LETTER:Please hang up

From Professor R. A. Smith

Sir: A sign at the pavement cafe outside the Grand Krasnapolsky Hotel in Dam Square, Amsterdam, reads: "No Drugs, No Live Music, No Beggars, No Portable Phones". A polite announcement on the Japanese high-speed train says: "Ladies and Gentlemen, we ask that portable phones be used only in the areas at either end of the car".

Will British Rail please take note?

Yours sincerely,

R. A. SMITH

Department of Mechanical and Process Engineering

University of Sheffield

Sheffield