Ed Vulliamy and Helena Smith, in their article “Athens 1944: Britain’s dirty secret”,’ (Magazine, question why the story of the Greek civil war “remains curiously untold in Britain”. One reason is because, as Jeremy Isaacs writes in his book Storm Over 4: “The British insisted the only true version of events was theirs.” This is why, when Isaacs commissioned, and I produced, the three-part series Greece: The Hidden War in 1986, it was banned after one transmission following pressure from members of the British establishment. In Storm over 4, Isaacs writes: “Greece: The Hidden War did not lie.” In Greece, the series has been broadcast numerous times. Perhaps it’s time to show the series again and let the British viewers decide where the truth lies.
Jane Gabriel
Bath
Liverpool’s housing success
I was interested to read about the success that the council in Stoke-on-Trent is having with its £1 homes scheme (“The £1 houses and thriving potteries are making Stoke boom again”, New Review). However, I was disappointed by the comment that Liverpool’s similar initiative “has failed thus far”. In fact, the scheme is progressing well, with all 20 properties in the pilot matched up to applicants. Six of these are progressing with the refurbishments and work will commence on the other 14 early in the new year. We also have a reserve list of applicants ready to sign up for other properties we are planning to make available soon.
This is not a competition between Liverpool and Stoke and we are genuinely encouraged by the success that Stoke has enjoyed. However, our schemes differ in several respects. As described in your article, the Stoke scheme involves the council actually undertaking the works itself and tying its “£1” customers into a loan repayment agreement.
Our scheme provides successful applicants with the opportunity to fund and manage the refurbishments themselves. Although this lessens the council’s control over the works, customers have welcomed this autonomy.
Ann O’Byrne
Cabinet member for housing
Liverpool City Council
A school model that works
Sam Freedman makes valuable points in “State schools don’t need private sector advice”, (Comment). He is right that where the advice offered patronises it is of little value and can do harm. He may also be right that some independent schools found themselves involved in the support of academies without knowing the extent of the challenge. However, one statement in his article must be corrected.
Dulwich college has not pulled out of the Isle of Sheppey. Having been instrumental in the setting up of its academy, in improving academic standards and in ensuring the openings of its new buildings, between 2009 and 2013, Dulwich relinquished the role of lead sponsor to Oasis Community Learning, but continues as an educational partner. We are proud to support Oasis’s mission to effect a social transformation, through its schools, on the Isle of Sheppey, work we did not have the resources to undertake. I sit on the Oasis Academy Isle of Sheppey’s council and explore means by which staff and pupils at Dulwich and on Sheppey can benefit from shared experiences. We have set a model others should follow; we have the same relationship with E-ACT’s City Heights Academy in Lambeth.
Dr JAF Spence
The Master
Dulwich College
London SE21
French nuclear nonsense
Whatever doubts the French may continue to have over Iran’s plutonium production reactor at Arak, they seem to be sanguine about Iran’s involvement in uranium enrichment, so much so that they are in industrial partnership with the Iranians in this technology and have been for four decades since the agreement was initiated by the shah in 1975. (“The deadline might have passed, but the nuclear risks remain critical”, leader)
The origins of the deal are illustrative of the dangers of international nuclear collaboration. A joint-stock European uranium enrichment Eurodif Consortium was formed in 1973. Two years later, Sweden’s 10% share was sold to Iran.
The French government subsidiary company, Cogéma (now Areva), and the then Iranian government established the spin-out Société Franco-Iranienne pour l’enrichissement de l’uranium par diffusion gazeuse (Sofidif) with 60% and 40% shares respectively. In turn, Sofidif acquired a 25% share in Eurodif, which gave Iran its 10% share of Eurodif.
The hypocrisy of France, as a nuclear technology supplier to Iran, ganging up on its customer client with the other United Nations’ permanent five Security Council members and Germany, would be funny if it weren’t so serious.
Dr David Lowry
Former director of the European Proliferation Information Centre (EPIC)
Stoneleigh
Surrey
Don’t mess with my choo-choo
A great review by Rowan Moore (“Just the ticket: the joy of England’s railway stations”, New Review) of the English railway station – but could he not have resisted the creeping Americanisation of “train stations”? The clue was in the title.
David Spaven
Edinburgh
