Letters: In Brief

Sir: Steven Berkoff wants actors to sober up and be like dedicated athletes. (Comment, 21 January) When you consider the athletes now using chemical enhancement, and footballers on the pitch behaving like bad actors, they probable already are. Acting consists of hanging around for long periods, and then dressing up and pretending to be somebody else. It's hardly surprising it attracts the insecure and unhinged.

ROBBIE JONES

Dublin

Sir: The Press should "prattle" about hypocrisy. John Prescott is quoted as defending the use of Concorde by ministers (report, 25 January). He says "the press got obsessed with this kind of prattle". As the minister responsible for "greening Britain" he will be restricting the use of cars in towns by the public. The public have the right to demand that he and his colleagues are green in their attitude to the use of the fossil fuels which add to the greenhouse effect.

IVAN ARMSTRONG

Meopham, Kent

Sir: When will the media make it clear? The age of consent for young gay men needs to be equal, not lower, nor different, nor reduced, but equal. ("Commons votes to cut gay age of consent", 26 January). The age of consent for heterosexual men and women is 16. The age for gay men is 18. The message continues that something is different (and wrong) about gay sex. Little wonder that public opinion polls can be used to allege opposition, when the question is of "reducing" the age of gay sex and raising the spectre of "child-rape".

Dr JOHN NICHOLSON

George House Trust

Manchester

Sir It is time for the Olympic Games to return to Greece permanently. That would eliminate the temptation to bribe those who decide the location.

TED FRYER

Bishop's Cleeve, Gloucestershire