Letter: In Brief

Sir: Diane Coyle concludes that academic salaries are best served by a free-market approach ("Why it makes economic sense to pay us economists more", 29 June). There is one group of university staff where the free- market principle is operating: university professors. There is no national pay scale for professors, only a specified minimum. Professors negotiate their own salaries directly with their institutions. Yet the Bett report concluded that those same professors were one of the most underpaid groups in UK universities.

Dr PETER PARSONS

Reading, Berkshire

Sir: When we donated money to the Louise Woodward Trust Fund we sent it on the understanding that Susan and Gary Woodward would use it however they wanted ("Au pair's parents deny fund fraud", 30 June). The donation was given to try and relieve some of the stress for the family, not increase it.

RITA BLOOMBERG

TERRY BLOOMBERG

Merrow, Surrey