Little cheer
Sir: I found the headline on Tim Shipman’s excellent article (‘Tories’ reasons to be cheerful’, 10 October) more than a little misleading. There was little to cheer me up. Although Kemi Badenoch is growing in political stature week by week and her approval ratings have increased, the Conservative party has much ground to make up. In the Holborn and St Pancras by-election, the Tories came a poor third and saw the share of their vote drop compared with 2024. The Tories’ main problem is that they have no allies. Reform UK, Restore Britain and the Lib Dems will not work with them. Labour, on the other hand, would sell its soul to the devil and join with the Greens. Were a general election called imminently, I fear we would be saddled with another Labour government, of sorts, for the next five years.
Dr Alf Crossman
Rudgwick, West Sussex
God and Mammon
Sir: Hurrah for Peter Hitchens’s article (‘Rogues and naves’, 10 October), in which he argued that we should willingly pay to enter our great cathedrals. As Douglas Murray recently lamented (‘Would Sadiq Khan back a rave in a mosque?’, 12 September), these cathedrals are having to resort to some pretty desperate measures to raise funds and, if we want to save them from that, we should indeed be prepared to pay when we visit. Hitchens is clearly not keen on the French model whereby the state owns and cares for its cathedrals, but perhaps it compares favourably with the philistinism of successive British governments that have made the job of caring for these wonderful buildings harder than ever, by imposing VAT on repairs and then withdrawing the grant scheme that offered some compensation. Can I therefore add a further thought? All our cathedrals have excellent Friends organisations that enable us to support our cathedrals even when we don’t have time to visit them. I do hope that readers will consider becoming a Friend of their favourite cathedral. They have never needed friends more.
Wilf WhiteHoxne, Suffolk
What price worship?
Sir: I wholly disagree with Peter Hitchens’s support for cathedrals charging visitors and his dismissal of complaints about the practice. Cathedrals, like other churches, are places of worship and the notion of a heavy entrance fee is discordant with the view that a church should be freely accessible to all, rich and poor. In fact, there is something antediluvian and anti-Christian about the notion of charging for admittance. Many families with young children can ill afford this naked opportunism from a Church which has become remote from the average person. I recently went to Tours cathedral. There was no hint of charging and ample evidence of people sitting and in reflection.
Geoffrey James
Ponteland, Newcastle upon Tyne
No hard feelings
Sir: Martin Vander Weyer, drawing up names for his ‘all-time ideal lunch’ (Any Other Business, 26 September), includes Denis Healey and Nigel Lawson, while warning they ‘probably’ wouldn’t get on. In fact, I once attended a small dinner held by the LSE, along with a number of ex-chancellors including the two of them. There didn’t seem to be any social difficulties. It is true that over the years Healey enjoyed poking fun at my father, describing him (in his memoirs) as resembling ‘a rather tubby Alcibiades’, though when my father later lost over a quarter of his body weight, Healey declared he would ‘not go on the Nigel Lawson diet, I don’t want to look like death warmed up’. My father did not raise these insults at the dinner. On the other hand, he didn’t let Denis get much of a word in, either.
Dominic Lawson
East Sussex
Forgive if not forget
Sir: Katie Glass’s article (‘A radical solution to the prisons crisis’, 10 October) suggesting that former prisons could create attractive employment opportunities for ex-cons reminded me of a visit to Robben Island some years ago. It was thought-provoking to witness the very basic facilities of this dreadful prison, including the cell in which Mandela lived for all those years, and the reality of a life with little or no contact with the outside world, families or loved ones. The most memorable aspect was meeting the guide who showed us around. He was an ex-con himself, who had remained on the island after his release and was employed as one of the guides. It was humbling to hear the forgiving attitude he had towards his captors and that he was clearly proud of his new role. While waiting for the group to catch up at one point on the tour, he commented gleefully that his position now allowed him to order the (mostly white) visitors around in a way never open to him while he was a prisoner.
Alan Forrest
Kingston upon Thames
No offence but…
Sir: As a criminal barrister, I was dismayed to read Katie Glass’s piece. It is absurd to suggest that we legalise petty crime such as shoplifting, which rarely attracts a prison sentence. As for releasing everyone on remand, that is unlikely to end well for victims of persistent domestic violence. And does Ms Glass think international drug smugglers will hang around to await their trials and inevitable 25-year prison sentences?
David Birrell
Burton, Cheshire
Not crotchety
Sir: Dot Wordsworth asks if you would blush to admit you lived in Crotch Crescent in Oxford (Mind Your Language, 3 October). My local dog-owners’ WhatsApp group, some of whose members really do live in Crotch Crescent, has been buzzing with this question. As Dot points out, the street is named after the composer William Crotch and I am assured that there is general pride in the name. Residents describe themselves as living ‘on the Crotch’ or even ‘up the Crotch’, which may not be as rude as it sounds, for Crotch Crescent is on a hill, and you do indeed have to go up it to reach the top.
Fiona Thurston
Oxford
Button up
Sir: Andrew Roberts’s comments on dress standards in the House of Lords (Diary, 10 October) were only slightly spoiled by his final paragraph relating to undone zips. Gentlemen’s flies should be secured by buttons. This allows, if necessary, for friends to deliver the gentle admonishment: ‘Your medals are showing, old boy.’
Simon Maddocks
Lund, East Yorkshire
Fine riposte
Sir: Further to Sue Mason’s letter (10 October), my mother also had a fine repertoire of ripostes. Her answer to being pestered on what was for dinner was ‘shit and sugar’. Her definition of a frown was ‘having a face like a panful of pigshit’. And dawdling was described as walking ‘like a slow fart in a thunderstorm’. To be fair, she did grow up on a farm.
Neil Kennedy
Burnham-on-Crouch, Essex
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