Letters: History for sale

Sir: Your article about the atrophy of the collections of our major museums and galleries (12 May) refers to works of art, but there is another important aspect of our heritage which is also under threat. Whether or not the Rubens you pictured "belongs" here, there can be no argument that English historical documents, the raw stuff of our history, should not be allowed to go abroad.

Historians around Banbury are horrified to learn that the huge Cartwright archive, which has been in the Northamptonshire Record Office for many years, is now up for sale and likely to go to America, unless £300,000 can be raised to keep it here. These papers are the archive of a family of squires who lived in south Northamptonshire from 1615 to 1960, owned much of the land round about and represented the county in Parliament.

There are title deeds going back to the 13th century, detailed household accounts and much else of local interest, together with material relating to the professional careers of the Cartwrights as politicians, diplomats and soldiers.

It is ironic that at a time when the stress from funding bodies such as the Heritage Lottery Fund is on "access, social inclusion and education", this archive which is at the moment freely available to the public, will in future be accessible only to American historians and the wealthy with time and money to travel.

Unfortunately, archive collections such as this, though left in the care of record offices, often remain the property of the originating family, and now have a considerable market value. The record office, having looked after the collection for so long, has to raise 30 times more than its annual acquisitions budget to keep it.

DEBORAH HAYTER

CHAIR, BANBURY HISTORICAL SOCIETY, OXFORD

Tony Blair's deadly legacy of toxic waste

Sir: Tony Blair is absolutely right to recognise "the scale of the challenge" facing us in the form of climate change and energy security ("PM says nuclear power is back on the agenda", 17 May).

But nuclear is not the answer. It's not just that switching to nuclear power couldn't possibly deliver sufficient CO₂ cuts in time to meet our international commitments - or stave off climate change. It's not just the terrible signal we would send to the rest of the world that you can't tackle climate change without nuclear power.

No: the reality is that nuclear power is entirely unnecessary. A combination of renewables, energy efficiency and demand reduction will deliver emissions cuts and energy security much more safely and effectively. The tragedy is that investment in new nuclear facilities draws cash away from these areas and could set them back years.

This is a massive failure of political leadership and vision. Tony Blair's legacy could have been to have put the UK onto a path of genuine sustainability. Instead it's a deadly legacy of toxic waste which will continue to haunt generations for hundreds of thousands of years to come.

CAROLINE LUCAS MEP

(GREEN PARTY, SOUTH-EAST ENGLAND) EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT BRUSSELS

Sir: In all of the controversy surrounding the apparent resurgence of the nuclear industry, one important fact seems to have been forgotten. While uranium is indeed present in potentially vast quantities from sources as diverse as granite and seawater, as well as more conventional ores, there is a limit (currently between 10 and 20 parts per million) at which the energy required to extract the uranium from a source exceeds the energy produced by the nuclear plant in which it is burnt. The ore concentration at which the carbon dioxide emitted from the mining and processing of a given quantity of uranium exceeds that emitted from a fossil-fuel-powered power station producing the same amount of energy as the given quantity of uranium is somewhat higher.

These limits severely circumscribe the total uranium realistically available and are totally independent of any economic forces. The price for uranium can rise as high as it likes in response to increased demand, but these limits will remain, short of a quantum leap in extraction technology.

Reducing energy consumption and an increased investment in renewables remain the most practical ways of cutting carbon dioxide emissions.

IAN RALLS

CAMBRIDGE FRIENDS OF THE EARTH

Sir: Tony Blair is well known to consider terrorism to be one of the greatest threats of the 21st century, yet he has publicly endorsed a new generation of nuclear power stations, pre-empting the Government's own energy review.

Current trends in terrorism towards mass casualty attacks and economic targeting, especially targeting of energy facilities, point to the dangers of expanding civil nuclear power in Britain. The number of people killed as a result of a successful terrorist attack on a nuclear power plant could be so catastrophic that even a small risk of such an attack is unacceptable.

CHRIS ABBOTT

OXFORD

Sir: The Prime Minister advocates a new generation of nuclear-power plants to protect the nation from the insecurity of reliance on imported fuels. Presumably he thinks that the uranium orchards of Hereford and Kent will be ready for harvesting this autumn.

The only secure reliable energy that is ours for free are the natural elements of sun, wind, earth and water, which we have in abundance.

PAUL BERKELEY

CIRENCESTER GLOUCESTERSHIRE

Let's find alternatives to animal testing

Sir: The RSPCA agrees with Tony Blair that the use of intimidation and violence in the name of animal rights is completely unacceptable. However, we must not lose sight of legitimate ethical and animal welfare concerns that make the use of animals in experiments such a grave moral dilemma and create public unease.

Many scientific procedures cause animals pain, suffering or distress and experiments are carried out on animals for a broad range of purposes, many of which have little or no direct medical application. Industry, government and the scientific community should give far higher priority to replacing animal experiments.

The Society is disappointed that the Prime Minister has not recognised this as an opportunity to encourage the investment of significant research effort, financial resources and political will into the development and use of alternatives to animal use.

JACKIE BALLARD

DIRECTOR GENERAL, RSPCA SOUTHWATER WEST SUSSEX

Sir: So Mr Blair has signed a petition supporting the use of animals in the testing of drugs. It seems a very strange thing for the leader of the country to do. Who will the petition be presented to? Himself?

We might all suspect that animal testing is wrong because of the secrecy. Let's be more open: label everything that is tested on animals as to the species, number and manner of testing and death - then let's see if the silent majority start voting with their wallets and purses, and clamouring at the doctor's surgery to be given drugs not tested on animals.

CATHY GOODMAN

LEWES, EAST SUSSEX

Sir: Alistair Currie of the British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection (letter, 18 May) appears to imply that it is the Government's responsibility to take into account people's choice to take extreme action against animal testing. Shouldn't policy on this be developed from objectivity, as opposed to certain people's inability to accept that the argument has turned against them?

ANTHONY HOPKINS

MEDICAL STUDENT BARTS AND THE LONDON LONDON E1

The fate of the Dartford warbler

Sir: Richard Ingrams wonders why the Dartford warbler should take precedence over cheap housing ("This wildlife argument is for the birds", 13 May).

Perhaps he is missing a point somewhere. The threat hanging over this and other species - plant, insect and bird - is the loss of southern England's last native heathland. With the loss of its habitat the Dartford warbler represents what is really the greatest tragedy facing the world today: the loss of its biodiversity. If any measure of a problem is the timescale needed to fix it, then, for example, terrorism, for all its horrors, can be resolved on a timescale of decades. Global warming may be reversible within centuries. But biodiversity, once lost - through our failure of imagination - will recover only on a timescale of millions of years.

Incidentally, Mr Ingrams may well be right that few would know a Dartford warbler, but since when has ignorance been a defence?

W M OXBURY

CHELTENHAM GLOUCESTERSHIRE

Unpaid lecturers

Sir: Your article "Lecturers in pay dispute warned of major job cuts" (18 May) states that Northumbria University has warned that it will stop paying lecturers who refuse to mark exams. In fact, I and a dozen or so of my colleagues in the Law School at Northumbria have already been told that the university has stopped paying us, with effect from last Friday 12 May. Despite the university's refusal to pay us, we are continuing to work.

HELEN MORRIS

DURHAM

Iraqi militias and Kuwait

Sir: Patrick Cockburn's assertion (17 May) that the Iraqi militias are suspected of receiving funds from two sources, one of them "Kuwaiti intelligence" is untrue.

Since the removal of Saddam, the focus of Kuwait has been to enhance the security and stability of Iraq. The Kuwaiti authorities have been working very closely with the Iraqi authorities to eliminate hostility and terrorism in Iraq.

Surely Kuwait is keen to support stability and security in Iraq in order to maintain security of the entire gulf region.

KHALID AL-TARRAH

DIRECTOR KUWAIT INFORMATION CENTRE LONDON SW1

A fine British cheese

Sir: How good to read an article about nettles ("It's the real sting", 18 May). But why did you not mention Yarg cheese? This superb British product, made at Lynher, in Cornwall has won many awards and is a great success story. Each cheese is wrapped in nettles. I had the immense pleasure of visiting the farm where it is made last year and not only did I have a fascinating tour of dairy, but the cheese tasted superb!

KATE KERSEY

MAIDSTONE, KENT

Girls' names

Sir: Your feature on the vogue in the USA for the name Nevaeh, or Heaven spelt backwards (report, 19 May) reminds me that in the former Soviet Union a popular girls' name was Ninel. This too was a reverse spelling - of the name of a once powerful politician.

MARCUS WHEELER

BELFAST

'Da Vinci' madness

Sir: The Da Vinci Code may be a poor film, based on an unoriginal book, but as an ethnic Catholic, I still feel that it is far more likely that Jesus fathered a child than that he was born of a virgin, rose from the dead or turned water into wine.

STEPHEN DILLON

GRANTHAM LINCOLNSHIRE

Sir: The greatest enemy of Christianity is lack of interest. The Da Vinci Code is awakening some interest.

FATHER BRYAN STOREY,

TINTAGEL CATHOLIC CHURCH CORNWALL

Sir: You report that a Eurostar train has been named after The Da Vinci Code. Has a precedent been created? The next train leaving this platform could be Far from the Madding Crowd, To the Lighthouse, Great Expectations or even Long Day's Journey Into Night.

PETER FORSTER

LONDON N4