Letters: Medical training

Sir: We wish to express complete lack of confidence in the new system for selecting young doctors for specialist training, called Medical Training Application Service (MTAS), and call on its architects to resign. We are amazed that MTAS and the allied overhaul of training called Modernising Medical Careers (MMC) have been introduced by government diktat, rather than by discussion with those experienced in medical education and training.

A major problem was the sudden introduction of a system which, without piloting or consultation, abandoned long-recognised measures of the clinical skills and intellectual prowess required by successful doctors. Short-listing under MTAS attaches many more marks to creative writing and communication skills than to a first-class degree or PhD.

The unfolding disaster found a random 35 per cent of UK-trained doctors without interview. If there had been enough posts for all, the architects of MMC would have again escaped unscathed from the lottery and chaos they have inflicted - as happened last year when a similar process was introduced for the early "Foundation Year" doctors. But this time selectors were caught out by the numbers of applicants from all EU countries.

We will be reassured only if the reported "climbdown" indicates that responsibility for training is being returned to those with experience. The current selection process must be abandoned or a guarantee provided that 50 per cent of posts will be kept vacant for a validated, second round of appointments.

The whole medical profession, and wider public, should resist the imposition of a system where many talented and hard-working graduates of UK medical schools, whose education has cost the taxpayer about £250,000 each, have lost out to doctors from the wider EU with greater skill in self-promotion and plagiarism. When a new contract in 2004 for senior doctors promised changes to working practice - ultimately cosmetic to all but salary bills - there were years of negotiations and ballots. The more cataclysmic changes to patient care consequent on MMC and MTAS have escaped such democratic interventions.

MORRIS BROWN, PROFESSOR OF CLINICAL PHARMACOLOGY, UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE; NICK BROOKS, PRESIDENT, BRITISH CARDIOVASCULAR SOCIETY; JOHN CAMM, PROFESSOR OF CLINICAL CARDIOLOGY, ST GEORGE'S HOSPITAL MEDICAL SCHOOL, LONDON; HILIP HOME, PROFESSOR OF DIABETIC ENDOCRINOLOGY, UNIVERSITY OF NEWCASTLE; HUMPHREY HODGSON, PROFESSOR OF MEDICINE, ROYAL FREE & UNIVERSITY COLLEGE SCHOOL OF MEDICINE, LONDON; KAY-TEE KHAW, PROFESSOR OF CLINICAL GERONTOLOGY, UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE; JOHN LAZARUS, PROFESSOR OF CLINICAL ENDOCRINOLOGY, UNIVERSITY OF CARDIFF; STEPHEN O'RAHILLY, FRS, PROFESSOR OF CLINICAL BIOCHEMISTRY, UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE; BRIAN ROWLANDS, PROFESSOR OF SURGERY, UNIVERSITY OF NOTTINGHAM; ROBERT SUTTON, PROFESSOR OF SURGERY, UNIVERSITY OF LIVERPOOL; DOUG TURNBULL, PROFESSOR OF NEUROLOGY, UNIVERSITY OF NEWCASTLE; HUGH WATKINS, PROFESSOR OF CARDIOLOGY, UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD; NICK WRIGHT, WARDEN, QUEEN MARY COLLEGE, LONDON; AND 39 OTHERS

Terror confession obstructs justice

Sir: Amid the healthy scepticism which greeted Khalid Sheikh Mohammed's expansive confession (16 March) and the widespread concern at the human and fair trial rights violations which surround it, a wider tragedy has gone unremarked.

Fair and open trials are essential to protecting the rights of all defendants, no matter how evil the crime with which they are charged. But they are also crucial to ensuring some measure of restorative justice for the victims of those crimes. That Khalid Sheikh Mohammed's trial and confession are the by-products of a corrupted legal process means the opportunity for the charges against him to be tested and possibly proven in an open court has been lost, and with it, some measure of peace for the victims.

Now we hear of concerns that the breadth of his confession may hamper efforts to prosecute others accused of terror crimes. In their haste to discard the fundamentals of fair trials, the US authorities have also lost the chance to bring him and others to justice.

CATHERINE WOLTHUIZEN

CHIEF EXECUTIVE, FAIR TRIALS ABROAD, LONDON EC4

Sir: The leading article of 16 March, commenting on the Khalid confession, correctly points out that if George Washington, considered America's founding father, had been caught by the British, he would have been hanged for treason. Particularly interesting to note is the fact that today there is a statue of him in London's Trafalgar Square.

It follows that treason is not only a question of who defines it, but also of time. The authors of the American constitution correctly foresaw this and included a precise definition of what constitutes treason. Prosecution must be brought within 10 years after an allegedly treasonous act was committed.

RUDOLPH HIRSCH

WASHINGTON DC

Sir: Even more amazing than the wide-eyed credulity the media have given to Khalid Sheik Mohammed's supposed confession to every major terrorist outrage of the past few years, is that the guy held out for so long! After years of systematic CIA torture on remote Diego Garcia Island and then in the Gitmo gulag he's finally spilled the beans. I wonder he hasn't also admitted to being the Antichrist as well! But what a brilliant intelligence coup for the CIA. Too bad it's only six or seven years too late.

DAVID H LEWIS

HERVEY BAY, QUEENSLAND, AUSTRALIA

Sir: Please ask Khalid Sheikh Mohammed if he also burgled my house in 1984 and stole my wife's bicycle in 2005.

ANTHONY WHALLEY

LONDON, EC2Y

Wait for the arts spending review

Sir: May I please clarify the Arts Council's position on regular funding to arts organisations from April 2008?

It is true that we have been advised by DCMS to consider a range of funding scenarios from plus inflation to minus 5 per cent. It is also true that we have made clear to the organisations we support that this is an extremely tight spending review process and that they cannot assume that their funding beyond next March is guaranteed.

However, these planning scenarios remain entirely hypothetical. Our investment plan cannot be confirmed until after the outcome of spending review is known later this year; no decision on funding to individual organisations will be made until then. Christopher Arkell's comments (letter, 10 March) are both inaccurate and unhelpful at a time when positive messages about the impact of government investment in the arts can only help to serve our case.

SARAH WEIR

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, ARTS COUNCIL ENGLAND, LONDON EC1

Don't rule biofuels out of the debate

Sir: Since most people recognise that CO2 emissions from fossil fuels are contributing to a dangerous rise in global temperatures we should all welcome an open and informed debate. It is depressing to read The Independent's cover story "The big green fuel lie" (5 March) that frames the debate in such an emotive and misleading light.

There appears to be little political will to force radical lifestyle changes; as a nation we are unlikely to tear down our ageing housing stock and replace it with energy-efficient alternatives. Consequently, if disaster is to be averted we have to find an alternative source of CO2-neutral energy, whether it be nuclear, renewables such as wind and tide, or biofuels or a combination.

George Bush never claimed that biofuels will save the planet, and his desire to switch to ethanol may well be motivated by his unease at having to rely on oil from the Middle East. George Bush has, however, started a very important debate. Recently published studies suggest that cellulosic ethanol may well provide a source of liquid fuel with low net CO2 emissions. Ultimately, the technical challenges may be too great or better alternatives may be found, but for the present biofuels should be vigorously explored.

It is easy to find reasons to do nothing: wind farms look unsightly and kill sea eagles; nuclear power generates dangerous waste; biofuels will destroy the rainforests. If biofuels are a lie, let The Independent suggest a way forward. The incessant focus of the British press on the negative aspects of every story hampers progress on any front. The result is cynicism and inertia that encourages the one outcome that is clearly unacceptable: doing nothing.

SIMON TURNER

MANCHESTER

Inman's camp fuelled bullying

Sir: Deborah Orr's argument (Comment, 10 March) that the late John Inman deserves credit for creating a "climate of affection" that made life easier for gay people is naive and condescending.

Tell that to a generation of gay teenagers who had to suffer the bullying fuelled by the stereotypical images of gay men on prime-time television in the 1970s. By her own admission Orr was not even dimly aware of gay rights at this time. There is little excuse, however, for not realising now that post-Stonewall entertainers, like Inman, who camped it up in public and watched their step in private, were part of the problem not the solution.

DR STEVEN CRANFIELD

LONDON N1

Equal pay rights for council workers

Sir: Joan Smith is quite right to say that the failure of the single status agreement to deliver equal pay in local government is a scandal ("How the unions betrayed women workers", 13 March).

However she has missed the key point that the Government has refused to fund the deal, leaving local councils to fund equal pay. Meeting huge backdated compensation claims for women workers in full would create severe financial difficulties for many councils, leading to major job losses, including those of the women workers who had suffered discrimination for so many years. Having signed the deal in 1997, the employers did nothing to implement it until the EU ruling Joan refers to in 2004.

The mistake of the union leaders lies in leaving local branches to make deals with local authorities, rather than fighting for a national government-funded agreement to achieve equal pay without pay cuts for other workers. National officials appear to be more interested in avoiding doing anything to challenge Labour-controlled councils and governments than fighting for their members, whether male or female.

The left in Unison, the largest union concerned, campaigned against the single status deal, predicting many of the problems that are coming home to roost today. There are union reps with sexist attitudes, but most trade union activists, male or female, are committed to equal rights.

TONY PHILLIPS

LONDON E17

Churchill's deal for US warships

Sir: Tony Millett (letter, 9 March) claims that "Richard Ingrams uses his own form of twisted history" in refuting the statement made by Tony Blair that the US had stood side-by-side with us during the Blitz. If anything it is Mr Millett who has twisted the facts by suggesting that America signed a deal to provide Britain with 50 old destroyers in response to the first month of the Blitz on London in September 1940.

Churchill had asked the US for the loan of the destroyers on 15 May 1940 and made regular requests until a deal was agreed in early September. The destroyers were traded off in exchange for 99-year leases to establish US air and naval bases in Newfoundland, Bermuda, Bahamas, Jamaica, Antigua, St Lucia, Trinidad and British Guiana. This afforded long-term strategic security to the US which far outweighed the value of 50 reconditioned destroyers. However, the Prime Minister was able to inform the House of Commons, on 5 September, that transactions between Britain and the US had been successful.

The Blitz started after the deal had been agreed.

DIANE ASTROP

LONDON N8

New world order

Sir: Doesn't it worry anyone at The Independent when they hear a politician (such as Gordon Brown commenting on global warming this week) calling for a new world order? It frightens the life out of me, I can tell you.

NEIL MCKINNON

GLENALMOND, PERTH

Extended summertime

Sir: The extension of British Summer Time throughout the year (and double BST during summer months) has been suggested for years. But now that the United States has put into place clock change early to save on carbon emissions can there really be any argument against a permanent change to the UK's approach to the clock?

ROBERT STEADMAN

MATLOCK, DERBYSHIRE

All bases covered

Sir: If Martin Copsey (Letters, 14 March) thinks that we cannot "possibly know what enemies this country may face in 30 or 40 years time" why on earth would he want us to upgrade Trident. It will be completely useless if the USA becomes our enemy in the decades to come. He also implies that we should cover every possible contingency in providing for Britain's defence. That could cost us in the region of 100 per cent of the nation's wealth.

JOHN DAKIN

SOUTHEND, ESSEX

Misinformation

Sir: Further to Mr Evans' problem with carrying a dog whilst negotiating escalators (Letters, 15 March), can someone explain to me what is the use of "Disabled Toilets" and "Disabled Parking"?

H KILBORN

LONDON SE12

Humming dimmer

Sir: Dimmer switches (Letters, 15 March) do not save electricity if they use rheostats (as I imagine the great majority do). The current to the bulb is reduced because it is absorbed in the coils of the rheostat instead. If you listen carefully you can often hear the hum of energy being consumed there. The dimmer switch simply makes sure that you get even less light for each unit of electricity burned.

MARTIN SMITH

HEADINGTON, OXFORD

Impressive

Sir: This morning my Independent enclosed four copies of "How to make a good impression". Thank you. Were you trying to make a good impression?

PETER FORSTER

LONDON N4