Letter: Condoms on the Heath: it was us

Letter: Condoms on the Heath: it was us

Sir: Much has been made, quite rightly, of the changed gender balance in the House of Commons since the election, but why no comment on that other political revolution, the appointment of the first openly gay Cabinet minister? The gay movement has long proposed such an appointment as a cure for all ills. We were right.

Within 24 hours of Chris Smith's being appointed Heritage Secretary, the UK had won the Eurovision Song Contest. The British Lions have won every game since his appointment. By beating Poland, England's footballers all but secured a place in the World Cup finals, and then beat Italy for the first time in 20 years. After their whitewash defeat of Australia in the Texaco series, England nearly skittled the visitors for 100 runs at Edgbaston.

Shame Chris Smith didn't get the health job which he so ably shadowed. We would not have been worrying about spiralling health costs; people would simply have got better.

MICHAEL MASON

London SW7