Letters & emails: Lords is still a glorified club

The Labour peer Baroness Rendell (crime writer Ruth Rendell, pictured left) says that the House of Lords "has all the qualities of a good club" ("Sex and politics: the case of the crime writer's mystery lover", 24 August).

She can, for example, meet up with her fellow crime writer and Tory peer, P D James.

Not much has changed in the Upper House, then. We should readmit the hereditaries and admit that democratic politics is not something we really go in for.

Trevor Pateman, Brighton

We are puzzled by Professor Gordon MacKerron's view that, in the light of the Environment Agency's research, we should dispose of waste as quickly as possible ("Nuclear waste containers likely to fail", 24 August). There are two important differences between keeping waste drums above ground in a dry environment, while technical uncertainties are examined; and the conditions for the waste, should it be quickly buried.

First, buried drums would immediately become saturated as ground water inundated the disposal facility, so any soluble radioactivity would readily be carried away towards drinking water supplies and surface crops. Second, drums stored above ground are accessible and can therefore easily be repackaged, a process that would not be possible for wastes cemented into a leaking repository half a mile underground. It is imperative that the implications of a hurried and potentially irreversible approach to the decisions concerning nuclear waste are fully appreciated in order that the wellbeing of people in the future is not put in jeopardy.

Dr Rachel Western, Pete Wilkinson, Nuclear Waste Advisory Associates, Halesworth, Suffolk

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In my article on Georgia I wrongly said that it was Zviad Gamsakhurdia, then president of Georgia, who attacked Abkhazia in the early 1990s ("Georgia is no place for empty promises", 24 August). Gamsakhurdia was responsible for considerable violence in South Ossetia, but the attack on Abkhazia was launched by his successor, Eduard Shevardnadze, former Soviet foreign minister. Twenty years of internecine warfare in the two provinces have left thousands dead and many more are refugees. In terms of sheer numbers, the unfortunate Georgians have suffered most of all.

Rodric Braithwaite by email

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Given that the emphasis on the London Olympics will be creativity, the sporting legacy, and economising ("Thank you, Beijing, you've been great...", 24 August), the sporting legacy could be promoted creatively through the addition of events relevant to the urban environment:

the 100m dash for the bus, puddle jumping, stairwell climbing. (Other countries could rightly claim that Team GB has an ineradicable lead in queuing and moaning, so inclusion of these would be unsporting.) Second, the efficiency of the Games could be improved by doubling up events. Examples include javelin-throwing and showjumping; sailing and outdoor swimming; shot put and beach basketball.

Riki Therivel, Oxford

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Thank you for your insightful article on the Barnes Foundation (The New Review, 17 August). I am a graduate of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, a product of the Barnes foundation course, 1954-1956, an artist and art collector. My life was changed not by the academy, but by the Barnes Foundation, whose philosophy and approach to creativity cannot be separated from its location. Moving the Barnes is for tourists, and to line the pockets of other art institutions.

Constance C Moore, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

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London Olympic officials will no doubt claim that they needed to accept over £1m in hospitality to learn what potential contractors offer. The rest of us invite prospective contractors to our offices, give them a projector and lay on sandwiches and coffee.

Peter Nicklin, Newcastle upon Tyne

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Having just returned from three weeks in China, I wish I could have shown Alan Hubbard (Sport, 24 August) the "passion and joy" I saw for the Games on a daily basis – from entire neighbourhoods gathering around communal televisions, busloads of people watching the onboard screens and taxi drivers listening to diving events to the volunteers and residents as proud to show off their country as to celebrate their medal count. Perhaps when London welcomes the world in 2012 we can lure foreign journalists down to our pubs and communities and show them our own passion and joy.

Savita Custead, Bristol

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Megan Clay-Jones's inspiring account of the all-American punctuation enforcers ("Tipp-Ex kids fined for correcting America's apostrophes", 24 August) referred to "a T-shirt shop missing the dash between the 'T' and the 'shirt'". Is her surname, therefore, dashed rather than hyphenated? Clearly Britain needs a similar crusade.

Philip Jones, Morden, Surrey

Correction

To clarify last week's article about London freesheets, London Lite has the same proportion of ABC1 readers (75 per cent) as thelondonpaper, the National Readership Survey reported, but as its overall readership is larger it has more ABC1 readers in all. Also, London Lite does not share distributors with the Evening Standard, and Metro was launched in 1999.

Letters to the Editor, 191 Marsh Wall, London E14 9RS; fax: 020-7005 2628. Deadline for letters is noon on Thursday before publication. Letters may be edited

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