The Spectator

Some doctors write Sir: Professor Meirion Thomas (‘Dangerous medicine’, 17 August) may be an excellent surgeon but he is uninformed about the nature of GPs’ work. For many older consultants in the NHS, it will have been decades since they last spent any time in a GP setting, if they have at all. He fails to realise that 95 per cent of the work of diagnosing, treating and caring for patients takes place within general practice. Common illnesses range from depression, to diabetes, asthma and hypertension, as well as many others. Dr Meirion Thomas’s idea that nurse specialists are the answer betrays his lack of understanding that most patients present to GP as a complex mix of interrelated symptoms and other factors.

We will remember them A German diplomat called on Britain to commemorate but not celebrate the centenary of the Great War. Some of the events planned so far: — Candle to be extinguished in Westminster Abbey at 11 p.m. on 4 August — First world war paintings to be displayed on 22,000 poster sites around the country — Memorial arch to be constructed in Folkestone, from where many soldiers left for the front — Replicas of biplanes to be flown from Dover to St Omer — Bus used at the front to be restored by London Transport Museum A sense of conviction The Football Association has been attacked for clearing just two out of 473 players brought before it on disciplinary matters in 2011, a ‘conviction’ rate of 99.6 per cent.