman
London SW7

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