Letters: Good news from Gaza

Good news from Gaza. Now what about Guantanamo?

Sir: It is seldom that good news comes out of the Middle East, but the release of BBC journalist Alan Johnston was just that.

However, apart from the 200,000 people who also signed a petition for Alan Johnston's release, there was one addition, a lone, poignant voice who called for his freedom. Sami Al Haj is a cameraman for Al Jazeera who, while working in Afghanistan (on contract, with a valid visa), was kidnapped by US forces and has been held in Guantanamo for five years without charge. Sami sent a letter calling for Johnston's freedom via his attorney, Clive Stafford Smith.

Further, as Gordon Brown, rightly, welcomed Alan Johnston's release, he was silent about the remaining British residents, also kidnapped, held without charge in Guantanamo Bay. The British government is refusing to allow them to come home.

Perhaps it is time to bring pressure to bear on behalf of Sami and all those in the limbo of their solitary cells in Guantanamo, and secret prisons around the globe, at a time when one man has so eloquently expressed what being held alone as a hostage means - and how precious freedom is. Their lives are no less precious, those who love them no less agonised.

FELICITY ARBUTHNOT

LONDON E9

Terrorists make a conscious choice

Sir: Would The Independent stop referring (as you did in your leading article of 2 July) to terrorists as having been "brainwashed"? Many of the Islamic extremists convicted of acts of terrorism in recent years have been educated men, from stable family backgrounds with none of the disfunctionality common to most offenders within the criminal justice system.

Perhaps the occupations of the latest suspects will make you face up to the fact that, far from being vulnerable young men, subjected to the malevolent influence of others, these are individuals who make a conscious, rational choice, in the context of their religious views, to murder hundreds. Blanket assertions of brainwashing paint them themselves as victims.

MARK COLQUHOUN

DROITWICH, WORCESTERSHIRE

Sir: I cannot quite follow Joan Smith's argument for the western way of life, as opposed to Anglo-American anti-Muslim aggression, being the prime motivator for terrorism. Sweden (to take a random example) has not criminally invaded Muslim countries, killed a large number of citizens during the course of a humiliating occupation or engaged in economic plunder. According to Joan Smith's theory, it should still raise its threat level to "critical". Debatable, to say the least.

ROBERT O'MAHONY

LONDON SE6

Sir: It would make grimly fascinating reading to know what parts of Sharia law Maurice Vassie (letter, 6 July), as a Christian, would like to adopt to reshape our "way of life". Just how would he pick and choose?

For example, Sharia law demands the killing of all homosexuals, like myself. What kind of compromise would he expect our current "way of life" to make there? Cull a certain percentage of us, say, or perhaps only kill us on Fridays, or maybe just kill off certain bits of our anatomy? No doubt a similar, murderous logic could be applied to all women, wine drinkers, beardless men, musicians and those stroppy girls who dare to want an education.

BLAIR THORNTON

MADRID

Sir: Afsaneh Mirfendereski (letter, 5 July), writes that the IRA weren't referred to as "Irish terrorists". Perhaps not in the United States, but a cursory search of the internet will reveal many articles in the British media that referred to them in exactly those words.

STEPHEN PARKIN

ROTHERHAM, SOUTH YORKSHIRE

Sir: The news that overseas- qualified doctors were among those arrested on suspicion of involvement in the recent attempted bombings is devastating. We work for organisations that support overseas-qualified doctors (both migrants and refugees), as they seek to work in the UK, and between us work with approximately 1,000 overseas-qualified doctors.

Our overwhelming impression is that they are hardworking, dedicated professionals. The doctors we work with seek to integrate into life in the UK, and many get involved in volunteering opportunities whilst they prepare for registration with the General Medical Council. Many progress into highly specialised doctors who are contributing to the NHS.

We must ensure that not all overseas-qualified doctors are treated with suspicion or hostility as a result of these arrests.

NATASHA DAVID

MIGRANT & REFUGEE COMMUNITIES FORUM JASMINA DIMITRIJEVIC REFUGEE WOMEN'S ASSOCIATION LUISA ARES REFUGEE ADVICE & GUIDANCE UNIT DR ANBA FARHAN-ALI REFUGEES INTO JOBS DR SHEILA CHEEROTH DIRECTOR REFUGEE AND OVERSEAS QUALIFIED DOCTORS' PROGRAMME, BARTS AND THE LONDON SCHOOL OF MEDICINE CAMERON BOWLES EDUCATION ACTION LONDON W10

Sir: Given that we seem to have hundreds of our own expensively trained junior doctors unable to find work, why are we recruiting any doctors at all from overseas?

VERITY BROWN

LINDFIELD, WEST SUSSEX

Fees debate asks the wrong questions

Sir: Dearing's views on university fees are wrong and, with the greatest respect, so are yours (leading article, 27 June). The debate on tuition fees has largely focused on the social aspects. It has been implicitly assumed that university education is a service similar to health care which should be either purchased or offered to individuals by the state, depending on one's dogma.

The purpose of university education is to enrich society, first through the pursuit of learning and understanding, and second through the contributions of its beneficiaries. Individuals who receive university education may or may not benefit financially from this education. There is no question that there ought to be much more funding for universities, at least for the best universities, and that this funding has to be raised somehow.

The present arrangements, however, show a philistine misunderstanding of the purpose of higher education. It is unacceptable that a teacher or a scientist, whose earnings are disproportionately low compared to their academic achievements and contribution to society, should have to pay as much or more for their university education as, say, a City trader (if the trader has come from a very poor background, they will pay nothing). Not only is this outrageously unfair, but it deters people from embarking on demanding, worthwhile but relatively low-paid careers, with a loss to society. The problem is not whether people from poorer backgrounds will be deterred from going to university (they are not if they are ambitious), but the choices that people will tend to make once they graduate.

I can see no reason why wealthier people, and especially the "mega-rich", should not pay higher taxes to fund, inter alia, universities, but an alternative would be to introduce a graduate tax which takes actual income into account.

DR NICHOLAS DELIYANAKIS

BRUSSELS

Why smokers embrace the ban

Sir: I read your article about "the death of a great British institution" (29 June) with some mild amusement.

I am a smoker, and I live in Scotland. Smoking is not dead here, not by a long shot. Now that I've lived with the ban, I wouldn't have it any other way. It's no longer seen as the rule of law here: it's seen as basic politeness. This ban is not the end of anything except forcing your smell upon the clean.

I remember sitting around a table in a pub, lighting up, and thinking how rubbish it would be if we had to go out into the cold; but with heaters and seating areas, it's really no bother. Plus, it's nice to go back into a pub filled with fresh air rather than smoke. Viva the ban: viva smoking.

HEATHER MCLELLAN

AYRSHIRE

Wessex wakes up to its oppressors

Sir: James Boyle is correct (letter, 29 June). Cornwall is not English and so cannot be considered part of the once and future English region of Wessex.

Mr Boyle's rallying-cry to the Celts is one that we in Wessex can also hear. We have just the same claim to self-government. I sense growing frustration with London taking our money for its own benefit (Olympics etc.), then dumping its excess population on our green fields and allowing us no say in the matter. And all the while pricing our own population out of a home.

Yes Mr Boyle, Wessex has gone soft of late. But I predict that it won't be staying that way for much longer.

DAVID ROBINS

CONVENER, WESSEX CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION WESTON-SUPER-MARE, SOMERSET

Man who tamed the flood waters

Sir: Jonathan Brown points his finger at Sir Cornelius Vermuyden as being the bad genius behind the flood disaster (30 June). Indeed the Dutch engineer was contracted in 1626 by King Charles I to reclaim land in the Hatfield Chase in the Isle of Axholme and the Fens. The project was financed by English and Dutch capital and Cornelius Vermuyden was paid with one third of the reclaimed land. In 1629, this country knighted Cornelius for his efforts.

So the blueprint for water management in the Don Valley was laid 380 years ago, but what happened after that? Where the Dutch kept on reclaiming land and fighting the water by innovating and investing in water management, the English did not. By the end of the 17th century, most of the reclaimed land was again under water. It was not until the invention of the steam engine to drain the reclaimed land again.

It is up to us to put water management and flood defences at the top of the priority list. When we put the same effort and money into this national security risk as we do with terrorism, maybe we can combat nature. In the meantime, let's stop looking for scapegoats and keep our fingers crossed that the rain of last week does not repeat itself too often.

INA DIJSTELBERGE

DONCASTER, SOUTH YORKSHIRE

The dark history Poland denies

Sir: My grandparents fled persecution in Poland in the early 1900s but all their family members who were unable to escape ended up in (German) concentration camps in the 1940s ("Auschwitz is officially stamped as 'German' ", 29 June).

The horrific truth is that those who survived and managed to eventually return to their home villages in Poland were then slaughtered by their Polish neighbours, determined not to have to give them back the homes and property stolen after the deportations.

In recent years the German people have shown courage in facing the truth and implications of their past and Germany has been determined to combat racism and to ensure similar events never happen again in their country.

What has Poland done? Refused to acknowledge its own long history of antisemitism or to admit that it still exists there. A young Polish woman living in London recently told a non-Jewish friend of mine that she was happier here than at home because in Poland "the Jews are in control of everything". It seems that the new generation of Poles could learn something about tolerance from their German counterparts.

HELEN MORDSLEY

LONDON N20

Passport to liberty

Sir: I was saddened but not surprised to see Gordon Brown joining the fainthearts who wish to inflict identity cards on the British people "because things have changed". This just days after claiming he would not give in to terrorism! Our forebears sacrificed their lives for our freedom. New Labour want us to sacrifice our freedom for our lives. To fight back, renew your passports now.

BARRY TIGHE

LONDON E11

iPhone innovation

Sir: Your article on the iPhone ("It's 'five years ahead of any other mobile' but do we need Apple's iPhone?", 4 July) missed the point. Of course there are people out there who want a dead simple phone. This is not the target. The target is people who do want all those features but who find existing phones frustrating and unusable. To judge how successful Apple has been, you need to try one first-hand, rather than report on second-hand criticisms.

PHILIP MACHANICK

SCHOOL OF ITEE, UNIVERSITY OF QUEENSLAND, ST LUCIA, AUSTRALIA

Tesco's 'Cornish' milk

Sir: Further to the report "Tesco milk is not all that local" (4 July), at present Tesco are running a commercial on TV, with Martin Clunes acting the part of a camper looking for milk. He ends up at the Tesco store in Padstow, where he buys milk which he refers to as "Cornish milk, from Cornish cows". I buy my milk from Tesco in Padstow, and it is either labelled "Westcountry Milk" or has no place of origin shown. I have never yet seen any milk labelled "Cornish Milk".

JIM BASSETT

PADSTOW, CORNWALL

Divine's story

Sir: I write regarding "The $50 trick (Or how Divine Brown turned an encounter with Hugh Grant into her fortune)" (3 July.) In 1995 I was The News of the World's American Editor, and was responsible, along with David Shumacher, for securing the rights to Divine Brown's story. "Gangster" Brown's recollection of events and the words he attributes to us are wrong. Our briefing to Divine was simple: "Tell us the truth in as much detail as possible." We did not "programme them what to say". Brown's claim is a slur on David Schumacher and me.

STUART WHITE

BARTON-LE-CLAY, BEDFORDSHIRE

What's in a name?

Sir: The most fascinating thing about our new PM is the fact that he uses his second Christian name, Gordon, instead of his first, James. Remarkably he is the 7th PM of the last 15 to do that (James Ramsay MacDonald, Arthur Neville Chamberlain, Robert Anthony Eden, Maurice Harold Macmillan, James Harold Wilson, Leonard James Callaghan, James Gordon Brown). Is this coincidence, or are they all examples of people desperately trying to compensate for dissatisfaction with the persona they've been given?

R N G STONE

WORCESTER

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