Childcare, David Blunkett and others

Working parents do care who looks after their children

Working parents do care who looks after their children

Sir: The arrogant and condescending tone of both V E Mott and Christina Egan (letters, 26 November) on child care seems to be formulated from some bygone era that never actually existed.

Most parents do not choose willy-nilly to leave their children in full-time child care. For the majority, myself included as a single mother, it is a decision based on economics. Living full-time on benefits is not an option. It is a long process involving multiple visits, as anyone who has undertaken a nursery search will understand. Parents care very much about who looks after their child.

As for the experiences of the private nanny, this argument too needs to be put into context before it can be used to brand the majority of parents in the UK as uncaring. Only a tiny fraction of parents in this country can actually afford to employ a full-time nanny. And yes, some of those may well be pushing their children too hard - as I believe individual parents in Germany may also be inclined to do. But to say, as Ms Egan does, that children looked after by a nanny or placed in full-time child care become nervous, aggressive, hyperactive or have a tendency to be unruly is plain ridiculous.

Working mothers are not new. Three decades ago my working mother placed my siblings and me in full-time nursery and we were all bright, happy and very well stimulated, as is my own daughter who has attended full-time nursery from the age of 10 months. Now that she has started school she is, in the words of her teacher, happy, confident and ready to take on the world.

The idea that children placed in full-time childcare are somehow dumped with little or no access to fresh air, exercise and stimulation so they turn out to be deviants and lacking in love is ludicrous, and for many parents in my position downright insulting.

SOJOURNER JONES
London SW11

Sir: As a former childminder, I would like to inform V E Mott that children placed with registered childminders are taken on jaunts out to the park and shops. Regular visits to toddler groups and libraries are also routine. Many parents who return to work do so because they need to pay the mortgage. They can do this because they know that their children are happy, stimulated, and safe while developing social and other skills.

My employers certainly did not "plonk" their children in front of the television to keep them quiet on their return from work. The children remain active, good students, well educated and well behaved.

J COOK
London N3

When private life imperils public duty

Sir: I am sure you are right to say that "whatever this inquiry finds, Mr Blunkett will not easily salvage his reputation". And few will disagree with The Independent's view "that private lives are just that: private" (leading article, 29 November). A problem arises, however, when the strains and stresses of private life threaten adequate performance of public duty.

Whatever the rights and wrongs of the Blunkett affair the key question is this: can any Cabinet minister function properly with such a burden hanging over him? The burden here consists not only of the claims and counter-claims from each side, but increasingly prurient speculation and disclosures in the tabloid press about the Home Secretary's private life. Under such circumstances the Prime Minister must make a convincing case why David Blunkett should continue in post.

THOMAS McLAUGHLIN
Glasgow

Sir: No doubt as the Hutton and Butler inquiries "cleared" Tony Blair of any wrongdoing over the evidence he gave to persuade the Commons to vote for the Iraq war, David Blunkett will be similarly cleared of any wrongdoing by Sir Alan Budd's inquiry. Nevertheless he should resign as he has abused his office.

It is not surprising a recent poll found Labour to be now more sleazy than the Conservatives.

VALERIE CREWS
Beckenham, Kent

Sir: Here we go again: politicians' private lives being considered more important than their public actions. David Blunkett deserves to be forced to resign, but for his illiberal policies, particularly those which infringe the basic human rights of terrorist suspects, and not for an affair with someone.

We all know politicians are hypocrites of one sort or another. What is important is when they lie about crucial matters such as weapons of mass destruction or try to subvert the long-established rule of law. When will the British grow up and adopt an adult attitude to sexual peccadillos, like the rest of Europe?

DENISE HOPE
Merano, South TyroI, Italy

Sir: Never mind waiting for the inquiry - the time to act is now. Regardless of whatever evidence may or may not come to light, it is my firm belief that, on the balance of probabilities, David Blunkett has the potential to be guilty of the charges made against him. Therefore he should resign or be sacked forthwith. I'm sure he would understand, given the changing times we live in.

RICHARD NEWSON
Whitton, Middlesex

Sir: In the old days it used to be money that did for Labour and sex that did for the Tories. What better proof of the political identity of New Labour than the thought of Mr Blunkett allegedly using a government driver to transport Mrs Quinn to his love nest in Derbyshire. It is clear that all concerned need ID cards immediately.

RICHARD SKELLINGTON
Stony Stratford, Milton Keynes

Sir: Mr Blunkett's spokesman admits "Kimberly Quinn gave him the settlement [visa] application to ask him if it looked in good order. He [Mr Blunkett] said it did, and gave it back to her and it was submitted in the normal way."

How did this "looking over" process actually take place - since Mr Blunkett patently is not able to have conducted this himself. In this instance figures of speech related to the sighted make for an opaque statement.

RICHARD TOBIN
Wellingborough, Northampton

Sir: Can we now expect David Blunkett to join in the antics of Fathers 4 Justice? At least he would have easy access to government ministers to whom he could handcuff himself. His office is reasonably handy for Buckingham Palace too.

JOHN JENKINS
Dunbar, East Lothian

Sir: Our Home Secretary has taken the idea of the nanny state a little too literally.

FRANK CAMPBELL
Southampton

Masts that save lives

Sir: I was extremely disappointed to read your report "The mast crusaders" (23 November). While the article reported in detail the views of individuals who claim to have suffered ill health, it paid scant attention to the views of expert scientists. It is disingenuous to state that "medical opinion is divided", as if views were close to evenly split. They are not. The latest research has reinforced the global scientific view that there is no evidence to support claims of ill health in relation to masts.

The fact that it is extremely difficult to prove a negative is no excuse for publishing an article which could cause people to have an unnecessary fear of this technology. What can be proven, however, is that the introduction of the Airwave system has already allowed the emergency services to save many lives here in the UK. Indeed, the Tetra technology, upon which Airwave is based, has had a positive effect in the many other countries in which it has been deployed, including Madrid, where it played a significant role in enabling the emergency services to appropriately respond to the terrorist attacks on trains in March this year.

It is not true that France has shunned Tetra. Indeed, France is among the top five countries in terms of Tetra contracts. Almost all European countries and many in Asia, Africa and the Americas now have Tetra networks in place or in build.

Masts categorically do not pulse. There is nothing different about our Tetra technology versus other Tetra as we work within European standards.

The so-called "back-tracking"' by scientific experts is to say that a previous concern was probably unfounded - ie the expert scientific community is more positive about Tetra, not less.

PETER RICHARDSON
Managing Director
0 ₂ Airwave Service
Runcorn, Cheshire

Games about murder

Sir: Encouraging young people to shoot someone in a realistic computer game, with a "blood effects" button for users who want extra gore ("JFK's assassination is turned into computer entertainment", 23 November) is more likely to shuffle its enthusiasts in the direction of the law courts than the history library.

Gun-related crime has risen dramatically in the past 10 years in the UK. There have been some appalling recent examples of young people shot dead by other young people for reasons that are breathtakingly trivial.

Taking the views of the game's promoters, and following their trajectory, we shall soon be seeing computer games in which young players can participate in the realistic torture of the Gunpowder Plot suspects in order to promote understanding of 17th-century British religious conflicts. Or perhaps participating in the realistic burning of women unfortunate enough to have been accused of being witches might encourage young people to become more studious in the field of the history of ideas?

Professor GARY SLAPPER
Director of the Centre for Law
The Open University, Milton Keynes

Rights in Arab states

Sir: Charles Glass ("Welcome to Kurdistan while it lasts", 23 November) says that "ministries of human rights do not figure in the Arab world". His assumption is not based on fact. My own country of origin, Yemen, has just the ministry Mr Glass believes is unknown in the region, and the minister, let it be added, belongs to the fair sex. Yemen is not alone among the Arab states in having a real and active concern for human rights.

One of the issues which we as Arabs would do well to look into is the small quota of Western journalists who act as resident correspondents in Arab countries when compared to the number of Western journalists, for example, based in Israel. If Arab countries were not so under-represented in media coverage, such statements about the region would have been a virtual impossibility in the Western press.

ALI MUHSEN HAMID
Ambassador, League of Arab States
London W1

Losing video

Sir: We were disappointed to learn of the intention of Dixons to stop selling video recorders. We appreciate that technology must progress, but we feel that in this instance consideration has not been given to the disabled. Those people, especially children, who have special needs can in many cases cope well with video tapes, which are chunky and have the tape within a casing.

However, DVDs need more careful handling, and many with special needs would not have either the fine motor skills or the clean handling techniques required. Both our sons are special needs, and the younger one would not be able to cope without his television and video machine. He would become even more dependent in a society which is striving for more integration.

CAROL HILL

PAUL HILL
Harmston, Lincolnshire

Simple facts

Sir: "When people turn on the news ... they want to know the facts," says Tessa Jowell (report, 27 November). She's clear that the Beeb's role is "to make that distinction clear ... so that people know when commentary moves into opinion ... rather than reporting fact." Golly, it's that simple. Just think of the years wasted by universities, philosophers and post-structuralists agonising over the difference, when all the time all they had to do was ask Tessa.

CHRISTINE BUTTERWORTH
Penzance, Cornwall

Small difficulties

Sir: The discussion about the uses of the compact Independent for firelighting (letter, 27 November) has diverted attention from the main concern about the size of the paper. As the party season approaches, I am deeply worried that it will not wrap and render safe even an average broken wineglass; a dinner plate will be quite beyond its reach. How are we to proceed?

PIERS FEILDEN
Martock, Somerset

Sir: If Mr Abrehart took the Sunday version of The Independent then he wouldn't have a problem drawing his fire. How can he be so half-hearted in his support of The Independent?

ELIZABETH LE MARCHANT BROCK
Nottingham

Assault on batteries

Sir: Although Michael Day is right to point out that other countries in Europe have been ahead of us in battery disposal (letter, 27 November), a start has been made in Leeds where all the new household recycling sites now take batteries. There are also recycling bins for mobile phones, clothing, telephone directories and many other items. Admittedly one needs a car, but at least there is now some possibility of proper disposal of these items.

TERENCE GAUSSEN
Boston Spa, West Yorkshire

Victorian exam

Sir: It makes little sense to compare a Victorian entrance exam for 11-year-olds with today's tests (report, 26 November). Why would an 11-year-old living in the 21st century need to be able to calculate using pounds, shillings and pence? And would the 11-year-olds of 1898 be as fluent with computers as today's 11-year-olds? Education today is different. There may be a problem with declining standards, but using a test from more than a hundred years ago doesn't prove anything.

ALAN WELLS
Director, Basic Skills Agency
London WC1