SIR – The Conservative Party cannot afford to choose a leader who ends up being short-lived. He or she will require a full parliamentary term to win back public support.
The problem is that the current contenders are too closely associated with the previous government and its failures. Many people find them uninspiring.
The Tories need a leader who is fresh, relatively unknown and holds true Conservative values. As things stand, the party appears to have learnt very little from the general election result.
John Bloor
Doncaster, South Yorkshire
SIR – The Tory leadership hopefuls claim they can unite the party, yet the infighting continues apace.
What is needed is a period of reflection and analysis, guided by experienced Conservatives who do not harbour leadership ambitions themselves. Only once this has happened should there be a contest, with candidates offering ways to lift the party out of the slough in which it currently finds itself. Sadly, there appear to be too many egos involved for such a process to occur.
Colin Cummings
Yelvertoft, Northamptonshire
SIR – Those putting themselves forward for the Conservative leadership have referred to the many supposedly “excellent” MPs who lost their seats in the general election.
Yet this description is not merited by any MP who betrayed their voters by doing the opposite of what the Conservative Party promised in its manifesto.
The Tories need to realise that it was their own duplicity that landed them in this mess. Until they do so, they will not be trusted.
Phil Coutie
Exeter, Devon
SIR – It shouldn’t be that difficult. The Conservatives need to choose a leader who wouldn’t permit a booze-up in their garden if the rest of the country wasn’t allowed to do this; wouldn’t trash the financial markets on a whim; and wouldn’t stand in a deluge while announcing an election.
Unfortunately, the height of Tory competence in recent years came when Penny Mordaunt managed to hold a sword steady.
Marcus Adams
Wemyss Bay, Renfrewshire
SIR – Rarely has the philosophy of the managerial, technocratic wing of the Conservative Party been expressed as clearly as it was by James Cleverly (report, July 27) when he stated: “We exist to govern.”
What about promoting Conservatism? The implication is that people should vote Tory simply so that Mr Cleverly and his colleagues can enjoy holding power.
Michael Hughes
Birmingham
Blaming the patient
SIR – Dr Patrick Law (Letters, July 27) asserts that patients need more guidance on using alternatives to the NHS.
He states that “too many people feel entitled to use the service when they wish to, rather than when they need to”. How many is too many? Some statistics would be helpful.
This rather high-handed attitude is increasingly prevalent whenever one has the temerity to seek an NHS appointment. I freely admit to feeling entitled to use the service when I want to, but consider myself well able to assess my need to do so.
Unfortunately, the system is broken, with poor management and poor processes. I would also contend that too many doctors and providers feel entitled to provide the service they wish to, rather than the service that is required.
Ann Loney
Armagh
SIR – We are encouraged to consult a pharmacist instead of a GP for minor ailments, but this is not always straightforward.
I recently had an episode of earache, which seemed like the sort of thing a pharmacist could deal with. I soon discovered, however, that different pharmacists have different skills. It took four phone calls to various branches of a large pharmacy chain to identify the person who “does ears”, and discover when they would be on duty.
Once the correct person was located, the consultation was helpful. I would do it again, but local health authorities or pharmacies need to make it easier for patients to find the pharmacist with the skills required to advise and treat them.
Dr Hilary Aitken
Kilmacolm, Renfrewshire
Learning to love Bach
SIR – The key to instilling a lifelong love of classical music is to timetable music appreciation in junior schools (Letters, July 27).
In my first post, I was asked to teach music to pupils between the ages of six and 11, despite being a senior-school specialist. I decided to introduce them to the repertoire of Schubert, Chopin, Bach and Mozart.
Soon, the youngsters were demanding from their parents CDs of such music for Christmas.
Dr Millan Sachania
Bushey, Hertfordshire
Allegro capriccioso
SIR – My sister had an Austin Allegro (Letters, July 27).
It was perfectly reliable – until the engine dropped on to the road.
C J Fletcher
Stanton St John, Oxfordshire
SIR – I was amused by Hugh Sawyer’s story (Letters, July 27) of his Austin Montego, referred to as the “Austin Monty No-Go”. It reminded me of a South African friend who told me that the alternative name for a BMW was “Bring Mechanic With”.
Gail Lees
St Helier, Jersey
SIR – Professor Paul Cornish (Letters, July 27) describes the sad fate of his Morris Marina at Sandhurst.
I recall an officer arriving at his new, rather grand cavalry regiment in a top-of-the-range Ford Capri.
At his first mess dinner, it was decided that it was “not an officer’s car” and was ceremoniously torched. A whip-round among his well-heeled colleagues financed a “suitable” replacement.
Lt Cdr Philip Barber RN (retd)
Havant, Hampshire
‘Green’ wind farms
SIR – Mary Hayter (Letters, July 27) comments on the collateral damage caused by wind farms.
My son, a civil engineer, is currently working on a tender for one in Australia. He calculates that it will require 40,000 trucks of concrete, 20,000 trucks of aggregate, 15,000 trucks of sand and an incalculable amount of water (in an area where most of these things are not abundant).
Of course, diesel or petrol will also be needed to supply all the vehicles. And that is just to make the bases.Does anybody ever carry out an environmental cost-benefit analysis of these projects?
Elisabeth Hopkin
Bath, Somerset
Military wives
SIR – Your feature “On the home front: the tough life of an Army wife” (July 27) rang so many bells for my wife. What your writer describes can be applied to the RAF, too.
During one tour, a purportedly week-long trip overseas extended to four months, and my wife was left alone with two small children. During this period the younger one forgot who I was.
Short-notice postings and the last-minute cancellation of long-planned moves almost became the norm – and the potential for domestic chaos persisted into the senior ranks.
Despite everything, however, my wife and I are still together. There is also an irony: towards the end of my service, our elder daughter married a soldier – and so it began all over again.
Edward Cartner
Alnwick, Northumberland
Wonder drink
SIR – On my 21st birthday, I got very drunk at my local pub.
The landlady, on seeing my condition, gave me a drink. Within about 15 minutes I was as good as sober.
When I asked what she’d given me, she told me it was soda water with a few drops of Angostura Bitters (Letters, July 26).
Graham Denman
Nottingham
SIR – On the subject of rarely seen aperitifs (Letters, July 27), I struggle to find Dubonnet in supermarkets or bars, and am often met with a blank expression when I order it.
What happened to this great favourite of the Queen Mother?
Bobby Angelov
Falmouth, Cornwall
The best way to organise classroom seating
SIR – I was a schoolteacher, and agree wholeheartedly with Nick White (Letters, July 25).
Pupils should sit at desks facing the teacher – and at the same desks, meaning they can keep their work and books there.
Who started this ridiculous practice of sitting pupils round little tables, where they can distract each other?
Gillian Rogers
Eastbourne, East Sussex
SIR – I disagree that sitting children in rows facing the teacher is the best way to ensure discipline.
When I worked as a primary teacher, I always put pupils in groups around tables. They worked towards weekly star competitions, which fostered peer-led discipline and a sense of co-operation.
The most important factor in pupils’ behaviour, however, was whether the teacher made their expectations clear.
Alison Kent
Derby
A preposterous start to the Paris Olympics
SIR – So the world got “an eyeful of French flair” at the Olympics opening ceremony (report, July 27)?
I must have been watching the wrong channel. What I saw was moreakin to the Eurovision Song Contest.
I turned off after the mechanised metal horse galloped down the Seine.
Andrew Beevers
East Bergholt, Suffolk
SIR – I wonder if I’m the only one who found the opening ceremony to be interminably long, pretentious and – dare I say it – a bit naff.
John Rattigan
Doveridge, Derbyshire
SIR – What a fiasco. Did it not occur to the ceremony’s organisers that it mightrain?
The sight of that grand piano being drenched as the pianist played on washeartbreaking. The sound quality waspoor, and the whole production felt disjointed.
Congratulations are due, however, to the performers, who kept going regardless, and to the athletes on the barges, who continued to smile.
Cheryl Winter
Hythe, Kent
SIR – I was appalled by the way in which the ceremony mocked Christianity (report, July 28). It was deliberately offensive. France has shown its true colours.
Muriel Allen
Coventry, Warwickshire
SIR – For me, Celine Dion’s rendition of L’Hymne à l’amour from the Eiffel Tower was a performance worthy of a gold medal. Absolutely spine-tingling.
Philip Everall
Crewe, Cheshire
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