If the government wants to show it is taking the concerns of blue-wall constituencies such as Chesham and Amersham seriously, it should require that the new town proposed by Eton College in East Sussex generates a substantial public benefit from the dramatic increase in land values resulting from the change from rural to residential land use (“Eton v the trout: college’s land deal sparks fears for rich spawning river”, News).
This could be used to provide generous public facilities and genuinely affordable housing held under communal tenure systems and co-housing that will meet local needs. The same approach should be applied for all new developments. Similarly, if Eton is serious about its public responsibilities, it will welcome such an opportunity.
Geoffrey Payne
London W5
The stories about Eton College selling off land for a major housing development and the prospects for the commercial opening of oilfields in Namibia and Botswana (“New oilfield in African wilderness threatens lives of 130,000 elephants”, News) should have sent shudders of horror through your readership. Both sharply pointed up the perennial conflict between animal welfare and human need.
If the housing development is given the green light, the existence of sea trout, so dependent on the hospitable Bevern stream, will be in jeopardy, while going ahead with the exploitation of oil reserves in Africa will seriously imperil elephants, despite the pious protestation from both groups of developers that care will be taken to minimise harm to the threatened species. The dilemma is identical: whether to protect the environment or to exploit it for profit and employment? Our planet is already close to breaking point and every step taken by such developers deepens the crisis. When will our species ever learn?
Denis Bruce
Bishopbriggs, East Dunbartonshire
The 1960s: not free for all
The subhead to “The big picture” (the New Review) read: “David Hurn’s photograph captures the last hurrah of a decade of freedom.” It might have been a good time for some but I’m sure there are plenty who would disagree that the 1960s was the decade of freedom – the gay community, the Windrush generation, those who fell foul of the glass ceiling.
Sean Doull-Connolly
London EN4
Parole board failings
Responding to Catherine’s Bennett’s article correctly vilifying the appalling decision to release the convicted child murderer and rapist Colin Pitchfork, Dean Kingham retorts in his letter that “the Parole Board will shortly have the authority to conduct parole hearings in public” and thus “will help improve transparency and public understanding of the process” (Letters. He implies that those opposed to Pitchfork’s release would change their views on his release. Those opposed understand only too well the workings of the Parole Board and are aghast that they can ever regard a child rapist and murderer capable of reform. It is yet another example of too many involved in the British legal process regarding female lives as expendable. The recent appallingly lenient sentencing of the Cwmbran man who murdered his wife of some 40 years, in conjunction with the risible rate of conviction of rape cases involving largely female victims, further emphasises the low worth of a female life in British society.
Susan Thomas
Newport, Gwent
Putting a value on life
The musings of David Spiegelhalter and Anthony Masters were very interesting (“Is there an ‘acceptable’ risk of death?”, Comment). The calculation depends in part on what we gain from accepting the risk or lose by accepting measures to reduce it. I doubt anyone would say that 2,000 deaths on the roads is acceptable but most of us use them regularly without feeling unduly afraid. On the other hand, no politician would dare suggest that a fraction of that level of risk of death from terrorist acts is acceptable.
Despite these difficulties and our natural distaste of any calculation that puts a value on human life, it is essential that we think about these questions and use the best data to guide us through the tricky balance of protecting ourselves from harm while living free and fulfilling lives.
Jonathan Wallace
Fenham, Newcastle upon Tyne
Livingstone’s debt
As Vanessa Thorpe highlights, Dr David Livingstone has often been portrayed as the lone expeditioner, leaving the contribution of Mary Moffat, his wife, untold (“Mrs Livingstone, we presume?”, News). This is similarly true for the African members of Livingstone’s expeditions. Africans such as Abdullah Susi and James Chuma also made important contributions to Livingstone’s work. And, as the Royal Geographical Society’s Hidden Histories of Exploration project reveals, there was recognition for them through the award of silver medals to Susi and Chuma.
Foregrounding perspectives such as these helps to expand the traditional narrative, which focuses on just one man, to one that does not leave the important contribution of others behind.
Steve Brace
Royal Geographical Society (with IBG)
London SW7
The perils of alcohol
Barbara Ellen castigates the World Health Organization for recommending that women of childbearing age abstain from alcohol (“It’s not our health that concerns you, guys. It’s women having fun”, Comment).
In 2018, the Lancet published the synthesis of research from nearly 200 countries, linking alcohol with Alzheimer’s, at least two cancers and many other health problems.
In the years that followed, I watched with curiosity how little reaction there has been to this report.
I realise how deeply embedded regular alcohol consumption is in all strata of society, which it was not in my parents’ day. I wonder if in another generation this will be recognised as a problem for mankind on a par with Covid or anthropogenic climate change, and I’m glad I won’t be here to see it.
I sympathise with Barbara Ellen up to a point, but I find the notion that people can only have “fun” if there’s alcohol around rather pathetic. I recommend the Lancet report to her.
Sinclair Coghill Dunnett
Inverness
A brush with art history
As an art school graduate with a reasonable amount of art history knowledge, I have only ever identified one of Laura Cumming’s guess the painting (the New Review). Am I alone or should I go back to school?
David Prothero
Harlington, Bedfordshire
