Letters: We need to make friends with Russia

The following letters appear in the 17th March edition of the Independent

A Russian pilot is tossed into the air during an official greeting ceremony at an airbase outside the city of Voronezh, 360 miles south east of Moscow (Getty Images)

President Putin’s decision not to prolong Russian military presence in war-torn Syria is welcome but will not change facts on the ground in the short term.

Violent terrorists still occupy large swathes of Syria and Iraq. Their savage public beheadings, kidnapping and mass murder had been exported to other parts of the world such as Libya, France, Nigeria, Ivory Coast and Mali, causing an exodus of refugees and heralding instability and social disaster.

The logic of confrontation that prevailed during the Cold War should be replaced with the logic of co-operation and good neighbourliness. As a member of the Quartet, Russia could help in solving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that remains a constant threat to international peace and security. Russia is also vital in maintaining Ukraine’s national unity, integrity and sovereignty. It could also help in preventing the disintegration of Libya, Iraq, Syria and Yemen.

More importantly, Russia is in Europe and it could help in addressing the real challenges of migration crisis, collaborating on addressing the global challenges of human rights, climate change, terrorism and the prevention of the spread of pandemic diseases that afflict us all. It is a mistake not to co-operate with Russia.

Dr Munjed Farid Al Qutob

London NW2

I was fascinated by Leonard Powell’s argument that the UK should leave the EU before it is overwhelmed and collapses under the exodus of refugees from Syria and the surrounding region (letter, 16 March).

I hope that I misunderstand him, but he appears to be arguing that after bombing the unarguably brutal, but secular societies and economies of Iraq, Syria and Libya back to the Dark Ages without any follow-up plans, the UK has no responsibility for the consequences.

The Greeks and Italians have behaved in a commendably humanitarian manner in rescuing the refugees whose lives have been destroyed, not by Greece and Italy, but by the UK, the US and, in the case of Libya, France.

The refugees are to a significant degree the UK’s creation. Basic morality demands that we owe them our care. Basic logic suggests that they be allocated to the constituencies of those MPs most responsible for their plight.

Aidan Harrison

Morpeth, Nothumberland

If all schools become academies, then what?

If the Government makes it mandatory for all schools to become academies, can someone please explain what ramifications that would have for both the National Curriculum and the role for Ofsted?

As a teacher, now retired, I had no great love for many aspects of the National Curriculum, especially the National Literacy Strategy, but at least they provided a foundation upon which pupil assessments could be made and Ofsted could gauge its judgments about schools and progress. But one principle behind Academies is that schools can choose their own paths and curricula – so is this the death knell for both the National Curriculum and Ofsted?

How then will this or any future government be able to say or prove that the quality of education in this country is improving?

Isn’t it time for education to be removed from the sphere and interference of political ideology and placed in the hands of a cross-cultural body of educationalists who make decisions on the basis of sound educational principles and practices?

Alan Sturgess

Gargrave, North Yorkshire

Following the announcement that schools are to be funded to stay open later than 3:30pm, I assume the DfE have already checked this out with the bus companies who will need to provide an extra fleet of buses to run during the rush-hour?

The reason the school day traditionally ends at 3:30 is simple: it’s all to do with the bus companies only being able to supply a school service at that time. Meanwhile, as the funding will only be for 25 per cent of schools, one wonders how the DfE is going to choose which ones will remain open later. Those closest to railway stations perhaps?

Tristram Shepard

Canterbury

Ketamine does more good than harm

As the 59th UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND) meets this week in Vienna we would like to draw attention to ketamine’s real value. The CND is likely to be asked to vote on whether ketamine should be placed under international control.

Ketamine is often considered to be just a recreational drug. In reality it is an essential medicine. It is the only anaesthetic suitable for use in low- and middle-income countries. It is a remarkably safe anaesthetic which has been used worldwide for more than 50 years, in both medical and veterinary practice.

It does not depress respiration or the circulation. It can be used without oxygen, ventilators or an electricity supply.

Ketamine has particular value “in the field” – for trauma, traffic and sporting injuries, in natural disasters and in zones of conflict. In high-income countries ketamine is also increasingly used to treat depression and chronic pain.

At the previous CND in 2015, China’s proposal that ketamine should be placed under international control was deferred, but it is likely to be proposed again this year.

The World Health Organisation’s Expert Committee on Drug Dependence (ECDD) states that ketamine is an essential medicine and does not pose a global public health threat.

WHO’s opinion is not universal because ketamine is also used as a recreational drug. The side effects of bladder damage from chronic ketamine misuse are extremely serious, but affect only a few who take very high doses. Most recreational users suffer few ill effects.

Ketamine has a much, much greater positive impact on the world as a therapeutic agent than its negative impact as a drug of abuse.

Dr Polly Taylor MRCVS

Independent Consultant in Veterinary Anaesthesia, Ely, Cambridgeshire

Prof David Nutt FMedSci

Edmond J Safra Chair in Neuropsychopharmacology, Imperial College, London

Val Curran

Professor of Psychopharmacology, University College, London

Rudi Fortson QC

Visiting Professor of Law, Queen Mary University of London.

Graeme Henderson

Professor of Pharmacology, University of Bristol

Dr Adam R Winstock

Consultant Psychiatrist

Prof John Ramsay

Emeritus Director, TICTAC Communications, St. George’s University of London

Dr Rupert McShane

(RNU) Oxford Health

Prof Ilana Crome

Emeritus Professor of Addiction Psychiatry, Keele University

Steve Rolles

Senior Policy Analyst, Transform Drug Policy Foundation

Prof Fiona Measham

Durham University

Patrick Hargreaves

Independent Education Consultant

Dr Rhys Ponton

Pharmacist (UK/NZ)

Prof Barry Everitt FRS

University of Cambridge

Only sure bet is that horses will die

Tuesday saw the sad but very predictable death of three horses at the Cheltenham Festival. More than 400 horses die racing in the UK every year, but many people, dazzled by the glitz and the glamour, prefer to focus on the hats, ignoring the fact that the only sure bet at these races is that magnificent horses will lose their lives. Just how many more must die before horse racing is put out to pasture?

Jennifer White

London N1

The lack of good career advice

There is a reason why people do not get much advice about apprenticeships from careers advisers (letter, 15 March). There aren’t many careers advisers.

Under New Labour, the focus of “Connexions” was helping the excluded, presumably with the implicit and misguided notion that ordinary people did not need careers guidance. Then the Coalition placed responsibility for providing careers guidance on to schools.

As headteachers understandably prefer to spend their money on the academic subjects which affect the standing of their schools, they don’t tend to have qualified, well-informed advisers. I gather that receptionists do the job, or that students are told to pay for guidance services, thus ensuring that guidance is even less likely to be taken up by ordinary people.

Cole Davis

London NW2

Easy answer to the pensions crisis

Is it surprising that pension credit cuts are being linked to an increase in death rates among over-85s. Only someone who cannot see beyond figures would fail to be aware that extending the age at which pensions are paid will reverse the present trend of people living longer.

Perhaps that is the idea? “Natural wastage” and increased pension age and, hey presto, the books balance in double-quick time.

Margaret Cook

Seaford, East Sussex

Do you want jargon with your eggs?

Geoff Baguley (letter, 16 March) brings us almost to likely total accuracy on the student’s breakfast order. However, surely it would have begun with “So, can I get like three eggs?”

Andrew Jackson

Cardiff