Letters: Slaughter in Dresden

Sir: As someone deeply involved in Coventry's civic and cathedral twinning and reconciliation links with Dresden during the 1960s, I deplore current attempts to downplay the mass slaughter wreaked upon that city by the Allied airforces' deliberately created inferno (Robert Hanks, 16 April; letters, 17, 20 April). The Nazis, doubtless for propaganda, put the number of dead at 250,000, but David Irving's research set the total at 135,000, a figure derived from Hanns Voight, superintendent of the Dresden Lost Persons Centre in 1945.

Curiously, it was the post-1945 Communist mayor of Dresden, Walter Weidauer, who first advanced the much reduced figure of 35,000 - for political reasons. He attacked Irving for helping "[Western] Imperialists' spread the notion that atomic bombing was no worse than a major conventional air-raid" (Walter Weidauer, Inferno Dresden, 1966). Since this down-playing of the casualty figures resulted from the (very understandable) wish to highlight the distinctive horrors of atomic bombing, GDR official documents on this subject must surely remain suspect.

None of the raid survivors, Protestant clergy and civic officials involved in the Dresden-Coventry partnership whom I met ever doubted the number of deaths was over 100,000, even if the Voight-Irving figure could not be exactly verified. Certainly the very extensive area of the Heidefriedhof (official cemetery) indicated corpses on that scale.

Irving's later deplorable Holocaust denial and far-right notions do not invalidate the research for his Destruction of Dresden, whose publication in 1963 determined Provost H C N Williams of Coventry Cathedral to embark upon a reconciliation project. Irving himself proposed a British appeal to build a memorial in Dresden, but after wide-ranging consultation, Coventry Cathedral's project with the GDR Christian "Action Reconciliation" organisation, to rebuild the maternity wing of the Protestant Deaconess Hospital, gutted by the RAF, became the celebrated practical expression of British-German reconciliation across the Cold War divide. And Provost Williams always accepted the 135,000 death toll.

THE REV BRIAN G COOPER

EDINBURGH

We can learn from French democracy

Sir: Democracy in France (leading article, 23 April) is alive and well because French electors know that their vote will count wherever it is cast.

In Britain outside marginal constituencies electors know they may as well not bother to vote. As our current Prime Minister behaves like a president perhaps his successor should be elected by a single ballot across the country. At least all our votes would have the same value and perhaps more of us would turn out.

R H THOMAS

SOUTHAMPTON

Sir: John Lichfield's description of the French economy as "low growth, small workforce, declining living standards" (23 April) shows the path we all need to take to offset global warming. How ironic that just when we need to adopt that path, instead we are persuading the French to adopt our ways - and accelerate destruction of the planet.

KENN VIRR

CHIPPENHAM, WILTSHIRE

When money failed to follow the patient

Sir: While much of the NHS may still be free (leading article, 23 April) it now suffers from private sector disease.

While on a waiting list for a carotid scan prior to cardiac surgery, I was taken to hospital with flashing lights for the fifth time, and kept overnight. The medics agreed that my symptoms, cause so far unidentified, could be due to carotid obstruction, but A&E "had no budget for carotid scans", and my GP's request had not yet arrived. The apparatus, personnel, and patient were all there, but nobody had agreed to pay under the private sector practices worshipped by New Labour.

BILL HYDE

OFFHAM, KENT

Sir: Doctors for Reform's report about "topping up" the costs of NHS treatment points out that the mantra that healthcare in the UK is "free at the point of delivery" is now a political mirage rather than a day-to-day reality.

As we said in our recent Mind the Gap report, the pressures on public funding show no sign of slackening and could result in a funding shortfall of £11bn by 2015. Yet people are rightly demanding quick access to personalised and high-quality care.

Given that NHS funding is likely to tail off after 2008 we need a better understanding of possible solutions to the funding gap. Recent improvements in patient care may not be sustainable in the long term unless urgent action is taken to relieve financial pressures. We need a cross-party debate on the future of healthcare funding in this country.

FERGUS KEE

MANAGING DIRECTOR BUPA UK HEALTH INSURANCE LONDON WC1

Abbas must restore order in Gaza

Sir: Your report on the worsening security situation in the Gaza Strip ("Minister offers to quit in Gaza row", 24 April) might also have mentioned the abduction of the BBC correspondent Alan Johnston. This week in Strasbourg, MEPs will add their voices to the appeals for his immediate release.

For years, the EU, engaged through the Quartet in the Middle East peace process, has offered financial support to the Palestinian Authority in return for security, democracy and human rights reforms. Egypt has also offered to help secure the Gaza Strip. But following the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza the leaders of Fatah and Hamas have tragically let rivalries usurp responsibilities.

It would be a bitter irony if the Palestinian dream of nationhood - the story Alan Johnston most wanted to report - was scuppered by this festering internecine feud. President Mahmoud Abbas must now use his authority and move decisively to demonstrate to the world he can restore law and order in the Gaza Strip and bring about Mr Johnston's release. Let's hope it's not too late.

DR CHARLES TANNOCK MEP

(LONDON, CONSERVATIVE) UK CONSERVATIVE FOREIGN AFFAIRS SPOKESMAN EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT BRUSSELS

Voters back Virgin spaceport

Sir: Your piece on 6 April about Virgin Galactic mentioned that the project had been criticised as a "rich man's dream" by a voter in New Mexico and that the project hung in the balance. You also stated that our early flights would not leave the atmosphere.

In fact, the voters in New Mexico voted in favour of a small sales tax to fund the spaceport at which Virgin Galactic has committed to become the anchor tenant. The project is not a rich man's dream but actually the world's first low-cost and environmentally benign space launch system, which could revolutionise the delivery of science and commercial payloads into space in future, as well as carry paying astronauts.

Finally, the spaceship will definitely leave the atmosphere and go into space. Nasa's official definition of space is 50 miles and the Russians say 100km (62 miles). SpaceShipTwo will be capable of flying to an altitude of up to around 90 miles above the earth.

WILL WHITEHORN

PRESIDENT, VIRGIN GALACTIC, LONDON WC2

Portrait of a black Roman emperor

Sir: While I agree with most of what Dick Toy says about "black" Romans (letter, 14 April), it is curious that he should include in his list the Emperor Septimius Severus as an example of "Italian descent".

It so happens that Severus is the subject of the only surviving painting of a Roman emperor, dating from about the year 200.

Born in what is now Libya, he is portrayed with a complexion that is very dark indeed, and in sharp contrast with those of his wife and family pictured with him.

There is no evidence of colour prejudice among the Romans, and there was no reason why a black African could not reach high office if, like Severus, he was well-educated and had money. Indeed, the only recorded satire directed at Severus is some words poking fun at his African accent.

KEITH BRUCKSHAW

SCARBOROUGH, NORTH YORKSHIRE

Buskers on the mean streets

Sir: The account of Tasmin Little's busking experience was very enjoyable (20 April). But when it comes to reasons why people often don't stop to donate, I think you've missed an important factor.

One impact of the Oyster card here in London is less loose change kicking around. To donate requires you to stop, retrieve your purse or wallet, extract some change, place it in the receptacle and then replace purse or wallet. Apart from this often being a clumsy task to perform while walking, it also tells all around you where your purse or wallet lives.

I remember reading that pickpockets appreciated "Beware of pickpocket" signs, since most people's reaction was to immediately check that their wallet was still in situ.

A JEZARD

LONDON E14

Yeltsin, enemy of Russian freedom

Sir: In 1993 Boris Yeltsin, Russia's "saviour of democracy", banned 15 political parties, took control of radio and television and stopped labour union involvement in politics ("The man who beat communism", 24 April). He threw out the constitution, shut down parliament, attacked the White House - killing hundreds - detained many thousands and put opposition leaders behind bars.

All the parliamentarians had been freely elected in 1990 and operated according to the democratic reforms of 1989. Most favoured a mixed economy and were not hardliners. Yeltsin shut down not only the parliament but all elected representative bodies in Russia.

Yeltsin's market reforms inflicted disaster on Russia, including the health and education systems. He was a tyrant who hid behind a phoney electoral system while reducing Russia to Third World status.

HOWARD METTLER

TOLLESHUNT KNIGHTS, ESSEX

Sir: Yeltsin's stand on a Soviet tank was a shameless copy of Lenin, who in April 1917 returned from exile to Petrograd (now St Petersburg), climbed on to an armoured car and exhorted the masses to revolution. This image was fixed in the Russian mind by decades of Soviet propaganda.

ANDY THOMAS

MARKET HARBOROUGH, LEICESTERSHIRE

Gurkha pensions match local pay

Sir: Amid the sometimes emotive coverage of Gurkha pensions (Christina Patterson, 6 April), it is easy to lose sight of a few essential facts. The Gurkha pension was designed for living in Nepal, where it provides for a good standard of living and where, until recently, Gurkhas traditionally expected to retire.

The average pension is about £107 a month, after a 7.3 per cent increase on 1 April, which is broadly the same as a good Nepalese salary. Retired Gurkhas qualified for a pension after as little as 15 years' service from about age 33, far earlier than soldiers in the rest of the Army.

About 99 per cent of Gurkhas leave with an immediate pension. In the rest of the British Army, about 90 per cent of soldiers did not complete enough service to qualify for an immediate pension and were able to receive a pension only from the age of 60 or 65. This means that the lifetime value of a Gurkha pension is often broadly the same as, and in many cases exceeds, that of a soldier in the wider Army.

Any Gurkha, serving or retired, will be able to benefit from the recent improvements, provided they served on or after 1 July 1997.

DEREK TWIGG MP

UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE MINISTRY OF DEFENCE LONDON SW1

Early summer

Sir: For Michael McCarthy - "Britain in bloom: how spring is the new summer" (19 April) - I have another for the list: on Sunday evening, while sitting in my garden, I was bitten by a mosquito - in mid-April, in London! It's still itchy...

ZITA LLOYD

LONDON NW10

Bad news

Sir: David Day's complaint about weather forecasters always talking about rain as a "risk" or "threat" (Letters, 24 April) prompts me to make a similar complaint about the reporting of interest rate changes. There is always the tacit assumption that rises are bad and lower interest rates are good. Increases are bad for home-buyers, but they are good for savers, of whom I happen to be one. Why can't reporters be even-handed? Since house-buyers tend to be younger and savers older, perhaps there are some "ageist" assumptions here.

NICK CHADWICK

OXFORD

Good advice

Sir: Menzies Campbell argues that the Attorney General "makes sure he takes independent advice and acts upon that independent advice" ("Goldsmith refuses to stand aside over 'cash-for-honours' ", 23 April). In the run-up to the Iraq war, Lord Goldsmith received independent advice from international lawyers in private practice, in academe and the Foreign Office. This was, overwhelmingly, that an attack, without a second UN resolution, would amount to "the crime of aggression", to quote Elisabeth Wilmshurst, legal adviser to the Foreign Office. Why is Sir Menzies confident Lord Goldsmith will accept legal advice now now?

THOMAS MCLAUGHLIN

GLASGOW

Presidential coronation

Sir: In the past decade, the Prime Ministership has become increasingly presidential. Restraints upon concentration of power have been ineffective; we now have in effect a presidential system. In such a system, it is a denial of democracy when a new prime minister is chosen from within a political party, with or without a contest. Mr Blair was reinstalled after a general election. There should either be another general election before his successor takes office, or Mr Blair should stay in office until the next general election can no longer be delayed.

PROFESSOR GEORGE HUXLEY

CHURCH ENSTONE, OXFORDSHIRE

Exotic attractions

Sir: On the A4 coming into Bath there is a sign to the "Crematorium and other attractions". I have often thought of following it to see what they are.

MARY FINCH

BOX, WILTSHIRE