Letter: `Insensitive' boys could be right

Sir: I learnt from your front-page report that girls are hardwired to be responsive to others, whereas boys have to be programmed if they are to have the same ability. Is, however, the converse true?

It seems likely that a New Man could ignore his programming if circumstances so demanded, but could a woman ever do likewise? Are my attempts to teach my daughters to look at things objectively, rather than through a lens of often inappropriate "intuition", doomed to failure? Or are things a lot more complicated than the research on this single gene indicates?

RICHARD BARTLE

Colchester,

Essex