Letters: Power is rapidly ebbing away from Vladimir Putin’s monstrous regime
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SIR – Vladimir Putin has lost his strut, and now looks anxious and hunted.
This is good to see, though when he is removed – as he surely will be soon – we must be prepared for his replacement to be even worse.
Mick Ferrie
Mawnan Smith, Cornwall
SIR – In late 1941, as Operation Barbarossa reached its peak, a rampaging Wehrmacht army of 940,000 fought to within 10 miles of the gates of Moscow.
Stalin stood his ground, remaining in the city, which did not fall. He continued to rule the USSR until his death 12 years later.
By contrast, when a small advance unit of the Wagner Group’s motley 25,000 men were still as much as 250 miles from Moscow, Vladimir Putin reportedly deserted the city and fled to St Petersburg.
One wonders what that implies in respect of the longevity of his premiership.
Gregory Shenkman
London SW7
SIR – Don’t let us fall into the trap of thinking that Putin is now finished. A wounded animal is a dangerous animal.
John McLaren
Farnham, Surrey
SIR – President Emmanuel Macron’s reported rejection of Ben Wallace’s appointment as the next Nato secretary-general, coupled with his demand that the position must be given to an EU national, is not just a slight to Britain but also threatens to neuter the alliance that has kept our continent secure for nearly 80 years.
As the defence minister responsible for our relations with the EU, I witnessed first-hand both the determination to create the EU “defence identity” expressly for political – not military – purposes, and the military ineptitude.
President Macron, who resents the influence of the Anglosphere, clearly wants the EU to be designated as the European arm of Nato, which would sideline Britain (still, despite all, the most powerful military force in Europe); give succour to those in the United States who resent the disproportionate contribution made by their country’s taxpayers to the security of Europe when America is looking to its west; undermine the value of Five Eyes intelligence sharing; and profoundly weaken the alliance just as it faces its most serious challenges for 30 years. Who knows what mad response the Wagner Group’s actions will provoke from Vladimir Putin?
That distinguished Falklands commander, Major-General Julian Thompson, is absolutely right: the EU is trying to edge Britain out of the defence of Europe and must be resisted with all the diplomatic might we can muster.
Sir Gerald Howarth
Chelsworth, Suffolk
Brexit saboteurs
SIR – I doubt that anyone who voted for Brexit could have foreseen the chaos that followed – in the shape of Remainers who refused to accept that we live in a democracy.
How could we have predicted the actions of the former Speaker of the House of Commons, for instance, or the judiciary?
On top of that, of course, was the appalling spite of the rest of the EU. The French and the Germans were determined to make an example of us to deter any other country from opting out. They are still doing this.
No, I’m afraid I didn’t see any of these things coming. Incidentally, and contrary to popular opinion, I voted the way I did for the future of our grandchildren, not for selfish reasons. I don’t regret doing so.
Valerie Currie
Cheltenham, Gloucestershire
Northern arts
SIR – After three days spent enjoying various arts in the North (Letters, June 23), may I put in a plug for Wakefield as a rival to Leeds?
In this beautiful, historic but neglected city, and its environs, lie the following: Nostell Priory, a superb 18th-century house with a collection of Chippendale furniture actually made for it; the Yorkshire Sculpture Park, with its Henry Moores, Barbara Hepworths and, currently, an exciting display of Erwin Wurm; then, in the town, the Hepworth Wakefield. This inspirational building, designed by David Chipperfield, houses the most beautiful collection of Hepworths and others, displayed in perfectly lit spaces.
There is also a beautiful cathedral, which throughout the year puts on evensong of transcendent beauty, followed by an organ voluntary.
With levelling-up works apparently stalled (though heavily advertised), I suggest something is done urgently to restore the city’s historic fabric and promote its new cultural life.
Donald R Clarke
Tunbridge Wells, Kent
Glastonbury overload
SIR – On Saturday the BBC covered Glastonbury Festival on BBC One for an hour, on BBC Two for seven hours and on BBC Four for seven hours.
I thought that such programmes were what BBC Three was for. Those of us who do not appreciate Glastonbury are left with little else to watch.
Alex McAllister
Bath, Somerset
Net-zero realities
SIR – We have been paying for wind farms and solar panels for years through the green levy attached to our energy bills.
Did this result in cheap, clean energy when the crisis started? No. British people are being forced down the net-zero route at great cost while now being hit by rampant inflation.
The Government and the other political parties need to wake up to this reality.
Karen Sherliker
Bristol
SIR – The Government should not provide massive subsidies for hydrogen production (report, June 24).
Whatever lobbying has been done, the fact is that hydrogen manufacture, transport and distribution are mature industries. Hydrogen has been used in American space programmes since the 1960s, and is a major ingredient of many basic chemical and food processes. As a domestic fuel it is at the heart of Saudi Arabia’s projected 100-mile linear city along the Red Sea, and 125-mile hydrogen pipelines have been in operation in continental Europe for many years.
In Britain, hydrogen was used to sweeten coal gas, as distributed to domestic customers, for many years, until the advent of natural gas removed the need. Whether we should use it as a constituent of our piped domestic fuel again is a separate question. But there is no more sense in subsidising hydrogen than any other basic chemical, like ethylene or chlorine.
Professor Stephen Bush
Manchester University
NHS overhaul
SIR – I have lived in France for 16 years, but before that I worked for the NHS for 30. I believe that the service, as currently funded, cannot survive.
The developments of the past 50 years have made it impossible for any government to fund the NHS through taxation alone. The British model is not copied anywhere else. If a European system were adopted, with people taking out health insurance on a private basis (not compulsory in France), and practitioners enjoying independence, things would improve.
I remain convinced that the NHS’s medical expertise, nursing and general care are superb, but the model is most definitely not.
Margaret Baker
Juvigny les Vallées, Manche, France
Pension perks
SIR – Richard Youens (Letters, June 24) may be interested to know that the over-80 pension bonus of 25p per week was introduced in 1971 and has not changed since.
In 1971 it bought a colour TV licence for a year. No longer, I’m sorry to say.
Marcus Croome
Truro, Cornwall
SIR – On checking my latest grocery bill, I could not find one item that 25p would buy: the cheapest purchase was some loose mushrooms at 48p.
Joyce M Whiteley
Ilkley, West Yorkshire
Feathered thieves
SIR – Your report (June 24) on the cherry-stealing blackbirds reminded me of the tree in our previous garden.
When the cherries began to ripen and change colour, my husband would protect as many as possible with old tights. The birds got the ones we could not cover, but the ones that were saved were delicious.
Phyllis Jones
Bedford
The decline and fall of design and technology
SIR – The response of Amanda Spielman, the head of Ofsted, to the shortage of children choosing to study design and technology at GCSE level is that of the typical bureaucrat: choice should be taken away from them.
She would do better to ask why this subject does not fire children’s imaginations. Is it because the syllabuses are too full of paper-planning exercises, and there is not enough actual construction? Or is it, perhaps, because the legions with degrees in abstract subjects have convinced parents and pupils that there is no future in designing or making?
David J Critchley
Winslow, Buckinghamshire
How the Lords could better serve the country
SIR – It is good news that a respected Commons select committee is to conduct an inquiry into the Lords appointment system.
The prime minister of the day has always had unfettered control over it. That must change if public confidence, gravely damaged by Boris Johnson, is to be restored. We need a statutory body that can stop wholly unsuitable people being given peerages by an irresponsible premier. There is a widespread view that the House of Lords is too big, though it was larger in the 1990s (with over 1,200 hereditary and life members in all) than now.
The Upper House itself has approved a plan to get the total down to 600. Mr Johnson ignored it. The Commons should commend it strongly to Rishi Sunak. There may well be a case for going further, particularly if a large creation of new peers on a change of government is to be avoided. The fundamental issue is whether members of the Upper House should in future be required to turn up and do serious work in it. That has never been the case at any time in our history. Should such a requirement be introduced?
Lord Lexden (Con)
London SW1
SIR – The United States has a population of 334.2 million people, while Britain has a population of 67.3 million.
The US Senate (upper house) has just 100 members, whereas Britain’s House of Lords has 776 sitting members – including 83 Liberal Democrat peers, when the party has only 14 MPs in the Commons. Meanwhile, the US has 435 members of the House of Representatives (lower house) and Britain has 650 MPs.
The Commons and the Lords have simply become too big, and at some point a cross-party solution is going to have to be found to this problem. Otherwise the efficiency of government will continue to be compromised.
Charlie Caminada
Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire
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