Chagos stupidity

Sir: To British Establishment watchers, Michael Gove’s dissection of the dubious and devious machinations of Jonathan Powell, Richard Hermer, Philippe Sands et al over the Chagos Islands (‘The guilty men’, 31 January) should come as no surprise. Powell, in the Irish Troubles context in particular, has form. His negotiating position more resembled that of an imported diplomat than an official of the UK government. What is surprising in the Chagos fiasco, however, is the seeming gullibility of some at least on the American side. Are they, one wonders, working to a covert agenda of withdrawal and retrenchment, or are they just very stupid?

Terry Smith

London NW11

Democracy denial?

Sir: It is absurd to argue that reversing Brexit would be ‘a denial of democracy’ (Leading article, 31 January). A true denial of democracy would be not allowing for people to change their minds and for that change of mind then to be reflected in government policy. That an overwhelming majority of people now believe Brexit was a mistake has been clear in every opinion poll for a long time. The logic of your position is that the decision made by two-thirds of those who voted to remain in the then EEC in 1975 should never have been reversed.

David Woodhead

Leatherhead, Surrey

Gregory’s end

Sir: Danny Kruger may be unwise in comparing Nigel Farage to Pope Gregory VII in seeking a Canossa-style submission from Conservative supporters (Notes, 31 January). The submission of the Emperor Henry IV at Canossa in 1077 was an apparent success for the Pope, but a few years later the Emperor returned, captured Rome, declared Gregory deposed and appointed another Pope. Gregory’s Norman allies then recaptured the city and their violence so enraged the Romans that Gregory had to flee, dying soon afterwards. Gregory’s reported last words were: ‘I have loved righteousness and hated iniquity, therefore I die in exile.’

John Graham-Leigh

Westbury, Wilts

Proper balls

Sir: ‘It takes a sort of balls to defect’ was the heading of your interview with Robert Jenrick (24 January). It takes proper balls to defect and then call a by-election, as Douglas Carswell honourably did in 2014. Sadly Jenrick and now Suella Braverman could both be said to have no balls at all.

Stefan Reynolds

Elstead, Surrey

Grape expectations

Sir: Patrick Kidd raises an interesting point about our attitude to alcohol and how we introduce it to our children (‘Gateway glug’, 31 January). My French maternal grandma certainly took wine with her to school as a child at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th (not least because of doubts about the quality of the water). When she had children, they were given wine to drink at Sunday lunches, as were we, her grandchildren. The current neo-Puritan approach to alcohol consumption that Kidd rightly complains about flies in the face of history and our culture.

Jeremy White

Buxton, Derbyshire

Fast and furious

Sir: I agree with everything Charles Moore writes about accents and the BBC (Notes, 31 January). I listen to Radio 4 in the night and in the mornings, and what drives me to distraction is that so many contributors – BBC staff as well as interviewees – gabble. They simply speak far too fast. If one cannot have David Attenborough’s or Mark Tully’s lovely voices, at least it would be marvellous to be able to hear the words.

Dione Johnson

Hartley Wintney, Hants

St Bart’s

Sir: The Great Hall and Hogarth’s staircase at St Bartholomew’s Hospital are indeed as impressive as your article says (Arts, 31 January). What it omitted to say was that the hall is only open on Mondays and Tuesdays, or at least that was the case when we visited a few months ago. The Chapel of St Bartholomew in the hospital grounds is also worth a visit and comparable to its larger namesake nearby.

Mary Moore

Croydon

Give it time

Sir: Further to your review (Arts, 31 January), I recently listened to several early editions of Radio 4’s In Our Time, and it was striking how unlike the later programmes they were. Less laser-like focus on a single topic in those days, more a wide-ranging discussion with Melvyn Bragg as chair umpire. Even the ‘Hello…’ introduction wasn’t yet in place. Good programmes don’t stand still, they evolve. So when it comes to Misha Glenny as the new presenter, perhaps the analogy to aspire towards is not so much Alex Ferguson/David Moyes but Bill Shankly/Bob Paisley; the less charismatic, less ‘arrogant’ successor who unobtrusively tweaks a winning formula and raises it to new heights. Can he pull it off? Of course. He’s only done three programmes; Melvyn did more than a thousand. Give the lad a chance.

Simon Bond

Pontefract, West Yorkshire

Trust and teens

Sir: John Power rightly laments the cloistering of children’s lives over the past few decades (‘Smokescreen’, 24 January), with the current government now intent on banning social media for under-16s. At the same time, this government intends to lower the voting age to 16 by the time of the next general election. We will then be faced with the curious prospect of a tranche of teenagers who are not allowed to use Facebook or YouTube one week being entrusted with the levers of democracy the next. Surely this means the voting age should be raised rather than lowered?

Adrian Fogarty

London W4

The joy of Airfix

Sir: William Atkinson need not turn his attentions from Airfix to Warhammer when he has only scratched the grey plastic surface of the world’s most satisfying indoor hobby (‘Notes on… Airfix’, 24 January). At my prep school 50 years ago I used to spend my break times making Airfix models, and have been hooked ever since. While the only satisfaction from Lego is to achieve the same endpoint as everyone else, William’s Tiger tank will be unique as he selects his own colour schemes, decals and so on. Indeed, if he buys his Vulcan, he will find that he can order the precise decals of the aircraft his great-uncle flew from a specialist shop such as Hannants of Lowestoft. For real inspiration, he should visit the International Plastic Model Society show at Telford in November, where he will be astonished at the popularity and vibrancy of the hobby. It is the first thing I put in my diary every year and it never disappoints.

One note of caution: space can become an issue. My house has 20 metres of glass-shop shelving to display my racing cars, and I am still running out of space.

Hugo Pring

Carnforth, Cumbria