Letters: Recycling

Sir: Since our local council introduced a recycling scheme a year or so ago, we have been avid recyclers. Only recently I requested – and was granted – a second plastics box, as one was proving inadequate, and a second garden refuse bin was also provided at my request. Having the household bin emptied only once every two weeks proved no problem and, as far as we were concerned, the whole system was working beautifully. But, on the last occasion on which the plastics boxes were emptied, I went to retrieve them later only to find that most of what I had put out still remained in the boxes, and two carrier bags of plastic had also been left.

In the box was a blue card, which said that yoghurt cartons, margarine/spread tubs, trays used for fresh meat, cooked meat and fish, tubs that held fruit and tomatoes, plastic egg boxes, pre-formed plastic trays that held cakes, meat pies, Scotch eggs and other miscellaneous products, moulded plastic trays from boxes of chocolates, moulded plastic protectors from hardware products and ice cream tubs as well as some other items had just been deemed by our local council to be unsuitable for recycling.

I was furious and disgusted at the council. On that day I decided that there was no point in recycling anything, and that from then on I would throw everything in the household bin. I was one of many who thought the same. On further consideration, though, this means that my bin will be full to overflowing and I think I begin to see the method behind this madness. Is there not talk of fitting microchips to bins, and fining anyone whose bins weigh more than a certain amount? Simply by ensuring that everyone's bin will be overweight, the council could gain another income stream from people who already pay council tax to have the bins emptied half as often as used to be the case.

Patricia Hague

Coalville, Leicestershire

EU Reform Treaty is good for business

Sir: It is not only progressives who should back the Reform Treaty but anyone who wants to see the EU function effectively (Letters, 25 September). This includes many in the business community who would like to see the EU move on from inwards-facing debates to meet the great global challenges.

An EU of 27 member states has already shown leadership on combating climate change, it has created the largest economic bloc in the world and it must continue to develop economically, environmentally and in other areas such as energy security and counter-terrorism. Those who talk about a fundamental transfer of power should be confident that, after the ratification of the Reform Treaty, the Queen will still sit on the throne, the Bank of England will still set interest rates, the Treasury will still set taxes and the government will still be able to decide to declare war.

In some quarters, there is an allergy to any European agreement. One could quip and argue that the only European Treaty that would satisfy some people is one that sets out the procedure for withdrawal. It is a rich irony that one of the provisions of the Reform Treaty does exactly that.

Roland Rudd

Chairman, Business for New Europe, London EC2

Theology has no place in a university

Sir: Professor Richard Bowen thinks I should engage with serious academic theologians rather than the fundamentalist "McDonald's" version of Christianity. He and the Rev Richard Hall (Letters, 19 September) agree with Peter Stanford ("Doubts about Dawkins", 14 September) that I should read theology. Fortunately it looks as though I shall have every opportunity to do so. Oxford University has just officially noticed that its leading theological halls are not fit to admit school-leavers, so these institutions will presumably be touting for mature students.

According to a report in The Times (19 September), Wycliffe Hall and other theological establishments "could risk losing their Oxford University licences altogether". This follows a review that concludes that what is on offer at Wycliffe Hall "does not resemble an Oxford experience in its essentials" and is not "a suitable educational environment for the full intellectual development of young undergraduates". The Rev Mr Hall encourages me to engage with theology academics whose "intelligence is at least equal to Dawkins' own". Indeed I should enjoy engaging with my neighbour, the Principal of Wycliffe Hall, who said in The Independent (25 May), "We are committed to bringing the gospel message of Jesus Christ to those who don't know. In this land, that's 95 per cent of the people: 95 per cent of people facing hell unless the message of the gospel is brought to them." Presumably he is one of the intelligent theologians with whom I should engage.

We who doubt that "theology" is a subject at all, or who compare it with the study of leprechauns, are eagerly hoping to be proved wrong. Of course, university departments of theology house many excellent scholars of history, linguistics, literature, ecclesiastical art and music, archaeology, psychology, anthropology, sociology, iconology, and other worthwhile and important subjects. These academics would be welcomed into appropriate departments elsewhere in the university. But as for theology itself, defined as "the organised body of knowledge dealing with the nature, attributes, and governance of God", a positive case now needs to be made that it has any real content at all, and that it has any place in today's universities.

Richard Dawkins

Oxford

Sir: It is not often that a professor admits to poor scholarship, but that is what Richard Dawkins has done (letter, 17 September). Had I received an essay from a first-year undergraduate in which he admitted not having studied the position of his opponent, I would have insisted on it being rewritten. What is even more remarkable is that Dawkins seems unaware that the positivist account of science, which forms the main plank of his argument, is thoroughly discredited.

To argue for the position he advocates requires a working knowledge of the philosophy of science and religion, epistemology and metaphysics. While scientists of a previous generation, such as Michael Polanyi and Thomas Kuhn, have shown the application required to master these fields prior to publishing their philosophical work, Dawkins has so far shown himself unable or unwilling to do so.

The Revd Dr David Heywood

Lecturer in Pastoral Theology, Ripon College, Cuddesdon Oxfordshire

Sir: Malcolm Carpenter (letter, 28 September) should acknowledge that it is the fault of human beings that others starve, are homeless or otherwise suffer unnecessarily. This doesn't alter the fact that the Salvation Army was the first in at the New Orleans tragedy. We are still waiting for the Humanist and Atheist Brigade.

Ian Flintoff

Oxford

Hypocritical views on toppling a tyranny

Sir: Perhaps the reason Gordon Brown stated the obvious about Burma before hoping someone else would do something about it is that he's learned his lesson (letter, 28 September). The same approach would apply to Darfur or Zimbabwe. These days, any attempt to topple a murderous tyranny by deploying British or US troops would no doubt incur the immediate wrath of George Galloway and his friends.

It's highly likely that the "not in my name" brigade would take to the streets to denounce their democratically elected government, before reading all about their exploits in a free press. Of course, by doing this, they would find themselves trying to deny others the very privileges they hold so dear.

It seems odd to me that so many of those who purport to champion freedom and human rights for all are often to be heard, in the next breath, telling us you simply cannot force Western-style democracies on these foreign types because they're not ready for it. Well, I reckon they're ready for it in Rangoon right now.

P Edwards

Godalming, Surrey

Speeds should suit the road conditions

Sir: Marc Hurstfield asks why it is legal to build cars that can do more than 70mph (Letters, 29 September). Well, I suppose the foreigners who build our cars could supply us with crippled versions, just as they put the steering wheel on the wrong side for us. But since the speed limits are generally higher in their own countries, it would be an expensive modification. Your readers are clearly of a nervous disposition, but they should know that on significant stretches of motorway in Germany, there is no upper speed limit. You are expected to drive according to road conditions, not nanny's nervousness.

Trevor Pateman

Brighton

Kilometres vs miles? Metric makes sense

Sir: Malcolm Treen (letter, 27 September) demands that exclusion zones are in miles rather than kilometres. The problem with this suggestion is that our map-makers use metric. OS maps, which adopted a kilometre grid in the 1940s, will be the basis of defining exclusion zones and therefore kilometres makes practical sense; defining zones in miles would make map-reading a nightmare and would result in errors.

The real issue is why Britain, having decided to adopt metric in 1965, left road signage in imperial. Maps, vehicle dimensions, road designs and most motoring regulations are metric, yet metres and kilometres are banned from our road signs. Only in muddy-the-water Britain would we use two systems of units for the same sort of measurement. The Commonwealth, which started metrication with us in the 1960s, has truly left us "miles behind".

Roddy Urquhart

Andover, Hampshire

Statue captures Mandela's greatness

Sir: Regarding Mary Dejevsky's comments on Nelson Mandela's statue in Parliament Square (28 September). It is a modern statue of a modern man and I think it captures the essence of the man, as I imagine him to be, very well. Greatness is not about the size of your statue, or the height of your plinth. You can get close to the statue and sense the presence of Mandela far better than if he was on a large block of concrete, like his neighbour, Robert Peel. You can look into the face of the statue at a human level. I found this a very agreeable experience.

Mark Gripper

Truro, cornwall

Choice is eroded by private education

Sir: If Julian Gall (Letters, 29 September) spent his money on a foreign holiday, it would not directly affect the capacity of others to choose their own holiday. But it is precisely what happens when something as fundamentally social as education is privatised.

My "choice" of school would be a co-educational and inclusive local school, but because of a plethora of private, selective and church schools soaking up overwhelmingly middle-class, white, and Christian children, I do not have that choice. My children's community comprehensive is also now more than two-thirds male, because of the disproportionate number of places for girls in the non-inclusive sector.

There is such a thing as society, and education lies at the heart of it. One parent's "choice" can undermine that of others.

Peter McKenna

Liverpool

Ocean-mixing flaw

Sir: Phillip Williamson identifies a basic biogeochemical reason why James Lovelock's "mixing tubes" will not reduce atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration (Letters, 29 September). There is also an ecological flaw. The new photosynthetic algal growth will support a surge of consumer organisms. These will respire off most of the "new" photosynthesate, returning carbon dioxide to the air directly, and via decay. The sardine and anchovy fishery dependent on the Peruvian upwelling is a natural example.

Dr JOHN ETHERINGTON

Llanhowell Pembrokeshire

Voting is in season

Sir: In the speculation about an early general election, I often hear politicians, political commentators and spin doctors say that going to the country in a winter month such as February is not practical because voters would not turn out in winter weather. History, though, shows that it is nonsense to suggest that winter elections would result in a low voter turnout. The general election of February 1950 had one of the highest turnouts ever, while the general election that took place because of the miners' strike in February 1974 also produced a big response.

Peter J Brown

MIDDLESBROUGH

Sir: Your inclusion of Rochdale in the list of Labour's "must-hold" seats ("Brown 'may never have a better chance to win poll'", 29 September) will come as a shock to its current MP, Paul Rowan, who is a Liberal Democrat.

Lynne Thompson

Oldham, Lancashire

Words will hurt me

Sir: Bill Evans's sentiments about the use of the word "impact" (letter, 27 September) will have struck a chord with anyone who suffers the inanities of corporate-speak on a daily basis and despairs at the mangling of our language. Where once things were "built on", now they have to be "built off of". Documents once would be "signed" and then had to be "signed off"; now we've reached the truly risible "signed off on". Still, maybe it's not, as some of my colleagues would have it, "that big of a deal".

Gerard Bell

Ascot, Winsdor & Maidenhead

Lazy student days

Sir: As a mature PhD student in the UK, I welcome Terence Blacker's rebutting of press reports about British students' "laziness" (26 September). However, his article was too much to get through. Did anyone take notes I could copy? Is there a synopsis available on a podcast?

Sean Cordell

Sheffield

Make more of the joke

Sir: Your sharing with us of the favourite jokes of public figures (29 September) was most revealing, a valuable insight into individual sense of humour. However, it would have been better presented as a quiz, allowing the reader to match the witticism to the personality. That would have afforded me the great pleasure of speculating that it was Ann Widdecombe who had been titillated by crotchless knickers, rather than Max Clifford.

Peter Lovelock

Shepperton Middlesex