Boris DeWiel (Letters, 5 December) attacks Stephen Hawking’s plea for egalitarianism, apparently on the grounds that as one of the self-professed elite Hawking can only be paying lip service to such a view. It seems, first, that Hawking’s self-identifying was just factual in terms of what most people, especially the readers and writers of our tabloid press, would define as “the elite”, rather than any claim to be superior; and, second, that in all areas of inequality the weaker have little hope of gaining equality unless the stronger support them. Women needed at least some men onside with feminism; ethnic minorities need support from white people. It’s about who has the power, and whether they are willing to cede some. Hawking is and should be celebrated for it.
Jill Wallis
Aston Clinton, Buckinghamshire
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